Views of an LDS feminist: Why I'm Glad to be a Woman and Someday, a Mother

I like being a girl.

There, I said it. I like being a girl because I like crafts. I like wearing dresses and dancing and putting on makeup. I like crocheting and doing my hair. I like playing the piano and reading and writing and serving others. I enjoy making treats for the sisters I visit teach and I love having girl-friends.

I also like going to work in my dress-suit feeling official and making two grown men, far older than I and with higher educational degrees, listen to my opinion and take it seriously. I like being the Assistant Project Manager in the department of Online Curriculum Development. I'm making a difference and I know that. My ideas are unique and they are good. I am contributing to the cutting-edge online world of education, and I am proud of that.

In July I will have my bachelor's in English and Spanish education. I also studied German for 3 years. I've worked in fast food, construction, office jobs, as a para-educator, as a teacher, and I've served a full-time mission.

I do a lot of the same things boys do, but I am not a boy and I don't want to be.

I like being a girl because being a girl is different from being a boy. Out of all the important things I have done and will yet do, being a mother will surpass all of my accomplishments. There is no doubt in my mind about this.

Satan is Attacking Womanhood
There is no doubt that womanhood as a whole is under attack. Women all over the world are fighting for equal rights with men. We have a lot of rights that women in the past have fought for and I am so grateful to them. We can vote, own land, run for political offices, where pants, be a CEO, fight in the military...you name it. If you think the world is suffocating your potential then it might be a personal problem. We've all just got to get it into our heads that we are enough--then we can stop being ashamed of our gender.

Too many women today don't want to be equal with men...they want to be men.

News flash: You're different. Any scientist will tell you there is a biological difference that cannot be denied. Why not embrace your distinct differences and stop trying to cast away all that makes you unique?

Maybe it was the way I was raised, but I have never felt that there was anything I couldn't do. My parents gave us chores all the time--sometimes the girls would wash the car and the boys would make the bread. The girls pulled weeds in the garden right along with the boys. We all pruned the fruit trees, we all took piano lessons, we all played sports for recreation, and we all played video games. But undeniably the most important thing they taught us was about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I love this gospel, and I love Jesus Christ. I believe he has redeemed all mankind. "he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile" (2 Nephi 26:33, emphasis added).

Those words are true. I have a personal relationship with God and I have never felt less or belittled because of my womanhood. There is a lot of confusion in and out of the church right now about the priesthood of God. What is the priesthood and why is it "kept" from the women?

"The priesthood is the eternal power and authority from God" (True to the Faith p. 124). Preach My Gospel adds that the Priesthood is "the power and authority given to man to act in God's name for the salvation of His children" (p. 32). If priesthood power is used for the salvation of God's children it must mean that it is given to mankind so we can help one another. It is by nature a selfless power. So why this need to hold the priesthood? Why this need to be just like the men? Do we underestimate our power to do good? To serve? To play a role in God's plan--his work and his glory?

We Can't All be Goalies
On my mission I often confronted this concern with an analogy I thought up. When you play a team sport, each member of the team has a different position. In soccer you have your midfielders, defenders, attackers, goalies etc. What would happen if all players tried to protect the goal? They would never make any points, it would be no fun to watch or play--the game wouldn't even function.

Moses 1:39 says "For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." The work and purpose of God is to help ALL men and women return and live with Him again--and we ALL play a part in making that happen. How can people be resurrected with perfected bodies if they were never given a body in the first place? Men can't bear children alone, and neither can women. Men have been given the authority to perform essential ordinances for our return to Heavenly Father, but women, along with men, provide understanding of these ordinances. They help in the sacred preparation, nurturing, and support as their children and grandchildren endure to the end in righteousness. The fact of the matter is--nobody can do it alone. That's the point. We were never meant to get to heaven alone. In fact, we can't make it to heaven alone. Neither men nor women.

Women--don't let the world tell you that your role is unnecessary. If you let yourself believe that then Satan wins. If he can get women to believe that motherhood is a lesser calling, then what happens to the glorious plan of God? It's the same thing that would happen with our soccer game if everyone tried to be a goalie--it wouldn't function.

Strike me down with a lightning bolt, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that child-bearing is the very essence of the priesthood. Think again on the definition of the priesthood: the eternal power and authority of God. Is childbearing not a power of God? It is our most godly attribute.

Isn't she precious?

Let's also remember that when one player on a soccer team scores a goal the whole team rejoices. Let's rejoice in our role as women.

I love being a girl.