The study into the effects of ten years of women priests also found that most women were still unable to break through the Church’s “stained glass ceiling”, with women under-represented as incumbents and in senior jobs and over-represented in unpaid, non-stipendiary posts.

The report, by Ian Jones, research associate at the Lincoln Theological Institute, shows the high degree of acceptance of the 1992 vote to ordain women priests since the first ordinations took place in 1994. It indicates the favourable experiences that most lay people and clergy have had of women priests.

The report comes from no particular wing of the Church but is an objective, academic look at how women are perceived in the parishes. It found that the laity at least are overwhelmingly in favour, but some problems remain.

One fifth of the Church of England’s 9,000 stipendiary priests and 1,600 non-stipendiaries are now women. Half of those in training for the priesthood are women. So the proportion in the ordained ministry will continue to increase. The most senior woman is Canon June Osborne, recently installed as Dean of Salisbury.

Of the 44 dioceses, including Europe, only one, Sodor and Man, has no women priests. Hereford has the highest proportion, with nearly one third of its clergy now women.

With parishes allowed legally to vote against a woman being appointed vicar, or being allowed to celebrate Communion, the report found prejudice remained, even though in most parishes and dioceses they were widely accepted and their gifts welcomed.

Women found it harder to get jobs as incumbents — clergy with the freehold or a “job for life” — and were deployed disproportionately in non-stipendiary posts. Some deaneries were considered “no-go areas” for women and one diocese had not licensed a woman curate since 1998.

Opponents said this was “only to be expected” because generations of churchgoers had implicitly expected their clergy to be male. Others said that women would never be accepted as church leaders “because churchgoers instinctively knew that leadership was not a woman’s role”. A few said that women were “simply not designed for the job”.

Over a six-month period, more than two thirds of women priests reported that they had been “ignored or treated rudely” by fellow male clergy who did not believe women should be priests. Nearly as many received similar treatment at the hands of the laity. Four in five women priests had encountered a lay person who refused to receive Communion from them at the altar.

The most common difficulties arose in relationships with senior clergy. However, the study concludes that working relationships between clergy are nowhere near breakdown. The impression was of “occasional problems and tension” rather than an unrelenting atmosphere of hostility.

Researchers carried out case studies of three dioceses and three deaneries, as well as twenty-two individual congregations. They surveyed nearly 1,000 clergy and churchgoers and also conducted in-depth interviews with 22 bishops, 60 clergy and 65 lay people.

The survey shows that 81 per cent of clergy support the decision to ordain women priests, with higher levels of support in the congregations. The support for women priests has increased over the past decade, with many worshippers unable to understand why women were not already priests. Nearly seven out of ten clergy also supported the idea of women bishops.

Martyn Percy, director of the theological institute, based at Manchester University, says in the preface to the 250-page report: “For some, this has been a turbulent and troublesome chapter in the life of the Church. For others, it has marked a new beginning, flecked with hope and promise.” One senior woman priest, Canon Judy Hunt, residentiary canon at Chester Cathedral, said: “The progress that has happened in the last ten years has been immense, but there are still more male clergy than female ones and so not everyone has come across female clergy yet.”

THE HARD ROAD FROM DIBLEY TO ST PAUL’S

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• DIY video helps the WI get to grips with sex
• Artists urge nation to save Titians
• Go home, Iraqi leader tells Britain