Gender equity and women’s roles in church leadership and decision-making provided a challenge to Te Hīnota Whānui on Tuesday 21 May during a morning wānanga on women’s leadership.

The wānanga began with a litany lamenting the Church’s failures to recognise the leadership, decision-making rights and rangatiratanga of women in this Church over the last 210 years, and giving thanks for all the good that women have brought to the Church and been given by it. 

The litany featured high points in the achievements of female Anglican leaders across Tikanga Māori, Pākehā and Polynesia, particularly focusing on a number of firsts, such as the ordinations of women as priests and bishops. 

The wānanga then heard from a panel of female Anglican leaders comprised of: Bolivia Smith (Polynesia), Hera Clark (Archbishops’ Commissary for Reconciliation and Restoration),  Colleen Kaye (Waiapu Diocesan Registrar) and Bishop Anashuya Fletcher (Asst Bishop of Wellington).

Bolivia Smith shared her vision of a Church that would see the flourishing of women’s leadership, which she believes would require some key characteristics:
- Inclusive leadership, where women’s presence is in all levels of leadership, not just ordained leadership, but in the high levels of decision making.
- Affirmation of the Church's teaching on the equality of men and women, recognising biblical teachings as the basis of women's roles within the ministry
- Mentors, scholarship and development programmes for women and men mentoring and developing women’s leadership spiritually and professionally in a safe and supporting environment. 

The full livestream of the wānanga panel and presentations is available to view on Youtube and Facebook.

Later on Tuesday afternoon, Synod was asked to vote on Motion 9 as moved by Jessica Hughes (Diocese of Auckland) and Rev Dr Anne van Gend (Diocese of Dunedin), which called for celebrations of the 50th anniversary of women’s ordination in this Church, requesting that General Synod Standing Committee find resources to support planning for a churchwide celebration in three years’ time.

“Marking this anniversary in 2027 is an opportunity for us to reflect on, review, and renew our commitment to gender justice and gender equality…[and to] celebrate and give thanks for the many people who have been involved in this work.” said Jessica Hughes in her mover’s speech.

Seconder to the motion, Rev Dr Anne van Gend spoke on teaching ordinands about female disciples in the New Testament, pointing to the leadership ministries of Phoebe, Prisca and Junia in Romans 16. She remarked that even today many who support women’s ordained ministry don’t realise its biblical origins.

Rev Clare Barrie rose to speak in support of the motion, and for the first time in more than a decade, called for gender caucuses to allow the discussion to continue in different gender spaces. 

When Te Hīnota returned from their respective caucuses, mover Jessica Hughes reported that the women’s caucus had honoured the mahi of women who'd gone before them, celebrated women’s achievements and shared personal stories of discrimination or hope.

“It was really valuable in that it was an opportunity for the women to share their celebrations, but also their deep frustrations.”

“Almost 50 years on from the first ordination of women to the priesthood, a lot of the same issues are still present. And that really came through.” 

Norma Evans from Kaitaia in Te Hui Amorangi o Te Tai Tokerau, enjoyed seeing women up front and speaking in the wānanga, but felt that in her rohe the environment for wāhine was different. 

“Our kaumātua always make space for women to speak. Everybody is like one big family, everybody gathers round and supports, babies and all. Everybody is given a job to do and you don’t worry about the kids or the moko, because somebody else is looking after them.”

Norma observed that things might be different for women in other tikanga. 

“For some tauiwi [non-Māori] the women can’t lead because no one is going to look after their kids, because it’s only their husbands who are their support people.”

Jessie McLeod from Timaru in the Diocese of Christchurch said it surprised her how widely people’s opinions differed on how to distribute women’s leadership.

“Some people were saying it’s a CV (Curriculum Vitae) thing, and others were saying it’s about representation.”

Archdeacon Mere Wallace spoke about women’s leadership in Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa saying that she sees Tikanga Māori as about halfway there already. 

“We do have women in all senior roles across our tikanga.  And we have a vision of flourishing for all, which is Te Oranga Ake.” 

Jessie appreciated hearing from other women in her wānanga group.

“One member of my group said that at times in the past she had wondered whether she was a ‘diversity hire’, so whether she was being valued for her own skills and abilities, or because she was a woman of colour.”

Jessie’s mind was clear on the real barrier to women’s leadership.

“For me the biggest thing to change would be the unconscious bias, reversing that would have a massive impact.”

Following the gender caucuses the Rev Canon Michael Wallace, Rev Dr Hirini Kaa and Fe'iloakitau Kaho Tevi presented a statement from the men’s caucus that included a recognition of the need to work on biases against women.

“We acknowledged our need as men to gather and to attend to our attitudes toward women, both in our chosen and unconscious behaviour toward women.”

“As men of General Synod we acknowledge that often women's leadership has been undermined and attacked by men. We repent of this behaviour and commit to encouraging and supporting women's leadership at all levels of the church.” 

Rev Ruihana Paenga reported back from the women’s caucus that it had been a time of storytelling and listening, and the women of Te Hīnota Whānui acknowledged that much work remains to be done.

Following the gender caucuses, Motion 9 passed unanimously, which will now empower the Council of Anglican Women’s Studies to resource the work on celebrations of the 50^th anniversary of women’s ordination in this province, with the support of General Synod Te Hīnota Whānui Standing Committee.