If you are a woman with hopes of becoming a priest within the Anglican Church of Australia there are a number of dioceses across the country that will allow you to climb the ranks and hold this leadership position.

Key points: A Newcastle Anglican church has ordained a female priest for the first time in its 160-year history

A Newcastle Anglican church has ordained a female priest for the first time in its 160-year history The Anglican dioceses of Sydney, Armidale, North West Australia and the Murray do not allow women to lead parishes as priests

The Anglican dioceses of Sydney, Armidale, North West Australia and the Murray do not allow women to lead parishes as priests The belief only men should be priests and bishops is based on a Bible reading but there are calls for greater equality among church leaders

But for those in the Sydney, Armidale, North West Australia and the Murray diocese, you will have to move if you want to pursue that dream because it is not authorised in these areas.

A Sydney reverend has done just that, which has led to the oldest church in the New South Wales city of Newcastle ordaining its first female priest in its near 160-year history.

Reverend Kimberly Sawyer was previously a deacon but has never been allowed to become a priest, so the highest role she served at her former parish of Hunter's Hill was senior assistant minister.

She made the move to the Hunter region to change that and accepted a position as the minister in charge at St John's Anglican Church in Cooks Hill.

Reverend Sawyer was ordained this week at a history-making commissioning ceremony and is looking forward to taking on her new role.

She said there is more work to be done to achieve equality among church leaders.

"I've always supported the equal opportunity of women in ministry, I was the first ordained person to a school chaplaincy position as a woman so yes I do think this is changing slowly and it needs to continue to change," Reverend Sawyer said.

"I've always tried to represent women and men, all people, but be a role model as much as I can as a woman fully utilising her gifts in the ministry."

Supporting female church leaders

The Newcastle Diocese has employed female deacons for more than 30 years and has been ordaining women as priests for more than 25, but it is the first time a woman will lead the St John's Cooks Hill parish.

The Bishop of Newcastle, Peter Stuart, said there has been an ongoing conversation in the Anglican Church of Australia for nearly 50 years about whether women are able to exercise leadership in church communities.

"The Anglican Diocese of Newcastle fully supports the leadership of women, we have a woman Assistant Bishop Sonia Roulston, the dean of the cathedral is a woman and we've got a number of other women leading parishes," he said.

Bishop Peter Stuart said the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle fully supports female leaders in the church. ( Supplied: Anglican Diocese of Newcastle )

"We believe it's the right way forward, as does the majority of the Anglican Church of Australia, but there are some dioceses in New South Wales, Sydney and Armidale, who don't support the ordination of women."

According to the Bible

The Archdeacon for Women's Ministry at the Sydney Diocese, Kara Hartley, believes there are plenty of opportunities for women, but the reason they cannot be ordained as priests and bishops comes from the Bible.

Archdeacon of Women's Ministry Kara Hartley believes women have plenty of opportunities within the Anglican Church. ( Supplied: Kara Hartley )

"It comes down to our understanding that the leadership of priests and bishops in the church is given over to men, it's a reading of theological understanding, a reading of the Bible and so we continue to hold to that," she said.

The Archdeacon said she cannot predict what will happen in the future but there is no appetite for this to change.

"That doesn't lessen or create inequality between men and women and I think that's an important distinction to make — we don't see a rising through ranks of church life as somehow making people more or less equal," she said.

The Sydney Diocese is celebrating 30 years of women being deacons this year.

Meantime, the Bishop of Armidale, Rick Lewers, told the ABC he agrees with the Archdeacon's explanation as to why women are not ordained as priests in his diocese.

He said while this is the belief he and his clergy uphold it is not done to deliberately disrespect or dishonour women.