Fifty years after the women's suffrage movement, females in this country have achieved many things. Many women hold top posts in the financial sector, have started their own businesses and have made considerable strides in politics. Bahamian women also outpace men as college graduates. Still there are a few glass ceilings they have not yet shattered. A woman has yet to hold the office of prime minister, be appointed commissioner of police or ascend to the post of an Anglican bishop. However, many in the Anglican community feel it's just a matter of time before that barrier is broken.

Two weeks ago, five of the eight Anglican dioceses of the West Indies - including the Diocese of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos - voted overwhelmingly in favor of women becoming bishops. It is expected that two more will also make the same decision. "Here in the west, we are part of the West Indian province and our province in its last meeting agreed in principle to the ordination of women, but will not proceed to make rules and regulations until six out of the eight dioceses have given the consent for it to happen," said retired Anglican Archbishop Bishop Drexel Gomez.

"So far we have five out of the eight and it is more than likely that two more will be coming forward shortly, so that when the Synod meets again in three years' time, most likely it will proceed to formally introduce the rules and regulations for the ordination of women as bishops." He continued, "In this diocese it means we'll have to wait, nothing like that could happen before the next three years. And that's not a major thing because there's not any likelihood of a bishop being appointed in the next three years."

Despite The Bahamas' support of the idea, Gomez said women would not automatically assume the post of bishops, as the process for appointment is a selective and painstaking one. "In our church we don't regard that as a right, the selection to be a bishop is not a human right," he told The Nassau Guardian. "It's something that is a vocation and a calling and you need the consent and approval of the Synod. "You have to start out as a deacon first and then you become a priest," he added. "Bishops are selected from priests but the selection process is one that goes through the Synod, names are put forward and the Synod votes.

Then you have to get two-thirds of the clergy and two-thirds of the laypeople to actually be appointed." The Church of England at its General Synod voted against the ordination of women bishops. The General Synod in England, the legislative body of the church which is made up of separate houses for bishops, clergy and laity, failed to reach the two-thirds majority required in all three houses to pass the measure. Gomez said the Church of England's decision has no bearing on the Bahamian diocese.

"Each province is autonomous so the decision in England is not binding on the other provinces. We already have three provinces - United States, Canada and New Zealand - who have been having women bishops for some time now," he said. "And South Africa has now agreed to proceed in that direction." Gomez said he did not think that appointing a female bishop to head the Anglican diocese would have much of an impact on the local community.

"I think we may see an increase in vocations and I think people will be interested just in having something new because it would be a novelty," he said. "But the overall direction, I don't see it making too much of a difference in terms of how the church functions." Anglican Bishop Laish Boyd has said that the debate has sent "shockwaves" throughout the Anglican community.

"There are those who will be opposed to the ordination of women and we have to accept that, and the church must always make room for those who have conscious objection," Boyd said recently. "However, it is important to note that here is something that the church, in many places, believes is the right step to take, allowing the participation in ministry of all of the members of the church, and we therefore celebrate the ongoing development." The bishop said the ordination of women is a move to break down barriers against church members. In 1999, The Bahamas ordained its first female Anglican deacon, Angela Palacious. Palacious is also the country's first female Anglican priest.

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