View source for Mormonism and women

{{Short description|Relationship of women to the Latter Day Saint movement}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2023}}

The status of '''women''' in [[Mormonism]] has been a source of public debate since before the death of [[Joseph Smith]] 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 (Mormonism)|priesthood]], as practiced by the [[Community of Christ]], to a [[patriarchal]] system practiced by [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church), to the ultra-patriarchal [[plural marriage]] system practiced by the [[Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints]] (FLDS Church) and other [[Mormon fundamentalism|Mormon fundamentalist]] groups.

==Definition of women==
{{see also|Gender minorities and the LDS Church}}
The LDS Church does not recognize [[trans women]] as [[women]], but defines gender as the "[[biological sex]] at birth".<ref name=LDSTransgender>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/transgender/understanding|title=How does the Church define gender}}</ref> The church teaches that if a person is born intersex, the decision to determine the child's sex is left to the parents, with the guidance of medical professionals, and that such decisions can be made at birth or can be delayed until medically necessary.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Church Policies and Guidelines|title=General Handbook|chapter-url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/general-handbook/38-church-policies-and-guidelines?lang=eng#title_number125|publisher=[[LDS Church]]}}</ref>

==Women in LDS Church history==
Nineteenth and early 20th-century accounts of Latter-day Saint history often neglected women's role in founding the religion. The 1872 history ''The Rise, Progress, and Travels of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'' does not name any women. The seven-volume history, ''History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'' (1872) by [[B.H. Roberts]] only mentions a few women.<ref name="WomenAndMormonism"/>{{page needed|date=March 2024}} A notable exception to this was 19th century historian [[Edward Tullidge]], who [[Claudia Lauper Bushman|Claudia Bushman]] said "stood alone as a Mormon feminist historian before the revitalization of the women's movement in the 1970s."<ref name=Bushman>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V33N04_25.pdf|first=Claudia |last=Bushman|title=Edward W. Tullidge and The Women of Mormondom|journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]] |volume=33|issue=4}}</ref> However, a number of women had significant supporting roles; for example, Joseph Smith's wife, [[Emma Hale Smith]], served as a scribe during translation of the [[Book of Mormon]] and was the subject of one of the church's early revelations, which included direction to compile the church's first [[1835 LDS hymnal|hymnal]].<ref>{{cite book |publisher= [[Church Historian's Press]] |title= Revelation, July 1830–C [D&C 25] |via= [[The Joseph Smith Papers]] |first= Joseph |last= Smith |date= July 1830 |url= http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/revelation-july-1830-c-dc-25 |author-link=Joseph Smith}}</ref> Emma Smith also served as head of the [[Relief Society]], originally a self-governing women's organization within the church, which is one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world.<ref name=Snow>{{harvnb|Snow|1884|p=61}}</ref>

===Women's suffrage===
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,<ref name="Bradley"/> 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.<ref name="Feminism"/>{{rp|p=318}} 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."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bennion|first1=Sherilyn Cox|title=Equal to the occasion: women editors of the nineteenth-century West|date=1990|publisher=[[University of Nevada Press]]|location=Reno, Nevada|isbn=978-0-87417-163-1|url=https://archive.org/details/equaltooccasionw0000benn|url-access=registration|page=76|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

In 1873, [[Ann Eliza Young]] gained national attention after she divorced and sued [[Brigham Young]], who was President of the Church at the time. Ann Eliza accused Young of neglect, cruel treatment, and deserting herself and her children in the harsh conditions of frontier Utah.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chicago Daily Tribune |url=https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/19CMNI/id/7184/rec/16 |website=byu.edu |publisher=Brigham Young University |access-date=10 July 2024 |date=31 July 1873}}</ref> In 1874, she became one of the first women to testify before the [[US Congress]], and was influential in the antipolygamy legislation passed in the late 1800s.  <ref>{{cite book |last1=Arrington |first1=Leonard |title=Young, Brigham (1801-1877), second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) |date=2000 |publisher=American National Biography. |doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0801714 |isbn=978-0-19-860669-7 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0801714}}</ref>

Late-19th-century Utah 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. 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.<ref>{{citation |last= Gordon |first= Sarah Barringer |title= Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-century America |journal= [[Law and History Review]] |volume= 22 |issue= 1 |pages= 206–208 |year= 2002 |publisher= [[University of North Carolina Press]] |isbn= 978-0-8078-7526-1 |jstor= 4141683 |url= https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/mormon-question-polygamy-and-constitutional-conflict-nineteenth-century-america-1}}</ref> In 1896, [[Martha Hughes Cannon]] was the first woman in the nation elected to state senate. She ran against her husband.<ref name=Young2007>{{cite journal|last1=Young|first1=Neil|title='The ERA Is a Moral Issue': The Mormon Church, LDS Women, and the Defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment|journal=[[American Quarterly]]|publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University]]|date=September 2007|volume=59|issue=3|pages=623–644|jstor=40068443|doi=10.1353/aq.2007.0073|s2cid=145676379}}</ref>

===Laying on of hands and priesthood===
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,<ref>{{cite magazine |last= Sessions |first= Patty Bartlett |author-link= Patty Bartlett Sessions |title= An Olive Leaf: We Blessed and Got Blessed |magazine= [[Sunstone Magazine|Sunstone]] |volume= 101 |page= 80 |date= March 1996 |url= https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/101-80.pdf |access-date= 2008-06-28 |quote= [W]e had a feast in the afternoon at sister Millers .... there we blessed and got blessed & I blesed{{sic}} sister Christeen by laying my hands upon her head and the Lord spoke through me to her great and marvelous things. |archive-date= July 21, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110721212136/https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/101-80.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref> as did [[Louisa Barnes Pratt]] in her life as a pioneer and a missionary.<ref name=Dimensions>{{cite book|last1=Stapley|first1=Jonathan A.|last2=Wright|first2=Kristine|editor1-last=Taysom|editor1-first=Stephen C.|title=Dimensions of faith: a Mormon Studies Reader|date=2011|publisher=[[Signature Books]]|location=Salt Lake City|isbn=978-1-56085-212-4|chapter=The Forms and the Power: The Development of Mormon Ritual Healing to 1847|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_jCcQAACAAJ|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{rp|153}} While not given by virtue of priesthood ordination,<ref name=Morgan>{{cite book|title=Morgan Utah Stake Relief Society Minutes and Records, 1878–1973|url=https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/record/36a0ba42-d2fd-4b4a-bd21-094e474d8071/0?view=browse|via=[[Church History Library]]|volume=1|date=April 28, 1883|page=88}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=To All Authorities of the Priesthood–Instruction for the Relief Society|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|date= October 6, 1880 }}</ref><ref name="Woodruff">{{cite letter|quote=not as members of the priesthood, but as members of the Church.|first=Wilford |last=Woodruff |author-link=Wilford Woodruff|recipient=Emmeline B. Wells|date=27 April 1888|subject=Letter to Emmeline|via=[[Church History Library]]|url=https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/9a4e4f2e-b230-4551-a020-05dcabee7aa0/0/0}}</ref> these "women's blessings" were a normal part of religion at the time.<ref name=Dimensions/>{{rp|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.<ref name=Snow/>{{r|Essential|p=92|q=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.}} She advised that women confide personal issues to the Relief Society president and her counselors, rather than the [[bishop (Latter Day Saints)|bishops]].<ref name=Snow/> Women also participated in the [[Anointed Quorum]] in the early church.<ref name="Feminism">{{Cite book |editor-last= Hanks |editor-first= Maxine |editor-link= Maxine Hanks |title= Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism |year= 1992 |publisher= [[Signature Books]] |location= Salt Lake City, Utah |isbn= 978-1-56085-014-4 |url=http://signaturebookslibrary.org/women-and-authority-17/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200330044947/http://signaturebookslibrary.org/840/ |archive-date=30 March 2020|url-status=dead|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}.</ref>{{rp|p=366}}

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 (Latter Day Saints)#The Melchizedek priesthood in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Melchizedek priesthood]], which offices are only held by men.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last= Cameron |first= J. Elliot |author-link= J. Elliot Cameron |entry= Priesthood Blessings |entry-url= https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/EoM/id/4083 |pages= 1140–1141 |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |title= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= [[Macmillan Publishing]] |year= 1992 |isbn= 978-0-02-879602-4 |oclc= 24502140 |via=[[Brigham Young University]]}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Tad Walch"/>

Trans women may be able to receive the priesthood as long as they do not pursue medical, surgical, or social transitioning, as priesthood and temple ordinances are assigned according to birth sex.<ref name=LDSTransgender />

