From the BBC:
An advert for a vicar’s job which states only men can apply is the work of “crusty old misogynists”, it has been claimed.
The advert is backed by the Diocese of Oxford and appears on its website.
… The Diocese said a small proportion of parishes believe on theological grounds that their vicar should be a man.
The job advert states that St Barnabas and St Paul with St Thomas the Martyr Parish is seeking a male priest.
… Employers in the UK must comply with equal opportunities employment laws, which make discrimination due to gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity unlawful, but the church is exempt from this when there are theological grounds.
The full story is available here.
The advertisement is posted at the Diocese of Oxford website.
It seems a bit unusual to those of us on this side of the Atlantic to advertise rector/vicar positions in a way which many would likely consider blatantly sexist. However, it is not unprecedented. As recently as 2016, the Telegraph reported on a parish in the Diocese of Southwark which had requested a similar arrangement, complete with alternative episcopal oversight. While things have come a long way in terms of the resistance to women priests depicted by The Vicar of Dibley, there apparently is still work to be done.