The status of women in Mormonism has been a source of public debate since before the death of Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1844. Various denominations within the Latter Day Saint movement have taken different paths on the subject of women and their role in the church and in society—views range from the full equal status and ordination of women to the priesthood as practiced by the Community of Christ, to the Catholic-like patriarchal system practiced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to the ultra-patriarchal plural marriage system practiced by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and other Mormon fundamentalist groups.
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Women in early Mormonism
For its time, early Mormonism had a relatively liberating stance toward women. The religion owed some of this to the proto-feminism that accompanied the Second Great Awakening of 19th century New England. In that era, a number of notable women were given significant leadership roles in matters of religion. Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, lived in and abided by a male-centered world; most of the early founding events of Mormonism involved only men. However, a number of women had significant supporting roles; for example, Smith's wife Emma Hale Smith served as a scribe in the translation of the Book of Mormon, and later as head of the Relief Society, originally a self-governing women's organization within the church, which is one of the oldest women's organizations in the world. In addition, early Mormon doctrine was comparatively women-friendly. Notably, early Mormonism rejected the Augustinian doctrine of original sin, which held that humanity inherits the sin of Adam and Eve in which they ate the forbidden fruit. This sin was historically blamed on Eve, and was thought to be the source of women's submissive and dependent state. Mormonism rejects the doctrine of original sin. Other issues included the beginning of plural marriage, the Gifts of the spirit as exercised by women, like prophecy and speaking in tongues, performing ordinances, "Priestesses" in the temple, and priesthood blessings of women by women. Women participated in the Anointed Quorum and founded the Relief Society, among other projects in the early Church.
Women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The status of women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been a source of public debate beginning in the 19th century, when the church clashed with the federal government over its practice of polygamy. Despite the legal and cultural issues related to the LDS practice known as plural marriage, 19th century women played a significant public leadership role in Latter-day Saint culture, politics, and even doctrine. Indeed, some critics view the role of women in the 19th century Church as the zenith of women's institutional and leadership participation in the church hierarchy. (Cornwall, 1994, at 239-264; Iannaccone & Miles, 1994, at 265-86; Jorgensen, 2000, at 105.) In the mainstream of the Church today, women continue to have a significant public role, mostly in non-ecclesiastical areas such as art and culture. While the Church is firmly committed to patriarchy and gender roles, many women in the Church have a great amount of goodwill toward their male leaders, and find this situation acceptable and desirable in the context of the Church. However, the same women might be less comfortable with similar patriarchal structures in the professions, workplace or in secular life. Women also have retained a certain degree of authority in some areas, including a number of leadership positions, which include authority over children or other women, although these women leaders are subject to supervision and guidance by priesthood-holding leaders. Women are "endowed" with priesthood power, but are not ordained as clergy. Though not considered clergy, women play a significant part in the operation of local congregations. Women teach classes to adults, teenagers, and children. Women also organise social, educational, and humanitarian activities. Women may also serve as missionaries, and a select few may perform certain ordinances such as washing and anointing on behalf of women in Latter-day Saint temples. Unofficially, wives of male clergy also often play an indirect leadership role by influencing and counseling their husbands. Outside the Church mainstream, there is a small minority of influential Latter-day Saint women who vocally attempt to influence Church policy and seek to contribute to church doctrine. However, women who are vocally and assertively oppositional toward Church doctrine and leaders are often subject to ecclesiastical discipline, including excommunication for apostasy, as are men who are similarly oppositional to Church doctrine, structure, and leaders.
Frontier women in 19th century Utah
In common with a number of other frontier areas, women took a more prominent role than they would have in the East. Along with the promotion of women's rights in the secular sphere, women in Utah, like renowned poet Eliza R. Snow, worked toward equality in sacred matters. This included the development of a Heavenly Mother theology. Snow in particular spoke of equal rights:
"Is it necessary for sisters to be set apart to officiate in the sacred ordinances of washing, anointing, and laying on of hands in administering to the sick? It certainly is not. Any and all sisters who honor their holy endowments, not only have right, but should feel it a duty, whenever called upon to administer to our sisters in these ordinances, which God has graciously committed to His daughters as well as to His sons; and we testify that when administered and received in faith and humility they are accompanied with almighty power." (Snow, 1884)
Snow also spoke of the need for women to stick together. She counselled that women confide personal issues to the Relief Society president and her counselors, rather than the bishops. (Snow, 1884). In the secular sphere, Utah was at the forefront of women's suffrage, becoming one of the first states in the Union to grant women the vote. Education and scholarship was also a primary concern for Mormon women. The Relief Society was also a forum for women. Religious missions, like Bathsheba W. Smith's mission to southern Utah to preach "woman's rights", were launched. The Woman's Exponent publication (the R.S. official newspaper) published a 1920 editorial in favor of "Equal rights before the law, equal pay for equal work, equal political rights", stating that a women's place is not just "in the nursery" but "in the library, the laboratory, the observatory."
