Mormonism and women

In the secular sphere, Utah Territory was at the forefront of women's suffrage; in 1870, it became one of the first states or territories in the Union to grant women the vote,[5] though the federal government removed the franchise from women in 1887 via the Edmunds–Tucker Act. Education and scholarship was also a primary concern for Mormon women. Religious missions, like Bathsheba W. Smith's mission to southern Utah to preach "woman's rights", were launched.[6] The Woman's Exponent magazine, the unofficial publication of the Relief Society, published a 1920 editorial in favor of "equal rights before the law, equal pay for equal work, [and] equal political rights", stating that a women's place is not just "in the nursery" but "in the library, the laboratory, the observatory."[7] In 1875, Relief Society president Emmeline B. Wells said that women should speak for themselves, and if that is considered manly, that should be a good thing, since if men are superior, becoming more masculine ought to be desirable.”[8]

Late-19th-century Utah also had the most liberal divorce laws in the United States at the time. The laws were advantageous to women: any woman who insisted on a divorce got one. One of Brigham Young's wives divorced him and launched a lucrative career as a public speaker. The divorce rate in late 19th-century Utah came close to 30 percent. This divorce rate was inflated by people from other states seeking an easy divorce in Utah.[9] In 1896, Martha Hughes Cannon was the first woman in the nation elected to state senate. She ran against her husband.[10]

In the early church, women would sometimes lay hands on another person to give them a special "women's blessing". Patty Bartlett Sessions recorded giving and receiving blessings from other women in her work as a midwife,[11] as did Louisa Barnes Pratt in her life as a pioneer and a missionary.[12]^:153 While not given by virtue of priesthood ordination,[13][14] these "women's blessings" were a normal part of religion at the time.[12]^:153 Relief Society president Eliza Snow believed that women did not need to be "set apart" to officiate in temple ordinances or in administering to the sick.[4][15] She advised that women confide personal issues to the Relief Society president and her counselors, rather than the bishops.[4] Women also participated in the Anointed Quorum in the early church.[16]

Current LDS Church policy dictates that the act of giving blessings "by laying on of hands" is only to be performed by those ordained to offices in the Melchizedek priesthood, which offices are only held by men.[17] However, a 2015 essay published in The Gospel Topics section of the church's website states that while neither Joseph Smith nor any other church leader ordained women to the priesthood, women do exercise priesthood authority without ordination.[18]

Ecclesiastically, the LDS Church is firmly committed to traditional gender roles. Women have a certain degree of authority in some areas, including leadership positions with authority over children and other women, although these women leaders receive supervision and guidance by male priesthood-holding leaders.[27][28] Women are "endowed" with priesthood power, but are not ordained to priesthood office.[16] Though not considered clergy, women play a significant part in the operation of local congregations[29] teaching classes to adults, teenagers, and children and organizing 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 church temples.[4] Women who have had an abortion (except in the case of rape, incest, or when the mother's life is in danger) are usually excluded from missionary service, as are women who have borne a child out of wedlock, and women under 40 who have been divorced.[30] On October 6, 2012, Church President Thomas S. Monson announced that all male missionaries, regardless of nation, could serve from age 18.[31] Prior to the announcement, members from some countries were allowed to serve from the younger age to avoid conflict with educational or military requirements.[32] It was also announced that young women may serve beginning at age 19 instead of 21.[31] Missions typically last two years for males, 18 months for females, and 1 to 3 years for older couples.