==Polygamy==
{{see also|Mormonism and polygamy}}
The status of women in the LDS Church has been a source of public debate beginning in the 19th century, when the church found itself at odds with the United States federal government over its practice of [[polygamy]].{{efn|E.g. [[Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act]] (1862), [[Edmunds–Tucker Act]] (1887).}} Polygamy was introduced into the LDS Church when Joseph Smith prayed about the plural marriage as practiced in the [[Old Testament]]. The practice was established in the church in 1831. It continued until 1890 when [[Wilford Woodruff]] received a revelation, known as the "[[1890 Manifesto|Manifesto]]", that stopped plural marriage. Following the Manifesto, many groups and individuals left the church in order to continue the practice; however, these groups have no affiliation with the church today.<ref name="Polygamy newsroom">{{cite press release|title=Polygamy|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/topic/polygamy|publisher=[[LDS Church]]}}</ref>

Although some church leaders are known to have large polygamous families, two-thirds of the men who practiced polygamy in the church only had two wives. Women were able to divorce their husbands. Among the church population as a whole, at its peak, only 25 to 30 percent of members were part of polygamist families by 1870.<ref name="Plural Marriage and families">{{cite web|title=Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/plural-marriage-and-families-in-early-utah?lang=eng|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|access-date=31 August 2016}}</ref> Despite the legal and cultural issues related to the Mormon practice of polygamy, 19th-century women played a significant public leadership role in Latter-day Saint culture, politics, and doctrine.<ref name="Bradley">{{Cite book |author= Bradley, Martha Sonntag |url= http://signaturebooks.com/2010/02/pedestals-and-podiumsutah-women-religious-authority-and-equal-rights |title= Pedestals and Podiums: Utah Women, Religious Authority, and Equal Rights |publisher= [[Signature Books]] |year= 2005 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130202101452/http://signaturebooks.com/2010/02/pedestals-and-podiumsutah-women-religious-authority-and-equal-rights |archive-date= 2013-02-02 |via=[[Internet Archive]]|url-status=dead}}.</ref> Some view the role of women in the 19th-century church as the zenith of women's institutional and leadership participation in the church hierarchy.<ref name=Contemporary>{{Cite book|editor1-first= Marie |editor1-last= Cornwall |editor1-link= Marie Cornwall |editor2-first= Tim B. |editor2-link= Tim B. Heaton |editor2-last= Heaton |editor3-first= Lawrence A. |editor3-last= Young |title= Contemporary Mormonism: Social Science Perspectives |place= Urbana, Illinois |publisher= [[University of Illinois Press]] |year= 1994 |isbn= 978-0-252-06959-8 |oclc= 28721262 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LpRZCpHdj88C|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{rp|p=239–64}}<ref name=Contemporary/>{{rp|pages=265–86}}<ref>{{harvnb|Jorgensen|2001|p=105|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

When speaking of polygamy, generally only two extremes are considered: "Mormon women were either highly empowered agents or submissive dupes." To note only these extremes, however, is to ignore that Mormon women chose to participate in polygamy and the fact that it was a part of their daily lives. Polygamy caused many women to grapple with their faith, but also allowed them to grow closer to God and to make and keep covenants.<ref name="WomenAndMormonism">{{cite book|editor1-last=Holbrook|editor1-first=Kate|editor2-last=Bowman|editor2-first=Matthew|title=Women and Mormonism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives|publisher=[[University of Utah Press]]|date=2016|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|isbn=978-1-60781-477-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ILsjgEACAAJ |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2024}}

Women in polygamous relationships at the time described the experience as a great trial that taught them self-denial. Many were Protestant converts and believed that their suffering helped to purify them.<ref name="WomenAndMormonism"/>{{rp|27}} Even when the practice was established, it was not always accepted. Mothers discouraged their daughters from entering into plural relationships. For many, the decision to accept polygamy and practice it was an agonizing and difficult process that brought them closer to God. Some women did not accept polygamy at first and had to pray about, study, and question the practice before receiving an answer from God and accepting it.<ref name="WomenAndMormonism"/> Elizabeth Graham MacDonald saw polygamy as a form of discipline that taught her subordination to God and her family.<ref name="WomenAndMormonism"/>{{rp|28}}
For some women, like Hannah Tapfield King, plural marriage was a way for women to obtain the highest blessings of salvation. King's husband was not a member of the church, and although he did convert, the couple was not able to be [[Sealing (Mormonism)|sealed]] in the temple. King was sealed to Brigham Young but only for the next life. She remained married to her husband throughout her life and never had relations with Young but was able to ensure blessings for herself through polygamy that she would not otherwise have received in this life. After accepting polygamy, Edith Turbin declared "I had rather to be the 20th wife of an honorably God-fearing Man, than to be the only wife of any one of two thirds of the Men in the world."<ref name="WomenAndMormonism"/>

==Gender roles==
[[Ezra Taft Benson]] stated that women have qualities of faithfulness, benevolence, and charity that balance the "more aggressive and competitive nature of man". Speaking of women working in professions equal to men, [[Howard W. Hunter]] said, "I hope the time never comes when women will be brought down to the level with men, although they seem to be making these demands in meetings held ... all over the world."<ref name="Differences Inherent"/>

===Church activity===
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.<ref>{{cite book |title=Handbook 2 |chapter=Primary |chapter-url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/handbook-2-administering-the-church/primary/primary?lang=eng#title4 |access-date=21 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Handbook 2 |chapter=Relief Society |chapter-url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/handbook-2-administering-the-church/relief-society/relief-society?lang=eng#title8 |access-date=21 November 2019}}</ref> Women are "[[Endowment (Mormonism)|endowed]]" with priesthood power, but are not ordained to priesthood office.<ref name="Feminism"/>{{rp|p=366}} Though not considered [[clergy]], women play a significant part in the operation of local congregations<ref>{{Cite book |title= Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society |publisher= [[LDS Church]] |year= 2011 |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/daughters-in-my-kingdom-the-history-and-work-of-relief-society?lang=eng}}.</ref> teaching classes to adults, teenagers, and children and organizing social, educational, and humanitarian activities. Women may also serve as [[Missionary (LDS Church)|missionaries]], and a select few may perform certain ordinances such as [[washing and anointing]] on behalf of women in church [[Temple (LDS Church)|temples]].<ref name=Snow/> 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.<ref>{{cite book |title= [[Church Handbook of Instructions|Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 1]] |location= Salt Lake City |publisher= [[LDS Church]] |year= 2006 |pages= 92–94 }}</ref> On October 6, 2012, [[President of the Church (LDS Church)|church president]] [[Thomas S. Monson]] announced that all male missionaries, regardless of nation, could serve from age 18.<ref name="MissionaryAge">{{cite press release|title=Church Lowers Missionary Service Age|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-lowers-age-requirement-for-missionary-service|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|date=October 6, 2012|access-date=August 4, 2018}}</ref> Prior to the announcement, members from some countries were allowed to serve from the younger age to avoid conflict with educational or military requirements.<ref name=youngmissionaries>{{cite news|last=Fletcher Stack|first=Peggy|author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|title=Some Mormon men can go on missions at age 18|url=http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsfaithblog/52458313-180/mormon-mission-age-academy.html.csp|newspaper=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]|date=August 25, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011082639/http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsfaithblog/52458313-180/mormon-mission-age-academy.html.csp|archive-date=October 11, 2012|access-date=November 27, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> It was also announced that young women may serve beginning at age 19 instead of 21.<ref name="MissionaryAge" /> 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{{r|Essential|p=26|q=1967–LDS Church 'Priesthood Bulletin' announces policy recommending that only Melchizedek and Aaronic priesthood holders offer prayers in sacrament meeting (July–August).}}<ref name="News of the Church">{{cite magazine|title=News of the Church|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1975/08/news-of-the-church?lang=eng|magazine=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]]|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|date=August 1975|quote=Attention is called to the following instruction which appeared in the July–August 1967 Priesthood Bulletin. The First Presidency recommends that only those who bear the Melchizedek Priesthood or Aaronic Priesthood be invited to offer the opening and closing prayers in sacrament meetings, including fast meetings. This also applies to priesthood meetings.}}</ref> until 1978<ref name="auto">{{cite magazine|last1=Fielding Anderson|first1=Lavina|author-link=Lavina Fielding Anderson|title=Mormon Women and the Struggle for Definition: Contemporary Women|magazine=[[Sunstone (magazine)|Sunstone]]|date=November 1981|volume=6|issue=4|page=13|url=https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/030-12-16.pdf|access-date=November 9, 2017|archive-date=November 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109033331/https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/030-12-16.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Gardner">{{cite magazine|first=Marvin|last=Gardner|title=News of the Church|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1978/11/news-of-the-church?lang=eng|magazine=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]]|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|date=November 1978|quote=The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve have determined that there is no scriptural prohibition against sisters offering prayers in sacrament meetings. It was therefore decided that it is permissible for sisters to offer prayers in any meetings they attend, including sacrament meetings, Sunday School meetings, and stake conferences. Relief Society visiting teachers may offer prayers in homes that they enter in fulfilling visiting teaching assignments.}}</ref> women have been allowed to pray in sacrament meetings. Women leaders have regularly given sermons at the church's semi-annual [[General Conference (LDS Church)|general conference]], but it was not until 2013 that a woman was invited to pray during a general session of the conference.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Price|first1=Michelle L.|title=In first for General Conference, woman leads prayer|url=http://www.heraldextra.com/news/state-and-regional/in-first-for-general-conference-woman-leads-prayer/article_b69d1070-3bf7-5ebe-a1d0-876906ea917e.html|access-date=17 November 2017|newspaper=[[Daily Herald (Utah)|Daily Herald]]|location=Provo, Utah|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=7 April 2013|archive-date=April 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407212809/http://www.heraldextra.com/news/state-and-regional/in-first-for-general-conference-woman-leads-prayer/article_b69d1070-3bf7-5ebe-a1d0-876906ea917e.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A survey conducted in 2012 of 500 Mormons in the United States showed that if they were married to a Latter-day Saint 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 the women stated that "women do not have enough say in the church."<ref name="WomenAndMormonism"/> A 2024 social media post stating, "There is no other religious organization in the world ... that has so broadly given power and authority to women", was met largely with a negative response, with many LDS women stating it was untrue.<ref name=Empower/>