Relief Society president Emmeline B. Wells (1875) said
"Let woman speak for herself; she has the right of freedom of speech. Women are too slow in moving forward, afraid of criticism, of being called unwomanly, of being thought masculine. What of it? If men are so much superior to women, the nearer we come up to the manly standard the higher we elevate ourselves."
The LDS Church and modern feminism
Modern feminist concerns about the LDS Church generally deal with the place of women in the Church hierarchy as well as problems relating to sexual abuse and family planning. Historically, the traditional place of women in the LDS community was similar to the traditional roles of women in other communities. That is, men were considered natural leaders and providers while women were natural nurturers and teachers. Bruce R. McConkie summarized this when he said that a "woman's primary place is in the home, where she is to rear children and abide by the righteous counsel of her husband" (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 844). In more recent years, church leaders have urged woman to seek education and skills that would enable them to act as primary breadwinner for the family in an emergency. Women have also become more visible in local congregations, regularly speaking and praying in Sacrament meetings and serving on local church committees on topics relating to welfare, scouting, and youth. Sexual and reproductive rights are another issue. The relaxation of the Church position against family planning as well as the church's public condemnation of the problem of spousal abuse are seen as major advances. However, the decline of Relief Society and Primary Association autonomy as part of the Priesthood Correlation Program is of concern, since the Relief Society was generally at the forefront of the early American women's rights movement.
Women in the Community of Christ
The Community of Christ now ordains women to the priesthood.
Women in Mormon Fundamentalist groups
Mormon fundamentalists are groups or individuals who break from the dominant brand of Mormonism practiced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since the mid-Ninteenth century, numerous fundamentalist sects have been established, many of which are located in small, cohesive, and isolated communities in areas of the Western United States, western Canada and Mexico. Mormon fundamentalists advocate a return to Mormon doctrines and practices which adherents believe the LDS Church has wrongly abandoned, such as plural marriage, the Law of Consecration, the Adam-God theory, the Patriarchal Priesthood, elements of the Mormon Endowment ritual, and often the exclusion of Blacks from the priesthood. Plural marriage is generally considered the most central and significant doctrine separating fundamentalists from the rest of the Latter Day Saint movement. In Mormon fundamentalist groups, women are typically expected or encouraged to adhere to a strongly patriarchal perspective on women's roles and activities and, in many cases, participate in plural marriage.
References
- Bradley, Martha Sonntag & Woodward, Mary Brown Firmage (1994), "Plurality, Patriarchy, and the Priestess: Zina D. H. Young's Nauvoo Marriages", Journal of Mormon History 20 (1): 84–118, <http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/jmh,17862>.
- Cornwall, Marie. "The Institutional Role of Mormon Women", in Marie Cornwall et al., eds., Contemporary Mormonism: Social Science Perspectives, 239-64 (Urbana: U. of Illinois Press 1994)
- Foster, Lawrence (1979), "From Frontier Activism to Neo-Victorian Domesticity: Mormon Women in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries", Journal of Mormon History 6: 3–22, <http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/jmh,16431>.
- Hanks, Maxine, ed. Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism (ISBN 1-56085-014-0).
- Hardy, B. Carmon (1994), "Lords of Creation: Polygamy, the Abrahamic Household, and the Mormon Patriarchy", Journal of Mormon History 20 (1): 119–52, <http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/jmh,17897>.
- Iannaccone, Laurence R. & Miles, Carrie A. "Dealing with Social Change: The Mormon Church's Response to Change in Women's Roles", in Marie Cornwall et al., eds., Contemporary Mormonism: Social Science Perspectives, 265-86 (Urbana: U. of Illinois Press 1994).
- Jorgensen, Danny L. "The Mormon Gender-Inclusive Image of God", 27 J. Mormon History 95 (2000).
- Madsen, Carol Cornwall & Whittaker, David J. (1979), "History's Sequel: A Source Essay on Women in Mormon History", Journal of Mormon History 6: 123–47, <http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/jmh,16551>.
- Quinn, D. Michael, "The LDS Church's Campaign Against the Equal Rights Amendment", Journal of Mormon History 20 (2): 85–155, <http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/jmh,14145>.
- Snow, Eliza R., "To the branches of the Relief Society", Woman's Exponent 13 (15 Sept. 1884).
- Edward W. Tullidge, The Women of Mormondom (New York, 1877).
