At TWF, we hope he will follow through - the Catholic church does not ordain women as clergy and has been a male bastion for too long. As Katharine Keneally, a self confessed Catholic feminist, wrote in the Guardian to the Pope: “Until women are included on our own merits, ordained as priests and bishops in the church, you head up a sexist institution where equality is denied, where talents are unused, theology is flawed and ministry is left undone”. 

The Catholic church is not alone of course – other religions have also been reluctant to open their leadership ranks to women. This Weekend’s FT carried a profile of Asma Bhol, an imaamah or female imam who leads Friday prayers at the Inclusive Mosque Initiative in London which welcomes people of any gender, sexuality or minority on equal terms. As the FT notes, the Koran doesn’t specifically say anything about whether or not women can be imaamahs. In practice, the current mainstream view in Muslim communities is that it’s fine for a woman to lead prayers for other women but a woman leading a mixed congregation in prayer tends to make some people uncomfortable. As Asma says, she has learnt to accept not being accepted. 

Closer to home, St John’s Cathedral has two female reverends – Catherine Graham, the Cathedral Chaplain, and Jenny Nam who was the first Chinese woman to be ordained a deacon in the Anglican Church of Canada 30 years ago. 

In a world where so much violence against women – from honour killings to female genital mutilation to arranged child marriages - continues to be condoned in the name of religion, we hope that by women having a greater voice in the review of the content and application of religious codes, these will finally be reformed to bring them in line with current societal norms that women are not chattels and women can be just as effective as men as leaders.