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.<ref>{{Cite press release|url=https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2019-10-02/women-can-serve-as-witnesses-for-baptisms-temple-sealings-first-presidency-announces-in-historic-policy-change-162319|title=Women can serve as witnesses for baptisms, temple sealings, President Nelson announces in historic policy change|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|date=October 2, 2019}}</ref> In 2023 a local practice in San Francisco of having women sit on the stand before the congregation along with the male "presiding authorities" was ended by a regional church authority.<ref name=Empower>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/us/mormon-church-women-latter-day-saints.html |title= Does the Mormon Church Empower Women? A Social Media Storm Answers |first= Ruth |last= Graham |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= 22 March 2024 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324075126/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/us/mormon-church-women-latter-day-saints.html |archive-date=24 March 2024 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

===Marriage===
{{see also|Marriage in the LDS Church|Celestial marriage}}

LDS Church leaders have taught on many occasions that a woman should obey her husband. Some examples from the 1800s include that of [[Orson Pratt]] who wrote in 1852 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".<ref name="WomenAndMormonism"/>{{rp|27}} Additionally, apostles [[Heber C. Kimball]] and [[George A. Smith]] both taught in the temple in the 1840s that a wife must be "in subjection" to her husband.<ref name=Roots>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=George D. |date=1994-04-01 |title=Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841-46: A Preliminary Demographic Report |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/nauvoo-roots-of-mormon-polygamy-1841-46-a-preliminary-demographic-report/ |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]] |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=1–72 |doi=10.2307/45228320 |jstor=45228320 |s2cid=254329894 |issn=0012-2157|doi-access=free }}</ref>{{rp|145}}<ref name=Framing>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Sunstone (magazine)|Sunstone]]|url=https://sunstone.org/generation-x-and-framing-gender-in-the-church/|title=Generation X and Framing Gender in the Church|last=Huston|first=M. David|date=February 1, 2018}}</ref><ref name=Companies>{{Cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Devery S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RH_ZAAAAMAAJ |title=The Nauvoo Endowment Companies, 1845-1846: A Documentary History |last2=Bergera |first2=Gary James |date=2005 |publisher=[[Signature Books]] |isbn=978-1-56085-187-5|via=[[Google Books]]|url-access=limited}}</ref>{{rp|116}} Young also taught in the temple that Adam only received the tokens of the priesthood after learning to not listen to his wife, and that women won't get back to God unless they follow a man back.<ref name=Framing/><ref name=Companies/>{{rp|208}} Because these teachings on women were given by top leaders in temple they became unquestioned parts of LDS culture.<ref name=Framing/>

Other examples of teachings on LDS women in marriages include church president [[Harold B. Lee]]'s 1972 article "Maintain Your Place as a Woman" which stated, "the wife is to obey the law of her husband" (with the caveat "only as he obeys the laws of God").<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |last1=Lee |first1=Harold |author-link=Harold B. Lee |title=Maintain Your Place As a Woman |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1972/02/maintain-your-place-as-a-woman?lang=eng|publisher=[[LDS Church]]}}</ref> In contrast, Spencer W. Kimball said that a man "presides" rather than "rules".<ref name="Rockwood">{{cite journal|last1=Rockwood|first1=Jolene|title=The Redemption of Eve|journal=New Mormon Studies|date=1998|url=http://www.mormonmonastery.org/PDF/TheRedemptionofEve.pdf|access-date=17 August 2016}}</ref>{{rp|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."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=John G. |title=Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet |date=2012 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-674-06731-8 |page=158 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nGgSuTW-dgIC&pg=PA158 |via=[[Google Books]] |url-access=limited}}</ref>

Initially, early church members defined "[[celestial marriage]]" as a polygamous relationship, but the term now refers to any marriage sealed in the temple.<ref name="Inouye">{{cite book|last1=Inouye|first1=Melissa|editor1-last=Bushman|editor1-first=Claudia|title=Summer Fellows' Papers 2003: Latter-day Saint Women in the 20th Century|publisher=[[Brigham Young University]]|date=2004|chapter=What a Girl Wants: LDS Women's Courtship and Marriage, 1890–1930|location=Provo, Utah|isbn=978-0-8425-2573-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2zZAAAAMAAJ|via=[[Google Books]]|url-access=limited}}</ref>{{rp|144}} 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.<ref name="Inouye"/> Unmarried LDS women are promised that if they are faithful, they will have the opportunity to marry in the afterlife.<ref name="Inouye"/>

====Same-sex marriage====
{{see also|Homosexuality and the LDS Church|Gender minorities and the LDS Church|LGBT rights and the LDS Church}}
LDS women who are married to other women may receive church discipline including ex-communication.<ref name=Label>{{cite web|title=Individuals|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/gay/individuals?lang=eng|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|date=October 2016|quote=If you experience same-sex attraction, you may choose to use a sexual orientation label to describe yourself. ... If you decide to ... openly identify as gay, you should be supported.}}</ref><ref name="Oaks-Wickman 2007">{{cite interview |first=Dallin H. |last=Oaks |subject-link= Dallin H. Oaks |first2=Lance B. |last2=Wickman |subject-link2=Lance B. Wickman |interviewer=LDS Church Public Affairs staffers |title=Same-Gender Attraction |url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/interview-oaks-wickman-same-gender-attraction |type=Interview: Transcript |publisher=[[LDS Church]] |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |date=September 2006}} See also the Salt Lake Tribune archived transcript [http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=4275317&itype=NGPSID here].</ref><ref name="hinckley98">{{cite magazine |last=Hinckley |first=Gordon B. |author-link=Gordon B. Hinckley |title=What Are People Asking about Us? |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1998/11/what-are-people-asking-about-us?lang=eng |magazine=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]] |date=November 1998 |publisher=[[LDS Church]]}}</ref> In order to receive [[Ordinance (Latter Day Saints)|church ordinances]] such as [[Baptism in Mormonism|baptism]], and to enter church [[Temple (Latter Day Saints)|temples]], women are required to abstain from sexual activity with other women.<ref name=GTT>{{cite web |url = https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/temples?lang=eng&_r=1 |title= Gospel Topics: Temples |publisher= [[LDS Church]] |access-date= July 2, 2014}}</ref><ref name=Disciplinary>{{cite web |url = https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/church-disciplinary-councils?lang=eng&_r=1 |title= Gospel Topics: Church Disciplinary Councils|publisher= [[LDS Church]] |access-date= July 2, 2014}}</ref> Additionally, in the church's [[Plan of salvation in Mormonism|plan of salvation]] non-celibate lesbian individuals will not be allowed in the top tier of [[Degrees of glory#Celestial kingdom|heaven]] to receive [[Exaltation (Mormonism)|exaltation]] unless they repent, and a marriage to a man is a requirement for exaltation.<ref name=Fractured>{{cite news |last1=Beaver |first1=Michelle |title=Mormon church has a fractured history with gays |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2011/03/11/mormon-church-has-a-fractured-history-with-gays/ |newspaper=[[The Mercury News]] |date=11 Mar 2011|quote=There are three levels to the heaven in which Mormons believe, and to make it to the highest level, one must be married. Perhaps the most sacred church ordinance is the temple marriage, a "sealing" between a man and a woman that is believed to be eternal, according to Richley Crapo, a Utah State University professor. There is no place for homosexuality in Mormon marriages, and no place for noncelibate homosexuals in the top level of Mormon heaven, unless that person has repented accordingly in the afterlife.|location=San Jose, CA}}</ref><ref name="Not Gay">{{cite news |last1=Petrey |first1=Taylor G. |title=My Husband's Not Gay: Homosexuality and the LDS Church |url=https://religionandpolitics.org/2015/02/04/my-husbands-not-gay-homosexuality-and-the-lds-church/ |author-link=Taylor G. Petrey |work=Religion & Politics |agency=John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics |publisher=[[Washington University in St. Louis]] |date=4 February 2015 |quote=In the Mormon cosmos, as presently understood, there is simply no room for same-sex relationships. For Mormons, the afterlife consists of heterosexual pairs of divinized men and women. Often church leaders have counseled Mormons who experience same-sex attraction that their unwelcome feelings will disappear in the afterlife. ... [T]he very structure of heaven can only accommodate opposite-sex marriages. |archive-date=February 7, 2023 |access-date=August 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207214628/https://religionandpolitics.org/2015/02/04/my-husbands-not-gay-homosexuality-and-the-lds-church/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, they are allowed to attend weekly church worship services.<ref name=Worship>{{cite web |url=http://www.mormon.org/worship#what-to-expect |title=Worship with Us: What to Expect |work=mormon.org |publisher=LDS Church |access-date=July 2, 2014 |archive-date=February 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215155922/https://www.mormon.org/worship#what-to-expect |url-status=dead |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

