"We, your brethren, need your strength, your conversion, your conviction, your ability to lead, your wisdom, and your voices. The kingdom of God is not and cannot be complete without women who make sacred covenants and then keep them, women who can speak with the power and authority of God!" - President Nelson 2015 A Plea to My Sisters
President Russell M. Nelson, you said in 2015 that you and the Brethren of the church need our strength, conversion, conviction, leadership, wisdom, voices, commitment, and ability to speak with the power and authority of God. We, the women of the church, have been trying to express to you and all the Brethren of the church that with the way that the church is currently run, we are stifled in our ability to lead, use our voices, and speak with the power and authority of God. I extend a plea to the Brethren to listen to our strength, our conversion, our conviction, our wisdom, and our voices. We love the Savior Jesus Christ and savor His words. We love our Heavenly Mother and Father and seek Their counsel and crave relationship with Them. We love the church and its community. We are deeply troubled at the lack of representation in leadership. We are hurt by inequality in some of our practices and policies. We are pained at the rate at which the church is hemorrhaging women and young people. We are concerned with the future of the church and how long it can continue to survive in the modern world if it does not let go of its preference for men and silencing of women. We plead with you and the Brethren to listen.
-The Covenant Keeping Women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The following comments are pulled directly from the comments on the March 17 Instagram post from @churchofjesuschrist quoting Sister J. Anette Dennis of the Relief Society Presidency. Some abbreviations have been expanded in the quotes below; for example: 'RS' being written as [Relief Society]. Some typos have been corrected. Quotes are otherwise unaltered.
As you read, I invite you to hear the heartfelt sorrow, exhaustion, frustration, and pleading of women.
PAIN & PLEAS:
"Some of us keep coming every Sunday hoping things will continue to change for the better in this regard and posts like this make LDS women feel very unseen."
"The closer I've gotten to my Savior and Heavenly Parents the more of a disconnect I have felt with my role in the church."
"We are asking to be heard, to be trusted in what we know and feel about our roles and potential."
"Our voices need to be heard. Not just for our sake, but for our daughters and grand-daughters, our grandmothers and foremothers."
"As young women we learned about integrity and speaking up from church teachings. Paying attention to these comments and implementing solutions that bring equality into the church organization might be the single most important part of the restoration. True restoration will bring our Heavenly Mother and Her daughters into parity in an organization that claims it loves its women. Hard work? Yes! Bring the whole church more power and vibrancy? YES! Listen and act. None of us would even make these comments if we didn't really care about the church. To those that would judge us for making these comments, where is your genuine empathy? There is real damage in our history and real damage currently occurring. Just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean others haven't."
"I hope the comments of this post will not be hidden, but taken as feedback of the hurting hearts of so many women. Most who are not sure they can feel comfortable expressing the same sentiments in a public way. Please know that there are so many more than just what you see here that ache for true equality. ... I have sat with these women, cried with these women, they are in your pews as well as gone from your rosters because they cannot handle the discord in their hearts over this issue. I know people always say 'change takes time in the church' but some changes must come sooner or you will continue to hemorrhage out women (and many men who feel the same way) from your records. The hurt and dissonance is just too strong."
"God's repeated scriptural invitation and promise: ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. I love and am in awe of the heartfelt, collective asking and knocking I see represented here! True disciples of Christ respond to asking with giving, and to knocking with opening."
"Please listen to us. We are here and we keep showing up, bringing ourselves, our families, our revelation, our service, our discipleship. We are telling you that we are not being heard, not being valued, not being allowed to rise up and exist in the image of our Heavenly Mother, even though we were created to do it. Please dare to hope that the church will blossom even more by allowing us to fill the measure of our creation now. Please trust us when we proclaim that we aren't here to hinder or harm, we are here to build and lift. It's who we are. We have wisdom and faith and power. We are aching to express it."
"I would urge you as a beloved apostle to please read these beautiful and thoughtful comments that sisters of our church have shared. If it is our gospel, truly for all of us then please start acting like it. As women who want to be represented, we love and support you. We haven't left and we aren't going anywhere. This is our church too. Women deserve to be seen and heard without the permission of a priesthood holder giving us the okay."
"We aren't angry feminists! How insulting and misguided it is to characterize us in this way! Asking (more like begging) for mor leadership opportunities, more of a voice, more chances to sit on the stand, more representation and full equality in decision making processes isn't being angry or challenging Christ's church. Did it ever occur to people who disagree and want to label us as misguided that we are feeling called to speak on this?! Perhaps our Heavenly Parents and the spirit are calling for us to speak up and we are acting on our promptings. Why is it so bad to want change?! Why is it so horrible for a woman or a young girl to have the desire to see herself represented? I make decisions in my home all the time. But at church that ability to make decisions becomes the man's job. What are we showing our daughters when we perpetuate patriarchy in this way and fear change?! This fear demonstrates the age-old reluctance to change; it shows up in all social justice movements, and it's so exhausting to be made a villain for speaking up for what you feel in your heart is right. That's all Jesus did in his lifetime and he was killed for it. He was a radical. Did it ever occur to faithful members who disagree with us that we are actually good women who love God and our families and the church. We want better and we know better is out there! How dare a woman ask for more. This is the message I get with 'equal yet different roles' and 'angry feminists' and all the tired phrases that patriarchal systems use to keep women in their place. I know my power and have always known my power. Now let me exercise it, let me have a voice! Someday girls in the church won't fathom that we had to beg for more of a voice because it will just be the norm. Either that or if the church refuses to change, no girls will be left. This generation ain't putting up with it; they know better."
