In an organisation that still moves in decades, if not centuries, it will be at least ten years before a woman becomes a bishop in England. But no amount of time will assuage the fears of traditionalists that the feminisation of the Church is under way.

The 1992 debate, on a cold February day, was heated, with clerics comforting those in tears as the vote to ordain women priests scraped the two-thirds majority required by only two votes, a victory given poignancy by the abstention of Valerie Bonham, an outspoken opponent whose support had been counted on by traditionalists.

Mrs Bonham has subsequently been ordained, one of more than 2,500 women priests. About 1,300 of the 9,000 stipendiaries are women. Nearly half of those training for the ministry are women.

Yesterday's debate was cooler than 1992, although the temperature in the non-air conditioned central hall at York University was in the 80s. There were a few gentle protests outside from supporters of women bishops, including one woman robed in purple and carrying a large wooden cross. Opponents such as Valerie Bryden, from the Durham Diocese, gave warning of "irreversible damage" if women became bishops.

But with so much of the opposition from 1992 now in the Roman Catholic or Orthodox churches, and with so many women in the Church of England speaking as ordained priests, the debate was less confrontational, less political than before.

There was still passion. The Rev Jennifer Thomas, of the Southwark Diocese, compared the debate to the struggle between Jacob and Esau over the stolen birthright. "Now women are claiming what is rightfully theirs," she said.

She added: "How can we speak to the nation about justice when we cannot organise ourselves in a just way?" The Very Rev June Osborne, Dean of Salisbury and the woman most likely to lead the procession of women to the bishoprics, described the legions of wise, much-loved women priests in her diocese. She said: "In another ten years it will be inconceivable to us that such women as those should not be considered as bishops."

The Rev David Phillips, of the St Albans Diocese and general secretary of the evangelical Church Society, said that the Church had "bought into" a cultural model in which men and women were treated as the same. "I do not believe the Church should be dictated to by our culture," he said.

Jane Pitts, a teacher from Formby, Merseyside, said: "Women now occupy pole positions in national life . . . if we continue to make entry qualifications to high office impossible for half of humankind, we should not be surprised if our message does not cut much ice with people used to seeing women in other high offices."

Fourteen of the 38 Anglican provinces worldwide have voted for women bishops, and they have been elected in Canada, the US and New Zealand.

The Right Rev Michael Langrish, the Bishop of Exeter, and the Right Rev Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London and the Church's most senior traditionalist, were not present for the debate. With such key opponents absent, it was clear that the mood of the synod was going to back women bishops. An unexpected intervention from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, effectively scuppered any remaining hopes of the backers of an amendment asking for time for more theological study.

He called for the synod, next time it meets, to move out of debating mode to "tease out" some of the issues in a non-confrontational setting.

Yesterday's debate needed a 50 per cent majority to begin the process of drawing up legislation. The bishops voted 41-6 in favour, the clergy 167-46 and the laity 159-75.

Over the next few years the issue will go to the dioceses and parishes for debate and will return repeatedly to synod. It could be eight years before synod is asked to approve the legislation, when it will require a two-thirds majority, and a further two years before the first woman is ordained a bishop.

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