While Anglican women have not achieved full inclusion and representation in the life of the Communion, significant strides have been made in the last 30 years: of the 38 provinces, 21 have endorsed the ordination of women as priests and 3 ordain women as bishops.  Within the Anglican Communion, ordination is seen as a sign of gender equality and generally leads to better acceptance of laywomen in roles of responsibility.  As in the secular society, pay equity between women and men does not exist.

Since the majority of Anglicans in leadership are men, the issues of power and control remain preeminent.  It has been noted that “the four instruments of unity” for the Anglican Communion are the Archbishop of Canterbury, the 38 Primates (heads of provinces), the Lambeth Conference (some 700 bishops of which 16 are women – 12 in active service and 4 who have retired) and the Anglican Consultative Council (each province has representation, and of the 76 members only 16 are women).    These numbers – 815 leaders, but just 28 women – make it clear that Anglican women have a long way to go before achieving parity, and they demonstrate the importance of bringing women from the Anglican provinces as participants in the UNCSW.   We believe they will bring a different voice to the conversation; they are clear that the issues of peace and justice, of relief from poverty, of an end to the AIDS pandemic are at the heart of their ministry and the major expression of their faith commitment and their theology of concern for all of God’s people in every aspect of God’s world.