"The crux of the gospel is connection/ ministering/ serving/ mourning and comforting those who need it. So even if 'that hasn't been my experience' is our refrain; we need to step back and give space and an ear to those whose experience has been different. And that's what we are claiming to do by including women in councils. I think it's fair to ask to be heard."
"Women know that to speak out [is the] end of ANY social capital in the ward, stake, or church-wide level."
"When you push hard against a wall, the wall doesn't move and you only exhaust yourself. That's what's happening here. The wall isn't going to move, but we are all exhausted and hurting. Still, we speak."
"WE ARE STARVING. I said it two years ago in a stake council Q&A and I'll say it as loud as I can again today - there is a widening segment of women in the church who will protect their children from inequality even if it means making heartbreaking sacrifices. It's so needless. And seeing my faithful, brilliant friends make that choice over and over is something to scream over. Spiritual starvation. The answer I was given - the statistics of the church are misleading because even if we are losing young families, there is still growth internationally. You can guess how satisfying that was for members in the meeting."
"Dear General Relief Society President: these comments are life-sustaining in contrast to the increasingly stale and meager crumbs church leadership ... keeps throwing us. WE. ARE. STARVING."
"There are spiritual feasts of authority and respect available immediately to women in so many other religious traditions! Jesus fed his disciples. Mormon prophets are just slowly starving LDS women."
"I hope the leaders really listen and learn from this"
"During Covid, my kids and myself didn't get to take the sacrament because we didn't have a priesthood holder in our home. The ward leaders were well aware of that. I even asked for help getting the sacrament and it happened twice. Twice in almost a year. I finally quit asking and my kids didn't understand how we didn't get to take the sacrament each week when their friends did. Tell me how my priesthood power worked there. Along with not having anyone to give my kids blessings when needed. Women's so called 'priesthood power' is just more lip service trying to make women think they are equal when they are treated like second class citizens."
"It's also fair that faithful women who have also served their hearts out and followed god are hurt by 'teachings' like this and gaslighting. Many members and have their faith questioned because they are inquiring as god has always commanded."
"As women of the church we know all the beautiful things we get to do as disciples of Jesus Christ. We love you sir and we love this gospel. Please let us fully immerse ourselves in ALL of its pieces."
"I remember approaching 12 and realizing the gifts and opportunities handed to the boys my age ... that I couldn't ever receive. And I longed for that. I remember imagining what that circle of ordination would look like and the promises I'd receive, if only I were male. I truly hope this vision can come about for women, and for young girls, too! What a blessing that would be, to carry that with them, with us, throughout our lives. It's a deep loss."
"In the spirit of President Nelson's plea to the sisters 'we need your voices' please HEAR the women in the comments voices. This is simply not true nor is it working to tell us this anymore. ... We need actions not words."
"I was asked to attend a leadership meeting to report on missionary work I was a part of, but then wasn't allowed into the meeting when I got there because I'm a woman."
"In the Mormon church women are merely an after thought."
"[Women are] marketed as too righteous and sacred to have the powers of the men to make decisions or hold authority."
"As long as I don't see women on the stand (representation) and women making decisions (without a man having the final say), there is no real power there. Christ loved women, he included women. He empowered women. He didn't believe in hierarchy and most definitely not the man-made construct of patriarchy. This is not empowerment, it's benevolent patriarchy at best. Young girls in this church will see right through this."
"I think women are starving for more but they are also seeking desperately to be heard and can't because of an iron wall of priesthood authority on a pedestal."
"I love Jesus, I love God, I love the scriptures. Why do the leaders of the church make it so hard for women to stay in and feel fully respected and represented?! Why is Heavenly Mother rarely mentioned and we have been commanded not to seek Her and pray to Her?! It's baffling to me and I'm tired. So so sad and tired."
"I'm actually no longer attending church and this is a huge reason why. The church has really let me down, along with so many other truth-seeking women of integrity. I want more for my daughter; I hope the church can become that for her sake."
"I'm so grateful for all the strong and powerful women sharing their voices in these comments. We do not have any real power or authoritative voice in this organization. It feels so condescending to have leaders in the church continually tell women they have equality. Nothing could be further from the truth."
"These comments are validating."