Aside from the years starting in 1967[33][34] until 1978[35][36] women have been allowed to pray in sacrament meetings. Women leaders have regularly given sermons at the church's semi-annual General Conference, but it was not until 2013 that a woman was invited to pray during a general session of the conference.[37]

A survey conducted in 2012 of 500 Mormons in the United States showed that if they were married to an LDS spouse, men and women had equal levels of church activity. Almost half of the men surveyed agreed that a good Latter-day Saint should obey without knowing why, while only 31 percent of women agreed. About 20 percent of LDS women believe that "women do not have enough say in the church."[38]

In 2019 it was announced that any baptized woman could serve as a witness for the baptism of a living person outside the temple, and any woman holding a current temple recommend, including a limited-use recommend, could be a witness for a proxy baptism for a deceased person, and any woman who was an endowed member with a current temple recommend could serve as a witness to sealing ordinances, living and proxy.[39]

In Orson Pratt's 1852 "Celestial Marriage," he wrote that a woman should not marry a man unless she "had fully resolved herself to submit herself wholly to his counsel, and let him govern as the head",[1]^:27 and in a 1972 article titled "Maintain Your Place as a Woman" church president Harold B. Lee stated, "the wife is to obey the law of her husband", but added the caveat "only as he obeys the laws of God."[40] In contrast, Spencer W. Kimball said that a man "presides" rather than "rules".[41]^:18 Early prophet Brigham Young stated of his wives, "The influence of my women over me is no more than the buzzing of a fly’s wing in winter." He also stated, "A woman is the dirtiest creature, dirtier than a man", and "Men are honest, but if a woman won’t lie, she is a miracle."[42]

Initially, early church members defined polygamy as "celestial" marriage, but "celestial" marriage now refers to marriages sealed in the temple.[43] After the Manifesto prohibiting plural marriage, members felt that there was a lack of available Mormon men for women to marry, even though there were a sufficient number. Fiction from the Young Woman's Journal attempts to make religious marriage attractive by describing it as romantic.[43]

Unmarried LDS women are promised that if they are faithful, they will have the opportunity to marry in the afterlife.[43]

The Family: A Proclamation to the World states that "Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children",[44] and an article on women in the church on the official church website states that women have "the greater gift and responsibility for home and children and nurturing there and in other settings."[45] Numerous quotes from General Authorities support the assertion that women are fundamentally different from men, not just in their physical bodies, but in their spiritual makeup as well. Harold B. Lee said that women have a special "mother's intuition." [26]

Brigham Young said "As I have often told my sisters in the Female Relief Societies, we have sisters here who, if they had the privilege of studying, would make just as good mathematicians or accountants as any man; and we think they ought to have the privilege to study these branches of knowledge that they may develop the powers with which they are endowed. We believe that women are useful not only to sweep houses, wash dishes, make beds, and raise babies, but that they should stand behind the counter, study law or physic [medicine], or become good book-keepers and be able to do the business in any counting house, and this to enlarge their sphere of usefulness for the benefit of society at large" [46] Many women in Brigham Young's time worked; in 1874, Utah had a respectable class of literate and professional women and a visitor noted that no profession was closed to women.[47]^:510 After the church officially ended polygamy, church members adopted a more mainstream Victorian view towards women's work, which confined women's roles to the home.[48] By 1920, the church's ideals for women mirrored society's until the 1960s and 70s, when some Church leaders strongly advised against (presumably married) women working outside the home. Spencer W. Kimball said, "Numerous divorces can be traced directly to the day when the wife left the home and went out into the world into employment." Gordon B. Hinckley made allowances for single mothers and other women in similar circumstances: "I recognize [...] that there are some women (it has become very many, in fact) who have to work to provide for the needs of their families. To you I say, do the very best you can."[49] A 1986 Ensign article emphasized that husband and wife share the responsibility of providing for their children's temporal needs, and that each family would prayerfully decide if a mother would go to work.[50] Mormon women were to reject the secular values of individuality and devote themselves to the eternal women's roles of marriage, motherhood, and submissiveness.[10]

The messages of Church leaders regarding working women were reflected in the Relief Society's housework curriculum. Throughout the 1950s, Relief Society lessons were written by career women who balanced home and work life.[51]^:208 Each lesson was listed with the author's name, allowing readers to match a name to the curriculum. However, by the 1970s, the Church discontinued the lessons written by specific individuals and the use of an author's byline.[51]^:208 Relief Society lessons were then created to be messages from the Church as a whole, "providing no individual model of a professional woman for others to know and follow".[51]^:208

