The Scope of A Mormon Woman

Some quick thoughts from my conversation yesterday afternoon with my Women's Literature professor, Dr. Suzanne Lundquist:

We've been talking about the book My Antonia, by Willa Cather, in class the last few sessions. It's brilliantly written, and I highly recommend it. Told from a male narrator point of view, it looks at the immigrant/frontier experience living on the Nebraska prairie and in small rural towns. In it there are young immigrant women who have a vitality about them that the town girls, bound by social constraints, are lacking in, and we discussed what it means to be an acceptable female human being.

I was talking with my professor afterward about how I have been interested in this question lately--what it means to be a woman in our society, and particularly a Mormon woman. I think we have certain ideals we grow up believing--a certain story we expect our lives to follow. The idea is that if we remain true to our standards and live virtuous lives, when we reach a certain age we will meet a virtuous young man, marry in the temple, and live happily ever after. While this is an admirable goal (I'm not knocking eternal marriage--my testimony of eternal marriage is a firm one) I believe that that storyline does not cover the full scope of a Mormon woman's experience.

I've been doing quite a bit of reading lately in the Church's new book, Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society, and I have been astounded at how much sisters have been involved in the world around them since the society's beginning. Many women were called to go and get an education in medicine or other things and then use those skills to help and teach others. The Women's Exponent, a Relief Society magazine, was published for years running until the Church made it into the Ensign. I read an article in an 1888 issue encouraging the sisters not to throw their copies of the Exponent away, but to read them and learn from them and share them--to send them off to sisters in other parts of the world. The Exponent included poetry, Relief Society lessons, things that were happening in the world and in the Church, studies of literature and art, and so on.

I think sometimes we as women in the Church feel bound by that traditional storyline--grow up, get married, live happily ever after--and we fail to broaden our view of the world. It's true that family should be our first priority. But I think that Mormon women are capable of making their influence felt outside the home as well.  I would even venture so far as to say that they should make it felt, as they have throughout Church history. And what happens if life doesn't go according to plan?  What if Mr. Right doesn't show up right on schedule? Some women feel cheated if they are single past the age where they think they should get married. Well, an increasing number of women in the Church are single, and there is a place for everyone in the Lord's kingdom, single and married alike. The single woman is just as valuable and just as loved in the Lord's kingdom as the married woman is.

So, what does it really mean to be a Mormon woman in the 21st century? This question has been a deep one for me, and I admit that I don't entirely know the answer. My studies this semester have been focused on embracing truth wherever it is found, but I have been staying grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ through scripture study and prayer. I want to know what my role is in the Lord's kingdom, and sometimes I wonder if there will be more for me to do in addition to being a wife and a mother--more that is outside the home. I don't know.

What do you think?