By George Conger, Anglican Ink.
The Diocese of Exeter has issued a revised Clergy Work-Life Balance Menopause Policy, effective 1 June 2026, extending its provisions not only to female clergy but also to “non-binary, trans or” those “who have undergone gender reassignment treatment” — acknowledging, with commendable bureaucratic delicacy, that biological males who identify as women may find themselves navigating the hormonal complexities of menopause.
The policy, approved by the Bishop of Exeter and his senior team and owned jointly by the Bishop of Crediton and the Diocesan Director of People Services, covers all clergy licensed or otherwise authorised for ministry in the diocese — ordained or lay, stipendiary or self-supporting, cathedral clergy, archdeacons, and bishops alike.
To be fair to Exeter, the policy presented here is sensible and humane. Menopause is a genuine and often debilitating experience for women in ministry. The NHS estimates that six out of ten women report menopausal symptoms that negatively impact their work, and clergy life — with its irregular hours, public duties, uncomfortable church buildings, and the expectation that one will preach coherently through a hot flash — presents its own particular challenges.
The policy helpfully outlines a range of reasonable adjustments: desk fans, flexible scheduling around medical appointments, reduced high-visibility duties during acute symptoms, temperature and ventilation accommodations, and access to pastoral counselling through the Churches’ Ministerial Counselling Service. Archdeacons and Rural Deans are instructed to approach these matters with sympathy, confidentiality, and — one hopes — a certain pastoral grace.
All of that is well and good, and maybe, long overdue.
It is, however, in the document’s opening pages that the Diocese boldly ventures into more theologically and biologically adventurous territory.