"Yes, priesthood power is given to women in the LDS Church through setting apart for callings and through the Endowment, but it's ONLY granted through men, by men. Men decide the callings. Men must sign your temple recommend. Men perform the endowment (with the exception of the washing and anointing). Please clarify what 'priesthood authority' actually means? What authority do LDS women actually have? We can serve in callings, serve in families and communities, and pray... which EVERYONE can do. Last year my daughter asked me to officiate her civil wedding. I was ordained on the Internet through American Marriage Ministers with the power and authority to perform my daughter's wedding! It was so touching and such an honor to be an INTEGRAL part of my daughter's special day - something that couldn't happen in my Church... because I'm a woman. It's heartbreaking that our Heavenly Mother, our eternal prototype, was not mentioned once in women's conference. Until we recognize equality of Heavenly Parents, we will not have equality in the organization of the Church or in families."
"When sitting in counsels and wondering why people (both men and women) disaffiliate, you might consider the data you've accidentally gathered on this thread. Women in 2024 find their LDS faith the only place where they are limited by their gender. Take this gift of knowledge and please be touched by it."
HEAVENLY MOTHER & HER DAUGHTERS:
"We as women can embrace our innate power and live in it. Awaken our connection to the Divine Mother, the Divine Feminine, and recognize that we possess all she is, beyond motherhood, and can be queens, leaders, seers, healers, goddesses in our own right."
"Please hear the women in the church. Women are not able to show up in their fullness and wholeness, embracing all the divine aspects to themselves, within church. Women long to be able to share in the experience is that their ancestors and women in biblical times were able to have. Women blessed and anointed, both in the New Testament and in the restoration. Women were prophetesses, such as Deborah and Marium. They were apostles and priests, such as Junia and Pheobe in the New Testament. Our grandmothers and great grandmothers blessed their children, our parents and grandparents. Our grandmothers initially blessed and prepared the sacrament. Many honored and spoke greatly of the Mother God, in doctrine and scripture. Some prayed to Her. Please provide us with the same opportunities our grandmothers had. Women had full access to their innate, divine gifts and power. Let us show up in our fullness. Women can create it in our own lives, but we are kept from being seen as our fully divine and prophetic selves. Please let women reclaim their divine rights for themselves."
"Here is how women were once able to claim their divine rights and support the world with their seership and spiritual gifts. We can access it now, all on our own, but our spaces and communities benefit from adaptations, such as these. The words of the silenced feminine soul which need to be spoken."
"And in the last days, your... daughters shall prophesy - Acts 2:17"
"My fellow ladies have said it all! If one day, women were given the right to exercise their priesthood publicly, outside temple walls, not just in private behind closed doors, and could fully step into their sovereignty and utilize it openly and with boldness, declare their truth, be seen as seers and revelators as Emma and the Quorum of the 50 in the restoration were, if women could be apostles and priests like Junio and Phoebe, prophetesses like Deborah and Marium, anointers and healers like Mary Magdalene and Mary of Nazarene, and Mary of Bethany, be seers and oracles like the wise women, and fully embrace the Divine Mother Goddess, as they are to become like her priestesses... women and their intuition, and their true sacred power would be restored."
"To be clear, I'm saying that women are already receiving revelation about our divinity and inherent power as daughters of Heavenly Mother. And we feel the incongruence between that revelation of our divinity/power and what we experience at church."
"To men at the head, stand back and let the women in your church show up as the seers, the healers, the revelators, the divine goddesses that they are. They can claim it. Hold space for it and let it come into fruition through their abilities and words, with them bringing back their sovereignty. The Mother's imprint is in our cells. It's time we show up in ways that truly emulate her strength, power, and majesty, and embrace those traits in ourselves, living them out fully. We have full power within ourselves, and we don't need permission to claim it."
"Teach us more about Heavenly Mother! Help us look to our divine mother as a role model so we might be able to emulate her! If we don't know much about her as is often claimed, here's your chance to start asking! Our church began with a boy asking a question in a grove of trees, and god answered, ought we not to follow that example now more than ever?
"Let the women teach about Her [Heavenly Mother]."
"Let the revelation come through women! And then listen to us when it does!"
"We can and should talk about Her! She's our Mother! I would never want my children to ignore me because I'm too precious! She is an all-mighty Goddess! We can be like Her! Rejoice!"
"Give us more divine feminine."
"I think it's very important to learn of her, and one of the most beautiful parts of all my births was connecting with my Heavenly Mother to bring a child into this world."
"Let's refer to our Heavenly Mother frequently. Having an entire women's devotional without any mention of our Heavenly Mother is heartbreaking. As a mother myself, I would be devastated to watch my children grow up without learning about me, speaking to me, hearing of me, or developing any relationship with me. Especially in a church who consistently emphasizes motherhood as being divine and the importance of a mother's relationship with her children. If we are patterned after our Heavenly Parents, shouldn't our relationship with her be just as strong as our relationships with our own children?"
"MAY WE EMPOWER OUR DAUGHTERS!"
