The Hour of the Female Vicars?

Even the Confessing Church granted female vicars only limited authority. Limited ordination at least was attained in Berlin-Brandenburg by 1937.

Assembled in Hamburg-Hamm in November of 1941, the 10th Confessional Synod of the Evangelical Church of the Old Prussian Union decided against ordaining female vicars until the issue of their service in the church had been fully resolved.

A special office of ministry for women prevailed at the 11th Confessional Synod in October of 1942 in Hamburg. The synod decided that if a congregation were lacking a pastor, efforts should first be made to have a neighboring pastor or lay minister fill in. Should there be none, then church leadership would have to declare a state of emergency. Only then could church services be held with reading sermons or even a freely preaching female vicar. The Old Prussian Council of Brethren ratified these decisions on November 10, 1942.

Not until January 1, 1978 did women receive full equal legal status in the office of ministry in every Protestant regional church, except for Schaumburg-Lippe (not before 1991).