The church's policies and treatment of LGBT people has long been a source of controversy both within and outside the church.<ref name="lgbtqnation.com">{{cite magazine |last=Browning |first=Bill |date=21 December 2021 |title=Utah billionaire leaves Mormon church with blistering accusation it is actively harming the world |url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/12/utah-billionaire-leaves-mormon-church-blistering-accusation-actively-harming-world/ |url-status=live |magazine=[[LGBTQ Nation]] |location=[[San Francisco]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221140543/https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/12/utah-billionaire-leaves-mormon-church-blistering-accusation-actively-harming-world/ |archive-date=21 December 2021 |access-date=25 December 2021}}</ref><ref name="archive.sltrib.com">{{cite news|last1=Winters|first1=Rosemary|title=Mormon apostle's words about gays spark protest|url=http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/sltrib/home/50434583-76/gay-church-packer-protest.html.csp|access-date=16 November 2016|newspaper=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]|date=19 October 2010}}</ref><ref name="The Washington Post">{{cite news|last1=Bailey|first1=Sarah Pulliam|title=Mormon Church to exclude children of same-sex couples from getting blessed and baptized until they are 18|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/11/05/mormon-church-to-exclude-children-of-same-sex-couples-from-getting-blessed-and-baptized-until-they-are-18/|access-date=12 November 2016|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=11 Nov 2016}}</ref> They have also been a significant cause of disagreement and disaffection by members.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Murphy|first1=Caryle|title=Most U.S. Christian groups grow more accepting of homosexuality|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/12/18/most-u-s-christian-groups-grow-more-accepting-of-homosexuality/|publisher=[[Pew Research Center]]|access-date=12 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="theguardian.com">{{cite news|last1=Levin|first1=Sam|title='I'm not a Mormon': fresh 'mass resignation' over anti-LGBT beliefs|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=15 August 2016|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/15/mormon-church-lgbt-mass-resignation-protest-utah|access-date=11 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Hatch|first1=Heidi|title=Millennial Mormons leaving faith at higher rate than previous generations|url=http://kutv.com/news/local/millennial-mormons-leaving-faith-more-than-previous-generations-are-more-republican|agency=[[KUTV]]|publisher=[[CBS]]|date=13 April 2016}}</ref> Transgender women are similarly barred from all temple ordinances including temple marriage as of 2023.<ref name="Publishes">{{cite news|title=LDS Church publishes new handbook with changes to discipline, transgender policy|url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/02/19/lds-church-puts-new/|newspaper=[[Salt Lake Tribune]]|date=19 Feb 2020|author1-last=Fletcher Stack|author1-first=Peggy|author2-last=Noyce|author2-first=David|author1-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack}}</ref><ref name="Handbook 2010">{{cite book|title=Handbook 1: Stake Presidents and Bishops|date=2010|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|location=Salt Lake City, Utah| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115192147/https://www.lds.org/manual/handbook-1-stake-presidents-and-bishops/ordinance-and-blessing-policies/ordinance-and-blessing-policies?lang=eng| archive-date=15 November 2017 |url=https://www.lds.org/manual/handbook-1-stake-presidents-and-bishops/ordinance-and-blessing-policies/ordinance-and-blessing-policies?lang=eng |quote=The mission president must conduct an interview and receive authorization from the First Presidency before a prospective convert may be baptized and confirmed if the person ... Has undergone an elective transsexual operation. ... A person who is considering an elective transsexual operation may not be baptized or confirmed. ... However, [persons who have already undergone an elective transsexual operation] may not receive the priesthood or a temple recommend.}}</ref>{{rp|145}}

===Working and responsibility to children===
''The Family: A Proclamation to the World'' states that "Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children",<ref>{{cite web|title=The Family: A Proclamation to the World|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world?lang=eng|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|access-date=18 August 2016}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite web|title=Women in The Church|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/women-in-the-church?lang=eng|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|access-date=18 August 2016}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Differences Inherent">{{cite book|title=Eternal Marriage Student Manual|chapter=Differences Inherent Between Men and Women|chapter-url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/eternal-marriage-student-manual/differences-inherent-between-men-and-women?lang=eng|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|access-date=1 September 2016}}</ref>

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".<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-brigham-young/chapter-19?lang=eng |chapter= Chapter 19: The Relief Society and Individual Responsibility |title= Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young |publisher= [[LDS Church]] |year= 1997 |page= 135 |title-link= Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Iverson">{{cite journal|last1=Iverson|first1=Joan|title=Feminist Implications of Mormon Polygamy|journal=[[Feminist Studies]]|date=1984|volume=10|issue=3|pages=505–522|jstor=3178041|doi=10.2307/3178041|hdl=2027/spo.0499697.0010.311|hdl-access=free}}{{closed access}}</ref>{{rp|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.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Chen|first1=Chiung Hwang|title=Diverse Yet Hegemonic: Expressions of Motherhood in 'I'm a Mormon' Ads|journal=Journal of Media and Religion|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|date=20 February 2014|volume=13|issue=1|pages=31–47|doi=10.1080/15348423.2014.871973 |s2cid=143774315}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite book|title=Mothers' Employment Outside the Home|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/eternal-marriage-student-manual/mothers-employment-outside-the-home?lang=eng|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|access-date=18 August 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Pinborough|first1=Jan Underwood|title=Working Double-Time: The Working Mother's Dilemma|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1986/03/working-double-time-the-working-mothers-dilemma?lang=eng|magazine=[[Ensign (LDS magazine)|Ensign]]|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|access-date=22 August 2016|date=March 1986}}</ref> Mormon women were to reject the secular values of individuality and devote themselves to the eternal women's roles of marriage, motherhood, and submissiveness.<ref name=Young2007/>

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.<ref name ="Holbrook">{{cite book|last1=Holbrook|first1=Kate |editor1-first=Patrick Q.|editor1-last=Mason|editor2-first=John G.|editor2-last=Turner|title=Out of Obscurity: Mormonism Since 1945|date=July 1, 2016|chapter=Housework: The Problem That Does Have a Name|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0199358229|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jcySDAAAQBAJ|access-date=February 27, 2023|via=[[Google Books]]|url-access=limited}}</ref>{{rp|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.<ref name ="Holbrook"/>{{rp|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".<ref name ="Holbrook"/>{{rp|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 attending [[Brigham Young University]] (BYU) 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.<ref name="Prophet's talk">{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Sunstone (magazine)|Sunstone]]|title=Prophet's Talk Prompts Examination of Role of Women |date=1987|issue=58|pages=41–42|url=https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/058-41-45.pdf|access-date=12 September 2016}}</ref><ref name="Iannaccone">{{cite journal|last1=Iannaccone|first1=Laurence R.|last2=Miles|first2=Carrie A.|title=Dealing with Social Change: The Mormon Church's Response to Change in Women's Roles|journal=[[Social Forces]]|date=1990|volume=68|issue=4|pages=1231–1250|jstor=2579142|doi=10.1093/sf/68.4.1231}}</ref>{{rp|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.<ref name="Iannaccone"/>{{rp|1244}}

Some scholars have found that [[multi-level marketing]] firms are more prevalent in Mormon communities due to these conflicting responsibilities. Operating a home-based business is seen as increasing the ability to provide for the family, while still physically being present in the home.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McGrath |first=Orla |title=Expert explains why Mormon women embrace multi-level marketing |url=https://www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2023/04/24/expert-explains-why-mormon-women-embrace-multi-level-marketing |access-date=2024-12-27 |website=Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine {{!}} University of Colorado Boulder |language=en}}</ref> ''[[LuLaRich]]'' is a documentary about [[LuLaRoe]], a clothing company started by a Mormon couple, which explores these beliefs and how they translated into recruiting distributors for the product.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yuko |first=Elizabeth |date=2021-09-18 |title='Oh My God, We're In a Cult': New Docuseries Shows the Dark Side of Clothing Brand LuLaRoe |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/lularich-docuseries-lularoe-mlm-cult-1228224/ |access-date=2024-12-27 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Johnson | first=Janiece | title=The allure of companies like LuLaRoe to Latter-day Saint women | website=Washington Post | date=2021-10-04 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/10/04/allure-companies-like-lularoe-latter-day-saint-women/ | access-date=2024-12-27}}</ref>

