The Church falls on its face with latest essay about women in the Church

[I Have Questions]

Recently, and without fanfare, the Church quietly slipped a new gospel topics essay into “library”. It’s titled “Women’s Service and Leadership in the Church”. The general gist of it is to suggest that men and women are equal partners when it comes to Leadership in the Church.

Women and men work and counsel together to bless God’s children.Women contribute to the Lord’s work as they testify of Jesus Christ, strengthen friends and families, share the gospel, contribute to communities, minister to those in need, and serve and lead in the Church.

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, women and men serve together to help accomplish God’s work. Seeking to be “one in Christ,” all Church members can strive to improve their efforts to value all of God’s children, including His beloved daughters.

…and…

Members of the Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary General Presidencies serve together with members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and other General Authorities to serve God and His children. Women serve on many of the highest governing councils and committees in the Church. These include the Priesthood and Family Executive Council, the Missionary Executive Council, the Temple and Family History Executive Council, the Church Communication Committee, the Church Board of Education Executive Committee, and the Correlation Executive Committee, which oversee many significant aspects of the Church’s global work. The Relief Society General Presidency also serves with the Presiding Bishopric of the Church on the Welfare and Self-Reliance Executive Committee to address humanitarian needs around the world.

You’d be forgiven when reading that for thinking that the Church is a progressive organization where men and women serve and lead in equal partnership.

Now the Church has just held its April General Conference, where the senior leaders of the Church impart divinely inspired wisdom to the general membership of the Church. So just how equal was the demographic of those speakers deemed important enough to address the membership…

Saturday Morning Session - 5 men, 1 woman
Saturday Afternoon Session - 7 men, 0 women
Saturday Evening Session - 4 men, 1 woman
Sunday Morning Session - 6 men, 1 woman
Sunday Afternoon Session - 7 men, 0 women

29 men, 3 women

And that’s not including the man who gave the auditing report, and the man who conducted the sustaining business.

Does that lineup suggest that the Church really believes that women are equal partners in leading the Church? Does it suggest the male leaders of the Church really value what women think? Do they think people will fall for the absolute nonsense in that essay? I’ll bet dollars to donuts it was written by a man.

[Fence Sitter]

It is hypocritical to talk about female equality in a religion where male pronouns are used in all references to God.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

This will further alienate women and increase the gender gap. At some point in the near future, there will be 80% men and 20% women in the church.

It's looking more and more like the true order of heaven is multiple husbands for each woman.

[Marcus]

There are 7 committees listed as having women. The presiding bishopric one has 3 women- the general Relief Society presidency.

From articles I've read, it is my speculation that each of those 3 women serve on at least one other committee, where they are joined by a member of the general primary presidency.

So it looks like of the 9 women in general leadership roles (Relief Society, Primary, and Young Women's) 3 serve on the presiding bishopric committee, and then 1 or 2 women serve on the other 6 committees. Each one of the 9 women seems to be on at least 1 or 2 of the committees. Each committee seems to have about 10-12 members.

So, speculating that there are 15 female committee memberships ({6x2} + {1x3}) on the 7 committees, my guess is every single one of them is held by one of the 9 women in general leadership roles.

It's also my understanding that none of those 9 women get the "living stipend" that their fellow committee members get, but maybe someone knows something more on that.

So there you have it. The title of the essay should be:

NINE Women Serve in LDS Leadership Roles in the LDS church of 17 million members

subtitled:

(for which they receive no compensation, unlike every male member of the committees on which they serve)

[Everybody Wang Chung]

So there you have it. The title of the essay should be:

NINE Women Serve in LDS Leadership Roles in the LDS church of 17 million members

subtitled:

(for which they receive no compensation, unlike every male member of the committees on which they serve)

or:

The Handmaid's Tale

[I Have Questions]

Jana Riess has recently put out an article along a similar line.

As someone who has studied the way women’s voices have been amplified and silenced in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, especially online, I found it fascinating that three different statements about women and the church shared in the past week all reflected the same theme.

Overall, the church is telling women, “We need you, but stay in your place.”

The first statement came from Elder Dale G. Renlund, who spoke at a women’s conference in Arcadia, California. The second was from the global Relief Society Broadcast, also headlined by Renlund and reflecting views of church leadership. And the third was an official church Gospel Topics essay “Women’s Service and Leadership in the Church.”

The article is worth a read and Jana makes some very valid observations.

[Moksha]

No women in those high-backed red velvet seats on the Conference dais.

[Marcus]

An update. I should have noticed the wording, "Members of the Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary General Presidencies serve together with members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and other General Authorities to serve God and His children. Women serve on many of the highest governing councils and committees in the Church."

After a little more work, here's my best breakdown of women's service on the seven committees:

2 committees, 3 places each, 6 places:
...all held by Relief Society general presidency.

3 committees, 2 places each, 6 places:
...2 held by the Relief Society general presidency members,
...2 held by 2 of YM presidency,
...2 held by 2 of primary presidency.

1 committee, 1 place:
... held by Relief Society president.

1 committee, no women.

So, in total, in the 7 LDS committees, there are 13 committee memberships, held by seven women. Four women each hold one. And three women (the Relief Society presidency) hold 9 of the committee memberships.

The women's positions are all defined as 'part-time callings', the men's positions are all full-time paid.

[drumdude]

The women's positions are all defined as 'part-time callings', the men's positions are all full-time paid.

This really drives the point home. Shameful.

[Philo Sofee]

It is hypocritical to talk about female equality in a religion where male pronouns are used in all references to God.

And worse, they even know about Mother and counsel AGAINST having anything to do with her...