Male domination in the leadership of the Church of England is coming to an end, as the 500-year-old institution consecrates its first female bishop.

The Rev. Libby Lane becomes the eighth Bishop of Stockport in a service Monday at York Minster. Her consecration comes after the church ended a long and divisive dispute by voting last year to allow women to serve as bishops.

Lane has dismissed criticism that her appointment is merely a symbolic gesture, saying that she may be "the first, but I won't be the only."

A saxophone player and soccer fan, Lane was one of the first women to become a Church of England priest. She was ordained in 1994. Her husband is also a priest.