Methodist Church is rife with sexism where women are ‘belittled’ by lewd men with a ‘misogynistic and toxic’ attitude, inquiry finds
- The review concluded the Methodist Church was ‘not seen as a safe place’
A culture of sexism is rife within the Methodist Church with women being ‘belittled’ by lewd men with a ‘misogynistic and toxic’ attitude, a report has revealed.
The internal review concluded the Methodist Church was ‘not seen as a safe place’ and criticised senior leaders for a ‘failure to respond’ to allegations of abusive or discriminatory behaviour.
The report by former Labour MP Meg Munn, who works with churches on safeguarding policies, has been seen by The Times.
It reported the review stated: ‘Some victims and survivors told me that there is a culture of sexism within the Methodist Church. In the words of one woman, the culture is ‘misogynistic and toxic’.
‘This included commenting on clothing, inappropriate touching, lewd remarks and demeaning asides, sometimes of an explicit nature. Women spoke of being belittled by men.’
(Stock Image) A culture of sexism is rife within the Methodist Church with women being ‘belittled’ by lewd men with a ‘misogynistic and toxic’ attitude, a report has revealed
Church leaders must ‘seek to understand why the church continues to be unsafe’, the report added. It noted that ‘most of the leaders in the church are male’, adding: ‘Some men are comfortable with having that privilege and are content to benefit from it.’
There are 164,000 active members in 4,004 Methodist churches in Britain.
A copy of the report was leaked to The Times as it was not due to be made public.
It was commissioned after Rev Steven Wild, the chairman of a regional Methodist district, was suspended in September 2021.
No details were given for the reason, but last year Wild said in a statement he was ‘deeply saddened’ at his treatment by the church, adding: ‘I categorically deny that I have ever – or would ever – intentionally behave in a way that would bring the church that I have loved and faithfully served for over 40 years into disrepute.’
A spokesperson for the Methodist Church said yesterday: ‘We recognise that there are reported incidents of sexism and misogyny within our church and properly listening and responding to those who have been abused still needs to improve.
‘The report was commissioned so we can better understand how our processes effect those involved in them, particularly how we have failed those who have not been heard when they have complained and how we can address this behaviour when it happens.
‘We will continue to work to make sure everyone understands abuse of any kind is not acceptable in our churches. As part of this report we spoke to many survivors, and we are grateful that they were willing to describe their experiences as this will better inform our work in the future.
‘Alongside this work in safeguarding, we have also introduced a service for people who have experienced discrimination or abuse, brought in analysis of equality and diversity data that will help us identify patterns of abuse, and developed an anti-bullying policy as part of the on-going review of our safeguarding policy.
‘We will study the recommendations of this report carefully and use them as we continue our work to improve our response to survivors of abuse.’
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