Ordination of women

Cylinder seal (c. 2100 BCE) depicting goddesses conducting mortal males through a religious rite

• Sumerian and Akkadian EN were top-ranking priestesses distinguished by special ceremonial attire and holding equal status to high priests. They owned property, transacted business, and initiated the hieros gamos ceremony with priests and kings.[10] Enheduanna (2285–2250 BC), an Akkadian princess, was the first known holder of the title "EN Priestess".[11]
• Ishtaritu were temple prostitutes who specialized in the arts of dancing, music, and singing and served in the temples of Ishtar.[12]
• Puabi was a NIN, an Akkadian priestess of Ur in the 26th century BC.
• Nadītu served as priestesses in the temples of Inanna in the ancient city of Uruk. They were recruited from the highest families in the land and were supposed to remain childless; they owned property and transacted business.
• In Sumerian epic texts such as Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, Nu-Gig were priestesses in temples dedicated to Inanna, or may be a reference to the goddess herself.[13]
• Qadishtu, Hebrew Qedesha (קדשה) or Kedeshah,[14] derived from the root Q-D-Š,[15][16] are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as sacred prostitutes usually associated with the goddess Asherah.

Sarcophagus of the Egyptian priestess Iset-en-kheb, 25th–26th dynasty (7th–6th century BC)

In Ancient Egyptian religion, God's Wife of Amun was the highest ranking priestess; this title was held by a daughter of the High Priest of Amun, during the reign of Hatshepsut, while the capital of Egypt was in Thebes during the second millennium BC (circa 2160 BC).

Later, Divine Adoratrice of Amun was a title created for the chief priestess of Amun. During the first millennium BC, when the holder of this office exercised her largest measure of influence, her position was an important appointment facilitating the transfer of power from one pharaoh to the next, when his daughter was adopted to fill it by the incumbent office holder. The Divine Adoratrice ruled over the extensive temple duties and domains, controlling a significant part of the ancient Egyptian economy.

Ancient Egyptian priestesses:

• Gautseshen
• Henutmehyt
• Henuttawy
• Hui
• Iset
• Karomama Meritmut
• Maatkare Mutemhat
• Meritamen
• Neferhetepes is the earliest attested priestess of Hathor.[17]
• Neferure
• Tabekenamun a priestess of Hathor as well as a priestess of Neith.

Female figure carrying a torch and piglet to celebrate rites of Demeter and Persephone (from Attica, 140–130 BCE)

In ancient Greek religion, some important observances, such as the Thesmophoria, were made by women. Priestesses, Hiereiai, served in many different cults of many divinities, with their duties varying depending on the cult and the divinity in which they served.

Priestesses played a major role in the Eleusinian Mysteries, in which they served on many levels, from the High Priestess of Demeter and Dadouchousa Prietess to the Panageis and Hierophantides. The Gerarai were priestesses of Dionysus who presided over festivals and rituals associated with the god.

A body of priestesses might also maintain the cult at a particular holy site, such as the Peleiades at the oracle of Dodona. The Arrephoroi were young girls ages seven to twelve who worked as servants of Athena Polias on the Athenian Acropolis and were charged with conducting unique rituals under the surveillance of the High Priestess of Athena Polias. The Priestess of Hera at Argos served at the Heraion of Argos and enjoyed great prestige in all Greece.

At several sites women priestesses served as oracles, the most famous of which is the Oracle of Delphi. The priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi was the Pythia, credited throughout the Greco-Roman world for her prophecies, which gave her a prominence unusual for a woman in male-dominated ancient Greece. The Phrygian Sibyl presided over an oracle of Apollo in Anatolian Phrygia. The inspired speech of divining women, however, was interpreted by male priests; a woman might be a mantic (mantis) who became the mouthpiece of a deity through possession, but the "prophecy of interpretation" required specialized knowledge and was considered a rational process suited only to a male '"prophet" (prophētēs).[18][19]

