Women and Authority
Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism
edited by Maxine Hanks
Mormon women today might be surprised to learn about their foremothers' views on feminist theology and women's issues, according to Maxine Hanks.
In 1842, founder Joseph Smith foresaw the LDS Women's Relief Society as "a kingdom of Priests," that he "would ordain them to preside over the society...just the Presidency preside over the church." Originally, the LDS Women's Relief Society paralleled the LDS men's priesthood quorums. Women were "ordained" to various positions, as well as set apart to be healers "with power to rebuke diseases."
In the 19th-century, Mormon theology also spoke of a Mother God, having "all power and glory" with the Father in Heaven. Mormon doctrine also hinted at the divine status of Eve, Mary, and Mary Magdalene.
The 19th-century Woman's Exponent, published by the LDS Women's Relief Society, editorialized in favor of "equal rights before the law, equal pay for equal work, equal political rights." The magazine's masthead read, "The Rights of the Women of Zion and the Rights of Women of All Nations."
One Relief Society founder, Sarah Kimball, referred to herself as "a woman's rights woman," while another leader, Bathsheba Smith, was called on a Relief Society mission in 1870 to preach "woman's rights" throughout southern Utah. According to the Woman's Exponent, a woman's place was not just "in the nursery" but "in the library, the laboratory, the observatory."
Women were encouraged to pursue formal education and career opportunities, study medicine and involve themselves in politics. Mormon women were assured that "when men see that women can exist without them, it will perhaps take a little of the conceit out of some of them."
Women who served inside LDS temples were termed "priestesses," while LDS Women's Relief Society president Eliza R. Snow was known as a "prophetess." Snow discouraged women from confiding their personal issues to male bishops, saying that such matters "should be referred to the Relief Society president and her counselors."
In 1875, LDS Women's Relief Society president, Emmeline B. Wells, could say with confidence: "Let woman speak for herself; she has the right of freedom of speech. Women are too slow in moving forward, afraid of criticism, of being called unwomanly, of being thought masculine. What of it? If men are so much superior to women, the nearer we come up to the manly standard the higher we elevate ourselves."
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Maxine Hanks is a feminist theologian, historian, writer, and lecturer on women's studies in religion. She was a visiting fellow at Harvard Divinity School and a research fellow with Utah Humanities Council. She has lectured in women's studies at the University of Utah, and guest lectured at BYU, Utah Valley State University, Weber State University, Salt Lake Community College, and Harvard Divinity School. She has presented at the National Women's Studies Association, Mormon History Association, Sunstone Theological Symposia, and Claremont Graduate University.
Her other books include Mormon Faith in America, Getting Together with Yesterday, and A History of Sanpete County. She has authored many articles on women's topics in Mormonism and in religion, including an essay in Secrets of Mary Magdalene.
In 1993 she was one of the "September Six" due to her work on Mormon feminist theology. Since 1999, she has served as an interfaith minister and chaplain in Salt Lake, while chairing Utah Women in Ministry and Interfaith Week in Utah. She also served as chair of Interfaith Week in Utah and Utah Women in Ministry, and served on the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable, Senator Orrin Hatch's Women's Council, and the Utah Attorney General's Safety Net Committee. Since 2012, she has returned to LDS Church membership and served as a leader and a teacher in her ward, while continuing interfaith and chaplain work and pastoral care.