"Actually acknowledge Heavenly Mother as part of God. God is Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father. They/them. Isn't the doctrine that it takes a man and a woman as equal partners to become like God? Or is it that she gets absorbed into his identity as he becomes God? If we are talking gender equality, let's also apply it to the divine. God is Heavenly Parents"
"Please share with me one thing that I - a woman - will do in the eternities. I am taught repeatedly that gender is eternal and essential. That men and women have equal but different roles and responsibilities. But I have never - not even once - been concretely shown what I will do in the heavens. I won't become like Heavenly Father because I am a woman. I will become like Heavenly Mother. What does She do?! She doesn't speak to her children or help guide and comfort them, she doesn't create planets, she doesn't lead and guide her church. I know this because I am shown and read and learn in all of the places that Heavenly Father does and there are zero women in those places. So where is my mother?!? What is her power and authority?!"
"I don't want to eternally be hoped for by my children when they know and love and speak to their dad constantly. That's not even the way the Family Proclamation dictates. Faith includes stepping forward into the dark to find more light. I'll be a pioneer in searching for Her."
"I often contemplate if [Heavenly Mother] is the [Holy Ghost]"
"[Women's] only desire is to spread love and empower women in our spheres. This is sustenance in the truest form."
"I'm not sure I want a man to tell me about The Mother. I think more revelation on our Divine Mother will come from the women."
"Yes, when I started teaching [Relief Society] after Renlund's talk, the [Relief Society] president told me that there had been a training that included that we were not to be talking about [Heavenly Mother] in [Relief Society]."
"Does your wife not speak or leave the house because you respect her so much? ... I think a goddess has a bit more grit than to be relegated to never communicating with her children."
"Maybe, just maybe, [Heavenly Mother] should be able to decide for herself whether people learn about her. Maybe, just maybe, she's a strong woman and could handle some people using her name in vain because the benefit of people getting to know her outweighs any negatives."
"Christ chose women. Women came first for Christ."
"Mary Magdelene. Junia. Deborah. Huldah. Women apostles and prophets of the bible."
"I believe I was called to bring knowledge of Mother to the Church as a whole. Other women have been as well. Yet, no man will acknowledge the authority of women in this matter. But do you really think knowledge of the female aspect of God will come from a man?"
"I knew someone (a woman) who blessed and passed the sacrament to her kids because she was tired of waiting on others. Some would say this didn't 'count' because she doesn't have the right authority. And others would say she has the authority and took it into her own hands - so good for her!" Reminds me of a similarly strong woman in Exodus 4:25 & 26.
"These comments are the nourishment I have been lacking for the past couple years."
"[Doctrine & Covenants] 132 tells us all that we need to know about what it will be like. Obey or be destroyed. The celestial kingdom for women sounds a lot like hell to me."
"You get to birth Spirit babies in perpetuity and never communicate with a single one of them. Ever. I'll take telestial kingdom over celestial hell any day."
"I wish we knew more about our Mother in heaven."
"Women gods are silent and only with authority exercised via a man God (there's not a single mention of Heavenly Mother's voice, purpose, or authority in any of our current doctrine)."
"Have babies. It's the eternal maternity ward."
"Might be a plural wife???? That's all I've been taught."
"I'd sure love to be 'allowed' to talk to [Heavenly Mother] about [joining in creation with her]!! And to be able to discuss her in church meetings. And to be able to know about her qualities and talents and abilities. But speculation is against the rules. And we just have to be satisfied that she exists."
"We are told, 'think Celestial!' But not too far. Not too personal. Forbidden, actually. Irreverent & sacrilegious. How this paradox does not register is beyond me. Are there no more human questions than 'where did I come from, why am I here, where am I going?' And yet women cannot ask them or cannot be dissatisfied with the answers that apply only to men. And I'm not writing flippantly - this is real heartbreak."
"Polygamous baby maker for eternity... yay?"
"Having my own children in the church broke my heart wide open. How could I be a mother to children on earth and prepare to be a mother in heaven where my job is to disappear! My children will never know me or be able to hear from me. I'll never be able to show them I care about them. My children won't even be able to speak about me or to me. For all they know, I abandoned them and don't care at all. Sounds like an abusive, toxic situation."
"I don't believe it will ever be easy to understand why I can't speak to my children and comfort and guide them. It will never be easy to understand why my own children can't speak of me or know me. It's inherently wrong. It's sexist. And it's robbing me of the power and authority the church is claiming I possess. Silence and absence is NOT power and authority."
"It is like we disappear in the eternities."
"There are many things about Heavenly Mother that we don't know and can't understand because of the lack of revelation in this particular subject."
"We are just an incubator for children"
"...strange to say about a God who has equal power to her male counterpart. That dynamic would never fly in a healthy human relationship. So either She doesn't care, doesn't exist, the church leaders can't hear Her... or God is preventing Her from communicating. Take your pick."
"Heavenly Mother is the missing link. Why would mortal women's power [and] authority be recognized if the men won't even recognize the power and authority of their own Mother in Heaven? Bring Her out of the wilderness. She's waiting, and so are Her daughters."
"Can you define power and authority?"
"Women's role continues to come back to birthing children, the problem is that ... some women aren't able to bear children."
