It is very odd how the world views Mormon women, the LDS Church and the rights and responsibilities of women.
If we were to do what the world said we would eschew marriage, family and God. If we were to do what the world said we would seek after vain and self-serving activities that would make us appear happy. We would subjugate men. We would dismiss children as responsibilities we don’t need.
Mormon women play an important role in the Mormon religion.
But Mormon women do not believe any of these things. Mormon women are honored, treasured and treated equally. There is nothing further from God’s wishes then holding one sex above the other. Men and women, in partnership, create the whole. One without the other is incapable of achieving our promised greatest eternal reward.
Mormon women serve in the church in many ways:
In weekly worship services and classes, Mormon women preach sermons, offer prayers in behalf of the congregation, and teach adults and children. They may also serve as missionaries and as presidents of the Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary organizations. Mormon women participate in councils that oversee congregational activities throughout the world. They also perform a vital work in nurturing and teaching in the home. www.lds.org
We believe in the eternal family unit and our critical part in that unit. We believe mothers to be the nurturers and educators in the home, as well as the myriad of other responsibilities that come with the roles of wife and mother.
President Gordon B. Hinckley said of women,
“Woman is God’s supreme creation. Only after the earth had been formed, after the day had been separated from the night, after the waters had been divided from the land, after vegetation and animal life had been created, and after man had been placed on the earth, was woman created; and only then was the work pronounced complete and good.
“Of all the creations of the Almighty, there is none more beautiful, none more inspiring than a lovely daughter of God who walks in virtue with an understanding of why she should do so, who honors and respects her body as a thing sacred and divine, who cultivates her mind and constantly enlarges the horizon of her understanding, who nurtures her spirit with everlasting truth.” “Our Responsibility to Our Young Women,” Ensign, Sept. 1988, 11
We are indeed held in the highest and most precious authorities and the bulk of the men of the church. To those men who do not honor women, the prophet (Gordon B. Hinckley and Joseph Smith, Jr.) has said, “. . . amen to your priesthood.”
We are co-creators with God in a humble and beautiful partnership which brings life into this world. Heather Father has entrusted His daughters to carefully nurture life within their wombs and asked them to raise these children up unto Him.
And of our divine worth the world would say unto women, your value lies only in the beauty of your body which you should show to the world. Of our divine worth our Father in Heaven says, treasure the spirit inside and honor the body without. Keep sacred what is sacred and listen not to the world. The Father has never betrayed you, the world has. Who will you listen to?
