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Interview 9
Originally from Sheffield, the Reverend Kate Bottley is a priest in North Nottinghamshire. She is passionate about bringing stories of faith and belief to the widest audience possible. Kate was not raised in a church-going family, and only started going to church because she fancied the local vicar’s son. They have been married since 1998 and have two children.
In 2012 Kate was part of a wedding flashmob video which went viral with over 7 million hits on YouTube. This led to her being approached by Channel 4’s BAFTA and NTA winning series Gogglebox. Kate currently presents Good Morning Sunday on BBC Radio 2 alongside Jason Mohammed. She previously presented The Sunday Hour (BBC Radio 2) and has appeared as a contributor on Saturday Breakfast with Dermot O’Leary and Pause for Thought on Chris Evans’ Breakfast Show, for which she won a Jerusalem Award. She has also fronted the documentary Believing in Beauty (BBC Radio 2).
Kate has written for a variety of newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, The Independent, Saga Magazine and the Radio Times. She is currently taking a break from full-time parish ministry but continues to take church services and officiate at weddings and funerals as part of a wider remit which includes writing and broadcasting projects.
(Biography provided by overturehq.com, questions by Amy Norton, answers by Kate Bottley)
Do you consider yourself a feminist? If so, what led you to realise?
Yes. My mum held down about eight jobs when I was little when my dad was made redundant. Despite the fact that my mum was illiterate at that point, she was a school cleaner, she cleaned in a dentist surgery, sewed curtains for schools and all sorts of stuff to keep the family going. I just thought it seemed like women were as strong and as powerful as anyone else. I also remember my mum asking me to do some ironing once when I was a teenager and I said: “you never ask my brother” and she said: “no because he's a boy”, and that made me quite cross.
Name a woman who has significantly influenced your life and how.
It has to be my mum for lots of reasons, both good and bad. I remember my mum constantly worrying about the way she looked and what she weighed. I remember my mum being given her housekeeping money by my dad on Thursday nights. She is a really strong working-class Yorkshire woman, but still had those kinds of parameters put on her.
Share a pivotal moment in your career.
I was made a Canon of the church a couple of years ago, which is an honour like a Knighthood. It felt like all of a sudden, I was 'proper'. Which was great because I go into to lots of rooms where there are lots of cis-gendered, white, privileged men that have been to the ‘right universities’ and I don't always fit in those spaces. When I was made of Canon it was like somebody saying: “no, you are proper”, and that made me feel very powerful.
Could you talk about an incident in your career where you felt you were treated differently because of your sex?
I get my bottom pinched as a Vicar quite a lot, as well as getting patted on the head. I remember a gentleman patting me on the bottom at a funeral once, and that wound me up. When I started in my first job as a Vicar in parish somebody asked me how old I was. I avoided the question, but they said: “I think you’re younger than my daughter”. I got lots of questions about how I was going to do what I have to do as a job and not cry: “How are you going to bury people and not cry?” I suspect they’re not asking the boys that question.
If you could have dinner with three women (alive or dead), who would it be and why?
Two of them would be my grandmother's. One of my grandmothers died a few years ago and I'd like to have dinner with her as young woman. My other grandmother -who I'm named after- died when I was little, so I didn't know her as an adult. For the third one I'm perhaps supposed to say someone like Pankhurst or Emily Wilding Davison, but I’d quite like Kylie Minogue.
What's the book that you always recommend to people and why?
‘God Is Not a White Man’ by Chine McDonald is a book I’m obsessed by at the moment. It’s all about a black woman’s experience of the divine and I think it's great.
Tell us about something that makes you angry.
All things that make everybody else angry: inequality, sexism, misogyny, and patriarchy. But one of the things that really makes me angry is the way that when I'm in the shower if I notice the shower is a bit grubby, I give it a little clean round, and no one else in the house seems to do that!
Share with us your favourite album and why?
I’m probably supposed to quote something really worthy and intelligent, but the new Steps album was great. The Harry Styles album was brilliant too, the one where he’s got pink trousers on the front cover.
Could you give us an example of everyday sexism you have faced recently?
Being called ‘Lady Vicar’ and ‘good girl’ all the time. I’m 47, I’ve got two kids and a mortgage, leave me alone!
Is there an issue facing women today that you feel most concerned about?
Patriarchy is so massive where do you even start? But I’d say the changes in abortion rules in America. I'm very much pro-choice and I believe that as Christians we should stand alongside women that find themselves in those situations. My husband had a vasectomy not so long ago and there were campaigners outside the clinic telling him that he was evil. I find that whole thing of people lurking outside clinics really bizarre, it makes me ashamed to be a Christian.
What advice would you give to your eighteen-year-old self?
I wouldn't dream of telling my eighteen-year-old self what to do, she can make her own mistakes. I would just tell her that she's really loved and completely gorgeous.
Tell us something few people know about you.
I can get my whole fist in my mouth. True story.
I'd like to say a big thank you to Kate for taking the time to do this! If you would like to read more in the interview series, click the links below.