Mormon Women

Some people seem to have the impression that Mormon women (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) are oppressed and downtrodden. The opposite is true. The Mormon Church has over 14 million members worldwide, and women are servants and leaders in the Church in many capacities. As far as Mormon women working and serving outside their homes, the counsel of church leaders to women is the same as to men. Happy families are central to the Mormon Church, and the standard is that “no success can compensate for failure in the home.” Thus, both men and women, when shaping their educational goals and careers, are to fine-tune their focus, time and energy so that the family is functioning well and then make their vocational choices. Mormon men are fully involved as fathers and share the workload at home.

Mormon women participate in a women’s organization through the Church that is the largest and oldest in the world. It is called “Relief Society,” because it was organized during the early days of the Church when there was widespread poverty due to persecution. But the women continue to provide “relief” in many ways, including charitable works for neighbors of any faith (or none), and engaging in welfare and humanitarian aid projects. Relief Society is the oldest and largest women’s organization in the world, with over 5 million members.

Women hold important positions of leadership in the Church and serve as “General Authorities” alongside the prophet and twelve apostles. They run the worldwide Primary (religious instruction of children), Young Women, and Relief Society organizations, not only church-wide, but in their local congregations.

Mormon women also perform priesthood functions in the holy temples of the Church and share in the power and blessings of the priesthood of their husbands. The Mormon Church has a lay clergy — the entire administration of the Church is performed by members who are called (usually temporarily) to unpaid positions of service and leadership. Even the prophet and apostles of the Church were called from their worldly vocations, as Christ called His original apostles from their worldly vocations.

Mormon women may be family-oriented, but they tend to be well-educated, too, and even career-oriented. There is a website called Mormons in Business with the profiles of some successful and innovative Mormon women. Following are some video clips of Mormon women showing their interests and lifestyles.