One 1990 study by Laurence Iannaccone found that starting in 1963, statements from church leaders were highly variable on women's topics. After Ezra Taft Benson's 1987 talk "To The Mothers in Zion" exhorting women to not work outside the home, many women quit their jobs and some women BYU students wondered if they should continue their studies. Then-BYU-president Jeffrey R. Holland stated that BYU especially welcomed women, and encouraged personal study and revelation about how to follow church guidelines.[52][53]^:1244 The same study found that as the Church affirmed new sex roles, the number of living endowments increased (a sign of committed new membership) but the number of endowments for the dead decreased (a sign of committed, experienced member activity). It also found the opposite was true; as the Church affirms traditional roles, the number of living endowments increased and the number of endowments for the dead increased.[53]^:1244

Brigham Young said that women's dress should reflect that they are separate from the world. After Joseph F. Smith complained about the indecency of some LDS women's attire, Amy Brown Lyman led the Relief Society, YLMIA, and Primary in issuing dress guidelines for Mormon women in 1917. These guidelines were not closely followed by members. In 1951, Elder Spencer W. Kimball gave the talk "A Style of Our Own: Modesty in Dress and Its Relationship to the Church," which was reprinted in the Church News and defined modesty for Mormons in the latter half of the 20th century. Kimball said that Latter-day Saint women should have a unique style of their own that did not include strapless dresses, shorts, form-fitting sweaters, or dresses with low necks or backs. Immediately following the talk, many women changed their wardrobes to conform to Kimball's instructions and called their wardrobes "kimballized", but the church issued no formal dress standards. In 1957, the Mutual Improvement Association published a pamphlet on modesty in general. It advised women against "flaunt[ing] one's figure," and also emphasized modesty in speech and conduct. A 1959 Improvement Era column counseled teenage girls to keep their clothing clean and ironed.[54]

In the 1960s, the counterculture movement started to influence the dress of Mormon youth. Short skirts, beards and long hair for men, and dirty clothing became popular. Fearing that the counterculture fashions would negatively influence morals, leaders began to advise on dress codes more stringently. Men received instruction to avoid long hair and beards because of their association with counterculture; women's dress standards were created to protect their virtue. The miniskirt in particular was denounced as unfashionable as well as immodest. The church's modesty rhetoric in the 1960s and 70s also encouraged women to dress femininely especially as androgynous styles became more popular. A more feminine dress style was associated with acceptance of traditional feminine gender roles of the 1950s.[54]

In 1965, the first For the Strength of Youth pamphlet was published, and the first presidency encouraged youth and their parents to conform to its regulations. It prescribed skirts that covered the kneecaps and forbade low-cut, strapless, and low-backed attire. It encouraged women to "always try to look feminine" and stated that slacks (rather than skirts or dresses) were appropriate only for hiking and other sports. The 1968 For the Strength of Youth pamphlet denounced soiled and sloppy clothing, and said that women should not be in public with her hair in curlers. In 1972, the pamphlet was changed to state that skirts should be "of modest length." Dallin H. Oaks published a formal dress code for Brigham Young University in 1971, which allowed pant suits but no other pants for women. Jeans were allowed in 1981, and knee-length shorts in 1991. A specific prohibition against tattoos and multiple earrings was added in 2000. Sister missionaries also received special instruction in dressing professionally starting in 1977. The Church published a dress code for its own employees in 1980, which did not allow pant suits.[54]

Finding modest dresses, shorts, and swimsuits presents a challenge to some LDS women. The La Canada first ward in California sewed modest swimsuits for themselves in 1976.[54] One group of LDS young women in Kansas worked with Nordstrom to propose modest dress ideas, garnering over 9,000 women's signatures in support of making more modest dresses available.[55][56]

