By Fr. Gerald E. Murray, The Catholic Thing - Piqué then asked: “So now will one woman or all women vote?”... Pope Francis responded: “Everyone who is a participant in the synod is going to vote. He or she who is a guest or an observer is not going to vote. Whoever participates in the synod has the right to a vote. Be it a man or a woman. All, all. This word ‘all’ is key for me.”
So now lay men and women will be voting members of the Synod of Bishops, on an equal footing with the bishops. With this revamping, the Synod of Bishops has ceased to exist, and a new de facto entity has come into existence, the Synod of Bishops and Laity.