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The 2005 English Church Census asked for the age and gender of those attending church and showed that the proportions of the population attending at various ages were always greater for women than men, though virtually equal for those aged 15 to 19. See Figure 1.

... especially the women!

Looking specifically at those in their 30s and early 40s shows that only 5% of women aged 30 to 44 attend church regularly and even fewer men. This is a higher proportion than those aged 15 to 29, but lower than women aged 45 or over. How has this percentage changed over time? Figure 2 indicates.

Figure 2 shows that the proportion of both and women in both of the age-groups, 30 to 44 and 45 to 64, has been declining since 1989. However, it also shows that the proportion of women has been dropping faster than the percentage of men. Between 1989 and 2005 the percentage of women going to church aged 30 to 44 has dropped from 9.2% in 1989 to 5.0% in 2005, a drop of 4.2 points, while men have dropped from 6.4% to 3.9%, a drop of 2.5 points. Likewise for those aged 45 to 64, women have dropped from 11.8% of the population in 1989 to 6.9% in 2005, a drop of 4.9 points, while men have dropped from 8.3% to 5.1%, a drop of 3.2 points.

    Of the numbers who stopped attending church between 1998 and 2005 aged 30 to 44, 72% were women, and of those aged 45 to 64, 63% were women. “Stopped going to church”, however, is not really the correct description. “Attending less frequently” is actually what is happening, and Figure 3 shows a very clear dip in frequency of attendance, especially for those aged 30 to 44.

The same finding occurred in the 2002 Scottish Church Census, and Focus Groups held in conjunction with that study showed that many women in their 30s have to work to help pay for the mortgage, and looking after their home and (usually) small children becomes a huge time commitment, with church the only optional part of their life-style. As a consequence, many attend less often than they used to.

    Some churches, conscious of this pressure, are holding services at times more convenient for women, sometimes at say 4 o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, or perhaps one evening during the week. Circumstances will differ but the important element is trying to ensure that less frequent attendance now doesn’t lead to non attendance in a few years’ time “because the church doesn’t care”. We dare not lose our 30 year olds! - not least because there are even fewer churchgoers in the 20s.

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