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, 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 fundamentalist groups.
Definition of women
The LDS Church does not recognize trans women as women, but defines gender as the "biological sex at birth". 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.
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. A notable exception to this was 19th century historian Edward Tullidge, who Claudia Bushman said "stood alone as a Mormon feminist historian before the revitalization of the women's movement in the 1970s." 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 hymnal. 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.
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, 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. 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."
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. 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.
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. In 1896, Martha Hughes Cannon was the first woman in the nation elected to state senate. She ran against her husband.
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, as did Louisa Barnes Pratt in her life as a pioneer and a missionary. While not given by virtue of priesthood ordination, these "women's blessings" were a normal part of religion at the time. 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. She advised that women confide personal issues to the Relief Society president and her counselors, rather than the bishops. Women also participated in the Anointed Quorum in the early church..
Current LDS Church policy dictates that the act of giving blessings "by laying on of hands" is only to be performed by those ordained to offices in the Melchizedek priesthood, which offices are only held by men. 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.
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.
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. 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 "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.
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. 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.. 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.
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.
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. 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. Elizabeth Graham MacDonald saw polygamy as a form of discipline that taught her subordination to God and her family. 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 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."
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."
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. Women are "endowed" with priesthood power, but are not ordained to priesthood office. Though not considered clergy, women play a significant part in the operation of local congregations. teaching classes to adults, teenagers, and children and organizing social, educational, and humanitarian activities. Women may also serve as missionaries, and a select few may perform certain ordinances such as washing and anointing on behalf of women in church temples. 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. On October 6, 2012, church president Thomas S. Monson announced that all male missionaries, regardless of nation, could serve from age 18. Prior to the announcement, members from some countries were allowed to serve from the younger age to avoid conflict with educational or military requirements. It was also announced that young women may serve beginning at age 19 instead of 21. 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 until 1978 women have been allowed to pray in sacrament meetings. Women leaders have regularly given sermons at the church's semi-annual general conference, but it was not until 2013 that a woman was invited to pray during a general session of the conference.
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." 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.