A strong majority of Australian church attenders support women’s ordination.
Australian denominations and local churches take different positions on whether women are permitted to be ordained to vocations or roles that are open to men. Some denominations that do not permit women to be ordained to vocations or restrict them from roles open to men include the Catholic Church, some Anglican dioceses, the Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church, as well as some other denominations and movements.
Since 2001, the National Church Life Survey has asked church attenders from across 20 denominations (Protestant and Catholic) about their attitude to the “ordination of women to be ministers, pastors or priests”.
A strong majority of attenders in the 2021 NCLS (76%) had no issue with the ordination of women. This was made up of 43% who indicated that they supported women’s ordination enthusiastically, 29% who didn’t see any problem with it, and a further 3% indicating that they supported it but not for their church. Some 13% felt that it is inappropriate for women to be ordained, while 10% were unsure. A tiny proportion of attenders (0.3%) didn’t support ordination for either men or women.
Over 20 years, a majority of church attenders has supported the ordination of women (Table 1). Attenders became more enthusiastic in their views over a 25-year period, increasing from approximately 3 in 10 attenders in 2001 to 4 in 10 in 2021, while opposition decreased from around 2 in 10 attenders to 13% over the same period.
Church attender attitudes to the ordination of women 2001-2021
| |
|
|
Year |
|
|
| |
2001 |
2006 |
2011 |
2016 |
2021 |
| I support it enthusiastically |
29% |
31% |
36% |
43% |
43% |
| I support it but not for our church |
6% |
6% |
4% |
4% |
3% |
| I don't see any problem with it |
34% |
34% |
35% |
28% |
29% |
| It is not appropriate for women to be ordained |
22% |
19% |
17% |
13% |
13% |
| I don't support ordination for either men or women |
2% |
1% |
1% |
1% |
0% |
| Unsure |
7% |
8% |
7% |
10% |
10% |
| Total |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
Source: 2001 Attender Survey M (n=2,378), 2006 Attender Survey K (n=2,768), 2011 Attender Survey I (n=1,378), 2016 Attender Survey L (1,302), 2021 Attender Survey K (n=1,013).
Differences in attitudes by denomination and gender
In 2016-2021 a majority of women and men across denominational groups either supported women's ordination enthusiastically or did not have a problem with it. However, attitudes differed significantly by denomination and gender.
Overall, women were more strongly in support than men, and this was also the case for Anglicans and Pentecostals. Some 59% of Anglican women were enthusiastic supporters compared with 48% of Anglican men, while 61% of Pentecostal women and 49% of Pentecostal men supported enthusiastically. Gender differences among other denominations were not statistically significant. (NB. Statistical power was low for gender comparisons within some denominations, due to small subsamples.)
Comparing denominations, support for women’s ordination was highest among Uniting Church attenders (93%) followed by Pentecostals (86%), and lowest among Catholics (63%, not including those who supported it but not for their church).
Download the FactSheet
This article is taken from the Fact Sheet: Pepper, M. (2023). Church attender attitudes to the ordination of women. NCLS Research Fact Sheet 23002. Sydney: NCLS Research.