The Virgo Vestalis Maxima, the highest-ranking of the Vestal Virgins

The Latin word sacerdos, "priest", is the same for both the grammatical genders. In Roman state religion, the priesthood of the Vestals was responsible for the continuance and security of Rome as embodied by the sacred fire that they could not allow to go out. The Vestals were a college of six sacerdotes (plural) devoted to Vesta, goddess of the hearth, both the focus of a private home (domus) and the state hearth that was the center of communal religion. Freed of the usual social obligations to marry and rear children, the Vestals took a vow of chastity in order to devote themselves to the study and correct observance of state rituals that were off-limits to the male colleges of priests.[20] They retained their religious authority until the Christian emperor Gratian confiscated their revenues and his successor Theodosius I closed the Temple of Vesta permanently.[21][22]

The Romans also had at least two priesthoods that were each held jointly by a married couple, the rex and regina sacrorum, and the flamen and flaminica Dialis. The regina sacrorum ("queen of the sacred rites") and the flaminica Dialis (high priestess of Jupiter) each had her own distinct duties and presided over public sacrifices, the regina on the first day of every month, and the flaminica every nundinal cycle (the Roman equivalent of a week). The highly public nature of these sacrifices, like the role of the Vestals, indicates that women's religious activities in ancient Rome were not restricted to the private or domestic sphere.[23] So essential was the gender complement to these priesthoods that if the wife died, the husband had to give up his office. This is true of the flaminate, and probably true of the rex and regina.[23]

The title sacerdos was often specified in relation to a deity or temple,[23][24] such as a sacerdos Cereris or Cerealis, "priestess of Ceres", an office never held by men.[25] Female sacerdotes played a leading role in the sanctuaries of Ceres and Proserpina in Rome and throughout Italy that observed so-called "Greek rite" (ritus graecus). This form of worship had spread from Sicily under Greek influence, and the Aventine cult of Ceres in Rome was headed by male priests.[26] Only women celebrated the rites of the Bona Dea ("Good Goddess"), for whom sacerdotes are recorded.[27] The Temple of Ceres in Rome was surved by the Priestess of Ceres, Sacerdos Cereris, and the Temple of Bona Dea by the Priestess of Bona Dea, Sacerdos Bonae Deae. Other Priestesses were the Sacerdos Liberi, Sacerdos Fortunae Muliebris and the Sacerdos Matris Deum Magnae Idaeae; sacerdos also served as priestesses of the Imperial cult.

Latin dedication to the goddess Isis Augusta by Lucretia Fida, a sacerdos (priest), from Roman Iberia[28]

From the Mid Republic onward, religious diversity became increasingly characteristic of the city of Rome. Many religions that were not part of Rome's earliest state religion offered leadership roles as priests for women, among them the imported cult of Isis and of the Magna Mater ("Great Mother", or Cybele). An epitaph preserves the title sacerdos maxima for a woman who held the highest priesthood of the Magna Mater's temple near the current site of St. Peter's Basilica.[29] Inscriptions for the Imperial era record priestesses of Juno Populona and of deified women of the Imperial household.[23]

Under some circumstances, when cults such as mystery religions were introduced to Romans, it was preferred that they be maintained by women. Although it was Roman practice to incorporate other religions instead of trying to eradicate them,[30] the secrecy of some mystery cults was regarded with suspicion. In 189 BCE, the senate attempted to suppress the Bacchanals, claiming the secret rites corrupted morality and were a hotbed of political conspiracy. One provision of the senatorial decree was that only women should serve as priests of the Dionysian religion, perhaps to guard against the politicizing of the cult,[31] since even Roman women who were citizens lacked the right to vote or hold political office. Priestesses of Liber, the Roman god identified with Dionysus, are mentioned by the 1st-century BC scholar Varro, as well as indicated by epigraphic evidence.[23]

Other religious titles for Roman women include magistra, a high priestess, female expert or teacher; and ministra, a female assistant, particularly one in service to a deity. A magistra or ministra would have been responsible for the regular maintenance of a cult. Epitaphs provide the main evidence for these priesthoods, and the woman is often not identified in terms of her marital status.[23][24]

The teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, as emphasised by Pope John Paul II in the apostolic letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis, is "that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgement is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful".[87] This teaching is embodied in the current canon law 1024)[88] and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992), by the canonical statement: "Only a baptized man (Latin: vir) validly receives sacred ordination."[89] Insofar as priestly and episcopal ordination are concerned, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that this requirement is a matter of divine law; it belongs to the deposit of faith and is unchangeable.[90][91][92]