===Clothing===
Brigham Young said that women's dress should reflect that they are separate from the world. On one occasion he called his daughters together and announced that they were too quick to follow the fashions of "the world", and he insisted they modify their manner of dress. His older daughters had taken to loosening their tight skirts when they were to see their father, in order to make their bustles seem less conspicuous. Young asked them to stop wearing bustles altogether and implored them to cut back on the frivolities of their appearance in order to set an example for the rest of the female members of the church to follow.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Spencer|first=Clarissa Young|title=Brigham Young at Home|publisher=[[Deseret Book]]|orig-year=1947|year=1972|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IZyPAAAAMAAJ|via=[[Google Books]]|isbn=978-0-87579-058-9}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Blakesley">{{cite magazine|last1=Blakesley|first1=Katie Clark |journal=[[Dialogue (magazine)|Dialogue]]|url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/a-style-of-our-own-mormon-women-and-modesty/|title='A Style of Our Own': Mormon Women and Modesty|volume=42|issue=2|date=2009|doi=10.5406/dialjmormthou.42.2.0020}}</ref>

In the 1960s, the [[Counterculture of the 1960s|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.<ref name="Blakesley"/>

In 1965, the first ''[[For the Strength of Youth (pamphlet)|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 BYU 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.<ref name="Blakesley"/>

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.<ref name="Blakesley"/> 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.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Benzley|first1=Caroline H.|title=Evaluate Your Style|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/2002/01/evaluate-your-style?lang=eng|access-date=1 September 2016|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|magazine=[[New Era (magazine)|New Era]]|date=Jan 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Stewart|first1=Kristen|title=BYU Twins are Proud of Their Modesty|newspaper=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]|id={{ProQuest|281125055}}|url=https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=27859554|via=[[University of Utah]]|page=C1|date=20 February 2002}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.christianpost.com/news/mormon-women-observe-wear-pants-to-church-sunday-to-promote-gender-equality-110882/ |title=Mormon Women Observe 'Wear Pants to Church' Sunday to Promote Gender Equality |date=16 December 2013 |author= Gryboski, Michael |newspaper=[[The Christian Post]]}}</ref><ref name="auto3pants">{{cite news |url= http://www.boiseweekly.com/CityDesk/archives/2013/12/14/lds-women-suit-up-for-second-wear-pants-to-church-day |date= 14 December 2013 |author= Seid, Natalie |title= LDS Women Suit Up For Second 'Wear Pants to Church Day' |newspaper=[[Boise Weekly]]|location=Boise, Idaho |access-date= 28 January 2021 |archive-date= 8 April 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190408230251/https://www.boiseweekly.com/CityDesk/archives/2013/12/14/lds-women-suit-up-for-second-wear-pants-to-church-day }}</ref> Over one thousand women participated in 2012.<ref name="auto3pants"/>

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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/the-mormon-church-just-allowed-female-employees-to-wear |title=The Mormon Church Just Allowed Female Employees To Wear Pants. Here's Why That's A Big Deal |date=July 2017 |publisher=[[BuzzFeed]] |access-date=4 July 2017}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.wsbradio.com/news/national/female-mormon-missionaries-given-option-wear-dress-slacks/3JvcGA9xS8XaSPLDJZAaJI/ |title=Female Mormon missionaries given option to wear dress slacks |publisher=[[WSB (AM)|WSB]]|access-date=2021-01-28 |archive-date=2018-12-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224073904/https://www.wsbradio.com/news/national/female-mormon-missionaries-given-option-wear-dress-slacks/3JvcGA9xS8XaSPLDJZAaJI/ }}</ref>

Until 2022, the ''For the Strength of Youth'' pamphlet for LDS youth defined 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."<ref name="For the Strength of Youth">{{cite book|title=For the Strength of Youth|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/for-the-strength-of-youth/dress-and-appearance?lang=eng|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|access-date=18 August 2016}}</ref> The pamphlet also counseled women to only wear one pair of earrings.<ref name="For the Strength of Youth"/> Women who have gone through the temple endowment and wear [[temple garment]]s must cover their garments, which cover shoulders, midriff, and thighs.

In 2022, the church released a new edition of ''For the Strength of Youth'' which includes fewer prescriptive standards for dress and grooming. The new edition instead emphasizes the spiritual principles behind the standards. For example, the new passage which corresponds to the past edition's statement on modesty now reads: "Avoid styles that emphasize or draw inappropriate attention to your physical body instead of who you are as a child of God with an eternal future. Let moral cleanliness and love for God guide your choices." The wording in the new edition also eliminates the previous edition's differentiation between female and male modesty.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Frandsen |first=Jake |date=October 3, 2022 |title=What are the biggest changes to the new 'For the Strength of Youth' booklet? |url=https://www.ldsliving.com/whats-new-in-the-for-the-strength-of-youth-booklet/s/11043 |magazine=[[LDS Living]]}}</ref>

Some{{how many?|date=February 2024}} 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.<ref name="Hanks">{{cite web|last1=Hanks|first1=Julie de Azevedo|title=The Costs of Misunderstanding Modesty|url=http://ldsmag.com/the-problem-with-overemphasizing-modesty/|website=LDS Magazine|date=13 August 2015|access-date=22 August 2016}}</ref> Other members feel that modest dress is the first defense against immorality, and that dressing modestly will help individuals act modestly.<ref name="Blakesley" />

Trans women are counseled to dress and groom themselves as men, and are advised that those who socially transition will experience some church membership restrictions for the duration of this transition.<ref name=LDSTransgender />

==Factors affecting mental health==
Mormon women are no more likely than other women to report experiencing depression,<ref name="Spendlove">{{cite journal|last1=Spendlove|first1=David C|last2=West|first2=Dee W|last3=Stanish|first3=William M|title=Risk factors and the prevalence of depression in Mormon women.|journal=[[Social Science & Medicine]]|date=1984|volume=18|issue=6|pages=491–5|pmid=6608792|doi=10.1016/0277-9536(84)90006-6}}</ref><ref name="Williams">{{cite thesis|last1=Williams|first1=Marleen|title=Correlates of Beck Depression Inventory scores in Mormon and Protestant women: Religious orientation, traditional family attitudes and perfectionism.|institution=[[Brigham Young University]]|date=1993|degree=Doctorate of Psychology|id={{ProQuest|9327335}}|issn=0419-4217}}{{closed access}}</ref> however, Mormon women who experience depression have specific challenges. A 1993 dissertation by Marleen Williams found a few differences in how Mormon women experience depression. Compared to mildly depressed Protestant women, mildly depressed Mormon women felt more guilt and self-blame, took responsibility for others' behavior, and depended on others for approval.<ref name="Williams"/>{{rp|48}} Compared to non-depressed Mormon women, mildly depressed Mormon women were more likely to have role conflicts and feel their gender role restricted their  behavior.<ref name="Williams"/>{{rp|51}} A 1984 study by David Spendlove found that poor health, low income, less education, and less perceived caring from spouse were positively correlated with depression in LDS women in Utah.<ref name="Spendlove"/>{{rp|491}} Spendlove also found that for women in Utah in 1984, women who work "may be at a higher risk of depression" than those who do not.<ref name="Spendlove"/>{{rp|494}}

Other studies have examined specific subgroups of Mormon women. A study by Ann Pritt in 1998 found that Mormon women who were sexually abused were more likely to feel distant from God, blame themselves for bad things that happen to them, and be more pessimistic in general compared to Mormon women who were not sexually abused (with both parties having received counseling at some point).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pritt|first1=Ann F.|title=Spiritual Correlates of Reported Sexual Abuse among Mormon Women|journal=[[Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion]]|date=June 1998|volume=37|issue=2|pages=273–285|doi=10.2307/1387527|jstor=1387527}}{{closed access}}</ref> Another study by Jacobsen and Wright in 2014 found that Mormon women who experience same-sex attraction feel isolation and worthlessness and need to form a positive self-identity.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jacobsen|first1=J.|last2=Wright|first2=R.|title=Mental Health Implications in Mormon Women's Experiences With Same-Sex Attraction: A Qualitative Study|journal=[[The Counseling Psychologist]]|date=13 May 2014|volume=42|issue=5|pages=664–696|doi=10.1177/0011000014533204|s2cid=146410502}}{{closed access}}</ref>

