Church of England admits it doesn't have an 'official definition' of a woman

11 July 2022, 06:46

The Church of England has said it doesn't have an "official definition" of a woman.

Dr Robert Innes, a senior Bishop at the Church of England, said the meaning of the word woman was previously "self-evident", but now "additional care" was needed.

He added there are now "complexities associated with gender identity".

The query was put to the senior Bishop in written questions to the General Synod, the Church’s legislative body, amid an ongoing debate surrounding what defines a woman, the Telegraph reports.

A lay member of the Synod and a representative of the Royal Navy, asked: “What is the Church of England’s definition of a woman?”

In his written response, the Bishop in Europe said: “There is no official definition, which reflects the fact that until fairly recently definitions of this kind were thought to be self-evident, as reflected in the marriage liturgy.

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“The LLF project however has begun to explore the marriage complexities associated with gender identity and points to the need for additional care and thought to be given in understanding our commonalities and differences as people made in the image of God.”

The Living in Love and Faith (LLF) project aims to tackle how questions around identity, sexuality, gender, relationships and marriage fit with the Church of England.

The admission, in an official report prepared for the gathering of its governing body this weekend, led to criticism last night.

Executive director of the Sex Matters campaign group, Maya Forstater, said the response was "shocking".

"When the Government redefined women through the Gender Recognition Act, the Church of England could have stuck with its long-established understanding, which makes sense whether your starting point is biology or the Bible," she said.

"It is shocking that they so readily gave up the definition of man or woman for the state to amend, as if this fundamental truth did not matter."

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Meanwhile, Rev Angela Berners-Wilson, England’s first woman priest, told The Telegraph: "I’m not totally happy with it. I mean, I do think certain things like “men can’t have babies”, just to say the complete obvious thing."

But she added: "But I think we need to be very sensitive and maybe we need to re-examine our boundaries."

However, a number of liberal wings of the church welcomed the Bishop's response, saying life is "not quite as black and white as some appear to think it should be".

Jayne Ozanne, synod member and founder of the Ozanne Foundation in 2017 - which works with religious organisations around the world to tackle prejudice and discrimination of LGBTQI people - described the question as “passive aggressive”. 

“Mr Kendy's question is sadly a prime example of a passive aggressive question that is designed to upset the LGBT+ community and particularly the trans members in our midst," she told The Telegraph.

“It's time these anti-LGBT attacks stopped and that we learnt to acknowledge that life is not quite as black and white as some appear to think it should be.”