The Church of England's General Synod has passed legislation allowing the appointment of women bishops.
The change sees the simple addition of a sentence to Canon 33, which reads: "A man or a woman may be consecrated to the office of bishop."
The Very Rev Dr Jane Hedges, 58, Dean of Norwich, is predicted to become the first woman bishop.
The Ven Rachel Treweek, Archdeacon of Hackney, and the Very Rev Dr June Osborne, Dean of Salisbury Cathedral are also believed likely to become consecrated.
Other leading candidates include the Very Rev Vivienne Faull, Dean of York Minster.
Along with gay marriage, the issue of women bishops has dominated religious debate in England in recent years.
The first women were ordained in the Church of England in 1994, and they now make up about a third of clergy.
The plan to allow them to stand as bishops was derailed by just six votes cast by lay members in November 2012, causing shock and bitter recriminations within the Church of England and prompting threats of an intervention by Parliament.
The General Synod overwhelmingly backed legislation introducing the first women bishops in the Church of England in July and today's vote rubber-stamped the move.
The Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Rev Justin Welby said the church was starting "a completely new phase of our existence".
Speaking to reporters after the vote, he said: "It has taken a very, very long time and the way is now open to select people for the episcopacy, to nominate them on the basis simply of our sense that they are called by God to be in that position without qualification as to their gender."
He said that half of bishops could be women within 10-15 years.
"It depends how quickly people retire or die - I rather hope they retire and have a long and healthy retirement," he said.
"It has got to be 10 years, allowing for the fact that men will be nominated to some sees as well, and it could be longer.
"We are working very, very hard on training and development of people, men and women, for senior posts in the church.
"The aim is ... that you end up with a big pool of people where gender is irrelevant and that that pool is pretty evenly mixed.
"There is a very conscious effort to make it easy for Crown Nomination Commissions to be able to have a fair choice between men and women. And we are going to take this very very seriously."