In 2007, the Holy See issued a decree stating that attempted ordination of a woman would result in automatic excommunication for the women and bishops attempting to ordain them,[93] and in 2010, that attempted ordination of women is a "grave delict".[94]

An official Papal Commission ordered by Pope Francis in 2016 was charged with determining whether the ancient practice of having female deacons (deaconesses) is possible, provided they are non-ordained and that certain reserved functions of ordained male permanent or transitional deacons—proclaiming the Gospel at Mass, giving a homily, and performing non-emergency baptisms—would not be permitted for the discussed female diaconate. In October 2019, the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region called for "married priests, pope to reopen women deacons commission."[95] Pope Francis later neglected to mention the issue in the ensuing documents.[96]

Inspired by a mystically inclined nun, Feliksa Kozłowska, the Mariavite movement originally began as a response to the perceived corruption of the Roman Catholic Church in the Russian Partition of 19th century Poland. The Mariavites, so named for their devotion to the Virgin Mary, attracted numerous parishes across Mazovia and the region around Łódź and at their height numbered some 300,000 people. Fearing a schism, the established church authorities asked for intervention from the Vatican. The Mariavites were eventually excommunicated by Papal Bull in 1905 and 1906. Their clergy, cut loose from apostolic succession, found sanctuary with the Old Catholic Church and in 1909 the first Mariavite bishop, Michael Kowalski, was consecrated in Utrecht. Twenty years later, the now constituted Mariavite Church was riven by policy differences and a leadership struggle. Nevertheless, Archbishop Kowalski ordained the first 12 nuns as priests in 1929. He also introduced priestly marriage. The split in the church took effect, in part, over the place of the feminine in theology and the role of women in the life of the church. By 1935, Kowalski had introduced a "universal priesthood" that extended the priestly office to selected members of the laity. The two Mariavite churches survive to this day. The successors of Kowalski, who are known as the Catholic Mariavite Church and are based in the town of Felicjanów in the Płock region of Poland, are headed by a bishop who is a woman, although their numbers are dwarfed by the adherents of the more conventionally patriarchal Mariavites of Płock.[97]

Various Catholics have written in favor of ordaining women.[98] Dissenting groups advocating women's ordination in opposition to Catholic teaching[99] include Women's Ordination Worldwide, Catholic Women's Ordination,[100] Roman Catholic Womenpriests,[101] and Women's Ordination Conference.[102] Some cite the alleged ordination of Ludmila Javorová in Communist Czechoslovakia in 1970 by Bishop Felix Davídek (1921–1988), himself clandestinely consecrated due to the shortage of priests caused by state persecution, as precedent.[103] The Catholic Church treats attempted ordinations of women as invalid, and automatically excommunicates all participants.[104]

The Eastern Orthodox Church follows a line of reasoning similar to that of the Roman Catholic Church with respect to the ordination of bishops and priests, and does not allow women's ordination to those orders.[105]

Thomas Hopko and Evangelos Theodorou have contended that female deacons were fully ordained in antiquity.[106] K. K. Fitzgerald has followed and amplified Theodorou's research. Metropolitan Kallistos Ware wrote:[4]

The order of deaconesses seems definitely to have been considered an "ordained" ministry during early centuries in at any rate the Christian East. ... Some Orthodox writers regard deaconesses as having been a "lay" ministry. There are strong reasons for rejecting this view. In the Byzantine rite the liturgical office for the laying-on of hands for the deaconess is exactly parallel to that for the deacon; and so on the principle lex orandi, lex credendi—the Church's worshipping practice is a sure indication of its faith—it follows that the deaconesses receives, as does the deacon, a genuine sacramental ordination: not just a χειροθεσια (chirothesia) but a χειροτονια (chirotonia).

On October 8, 2004, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece voted to permit the appointment of monastic deaconesses, that is, women to minister and assist at the liturgy within their own monasteries. The document however does not use the term χειροτονία (ordination) although the rites that are to be used are rites of ordination of clergy.[107][108][109][110] There is a strong monastic tradition, pursued by both men and women in the Orthodox Church, where monks and nuns lead identical spiritual lives. Unlike Latin Rite Catholic religious life, which has myriad traditions, both contemplative and active (see Benedictine and Cistercian monks, Dominican friars, Franciscan friars, Jesuits), that of Orthodoxy and the Christian East generally has remained exclusively ascetic and monastic, relying principally upon the early Syriac tradition, the Desert Fathers, and the Rule of Saint Benedict of Nursia.

