The Church of England has failed to stamp out discrimination against women because it is misogynistic and attempting to protect an "old boy" and "closeted gay" network, a report by campaigners claimed yesterday.
The Group for Rescinding the Act of Synod (GRAS) said life has become hard for women priests since the Church legislation - designed to defuse the row over the ordination of women priests - was passed in 1993.
Some dioceses are becoming "no go" areas for women under the terms of the Act, which created "flying bishops" to tour the country attending to traditionalist worshippers, according to GRAS.
The Church of England's House of Bishops, which is chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, is presiding over a conspiracy of silence over female discrimination, according to GRAS.
The Act does not fall under parliamentary law but it is strongly adhered to within the church because it has the will of the powerful synod who passed it.
The report says: "There are a number of reasons - fear of conflict, misogyny, the bishop's wish to present a united front to the world, a devotion to the old boy network, or, in some cases, to a closeted gay network, laziness, indifference and excessive concern about what Rome thinks and the habitual stance of not taking women seriously."
Women have been denied promotion, ridiculed and abused by male colleagues in a deliberate attempt to undermine them while the church hides behind the fact that it is exempt from the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, it is claimed.
The Rev Mary Robins, national co-ordinator of GRAS, accused the bishops of "looking through a blind eye" by ignoring the discrimination and failing to publicly condemn it.
"We are asking bishops to look through their good eye," she said.