The heart of the beast
There was a debate on the committee organising the International Women's Day march and rally in Brisbane this year, regarding the "desirability" of asking representatives of the Movement for the Ordination of Women to speak from the official platform. It was strenuously argued, by a majority of the committees members, that since the Christian religion both teaches and practises "patriarchy", feminists should not be seen to support active members of Christian churches.
Following a heated argument, it was eventually decided that an MOW activist would speak after the march, on a smaller "open" platform, so that the committee would not be seen to be endorsing what she was saying. As so often is the case, the compromise was satisfactory to no-one, especially not to me and others wishing to throw full feminist support behind the MOW.
The MOW speaker, I think, was one of the most powerful and inspiring of the day, and she received thunderous applause from the crowd of women who gathered to hear her speak. She had never before, she said, been on an IWD march, and she found the experience powerful and uplifting.
For many years she had provided morning and afternoon teas for male priests and laity as they discussed the life of her church and decided upon its policies and practices. Since she had joined the MOW, she had learned that she had the capacity to make her own contributions, on social justice, gender equality, interpretation of the Bible and inclusive language and practice in church ceremonies.
As we heard her speak, many of us realised that what we were witnessing was the powerful surfacing of feminism in one of the fundamental social institutions, and the result of many years of struggle by women like the speaker within the churches.
The struggle continued last week when the Reverend Dr Bill Lawson moved in the Sydney synod of the Anglican Church to open the way for women priests to be ordained in those dioceses wishing to do so. The motion was opposed by 65% of clergy and 57% of laity, convinced by the Reverend Canon Peter Jensen's interpretation of the Bible which holds that "a woman is not permitted to teach or have authority over a man".
This is a disappointment, but Sydney has always been a conservative synod, and the motion's defeat was far from a landslide. The real landmark will be general synod in November, at which a motion allowing the ordination of women will be
considered, and at which Sydney could well find itself isolated.
Since the eruption over Bishop Dowling's attempt to ordain women in Canberra in December 1991, the ensuing court challenges and the eventual ordination of Australia's first female Anglican priests in Perth in March, there has been little public debate over the issue. The MOW and its supporters have been busy within the church, however, lobbying for support at the November general synod.
As our MOW speaker said at the Brisbane IWD rally, it was the example of secular feminists which gave women active in the church the will to assert their rights within their chosen sphere, and it will be the continuing solidarity of feminists that will give them the strength to continue. As one of the last bastions of total, legally condoned and protected male dominance in the world, the church is a particularly difficult sphere in which to struggle for women's rights. Those who strike at the heart of the beast deserve our unstinting support in all their coming battles.
By Karen Fredericks