"Yes, we have priestesses in the temple... only serving women. Can an endowed and covenant-keeping woman give a priesthood blessing outside of the temple? A blessing for the sick with consecrated oil? Can she give her own baby a name and a blessing? Can she bless and pass the sacrament to herself and her family? Can she override the Elders Quorum leader's decisions for callings, lessons, activities, budget, etc.? Can she ever have any kind of authority over a male older than 11 years old? Can she oversee an entire ward? A stake? The entire church? How can she do just as much as a man in this church?"
DECISION MAKING:
"Let organization presidencies be the ones to extend callings within their organizations. The Relief Society president will be better at explaining what my Relief Society calling will entail than the bishopric member was."
"Women could at least be in the room when they are calling women to callings."
"Include women in membership councils."
"Let the primary president have the final say in the primary program."
"Allow the female presidents in the ward to bring a counselor or two each to ward council so there are equal female and male voices weighing in on things."
"Don't make [the] primary president get approval for the primary to learn special musical numbers that aren't found in the song book."
"Respect women's stewardship by letting them make final decisions for their organizations."
"Treat women as equal partners by talking to women on stake council about who should be the next stake president."
"Never have a leadership panel without a woman to answer questions."
"Trust women's spiritual authority don't require deference... require partnership."
"Include women in every decision-making conversation."
"This post, and the sentiments behind it, aren't just damaging to women, but to everyone. Not only is it simply untrue (as many have pointed out), but to continue to pet us like baby animals and tell us how important we are while keeping women out of every room that important decisions are made, real harm continues to befall members of the church. Men and women, boys and girls. Talk about the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing. The input of women isn't a nice thing to do for us, it isn't to fulfill our egos or, as some have suggested, because we lack the understanding of our divine spiritual worth, and need validation. No. It is because our spiritual impressions and our perspective as women is VITAL to a fully functioning, worldwide church and its mission. Jesus Christ would never ask us to sit outside of all decision-making abilities within our home, why would he do that in our church: It's not about holding the priesthood. If I have all the same power and authority afforded to me by the priesthood as you say, then let me also have equal authority to ACT upon that authority. We will all be better off for it."
"Women have no power or authority that isn't overseen by men. There are literally no decisions made by women equally. A man always has a position of authority over her in the church. Men have all veto power over all decisions. Women have none and there are many churches where this is not the case. This statement is so false I'm confused why anyone would say it so publicly."
"It is possible to argue that equality isn't such a simple matter and it may even be true. But what is also true is that we have an untrained male clergy who collectively oversee more than half the church and are able to make life-altering decisions for women at the worldwide level, a ward level, but also a personal level in personal interviews of many kinds, without even the perspective of what it is to be female. For this reason alone, the inclusion of women at decision-making table is needed to adequately shepherd other women and keep women safe and appropriately ministered to is an absolute necessity."
"[Women] all answer to men. Not a single one of those women have any actual decision-making power. Everything must be approved by a male leader above them."
"The church is demonstrably unequal when those with the most decision-making ability are all men."
"Allowing relief society presidents to have the final say on who is called within their organization instead of getting approval first from a bishopric."
"An organization where everything can be vetoed by a man. Ultimate authority is NOT female in the [Relief Society]."
"Women are chosen by male leaders and the messages and actions of the women can be vetoed by the male leaders."
"All of those leaders are chosen by men. The budget is allocated by men. The purpose is decided by men. The activities must all be approved by men. Men have veto power of the women leaders. Does this sound like a women's organization to you? To me it sounds like a men's organization for women."
"Our access to god is limited by men. Women weren't involved in the proclamation to the family, where more than half the membership are women. Every decision made, approved by a man. Every lesson taught to girls and women - approved by a man."
"Can women have authority over men in the church? Can they send out invites to men to sit at any table? Can women invite women to sit at a table without the supervision and denial/approval of a man?"
"More women in places where decisions are being made (bishopric meetings, stake presidency meetings, disciplinary councils, etc.). No more decisions without female input - especially decisions that affect women"
"Never have a decision-making meeting without the women on the councils present."
"Women need to be on membership councils, in bishopric meetings, etc. Women should be everywhere decisions are being made."
LEADERSHIP & OPPORTUNITIES:
"Many women here and in other groups have given fantastic ideas for giving more power to women without chasing the current organization, with changing policy, without changing doctrine. Within how we function right now and the parameters of the church handbook, there is so much more to do for women. We can start there. And we can start by listening to all the women here."
"Allow women on the tithe committee."
"Put a woman in charge of church funds! Right now, women don't have the opportunity to be in charge of funds at all."
"Payment for the women in general leadership roles like the general Relief Society presidency, general primary presidency, and general young women presidency. The men in general leadership roles have payment."
"Allow family history leader, Sunday school president, and ward mission leader callings to be either gender."
"Call the wives of General Authorities, mission leaders, etc. and give them commensurate titles. Invite them to contribute as leaders, not as accessories. Ensure the demographics of the Church are reflected by the leaders who address the membership."
"Leadership positions for women with a life term. For many members the trust and respect given to specific members of the first presidency and quorum of the 12 apostles is built over decades of seeing and hearing them. But our female leaders vanish and are replaced every few years. I think most members don't even bother learning their names, let alone developing the kind of admiration and connection that makes you sit up and listen when they step up to a pulpit."