==In the temple==

===Menstruation===
In December 1866, Brigham Young gave advice that women should wait a week from the start of menstruation before participating in the endowment.<ref name=Kimball1998 >{{Cite journal|title=The History of LDS Temple Admission Standards|author=Kimball, Edward L.|author-link=Edward L. Kimball|year=1998|journal=[[Journal of Mormon History]]|volume=24|issue=1|pages=135–176|jstor=23287671}}</ref>

Some temples in 2012 still did not allow women to perform [[Baptism for the dead|baptisms for the dead]] during their menstrual period, despite official policy to the contrary.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Stack|first1=Peggy Fletcher|author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|title=Menstruating Mormons barred from temple proxy baptisms?|url=http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/sltrib/blogsfaithblog/53650972-180/temple-women-baptisms-mormon.html.csp|access-date=22 August 2016|newspaper=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]|date=5 March 2012}}</ref>

===Endowment===
{{main|Endowment (Mormonism)}}
{{see also|Endowment (Latter Day Saints)}}
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.<ref name=Kimball1998 />

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;<ref name="Essential">{{cite book|editor1-last=Brooks|editor1-first=Joanna|editor1-link=Joanna Brooks|editor2-last=Steenblik|editor2-first=Rachel Hunt|editor3-last=Wheelwright|editor3-first=Hannah|title=Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings|date=2015|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-024803-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3IgvCgAAQBAJ|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{rp|p=282}} 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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://religionnews.com/2019/01/03/major-changes-to-mormon-temple-ceremony-especially-for-women/|title= Major changes to Mormon temple ceremony, especially for women|last= Riess|first=Jana|author-link=Jana Riess |date= 3 January 2019|publisher= [[Religion News Service]]|access-date= 5 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/01/02/lds-church-releases/|title= LDS Church changes temple ceremony; faithful feminists will see revisions and additions as a 'leap forward'|last1= Fletcher Stack|first1= Peggy|author1-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|last2= Noyce|first2= David|date= 2 January 2019|newspaper=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]|access-date= 5 January 2019}}</ref> Also in 2019, a letter from the church's [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://sltrib.com/religion/2019/01/29/heels-temple-changes|title=On heels of temple changes, faithful Latter-day Saint women no longer need to be veiled before burial|newspaper=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]}}</ref>

===Prayer circles===
In current Latter-day Saint temple practice, the endowment ritual contains a [[Prayer circle (Mormonism)|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.<ref name="Quinn">{{cite journal|last= Michael|first= Quinn D.|author-link= D. Michael Quinn|editor1-last= Tate|editor1-first= Charles D Jr.|title= Latter-day Saint Prayer Circles|url= https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/latter-day-saint-prayer-circles|format=PDF |access-date= May 3, 2011|volume= 19|issue= 1|date= Fall 1978 |periodical=[[BYU Studies]]|publisher=[[Brigham Young University]] |pages= 84,105}}</ref> 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.<ref name = "Quinn2"/> In 1978, the [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]] discontinued all prayer circles except those performed in a temple as part of the [[Endowment (Mormonism)|endowment]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |editor1-last= Kenney |editor1-first=Scott |others= Smith, Randal, Designer |title= Update: Prayer Circles Discontinued |url=https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/011-06.pdf |format=pfd |access-date=May 3, 2011 |series=5 |volume=3 |date=July–August 1978 |magazine=[[Sunstone (magazine)|Sunstone]] |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |page=6}}</ref> Since members of prayer circles had to be approved by the first presidency, continuing this tradition in a worldwide church made for unwieldy paperwork.<ref name = "Quinn2"/>

==Religiously significant women==

===Heavenly Mother===
{{main|Heavenly Mother (Mormonism)}}
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.<ref name=Snow/> This included the development of a [[Heavenly Mother (Latter Day Saints)|Heavenly Mother]] theology.<ref name="Feminism"/> 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?"<ref name="WomenAndMormonism"/>{{page needed|date=March 2024}}

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.<ref name="WomenAndMormonism"/> 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.<ref name="Tad Walch">{{cite news|author=Tad Walch |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865639745/LDS-Church-releases-new-essays-about-women-and-the-priesthood-and-Heavenly-Mother.html?pg=all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151024134612/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865639745/LDS-Church-releases-new-essays-about-women-and-the-priesthood-and-Heavenly-Mother.html?pg=all |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 24, 2015 |title=LDS Church releases new essays about women and the priesthood and Heavenly Mother |newspaper=[[Deseret News]]|publisher=[[LDS Church]] |date= 2015-10-23|access-date=2015-11-01}}</ref>

===Eve===
{{see also|Adam and Eve (LDS Church)}}
Mormonism rejected the [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustinian]] doctrine of [[original sin]], which held that humanity inherits the sin of [[Adam and Eve]] in which they ate the [[forbidden fruit]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last= Merrill |first= Byron R. |entry= Original Sin |entry-url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/4025 |pages= 1052–3 |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |title= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= [[Macmillan Publishing]] |year= 1992 |isbn= 978-0-02-879602-4 |oclc= 24502140 |via=[[Brigham Young University]]}}</ref> 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 [[Articles of Faith (Latter Day Saints)|Article of Faith]] states, "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression."<ref>{{Mormonverse|Articles of Faith|1:2}}</ref>

==Civil rights==
{{See also|Civil rights and Mormonism}}

===Reproductive rights===
{{See also|Sexuality and Mormonism#Birth control and abortion|Abortion and Christianity}}
The LDS Church opposes elective abortion based on a belief in the "sanctity of human life".<ref name="mormonnewsroom.org">{{Cite press release|url=http://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/official-statement/abortion|title=Abortion|date=November 8, 2012|publisher=[[LDS Church]]}}</ref> 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.<ref name="mormonnewsroom.org"/>

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".<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Birth Control|journal=[[Relief Society Magazine]]|date=July 1916|volume=3|issue=7|pages=364, 368|url=https://archive.org/stream/reliefsocietymag03reli#page/n403/mode/2up/search/birth+control|access-date=5 February 2017|via=[[Internet Archives]]}}</ref><ref name="Dialogue">{{cite journal|last1=Bush|first1=Lester E. Jr.|author-link=Lester E. Bush Jr. |title=Birth Control Among the Mormons: An Introduction to an Insistent Question|journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]]|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|date=Fall 1976|volume=10|issue=2|page=21|doi=10.2307/45224570 |jstor=45224570 |s2cid=254404025 |url=https://dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V10N02_14.pdf|access-date=5 February 2017}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite book|title=Eternal Marriage Student Manual|chapter=Birth Control|chapter-url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/eternal-marriage-student-manual/birth-control?lang=eng|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|access-date=5 February 2017}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/topics/birth-control?lang=eng&old=true|title=Birth Control|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|access-date=5 February 2017}}</ref> The church "strongly discourages" surgical sterilization like [[vasectomy|vasectomies]] and [[tubal ligation]] and encourages members to only turn to it for serious medical conditions after discussing it with a bishop.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/handbook-2-administering-the-church/selected-church-policies-and-guidelines/selected-church-policies?lang=eng|title=Handbook 2: Administering the Church|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|access-date=8 February 2017}}</ref> The church's insurance company [[Deseret Management Corporation|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.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Westlund |first1=Tessa Lara |title=Federal sparring over contraceptive coverage doesn't impact Y employee, student benefits |url=https://universe.byu.edu/2019/02/08/church-owned-insurance-dmba-does-not-cover-birth-control-but-there-are-expectations-1/ |newspaper=[[Daily Universe]] |publisher=[[Brigham Young University]] |date=8 Feb 2019 |quote=DMBA does not cover any form of contraceptives for BYU students or employees, according to its plan summary, and has not done so historically. The Church's website says its stance on birth control is that 'the decision of how many children to have and when to have them is a private matter for the husband and wife.' The summary from DMBA does not cite an official reason why DMBA doesn't cover birth control.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Brooks |first1=Joanna |author-link=Joanna Brooks |title=LDS Church and the Birth Control Controversy |url=https://religiondispatches.org/lds-church-and-the-birth-control-controversy/ |work=[[Religion Dispatches]] |date=8 Aug 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=White |first1=Katherine A. |title=Crisis of Conscience: Reconciling Religious Health Care Providers' Beliefs and Patients' Rights |journal=[[Stanford Law Review]]|publisher=[[Stanford University]] |date=July 1999 |volume=51 |issue=6 |page=1711 |doi=10.2307/1229534 |jstor=1229534 |pmid=10558539 |quote= 45. Telephone Interview with David Call, supra note 7. The Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators HMO (DMBA) does not cover sterilizations until a woman has had five children or reached the age of forty. While the DMBA policy does not directly refer to LDS church doctrine, the policy is set by the DMBA Ethical Advisory Committee, which has issued guidelines stating that the DMBA will provide benefits consistent with LDS church teachings.}}</ref>

