Mormon Beliefs: Mormon Women

When Jesus Christ lived on the earth, He treated women with respect. He honored their spirituality, their desire to learn the gospel, their traditional roles as homemakers, and their friendship. He first revealed His divinity to a woman and He first revealed His resurrected self to a woman.

From the beginning of time, God has shown us that women had important roles to play in the progression of the gospel. However, these roles were not always the same ones men played. Even though God assigned Adam and Eve different roles, He never made one more important than the other. By referring to Eve as Adam’s helpmeet, he made it clear their relationship was to be an equal partnership, with differing, but complimentary, roles.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are sometimes referred to as Mormons. Mormon women have always played essential roles in their church and in their families, roles that sometimes differed from those of men but were just as important. The church leadership has emphasized the sacredness of the woman’s place in the Kingdom of God and women in the church hold many essential and powerful positions of leadership and service.

Very early in the church’s history, the women approached Joseph Smith with an idea for organizing a benevolent society based on those popular in society at that time. Joseph praised their plans but suggested a larger scope for their program. While they would indeed focus on service to others, they would also incorporate education, self-reliance, and other important principles into their program. He organized the Female Relief Society (now simply known as Relief Society) as an official church auxiliary and said the church had not been fully organized until the women were organized.

Although the organization was at that time limited in its membership, today membership is automatic for all adult women. The scope of the program has grown dramatically over time. Relief Society women have run hospitals and other charitable organizations. They have raised and stored wheat, which was then sold at a very low cost to the United States government during severe shortages. They currently operate a world-wide literacy program that is changing lives for Mormons and non-Mormons alike.

Mormon pioneer women faced unusual challenges. There was much work to be done and there were not always enough men to do the traditional men’s chores. In addition, in those days married men often served missions and were away for years at a time. Their wives and daughters often had to take over their work. Women and girls drove wagons, herded sheep, cared for horses, raised bees, and worked the fields alongside husbands, fathers, and brothers.

Following are some responsibilities teenage girls were assigned to do to earn achievement badges in their youth program:

• Care successfully for a hive of bees for one season and know their habits.
• Sleep out-of-doors or with wide-open windows.
• During three consecutive months, abstain from candy, ice cream, commercially manufactured beverages, and chewing gum.
• Clear sagebrush, etc. off of a half acre of land.
• Care for at least two kerosene lamps daily.
• Without help or advice, care for and harness a team of horses at least five times; drive 50 miles in one season.
• Identify 12 kinds of lace and tell the reasonable price and appropriate use of each.
• During two weeks, keep the house free from flies or destroy at least 25 flies daily. (See Young Women History.)

Mormon women in pioneer times often had full-time careers, and those careers were often ones traditionally handled by men. Brigham Young thought it foolish to bar women from any career they chose and he often asked women with specific skills to learn careers not normally held by women. Under his direction, women became doctors, magazine editors, and even politicians. Mamie Wooley became the second American women to serve as a mayor and Martha Cannon, a doctor, became the first senator in Utah. She ran as a Democrat. Her husband was the Republican candidate who ran against her and cheerfully lost.

Mormon women had long had suffrage, but when the federal government took over the state, the governor promptly removed those rights from the women. Naturally, they didn’t take kindly for this, and the Relief Society added political activism to its activities. Many Relief Societies formed suffrage organizations and some traveled east with the support and funding of their husbands, including one wife of Brigham Young. Emmaline B. Wells, a magazine editor and one of six wives married to Daniel B. Wells, frequently traveled to the east to fight for women’s rights and became close friends with Susan B. Anthony. When women finally began winning the right to vote, Utah was the second state to give their women the right to vote, although in this case they were merely restoring that right.

This pioneering spirit has carried on into modern times. Mormon women have always been expected to take on whatever task is required of them, whether or not it is their traditional role. While Mormon women are often fairly traditional, they are not locked into those roles. While they are taught their primary concern is the care of their family, women who find it necessary can and do work outside the home as needed.

Within today’s church, women hold leadership positions at many levels from the local congregational level to the international level. The Relief Society, the Young Women’s program for teen girls, and the Primary program for children are all headed by women at every level. This means the head of these organizational levels is leading an organization far larger than most large corporations. Men may serve in the Primary and may assist in the Relief Society’s literacy program, but they are not permitted to head those organizations. In the same respect, women are not permitted to lead some organizations. This allows significant opportunity for leadership for both genders.

Women do not hold the priesthood, which means they cannot serve as apostles and prophets. Nor can they serve as bishops (pastors.) It should be noted, however, that Mormons have a lay church and work is done by unpaid volunteers. A bishop, who is required to put in at least twenty hours a week of church work, is not paid for this responsibility, and so there is no loss of income.

When we read the Bible, we note that God has always given men and women specific duties. The priesthood of Aaron, formed in Old Testament time, was not given to women. In fact, only male members of one family could hold the priesthood and they had to be without blemish or disability. When Jesus Christ organized His church, he chose only men to be His apostles because they held the priesthood and the women did not. In fact, God chose His Son, not a daughter, to be the Savior. Some duties are reserved for men. Other choice duties, such as giving birth, are reserved for women. This does not suggest God values his daughters less than He values His sons. It is simply the division of duties. The various priorities of the genders are of equal value even though they are different. Although women don’t hold the priesthood, which is a position of service, they have many other ways to serve.

Within the homes of Mormons, husbands are taught that marriage is an equal partnership and that being the head of the household does not mean being the boss. A man presides through his example, not through force. When decisions are to be made, the husband and wife work together with God to make them.

“Genesis 3:16 states that Adam is to “rule over” Eve, but this doesn’t make Adam a dictator. A ruler can be a measuring tool that sets standards. Then Adam would live so that others may measure the rightness of their conduct by watching his. Being a ruler is not so much a privilege of power as an obligation to practice what a man preaches. Also, over in “rule over” uses the Hebrew bet, which means ruling with, not ruling over. If a man does exercise “dominion … in any degree of unrighteousness” (D&C 121:37; emphasis added), God terminates that man’s authority.

Perhaps because false teachings had twisted original scriptural meanings, President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) preferred “preside” rather than “rule.” He said: “No woman has ever been asked by the Church authorities to follow her husband into an evil pit. She is to follow him [only] as he follows and obeys the Savior of the world, but in deciding [whether he is obeying Christ], she should always be sure she is fair.”⁵ In this way, President Kimball saw marriage “as a full partnership,” stating, “We do not want our LDS women to be silent partners or limited partners” but rather “a contributing and full partner. (Elder Bruce C. Hafen Of the Seventy and Marie K. Hafen “Crossing Thresholds and Becoming Equal Partners,” Ensign, August 2007).