"Having a female helpmeet to a bishop that you can talk to when it feels uncomfortable to talk to a man."
"Women holding non-keys related callings in the bishopric such as ward clerk or executive secretary. More women in ward council."
"Referring to sisters as 'President' rather than 'Sister' when their calling suggests they are such."
"Creating a solution that gives women equal opportunity to leadership, authority, and decision-making opportunities. Women need to be equally involved and have equal say in decisions, especially in women's organizations. Also, there really needs to be female representation and input in the highest levels of leadership (and not just counseling with them, but them actually having equal say to the men in the room)."
"Equality does not mean the same... Men are not better leaders than women. There are good and bad male leaders, and there are good and bad female leaders. It's time to acknowledge gifts wherever they may originate."
"I'm an active LDS woman, and I think I would be great in bishopric."
"Women do not have equal OPPORTUNITIES in the church, and that is what a lot of women are asking for."
"A women's organization that has a President who is chosen ... by her peers of other women."
"Hi, active woman here. I would like to have more of a voice in each of these activities."
"What God wouldn't want more people to have authority to heal, to teach, baptize, administer the sacrament, visit the members, ordain others, and assist in missionary work..."
"Women often want to be equals, want to serve God, and if that comes in the form of a calling that's challenging, so be it; the women can handle it and can do it..."
"Why wouldn't we want women's voices in all of the councils of the Church?"
"Referring to female leaders as Presidents."
"Making it an option for women to be ward clerks and part of the Sunday school presidency."
"There are plenty of things women could do without being granted priesthood authority."
CHANGE:
"I realized years ago that our church doesn't have the answers to all of life's questions. So, I will continue to ask more. It's so odd to me that so many church members are so triggered by women asking questions. Our church was founded by a boy who wasn't happy with the lack of answers he'd been given. 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God'. Maybe if the verse had said 'let her' ask, this would be easier"
"Publicly apologize for past mistakes (repenting like you preach) and showing by your actions and policy changes that you mean it."
"Be more like Jesus - stand against government and religious systems that oppress others, care for the poor and needy"
"There have been groups throughout history that weren't able to receive priesthood positions that now can through modern-day revelation. Why is it crazy or apostate to believe that this could be done for women?"
"When there is true equality of gender it will be embedded in the doctrine and practices of the institution. And as inequality is highlighted in doctrine and practice, a healthy living institution will change the doctrine and practice to align with growing light and truth. And they will be accountable for their former errors. This is exactly how all spiritual enlightenment takes place. There need be no shame in owning past blindness. It is normal and human. Simply stating there is equality when this clearly and measurable is not the case causes further lack of connection and confidence among intelligent women and men in this church."
"We've proven here that we are willing to take the time to give incredibly valuable feedback to the leadership and body of the church and that we have some incredible insights and ideas that deserve to see the light of day!"
SACRAMENT MEETING:
"I've heard of several wards in different places where the area authority has sent down that women leaders may no longer be invited to sit on the stand."
"Young women (and adult women) could pass the sacrament."
"Stake leadership Sundays."
"And the three women presidents on the stand at stake conference, ward conference, and at least one woman in leadership on the stand in regular meetings."
"Just started having our young women be the ushers in our ward... and it has been so awesome. I love seeing them feel responsible and needed in sacrament meeting."
"Allow young women to prepare and pass the sacrament. The deacons and teachers do this by tradition - there's no priesthood ordination needed to place bread on trays and pass a tray around the chapel."
"Let the young women pass the sacrament trays."
"Allow relief society presidency to sit on the stand ... so they can have a better view of the congregation and might have an opportunity to observe things the bishopric might miss."
"Giving young women a specific and essential responsibility equivalent to passing the sacrament. Even allowing them to pass it to people in the mother's room or to be the usher."
"Allowing females to conduct important meetings like sacrament meeting, conference, baptisms, and mission conferences."
"Give the Young Women a job of service on Sundays so they can be thanked over the pulpit as are the Young Men for passing the sacrament. For example Young Women could easily be door greeters."
"Allowing and encouraging women to be the final speakers in meetings, not the warm-up act for the priesthood leader who follows."
"Announce Young Men and Young Women class advancements at the same time over the pulpit."
WARD/CHURCH FUNCTIONING:
"Make a lounge for men to take their children to, women are not the only ones capable of feeding their kids and need a break."
"Equal funding for young men and young women's activities."
"Include more female speakers in general conference and other church-wide broadcasts."
"Equal airtime of women and men at general conference;"
"Also, have female speakers at men's meetings just like there are male speakers are women's meetings."
"Naming a building at BYU after a female. Calling a female president for the university."
"Acknowledge more women in the scriptures in our lessons, our talks, and our curriculum."
"Let the women and girls go to Girls Camp without requiring men to be present. We don't need to be supervised and we don't need your protection."
"Offices for Relief Society Presidents so they feel accessible."
"Have women provide council and insight when female presidents are called. Perhaps the relief society president being released can council with the bishop on who the new president might be."