Many Protestants believe female ministry is justified by the fact that Mary Magdalene was chosen by Jesus to announce his resurrection to the apostles.[111]

A key theological doctrine for Reformed and most other Protestants is the priesthood of all believers—a doctrine considered by them so important that it has been dubbed by some as "a clarion truth of Scripture".[112]

This doctrine restores true dignity and true integrity to all believers since it teaches that all believers are priests and that as priests, they are to serve God—no matter what legitimate vocation they pursue. Thus, there is no vocation that is more "sacred" than any other. Because Christ is Lord over all areas of life, and because His word applies to all areas of life, nowhere does His Word even remotely suggest that the ministry is "sacred" while all other vocations are "secular". Scripture knows no sacred-secular distinction. All of life belongs to God. All of life is sacred. All believers are priests.

— David Hagopian. Trading Places: The Priesthood of All Believers.[112]

Most Protestant denominations require pastors, ministers, deacons, and elders to be formally ordained. The early Protestant reformer Martin Bucer, for instance, cited Ephesians 4^{[Eph. 4:11–13]} and other Pauline letters in support of this.[113] While the process of ordination varies among the denominations and the specific church office to be held, it may require preparatory training such as seminary or Bible college, election by the congregation or appointment by a higher authority, and expectations of a lifestyle that requires a higher standard. For example, the Good News Translation of James 3:1 says, "My friends, not many of you should become teachers. As you know, we teachers will be judged with greater strictness than others."[114]

A female Quaker preacher and her congregation.

Usually, these roles were male preserves. However, Quakers have ordained women from their founding in the mid-17th century.[115] Women's ministry has been part of Methodist tradition in the UK for over 200 years. In the late 18th century in England, John Wesley allowed for female office-bearers and preachers.[116] The Salvation Army has allowed the ordination of women since its beginning in 1865, although it was a hotly disputed topic between William and Catherine Booth.[117] The fourth, thirteenth, and nineteenth Generals of the Salvation Army were women.[118] Similarly, the Church of the Nazarene has ordained women since its foundation in 1908, at which time a full 25% of its ordained ministers were women.[119]

Many Protestant denominations are committed to congregational governance and reserve the power to ordain ministers to local congregations. Because of this, if there is no denomination-wide prohibition on ordaining women, congregations may do so while other congregations of the same denomination might not consider doing likewise.

Since the 20th century an increasing number of Protestant Christian denominations have begun ordaining women. The Church of England appointed female lay readers during the First World War. Later the United Church of Canada in 1936 (Lydia Emelie Gruchy) and the American United Methodist Church in 1956 also began to ordain women.[120][121] The first female Moderator of the United Church of Canada—a position open to both ministers and laypeople—was the Rev. Lois Miriam Wilson, who served 1980–1982.

In 1918, Alma Bridwell White, head of the Pillar of Fire Church, became the first woman to be ordained bishop in the United States.[122][123]

Today, over half of all American Protestant denominations ordain women,[124] but some restrict the official positions a woman can hold. For instance, some ordain women for the military or hospital chaplaincy but prohibit them from serving in congregational roles. Over one-third of all seminary students (and in some seminaries nearly half) are female.[125][126]

The Church of the Nazarene has ordained women since its foundation as a denomination in 1908, at which time fully 25% of its ordained ministers were women. According to the Church of the Nazarene Manual, "The Church of the Nazarene supports the right of women to use their God-given spiritual gifts within the church, affirms the historic right of women to be elected and appointed to places of leadership within the Church of the Nazarene, including the offices of both elder and deacon."[119]

The Church of Denmark became the first Lutheran body to ordain women in 1948. The largest lutheran churches in the United States and Canada, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), have been ordaining women since 1970. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, which also encompasses the Lutheran Church-Canada, does not ordain women; neither do the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod or the Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

In 1917 the Church of England licensed women as lay readers called bishop's messengers, many of whom ran churches, but did not go as far as to ordain them.

From 1930 to 1978 the Anglican Group for the Ordination of Women to the Historic Ministry promoted the ordination of women in the Church of England.[127]

Within Anglicanism the majority of provinces now ordain women as deacons and priests.[128]

The first three women ordained as priests in the Anglican Communion were in Hong Kong: Li Tim-Oi in 1944 and Jane Hwang and Joyce M. Bennett in 1971.