===Equal Rights Amendment===
According to historian [[Ardis Parshall]], in 1943, women within positions of leadership in the LDS Church backed the amendment.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://sltrib.com/religion/2019/12/12/this-week-mormon-land|title=This week in Mormon Land: When top LDS leaders backed the ERA; scholar who avoided excommunication joins splinter sect|newspaper=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]|last=Noyce|first=David|date=12 December 2019}}</ref>

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<ref name=Young2007/>—even those that did not advocate a moral position opposed to that of the LDS Church.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Huefner|first=Dixie Snow|year=1978|title=Church and Politics at the IWY Conference|url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V11N01_60.pdf|journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]]|volume=11|issue=1|pages=58–75|doi=10.2307/45224633|jstor=45224633|s2cid=254390792|issn=0012-2157|access-date=24 October 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Young2007 />{{rp|636–637}} Nevada did not ratify the amendment.<ref name=Young2007 />{{rp|637}} [[Sonia Johnson]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Young |first=Neil J. |date=June 13, 2012 |title=Equal Rights, Gay Rights and the Mormon Church |url=http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/equal-rights-gay-rights-and-the-mormon-church/ |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=January 6, 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Sillitoe |first=Linda |author-link=Linda Sillitoe |year=1980 |title=Church Politics and Sonia Johnson: The Central Conundrum |url=https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/019-35-43.pdf |magazine=[[Sunstone Magazine|Sunstone]] |volume=5 |issue=1 |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |access-date=January 6, 2018 |archive-date=April 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422215443/https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/019-35-43.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bentley|first=Amy L.|author-link=Amy Bentley|year=1990|title=Comforting the Motherless Children: The Alice Louise Reynolds Women's Forum|url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V23N03_41.pdf|journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]]|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|volume=23|issue=3|pages=39–61|doi=10.2307/45225897|jstor=45225897|s2cid=254337747|issn=0012-2157|access-date=January 6, 2018}}</ref>{{rp|52}}

==Dissent==
Within and outside the church mainstream, there is a minority of LDS women who raise concerns regarding church policy and doctrine. However, any members who are viewed as publicly oppositional toward the church's current structure are subject to [[disciplinary council|ecclesiastical discipline]], including [[excommunication]] for [[apostasy]].{{efn|E.g. [[September Six]], [[Kate Kelly (feminist)|Kate Kelly]]}}<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/12/us/two-activists-within-mormon-church-threatened-with-excommunication.html |title= 2 Threatened With Removal by Mormons Over Campaign |first= Laurie |last= Goodstein |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= 12 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Barlow |first= Rich |url= http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/06/17/a_feminist_look_at_the_mormon_faith/ |title= A Feminist Look at the Mormon Faith |newspaper= [[Boston Globe]] |date= June 17, 2006}}</ref>

==20th and 21st centuries changes in church policies about women==
The First Presidency made the Relief Society an auxiliary to the church, removing their independent financial status in 1970.<ref name=Young2007/> In 1977, [[First Presidency (LDS Church)|First Presidency]] member [[N. Eldon Tanner]] told a meeting of church leaders that presidency of the [[Relief Society]] should be considered a partner with the [[Melchizedek priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|Melchizedek priesthood]].{{sfn|Kimball|2005|p=165}}

Other developments during the [[President of the Church (LDS Church)|presidency]] of [[Spencer W. Kimball]] included having [[Young Women (organization)|young women]] class advancements recognized in [[sacrament meeting]] and, in 1978, the First Presidency and [[Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|Quorum of the Twelve Apostles]] issued a policy which approved of women praying in [[sacrament meeting]]. Women had been barred praying in sacrament meeting from 1967<ref name="Feminism"/><ref name="News of the Church"/> to 1978.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="Gardner"/> In 1980, the general presidents of the Relief Society, [[Young Women (organization)|Young Women]], and [[Primary (LDS Church)|Primary]] were invited to sit on the stand with the male [[general authorities]] during [[general conference (LDS Church)|general conference]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carter |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R15MDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT248 |title=Mormonism For Beginners |date=2016-07-19 |publisher=Red Wheel/Weiser |isbn=978-1-939994-53-0 |language=en}}</ref> In 1984, a woman spoke in general conference for the first time since 1931; since then, women have spoken in every general conference.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Anderson |first=Christian N. K. |date=2024-11-18 |title=Women Preach In Whispers At General Conference |url=https://exponentii.org/blog/women-preach-in-whispers/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=Exponent II Blog |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1978, a conference session specifically for women was added, initially two weeks before the October general conference, which was later changed to one week beforehand, then to Conference Weekend itself in 2018.{{sfn|Kimball|2005|p=165–168}} In the April 2013 general conference, women gave prayers for the first time.

In 1978, a policy that a woman was not allowed to be a Sunday School president was clarified to a bishop in a Boston suburb.<ref name="Prince">{{Cite book|title=Leonard Arrington and the Writing of Mormon History|last=Prince|first=Gregory A.|author-link=Greg Prince|publisher=[[University of Utah Press]]|year=2016|isbn=978-1-60781-479-5|location=Salt Lake City|pages=236–237|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wHeLAQAACAAJ|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Also in 1978, Alice Colton Smith, a member of the Relief Society General Board, remarked in a letter to [[Leonard J. Arrington]] that women were once permitted to join in or stand as an observer at the blessing of her baby, but now were rarely permitted to do so.<ref name="Prince"/> In 1975, the LDS church allowed [[Maureen Ursenbach Beecher]] to continue to work in the History Division after the birth of her daughter. Previously, the church's policy was to terminate new mothers' employment; after consulting with their legal counsel, the church changed their policy to allow women employees to continue working after several weeks of maternity leave.<ref name="Prince"/>{{rp|243–244}}

[[Brigham Young University]] (BYU), the LDS Church's flagship educational institution, has made several changes in its policy towards women. In 1975, the four-year, full tuition and boarding expenses presidential scholarship was changed from only being available to men to being available to an equal number of men and women.{{sfn|Kimball|2005|p=165}} BYU established a Women's Research Institute in 1978.<ref name=Demise/> Among its directors over its 21 years of existence was [[Marie Cornwall]]. At the end of 2009, BYU restructured its Women's Studies Programs, freeing more money for research on women's issues by ending an institute staff, placing the Women's Studies Minor in the Sociology Department and thus putting all the money that had been split between research and staff directly into research expenditures.<ref name=Demise>{{citation |last= Israelsen-Hartley |first= Sara |title= BYU students decry demise of Women's Research Institute |newspaper= [[Deseret News]] |date = November 20, 2009 |url= https://www.deseret.com/2009/11/20/20350922/byu-students-decry-demise-of-women-s-research-institute/|publisher=[[LDS Church]]}}</ref>

In 2013, the church adjusted the leadership council in its [[Mission (LDS Church)|missions]] to include a greater role for the wife of the [[mission president]] and by creating a new role, called "sister training leader". The new Mission Leadership Council expands the use of councils to govern the church at every level.<ref>{{cite news |last= Walker |first= Joseph | title=Sister LDS missionaries will have key role in new Mission Leadership Council |newspaper= [[Deseret News]] |date= April 5, 2013 |url= http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865577611/Sister-LDS-missionaries-will-have-key-role-in-new-Mission-Leadership-Council.html?pg=all|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130410064803/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865577611/Sister-LDS-missionaries-will-have-key-role-in-new-Mission-Leadership-Council.html?pg=all|url-status= dead|archive-date= April 10, 2013|publisher=[[LDS Church]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release |title= Church Adjusts Mission Organization to Implement 'Mission Leadership Council' |date= April 5, 2013 |url= https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-adjusts-mission-organization-implement-mission-leadership-council|publisher=[[LDS Church]]}}</ref> Also in 2013, the organization [[Ordain Women]] was established by LDS women who supported the extension of [[Priesthood (LDS Church)|priesthood]] ordinations to women. On November 1, 2013, the church announced that beginning in 2014, a general women's meeting, conducted by the Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary organizations, would be held in connection with its bi-annual general conferences.<ref>{{cite press release |title= First Presidency Announces New General Women's Meeting |publisher=[[LDS Church]] |date= November 4, 2013 |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/first-presidency-announces-new-general-womens-meeting}}</ref> In 2015, the church appointed women to its executive councils for the first time: [[Linda K. Burton]], president of the [[Relief Society]], [[Rosemary Wixom]], president of the Primary, and [[Bonnie L. Oscarson]], president of the Young Women's organization, to three high-level church councils (one woman to each).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/20/mormon-church-makes-first-ever-appointments-of-women-to-councils |title=Mormon church makes first ever appointments of women to councils |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=August 19, 2015|access-date=2015-08-20|agency=[[Associated Press]] }}</ref><ref name=MEC>{{cite news |url= http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865634860/In-a-significant-move-women-to-join-key-leading-LDS-Church-councils.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150820131037/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865634860/In-a-significant-move-women-to-join-key-leading-LDS-Church-councils.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= August 20, 2015 |title= In a significant move, women to join key, leading LDS Church councils |last= Walch |first= Tad |date= 18 August 2015|publisher=[[LDS Church]] |newspaper= [[Deseret News]] }}.</ref>