"We're not even necessary or counted for a ward to exist."
"Women could perform civil weddings in the church building if they are ordained ministers. Or women could conduct at funerals."
"Let Primary President interview for baptism, [and] Young Women's president interview for young womens."
"Change the guidelines to make a ward to include a certain number of women and men. Right now it is just 1 full tithe paying man for every 20 members with a minimum of 20 men. We could [make] mention of women in this guideline."
"Remove the distinction of Young Men quorums versus Young Women classes. Make all of them classes or quorums. Provide 'high adventure' type camps for both Young Women and Young Men. Hold Bishop's Youth discussions in the homes of Young Women leaders just as frequently as bishopric members. Have the Young Women president teach the Young Men as often as the bishop teaches the Young Women. "
"Women counted in ward and stake boundary considerations. Allowing and respecting women leadership leading their own organizations without male oversight."
"Use church funds to make appropriate mothers nursing lounges."
"Include women in meetings about ward boundary changes."
"Quote more women in talks. Use more talks by women for lessons."
"Create a milestone for young women similar to that of young men when they turn 11."
"Stop assuming preparing the food or decorating for parties needs to always be assigned to the females in the room."
"Name a building after a female! So many faithful pioneering women who have given and sacrificed for our faith and kingdom!"
"Put 'heavenly parents' in the Young Men's theme, not just the Young Women's... Teach the boys they have a mother and their divine parents are equal!"
"Encourage connections between Relief Society organizations. Help a Relief Society in Taiwan run a service project in joint with a Relief Society in Alabama Create a repository of initiatives/service/ministering/etc. all Relief Societies are doing across the globe that other Relief Societies can draw from (teach one another)."
GARMENTS:
"Consulting women on the design of garments."
"I think women should design the women's garments."
MISSIONS:
"Calling female district leaders and Assistants the the President and giving Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders equal authority over both males and females. Also defining the role of the female mission leader more clearly and giving her authority in that calling."
"I was in a mission with Sister Assistants to the President... and it SHOCKS me that it isn't just standard practice yet? It benefited our mission and benefits all the missions who have them!"
"Make the length of missions the same for sisters and elders and let them both serve their mission at the same age."
"Give the wife of the mission president an actual title - better yet, call them both 'President.'"
"Have a different name for sister missionaries since they are set apart and have priesthood authority just like elders do."
"Female leadership callings in missions! That actually matter and have authority! Sister Training Leaders, female zone leaders, female district leaders, female area presidents that are on the same level as their male counterparts."
BLESSINGS:
"Women in the restoration gave healing blessings in the church for 120 years, anointing, and receiving revelation. Women were called to the Relief Society as an office of the priesthood. They blessed and passed the sacrament. That was lost. When that is restored, women might be able to claim that for themselves."
"Allowing women to hold their babies during baby blessings and teaching more clearly that a mother's righteous prayer does the same thing for a child as a father's blessing. Maybe even encouraging mothers/women to bless their children and loved ones in that way."
"Women used to give blessings... our history clearly shows that changes can be made."
"If you have 'just as much priesthood power as a man' can you give your children priesthood blessings, alongside your husband?"
"What if I can bless my children like my awesome great-great-grandma blessed her oxen?"
"Let women perform blessings of healing like they used to."
TEMPLE:
"The church has the opportunity to shed more light on this in the temple. The fact that they intentionally leave Mother in Heaven out of the CREATION process speaks to how irrelevant women are in the eternities. The temple taught me that 2 men (Elohim as a man and Jehovah as a man) created Adam. Two men zero women"
"Allow/make it common practice for spouses to tell each other their temple names, not just the husband knowing his wife's."
"Get rid of the tradition of the man pulling the woman through the veil before a sealing. If it's meant to symbolize them needing each other to get to the highest degree of exaltation, then the wife should pull the husband through."
"Have women be interviewed by women for temple recommends and other interviews."
"Women saying the prayer in the temple prayer circle."
"Stop allowing polygamy into the next life by allowing multiple sealings"
"Focusing more on the [familial] structure of the priesthood (and by that I mean what happens in temples and in homes) rather than the hierarchical church structure."
"Allowing women to be sealed to more than one husband after death/divorce or not allowing men to do the same."
"Allow young women and relief society sister to be interviewed by a woman for temple recommends and other interviews."
"Make sealing practices equal. Get rid of Doctrine and Covenants 132, or at the very least revise it. ... Women should be in charge of those changes."
"Abolishing plural sealings for widowers or allowing them for widows as well."
"Women interview women;"
"Put Heavenly Mother in the temple, let us pray to Her and learn more about Her;"
"Let spouses both know each other's new names;"
"Denounce polygamy in ancient times, pioneer times, and current sealing practices (or let widows by sealed to second husbands while still living like men can be so it's fair);"
ABUSE:
"Report all abuse to police. Sexual abuse thrives in silence and secrets- and sex abuse claims to the people best prepared to deal with them - the police or DCFS. This helps all people: men, women, and children. If I had any power in this church, it is the first thing I would do."