On July 29, 1974, Bishops Daniel Corrigan, Robert L. DeWitt, and Edward R. Welles of the U.S. Episcopal Church, with Bishop Antonio Ramos of Costa Rica, ordained eleven women as priests in a ceremony that was widely considered "irregular" because the women lacked "recommendation from the standing committee", a canonical prerequisite for ordination. The "Philadelphia Eleven", as they became known, were Merrill Bittner, Alison Cheek, Alla Bozarth (Campell), Emily C. Hewitt, Carter Heyward, Suzanne R. Hiatt (d. 2002), Marie Moorefield, Jeannette Piccard (d. 1981), Betty Bone Schiess, Katrina Welles Swanson (d. 2006), and Nancy Hatch Wittig.[129] Initially opposed by the House of Bishops, the ordinations received approval from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in September 1976. This General Convention approved the ordination of women to both the priesthood and the episcopate.

Reacting to the action of the General Convention, clergy and laypersons opposed to the ordination of women to the priesthood met in convention at the Congress of St. Louis and attempted to form a rival Anglican church in the US and Canada. Despite the plans for a united North American church, the result was division into several Continuing Anglican churches, which now make up part of the Continuing Anglican movement.

The first woman to become a bishop in the Anglican Communion was Barbara Harris, who was elected a suffragan bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts in 1988 and ordained on February 11, 1989. The majority of Anglican provinces now permit the ordination of women as bishops,[128][130] and as of 2014, women have served or are serving as bishops in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, South Africa, South India, Wales, and in the extra provincial Episcopal Church of Cuba. Libby Lane became the first woman consecrated a bishop of the Church of England in 2015.[131] It had ordained 32 women as its first female priests in March 1994.[132] In 2015 Rachel Treweek was consecrated as the first female diocesan bishop in the Church of England (Diocese of Gloucester).[133] She and Sarah Mullally, Bishop of Crediton, were the first women to be consecrated and ordained bishop in Canterbury Cathedral.[133] Also that year Treweek became the first woman to sit in the House of Lords as a Lord Spiritual, thus making her at the time the most senior ordained woman in the Church of England.[134]

On June 18, 2006, the Episcopal Church became the first Anglican province to elect a woman, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, as a primate (leader of an Anglican province), called the "Presiding Bishop" in the United States.[135]

Methodist views on the ordination of women in the rite of holy orders are diverse.

Today some Methodist denominations practice the ordination of women, such as in the United Methodist Church (UMC), in which the ordination of women has occurred since its creation in 1968, as well as in the Free Methodist Church (FMC), which ordained its first woman elder in 1911,[136] in the Methodist Church of Great Britain, which ordained its first female deacon in 1890 and ordained its first female elders (that is, presbyters) in 1974,[137] and in the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection, which ordained its first female elder in 1853,[138] as well as the Bible Methodist Connection of Churches, which has always ordained women to the presbyterate and diaconate.[139]

Other Methodist denominations do not ordain women, such as the Southern Methodist Church (SMC), Evangelical Methodist Church of America, Fundamental Methodist Conference, Evangelical Wesleyan Church (EWC), and Primitive Methodist Church (PMC), the latter two of which do not ordain women as elders nor do they license them as pastors or local preachers;[140][141] the EWC and PMC do, however, consecrate women as deaconesses.[140][141] Independent Methodist parishes that are registered with the Association of Independent Methodists do not permit the ordination of women to holy orders.

From their founding in the mid-17th century, Quakers allowed women to preach.[142] They believed that both genders are equally capable of inspiration by the Holy Spirit and thus there is a tradition of women preachers in Quaker Meetings from their earliest days.[143] In order to be a preacher, a Friend had to obtain recognition by a Quaking Meeting. In the eighteenth century, ministers typically sat at the front of the meeting house, with women on one side and men on the other, all on the same raised platform.[143]