In 2012 and 2013, some LDS women participated in "Wear Pants to Church Day", in which they wore trousers to church instead of the customary dresses to encourage gender equality within the church.[57][58] Over one thousand women participated in 2012.[58]

In 2017, the church announced that its female employees could wear "professional pantsuits and dress slacks" while at work; dresses and skirts had previously been required.[59]

In 2018 it was announced that female missionaries of the church could wear dress slacks except when attending the temple and during Sunday worship services, baptismal services, and mission leadership and zone conferences.[60]

The current For the Strength of Youth pamphlet for LDS youth defines modest dress standards for young women: "Young women should avoid short shorts and short skirts, shirts that do not cover the stomach, and clothing that does not cover the shoulders or is low-cut in the front or the back."[61] The pamphlet also counsels women to only wear one pair of earrings.[61] Women who have gone through the temple endowment and wear temple garments, and their clothing must cover their garments, which cover shoulders, midriff, and thighs. Some members feel that when leaders emphasize dressing modestly to young women, they only emphasize the sexualization of women's bodies and encourage women to judge each other by their physical appearance.[62] Other members feel that modest dress is the first defense against immorality, and that dressing modestly will help individuals act modestly.[54]

In December 1866, Brigham Young gave advice that women should wait a week from the start of menstruation before participating in the endowment.[67]

Some temples in 2012 still did not allow women to perform baptisms for the dead during their menstrual period,[68] despite official policy to the contrary.[69] Feminist Mormon Housewives started a project to document which temples did not allow menstruating women to perform baptisms, and after the Salt Lake Tribune reported the story, the LDS church further clarified the policy that menstruating women are allowed to perform baptisms for the dead.[70]

A 1936 policy forbade women whose husbands were not endowed from receiving their own endowment, whether their husbands were members of the church or not. The ostensible reason for the prohibition was to maintain peace and harmony in the home. Gradually the policy changed, first for women whose husbands were members of the church, and then on 12 February 1986, for all women whose husbands were unendowed providing they have the consent of their husbands.[67]

In the temple endowment, women were urged to each be a priestess "unto her husband," while men were promised they would be priests to God;[71] but in January 2019, that was removed from the endowment process, in accordance with other changes that included more lines for Eve in their ritual performance of the Book of Genesis.[72][73] Also in 2019, a letter from the church's First Presidency stated that "Veiling an endowed woman's face prior to burial is optional." It had previously been required. The letter went on to say that such veiling, "may be done if the sister expressed such a desire while she was living. In cases where the wishes of the deceased sister on this matter are not known, her family should be consulted." That same year veiling of women during part of the temple endowment ceremony was discontinued.[74]

In current Latter-day Saint temple practice, the endowment ritual contains a prayer circle, where some participants stand in a circle and repeat a prayer given by a single person. Women were first included in the ceremony on September 28, 1843.[75] After 1846, it was uncommon for women to participate in prayer circles without their husbands. Under Eliza R. Snow's guidance, some women made women-only prayer circles. In 1896, the first presidency advised against Relief Society prayer circles, but some Relief Societies continued the practice.[76] In 1978, the First Presidency discontinued all prayer circles except those performed in a temple as part of the endowment.[77] Since members of prayer circles had to be approved by the first presidency, continuing this tradition in a worldwide church made for unwieldy paperwork.[76]

Along with the promotion of women's rights in the secular sphere, women in Utah, like renowned poet Eliza R. Snow, spoke of women's equality in sacred matters.[4] This included the development of a Heavenly Mother theology.[78] Joseph Smith discussed the doctrine of a Heavenly Mother as early as the 1840s. The idea of a Heavenly Mother expanded to a loving mother who sent each of us off on our journey to this earth and who will welcome us back to her again after death. As written in poems by Mormon authors, "[Heavenly Mother] oversees key moments for individual souls in the Mormon progressive plan of salvation." These ideas were expressed throughout the early 1800s. Today, church leaders continue to mention Heavenly Mother, although less frequently and embellished than in early church history. Neal A. Maxwell affirmed the ideas or a homecoming expressed in Snow's poetry about Heavenly Mother by saying, "Could such a regal homecoming be possible without the anticipatory arrangements of a Heavenly Mother?"[79]

