by Christopher Brittain, Religion & Ethics
In the Netflix series The Chair, Ji-Yoon Kim (played by Sandra Oh) is the first woman appointed to lead the English department of a New England university. Many male members of the faculty actively work to undermine her (“Why is some Asian lady teaching Emily Dickinson?”). After she discovers state of crisis that the department is in, Ji-Yoon laments, “I don’t feel like I inherited an English department; I feel like someone handed me a ticking time bomb because they wanted to make sure a woman was holding it when it exploded.”
The series explores these dynamics, which are sometimes referred to as the “glass cliff” effect — which is to say, the pattern of promoting women to leadership positions in times of crisis when they are likely to fail.
When the Sarah Mullally accepted the recommendation of the Crown Nominations Commission to become 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, I have little doubt that she realised she was being handed a ticking time bomb. As Bishop of London, she had front row seats to the many tensions in the Church of England. Her substantial committee work would have made her painfully aware of the controversies around human sexuality in the church, and the horrible legacy of clerical abuse of children and institutional failures to respond adequately.
The fact, moreover, that many clergy in her own diocese would not recognise her episcopal authority because of her gender prepared her for opposition from some Anglican provinces in which women’s ordination is not accepted. Indeed, it is precisely her familiarity with this situation that makes her acceptance of the nomination rather remarkable.