Church of England votes against allowing women bishops

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Yui Mok / Pool via APThe outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, center right, embraces an unidentified person after draft legislation introducing the first women bishops in the Church of England failed to receive final approval from the Church of England General Synod, at Church House in central London, on Nov. 20. By ReutersThe Church of England voted on Tuesday against legislation that would have allowed the ordination of women bishops, the culmination of more than 10 years of divisive debate.

Follow @NBCNewsWorld The General Synod, 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.

"It  was carried in the house of bishops and clergy, but lost in the house  of laity. The motion having been lost ... we do not proceed any  further," said Archbishop of York John Sentamu.

Women already  serve as Anglican bishops in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the  United States, but the Church of England, mother church for the world's  80 million Anglicans, has struggled to reconcile the dispute between  reformers and traditionalists on whether to allow them in England.

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