The Church of Scotland has appointed a panel of Assembly Trustees to oversee major reforms agreed this week, amid a row over the lack of women chosen.
The Kirk's General Assembly chose nine men and three women to make up the powerful body, after 28 men and only six women were nominated.
However a proposal by former moderator Dr Alison Elliot which would have ensured an equal gender balance when the Trustees are chosen next year was voted down.
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Dr Elliot said she was disappointed that the gender balance was so poor. "Gender does matter. It is well accepted in many walks of life that if you have a balanced board in terms of gender you get better decisions," she said.
She said she understood the difficulty of appointing the Assembly Trustees at short notice, but called for the Kirk's selection committee to ensure that there were equal numbers of men and women next year.
This would have meant that the three men and one woman stepping down next year would all have to be replaced by women.
The Rev Dr John McCulloch, of St Andrew's Scots Memorial Church in Jerusalem, backing Dr Elliot's motion, said: "What message does it give to the wider Kirk and society when only three of the assembly trustees are women? Obviously the [selection] process has failed us on the gender balance."
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But the Reverend Dr Klaus Buwert argued against affirmative action. "We should choose the best people for the job - that could be 12 men, or 12 women", he said. "An artificial quota means men will have to be replaced by men and women will have to be replaced by women."
The convener of the Kirk's nomination committee the Very Rev Dr Russell Barr said the committee would be happy to accept Dr Elliot's amendment. However in an electronic vote, the Assembly rejected the proposal to achieve a better balance, by 270 votes to 236.
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