Women ministers were active from the earliest days. In 1657, Mary Howgill, one of the Valiant Sixty (an early group of Quaker preachers), rebuked Oliver Cromwell for persecuting Quakers, saying, "When thou givest account of all those actions, which have been acted by thee, ... as my soul lives, these things will be laid to thy charge."[144] Later, in 1704, Esther Palmer of Flushing, Long Island, and Susanna Freeborn of Newport, Rhode Island, set out on a 3,230 mile journey across eight colonies of North America, including visits to preach in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Other well-known Quaker women preachers were Mary Lawson of Philadelphia, Mary Bannister of London, England, Mary Ellerton of York, England, Rachel Wilson of Virginia, Catharine Payton of Pennsylvania, Ann Moore of New York, Susanna Hatton of Delaware, and Mary Dyer of Boston.[143]

American Clarissa Danforth, a member of the Free Will Baptist tradition, was ordained a pastor in 1815, being the first Baptist woman to be in holy orders.[145] In 1882, the National Baptist Convention, USA ordained women,[146] and the Progressive National Baptist Convention in 1961.[147]

In 1975, in the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, founded by female evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, the ordination of women began.[148] Prior, the Assemblies of God of the United States accepted women's ordination in 1927.[149]Other Pentecostal churches have also very different positions on this issue with some of them accept women pastors and others not.

According to its Working Policy the Seventh-day Adventist Church restricts certain positions of service and responsibility to those who have been ordained to the gospel ministry and the General Conference (GC) session, which is the highest decision-making body of the church, has never approved the ordination of women as ministers. Adventists have found no clear mandate or precedent for the practice of ordaining women in Scripture or in the writings of Ellen G. White. In recent years the ordination of women has been the subject of heated debate, especially in North America and Europe. In the Adventist church, candidates for ordination are recommended by local conferences (which usually administer about 50–150 local congregations) and approved by unions (which serve about 6–12 conferences). The church's Fundamental Beliefs and its worldwide practice as set forth in its Church Manual, including the worldwide qualifications for ordination currently restricted to men, can be revised only at the GC session.

In 1990 the GC session voted against a move to establish a worldwide policy permitting the ordination of women.[150] In 1995 GC delegates voted not to authorize any of the 13 world divisions to establish policies for ordaining women within its territory.[150] In 2011, the North American Division ignored the GC policy and without GC approval, voted to permit women to serve as conference presidents, a position requiring ordination. In early 2012, the GC responded to the NAD action with an analysis of church history and policy, demonstrating that divisions do not have the authority to establish policy different from GC policy.[151] The NAD subsequently rescinded its action. But in their analysis the GC indicated that the "final responsibility and authority" for approving candidates for ordination resides at the union level. This led to decisions by several unions to approve ordinations without regard to gender.

On April 23, 2012, the North German Union voted to ordain women as ministers,[152] but by late 2013 had not yet ordained a woman. On July 29, 2012, the Columbia Union Conference voted to "authorize ordination without respect to gender".[153] On August 19, 2012, the Pacific Union Conference also voted to ordain without regard to gender.[154] Both unions began immediately approving ordinations of women.[155] By mid-2013, about 25 women had been ordained to the ministry in the Pacific Union Conference, plus several in the Columbia Union. On May 12, 2013, the Danish Union voted to treat men and women ministers the same, and to suspend all ordinations until after the topic is considered at the next GC session in 2015. On May 30, 2013, the Netherlands Union voted to ordain female pastors, recognizing them as equal to their male colleagues.[156] On September 1, 2013, a woman was ordained in the Netherlands Union.[157]

In 2012–2013 the General Conference established the Theology of Ordination Study Committee, which included representatives from each of its 13 world division biblical research committees, to study the issue and make a recommendation to be voted at the 2015 world GC session.[158]

On October 27, 2013, Sandra Roberts became the first woman to lead a Seventh-day Adventist conference when she was elected president of the Southeastern California Conference.[159] However, the world Seventh-day Adventist church does not recognize her election.[159]

At the 60th General Conference Session in San Antonio on July 8, 2015,[160] Seventh-day Adventists voted not to allow their regional church bodies to ordain women pastors.[161] The President of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ted N. C. Wilson, opened the morning session with an appeal for all church members to abide by the vote's outcome, and underscored both then and after the vote that decisions made by the General Conference in session carry the highest authority in the Adventist Church. By a margin of 1,381 to 977, with five abstentions, delegates by secret ballot ended a five-year study process characterized by open, vigorous and sometimes acrimonious debate.[162]

Prior to the GC vote, dozens of delegates voiced opinions for and against the question: "After your prayerful study on ordination from the Bible, the writings of Ellen G. White, and the reports of the study commissions; and after your careful consideration of what is best for the church and the fulfillment of its mission, is it acceptable for division executive committees, as they may deem it appropriate in their territories, to make provision for the ordination of women to the gospel ministry?"[162]

The vote and discussion, which reflected decades long differences of opinion, came at a General Conference Session which is held to decide major issues.