==Mormon feminism==
{{Main|Mormon feminism}}
Mormon feminism is a [[feminist]] movement concerned with the role of women within  Mormonism. Mormon feminists advocate for a more significant recognition of [[Heavenly Mother (Mormonism)|Heavenly Mother]],<ref name="Feminism"/>{{rp|at=Ch. 1}} the [[ordination of women]], [[gender equality]],<ref name = "Quinn2">{{Cite journal |last= Michael|first= Quinn D.|author-link= D. Michael Quinn|editor1-last= Tate|editor1-first= Charles D Jr. |title= Latter-day Saint Prayer Circles|url= https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/latter-day-saint-prayer-circles|format= PDF|access-date= May 3, 2011|volume= 19|issue=1|date= Fall 1978 |periodical=[[BYU Studies]]|publisher=[[Brigham Young University]] |pages= 84,105}}</ref> and social justice grounded in Mormon theology and history.<ref name="Bradley"/><ref>{{cite journal|first=Sherilyn |last=Cox Bennion |title=The 'Woman's Exponent': Forty-two Years of Speaking for Women|url=https://issuu.com/utah10/docs/uhq_volume44_1976_number3/s/125270 |via=[[ISSUU]]|journal=[[Utah State Historical Society|Utah Historical Quarterly]]|volume=44|issue=3|date=Summer 1976|page=226}}</ref> The modern form of the movement has roots that go back to the founding of Mormonism, including the largely independent operation of the female [[Relief Society]], [[Priesthood (Latter Day Saints)|priesthood]] blessings by women in early [[History of the Latter Day Saint movement|church history]], and the [[Women's suffrage in the United States|women's suffrage movement in the western United States]].<ref name="Feminism"/>

==Fundamentalist groups==
[[Mormon fundamentalists]] are groups or individuals who have broken from the dominant form of Mormonism practiced by the LDS Church.<ref name="Primergroups">{{cite web |website=Utah Attorney General's Office |title=The Primer, Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities: Fundamentalist Mormon Communities|publisher=Utah State Government |url= http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/cmsdocuments/The_Primer.pdf |access-date= June 29, 2010 |date= June 2006 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130127133628/http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/cmsdocuments/The_Primer.pdf |archive-date= January 27, 2013}}</ref> Since the mid-19th 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]].<ref name="Primergroups"/> Mormon fundamentalists advocate a return to Mormon doctrines and practices which, they believe, were wrongly abandoned, such as [[plural marriage]], the [[law of consecration]], the [[Adam–God doctrine]], the [[Patriarchal Priesthood]], elements of the Mormon [[Endowment (Mormonism)|endowment]] ritual, and often the [[Blacks and Mormonism|exclusion of blacks]] from the priesthood.<ref name="Primergroups"/>

Plural marriage is generally considered the most central and significant doctrine separating fundamentalists from mainstream Mormonism.<ref name="Primergroups"/> 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.<ref name="Primergroups"/>

Even though women in fundamentalist groups are often expected to rear children and other domestic tasks, it is not accurate to assume that all women in polygamous relationships in Mormon fundamentalist groups are powerless. Mormon women in fundamentalist groups experience their gender roles differently than women in the LDS church. In fundamentalists sects, sex is viewed as a necessary evil for reproduction. Women who are menstruating, lactating, or pregnant are not expected to have sex with their husbands.<ref name="Fagen">{{cite journal|last1=Fagen|first1=Jennifer Lara|last2=Wright|first2=Stuart A.|editor1-last=Bogdan|editor1-first=Henrik|editor2-last=Lewis|editor2-first=James R.|title=Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Empowerment in Mormon Fundamentalist Communities|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292144942|via=[[ResearchGate]]|journal=Sexuality and New Religious Movements|date=2014|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|location=New York, New York|isbn=978-1-137-40962-1}}</ref>{{rp|20}} One fundamentalist woman said that because her husband had other wives, she didn't feel pressured to sexually satisfy her husband. Fundamentalist women help their husbands seek other wives, and many say that for their husbands to look for a wife without consulting existing wives would be akin to infidelity.<ref name="Fagen"/>{{rp|21}} Some wives in polygamous marriages feel closer to their sister wives than to their husbands. In some polygamous relationships, a wife nurtures her husband's relationship with his other wives by encouraging her husband to spend time with them. Sister wives help each other with childrearing, cooking, and other domestic tasks. Women in polygamous relationships have their own bedrooms, while their husbands are treated as visitors. Sister wives also often control the household's finances.<ref name="Fagen"/>{{rp|22–24}} The studies that examined the experience of fundamentalist women did not examine underage marriage, which the authors felt was a separate issue.<ref name="Fagen"/>{{rp|22–25}} The 2008 police raid of the FLDS Texas compound found that 12 girls were married before age 16 and sexually abused.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Winslow|first1=Ben|title=FLDS report says 12 girls married underage|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705272588/FLDS-report-says-12-girls-married-underage.html?pg=all|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124025047/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705272588/FLDS-report-says-12-girls-married-underage.html?pg=all|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 24, 2016|access-date=23 November 2016|newspaper=[[Deseret News]]|publisher=[[LDS Church]]|date=24 December 2008}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Latter Day Saint movement}}
* [[Adam and Eve (LDS Church)]]
* [[Civil rights and Mormonism]]
* [[Criticism of Mormonism]]
* [[Heavenly Mother (Mormonism)]]
* [[Mormon feminism]]
** [[DezNat (Deseret Nation)]] – an [[alt-right]] Mormon movement opposed to feminism
* [[The Mormon Women Project]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
*{{Citation
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*{{lds|Doctrine & Covenants|dc|156|9}}
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*{{Citation
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*{{Citation
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*{{Citation
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*{{Citation
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*{{Citation
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{{Refend}}

== Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
*{{Citation
 |author=Derr, Jill Mulvay |author2=Maureen Ursenbach Beecher |author3=Janath Cannon
 | title     = Women of Covenant: The Story of Relief Society
 | publisher = [[Deseret Book]]
 | year      = 2002
 | isbn      = 978-1-57345-604-3
 | url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=YZHZAAAAMAAJ
 }}
*{{Citation
 |author1=Kimball, James N. |author2=Miles, Kent
 | title     = Mormon Women: Portraits & Conversations
 | publisher = White Horse Books
 | year      = 2009
 | isbn      = 978-0-9801406-1-3
 | url       = https://archive.org/details/mormonwomenportr0000kimb
 }}
*{{Citation
 | author   = Bushman, Claudia
 | title     = Mormon Sisters: Women in Early Utah
 | publisher = [[Utah State University Press]]
 | year      = 1997
 | isbn      = 9780874212334
 | url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=XV4qAAAAYAAJ
}}
*{{Citation |author1=Beecher |author2=Maureen Ursenback |author3=Anderson, Lavina
 |title     = Sisters in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective
 |publisher = [[University of Illinois Press]]
 |date      = August 1987
 |isbn      = 978-0-252-01411-6
 |url       = https://archive.org/details/sistersinspirit00univ
}}
*{{Citation
 | author   = Hanks, Maxine
 | title     = Women and Authority: Re-Emerging Mormon Feminism
 | publisher = [[Signature Books]]
 | date      = December 1992
 | isbn      = 978-1-56085-014-4
 | url       = http://signaturebookslibrary.org/840/
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200330044947/http://signaturebookslibrary.org/840/
 | archive-date = March 30, 2020
 }}
*{{Citation |author1=Newell, Linda King |author2=Avery, Valeen Tippetts
 |title     = Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith
 |publisher = [[University of Illinois Press]]
 |date      = July 1994
 |isbn      = 978-0-252-06291-9
 |url       = https://archive.org/details/mormonenigmaemma00newe_0
}}
*{{Citation
 | author   = Madsen, Carol Cornwall
 | title     = An Advocate for Women: The Public Life of Emmeline B. Wells, 1870-1920 (Biographies in Latter-Day Saint History)
 | publisher = [[Brigham Young University Press]]
 | date      = December 2005
 | isbn      = 978-0-8425-2615-9
 | url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=sXXZAAAAMAAJ
}}
*{{Citation
 | title     = Mormon Women Have Their Say: Essays from the Claremont Oral History Collection
 | publisher = Greg Kofford Books, Inc.
 | date      = March 2013
 | isbn      = 978-1-58958-494-5
 | url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=6K_ZlAEACAAJ
 }}
{{refend}}

{{Latter Day Saint movement}}
{{Latter-day Saints}}

[[Category:Mormonism and women| ]]
[[Category:History of women in the United States]]
[[Category:History of women in Utah]]
[[Category:Mormon studies]]
[[Category:Women's rights in religious movements]]