"I have always loved the idea of developing a training with LDS therapists of how to approach talking about [sensitive] topics with minors and having a specific training program for bishops on what they can/can't ask and how to approach the subjects without causing trauma to youth. Honestly, to help even with these subjects for adults as well, especially young adults. Train them, and we will get rid of the detailed and traumatic interviews that many male bishops create."
"Educating women about exactly what abuse, domestic violence, and marital rape is. I know people at church cringe over topics like this, but that is ridiculous. There is power in knowledge, and women in the church need to be taught more about this."
"Young women should be able to confess sexual sins (or any sins) to a woman. Similarly, disciplinary counsels for women in the church need to involve female leadership. Too many horror stories of a young lady in a room alone with an older gentleman talking in unwarranted detail about her sexual endeavors - this leads to predatory behavior"
"Not requiring details of sexual sin, or provide a female leader that can handle these confessions (especially when the confessor is female and under 18)"
"The men are continually taught not to abuse their spouse in their relationships [because] it's rampant in systems like ours. If these kinds of reminders are continually needed, there's a reason, and a deeper rooted problem."
"The men are given talks about how 'unrighteous dominion' is not okay, essentially saying that [they should have 'righteous'] dominion over their wives and children."
"[Joseph Smith] is the one who said 'We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion' (Doctrine & Covenants 121:39)"
"Requiring that at least one female be present for membership councils involving females who are facing potential membership restrictions."
"Make church leaders mandatory reporters of abuse to government authorities; have mandatory backgrounds checks for ALL youth leaders in any and every country where it's possible and DO NOT LET ABUSERS HAVE CALLINGS WITH CHILDREN;"
FAMILY PROCLAMATION:
"Rewrite the Family Proclamation with the women's input this time."
"The Family Proclamation to the World is only signed by men, and it's a proclamation on the FAMILY."
"The [Relief Society] general presidency spoke about how they wished they had been involved [in the writing of the Family Proclamation] because they 'would have made a few changes'."
"The [Relief Society] at the time has since said they were NOT involved in [the creation of the Family Proclamation], they were only told about it when they were told it would be announced at their meeting. She also said she would have made changes."
"In addition to [the Relief Society President] not being involved in [the Family Proclamation] creation, they were told one week before their women's conference that they had to present the document they had never even seen yet. They had to change their plans one week before the conference. They spent a year planning to show how various different families are valid and that the core theme is having Christ at the center. They had to throw away all that work and then present a document saying the most correct family is the nuclear family model with these prescribed and strict gender roles."
"They had spent months carefully planning a conference focused on inclusion and building together. Then the brethren came in..."
LGBTQIA+ INCLUSION:
"Stop excluding queer members. Allow full membership and participation to same-sex couples and transgender people. Allow same-sex temple sealings. At least baptize same-sex couples, transgender people, gender non-conforming, and etc."
"Allow LGBTQ+ to fully participate, including temple ordinances with their chosen partners;"
EQUALITY:
"Women's issues are one of the biggest topics the LDS church needs to address, and they need to do it ASAP. As the church of Jesus Christ, we should be leading out when it comes to equality."
"I'm looking forward to the day when women's experiences will be equally heard and represented in counsels and leadership, and when we will truly be afforded the equal autonomy to trust our own intuition acting in conjunction with our male counterparts, not overseen by them. I believe that only when this happens will there be an outpouring of the revelation that can teach us the true fullness of the divine roles of women."
"If true equality did exist, there wouldn't be a need to make a declaration that there is."
"Episcopalians have women priests. Lutherans have women pastors. Judaism has women rabbis."
"A patriarchal system can never be equal."
"We do not have anywhere near the power and authority men do in our organization. Maybe we do in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which our organization attempts to teach/follow; but this quote is trying to spin something."
"Women cannot invite themselves to sit at the table."
"[Women] can't even invite themselves to sit at the Women's tables, they have to be invited by MEN to sit there"
"Sister Dennis, wanting something to be true does not make it true. Please visit some other church organizations and see this statement is absolutely false. The testament to this being false will be the hundreds of comments here from women saying this isn't true all falling on ears that refuse to listen because we are women and have no authority within the organization. Nothing will change because it's not being suggested by a man."
"I suspect the data, if it existed, would not agree."
"Equality is not a feeling."
"If I have priesthood authority, can I get a paper tracing who gave it to me, and who gave it to them, leading back to God (Father or Mother) - and if not, is it really the power and authority of God at all?"
"It is priesthood authority by proxy. It is their way of sugarcoating the fact that women only have priesthood 'authority' when men who are 'ordained' to the priesthood delegate that 'authority.' In other words, women only have the 'authority' to do what men tell them to do."
"I think they avoid the heavenly mother topic because then they'd have to address polygamy and I also don't think they want to change from a patriarchal power structure to something more egalitarian. I think they fear that equality means loss of power when it's just equalizing it. So, maybe they fear loss of power over others because they are used to this system and it helps them feel safe. But what good is desiring to keep power over another group of people? Do we ever see Christ doing that? Nope."