As Protestant Christians who accept the Bible as their only rule of faith and practice, Seventh-day Adventists have been keen to resolve the issue based on Scripture (e.g. 1 Timothy 2:12 and Galatians 3:28).

The Community of Christ adopted the practice of women's ordination in 1984,[163] which was one of the reasons for the schism between the Community of Christ and the newly formed Restoration Branches movement, which was largely composed of members of the Community of Christ church (then known as the RLDS church) who refused to accept this development and other doctrinal changes taking place during this same period. For example, the Community of Christ also changed the name of one of its priesthood offices from evangelist-patriarch to evangelist, and its associated sacrament, the patriarchal blessing, to the evangelist's blessing. In 1998, Gail E. Mengel and Linda L. Booth became the first two women apostles in the Community of Christ.[164] At the 2007 World Conference of the church, Becky L. Savage was ordained as the first woman to serve in the First Presidency.[165][166] In 2013, Linda L. Booth became the first woman elected to serve as president of the Council of Twelve.[167]

The Philippine Independent Church is an independent Catholic church in the Philippines founded in 1902. It has approved women's ordination since 1996. In 1997 it ordained its first female priest in the person of Rev. Rosalina Rabaria. As of 2017, it has 30 women priests and 9 women deacons. On May 5, 2019, the church consecrated its first female bishop in the person of Right Reverend Emelyn G. Dacuycuy and installed her as an ordinary of Batac Diocese, Ilocos Norte. According to Bishop Maximo XIII Rhee Timbang, the ordination of women has enabled the church to become more relevant to its time and to society.

Jehovah's Witnesses consider qualified public baptism to represent the baptizand's ordination, following which he or she is immediately considered an ordained minister. In 1941, the Supreme Court of Vermont recognized the validity of this ordination for a female Jehovah's Witness minister.[168] The majority of Witnesses actively preaching from door to door are female.[169] Women are commonly appointed as full-time ministers, either to evangelize as "pioneers" or missionaries, or to serve at their branch offices.[170] Nevertheless, Witness deacons ("ministerial servants") and elders must be male, and only a baptized adult male may perform a Jehovah's Witness baptism, funeral, or wedding.[171] Within the congregation, a female Witness minister may only lead prayer and teaching when there is a special need, and must do so wearing a head covering.[172][173][174]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not ordain women.[175] Some (most notably former LDS members D. Michael Quinn and Margaret Toscano) have argued that the church ordained women in the past and that therefore the church currently has the power to ordain women and should do so;[176][177] however, there are no known records of any women having been ordained to the priesthood.[178] Women do hold a prominent place in the church, including their work in the Relief Society which is one of the largest and most long-lasting women's organizations in the world.[179] Women thus serve, as do men, in unpaid positions involving teaching, administration, missionary service, humanitarian efforts, and other capacities.[180] Women often offer prayers and deliver sermons during Sunday services. Ordain Women, an activist group of mostly Mormon women founded by feminist Kate Kelly in March 2013, supports extending priesthood ordinations to women.[181]

Of all the churches in the Liberal Catholic movement, only the original church, the Liberal Catholic Church under Bishop Graham Wale, does not ordain women. The position held by the Liberal Catholic Church is that the Church, even if it wanted to ordain women, does not have the authority to do so and that it would not be possible for a woman to become a priest even if she went through the ordination ceremony. The reasoning behind this belief is that the female body does not effectively channel the masculine energies of Christ, the true minister of all the sacraments. The priest has to be able to channel Christ's energies to validly confect the sacrament; therefore the sex of the priest is a central part of the ceremony hence all priests must be male. When discussing the sacrament of Holy Orders in his book Science of the Sacraments. Second Presiding Bishop Leadbeater also opined that women could not be ordained; he noted that Christ left no indication that women can become priests and that only Christ can change this arrangement.