In the 1970s and 1980s church members began to write speculations about a Heavenly Mother and even to pray to her in meetings. In the 1980s and 1990s the church stopped these practices. There were publications made in Dialogue during this time period that suggested that Heavenly Mother is the Holy Ghost.[79] In 2015 an essay was published in The Gospel Topics section of the church's website, which surveyed 171 years of statements about a Mother in Heaven.[18]

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.[80] This sin was historically blamed on Eve, and was thought to be the source of women's submissive and dependent state. The movement's second Article of Faith states, "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression."[81]

The LDS Church opposes elective abortion based on a belief in the "sanctity of human life."[82] The church allows members to abort pregnancies in some rare circumstances. According to an official statement, "The Church allows for possible exceptions for its members when: Pregnancy results from rape or incest, or a competent physician determines that the life or health of the mother is in serious jeopardy, or a competent physician determines that the fetus has severe defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth." The statement goes on to say, "Abortion is a most serious matter and should be considered only after the persons involved have consulted with their local church leaders and feel through personal prayer that their decision is correct." The statement also clarifies that the LDS church does not favor or oppose specific legislation or public demonstrations concerning abortion.[82]

In the past the use of birth control methods including artificial contraception was explicitly condemned by LDS Church leaders. Beginning in July 1916, apostles were quoted stating that birth control was a "pernicious doctrine" and that "limiting the number of children in a family...is sinful".[83][84] As recently as 2003 a church manual was published containing a quote from the late church president Spencer W. Kimball stating that the church does not "condone nor approve of" measures of contraception which greatly "limit the family".[85] The current church stance is that "decisions about birth control and the consequences of those decisions rest solely with each married couple" and that they should consider "the physical and mental health of the mother and father and their capacity to provide the basic necessities of life for their children" when planning a family.[86] The church "strongly discourages" surgical sterilization like vasectomies and tubal ligation and encourages members to only turn to it for serious medical conditions after discussing it with a bishop.[87] The church's insurance company Deseret Mutual Benefits Administrators which provides coverage for its employees does not cover any form of birth control and will only cover sterilization by vasectomy or tubal ligation for a couple if the woman has already had five children or is over forty.[88][89][90]

According to historian Ardis Parshall, in 1943, women within positions of leadership in the LDS Church backed the amendment.[91]

In the 1970s, the LDS Church came out against the Equal Rights Amendment. The LDS Church in Utah requested that ten women from each ward attend the Utah International Women's Year in 1977 to support the church's position on the Equal Rights Amendment and other women's issues. The fourteen thousand attendees, mostly Latter-day Saint women recruited in their wards, voted on platforms before hearing their discussion and rejected all the national resolutions[92]—even those that did not advocate a moral position opposed to that of the LDS Church.[93] In 1978, the LDS church encouraged nine thousand female members in greater Las Vegas, Nevada, to canvass their neighborhoods with anti–Equal Rights Amendment pamphlets and encouraged all members to vote.[92]^:636–637 Nevada did not ratify the amendment.[92]^:637 Sonia Johnson[94] fought against the church in support of the Equal Rights Amendment and was excommunicated; a December 1979 excommunication letter claimed that Johnson was charged with a variety of misdeeds, including hindering the worldwide missionary program, damaging internal Mormon social programs, and teaching false doctrine.[95] Also in 1979, the Alice Reynolds forum was forbidden from discussing the amendment in the Alice Reynolds reading room at Brigham Young University; the club subsequently found a different place to meet.[96]^:52