For the first time in its history, Sweden has more women priests than men, sixty years after the first female ordinations, AFP learned on Wednesday July 22 from the Church of Sweden.
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" Of the 3,060 priests currently serving in Sweden, 1,533 are women and 1,527 are men, " Cristina Grenholm, secretary of the Church of Sweden, told AFP, representing a proportion of 50.1% of women for 49.9% of men. Unlike the Catholic Church, the Swedish Lutheran Church, which ordained three women for the first time in 1960, has allowed women to become priests since 1958. In 1982, the Swedish Parliament passed a law removing the " conscience clause ". Which allowed priests to refuse any collaboration with a woman.
“ The parity came faster than we had imagined, ” says Cristina Grenholm. In 1990, a report estimated that the proportion of women in the Swedish clergy would not represent half of the priests until 2090. It finally took only thirty years.
Increase in female students in priestly teaching
One of the reasons for this phenomenon is the gradual increase in the proportion of female students in priestly education, particularly after the separation of Church and State, in 2000. In 2013, around 70% of Swedish students who underwent practical priestly training were women.
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“ Today, many parishes are trying to have both a man and a woman to say Mass during Sunday service, ” says Cristina Grenholm. “ Since we believe that God created human beings, both man and woman in his image, it is essential that we show it. If you exclude half of the experience of a woman's life, then you exclude a lot of things ”.
While the clergy in Sweden has reached parity, the pay gap between male and female priests remains on average 2,200 Swedish kronor, or about 215 euros per month, according to the specialist newspaper Kyrkans tidning. “ One of the explanations that can be given for this difference is that it concerns all the priests of the Swedish Church. But men still hold the highest hierarchical positions , ”emphasizes Cristina Grenholm. In Sweden, ministers of the Church of Sweden have the title of priest, while those serving in parishes outside the former State Church are called pastors.