Not allowing women to hold priesthood leadership positions is likely hurting the bottom line for Mormonism. Because the LDS church is run like a corporation with a "board of directors"/the apostles who are virtually all businessmen and lawyers, the following findings are likely very relevant.

Many studies show that companies with more women on their boards do better financially than those with less. A recent McKinsey survey determined that, of companies who’d made efforts to empower women in emerging markets, 34 percent reported increased profits...

Then there is the issue of giving and working to build the community:

In developing countries, the social effects of female economic empowerment are particularly evident, since women reinvest 90 percent of their income into community and family, compared with 30 to 40 percent reinvested by men.

If the brethren encouraged the men and women to delay starting families and gain as much education as possible the birth rate would predictably drop. However the birth rate within Mormonism is in decline anyway and may reach near parity with the surrounding populations regardless. Losing educated women to "apostasy" is also a very real possibility but again not making a change to encourage education may just delay, rather than avert, the inevitable. Not encouraging education could actually cause more problems in the long run by offending women (and men) with Mormonism's archaic, damaging misogynistic stance.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/06/women-will-rule-the-world.html

Cultures that allow polygamy generally do so at the cost of restricting womens rights to the point that women can't contribute much to the economy. When combined with their 'lost boys', polygamous countries just can't keep up economically with countries that value freedom and equality.

The LDS church may have given up polygamy, but it retains the mindset that women should be locked away from real life lest they tempt other men, or worse yet compete with them.

The idea of the old geezers competing with empowered women is just laughable.

I'd bet we'd be done with those required temple weddings that exclude non Mormons the first week women got power.

It's been a long couple years of PR disasters that could have been prevented by leaders with a better concept of reality. Women aren't perfect leaders anymore than men, but they do add a diverse viewpoint that the old men will never have.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2010 11:54AM by Heresy.

They think they do empower women. Problem is their idea of empowering and ours might be a little different.

Teaching her how to do it all - clean the house, home school the kids, teach the Sunday School, support her Bishop husband, Visit Teach, do genealogy, bake bread, go to the Temple, etc. - is not empowerment.

They may not be doing the same thing as a man, but you better believe the woman is greatly empowered or good or evil. She can make or break a man, usually is the neck that turns his head, that keeps him right where she wants him.
She doesn't "need" any priesthood! She is often: smart, clever, competent, and knows exactly what her role is and manages it with grace.

Maybe I'm reading more into your post than is actually there, but it sounds like you are declaring that all women are empowered just because they are women. Really?

Of course there are some tough, resourceful women who find ways to work around the restrictions the Mormon church places on them. I'm willing to bet that more often than not these are the women who find themselves out of the church either by choice or by excommunication because they refuse to kiss the ass of whatever blowhard bishop thinks he owns her.

Again, maybe I'm reading too much into this, but are you defending the misogyny of the church simply because you think women will automatically rise above the bullshit gender roles that are connected with eternity and salvation?

Really?

about why women in the US didn't need the vote.

It was bullshit then. It is bullshit now.

Women are second class citizens in Mormondom. That it is possible to be a successful person as a second class citizen does not change the fact that fewer women will be successful than they would had they been treated with respect, instead of as "other", and offered the same support structures and opportunities to grow that are offered to males in Mormondom.

Mormonism is no prize in it's treatment of men either, but it's treatment of women is particularly stunting.

women control men's behavior, men aren't responsible for their own thoughts or actions - therefore men have to control all of women's actions or men will suffer. This is lazy thinking

the whole system runs on the assumption that there will be a wrapped and packaged brand new molly awaiting you at the Y upon your return from mission.

Once the Y runs out of mollies to stock the shelves, there will be no incentive to go to the store. And the price of admission is two years of the most intense hormones in your life. Why give them up if the store has run out of mollies, or the choice is severely limited.

The Community of Christ church (former RLDS) began ordaining women to the priesthood several decades ago. Today, half their branches (congregations) are led by women. They have women in their Quorum of Twelve. Women know how to get things done, especially multi-tasking. The LDS church loses so much thru its treatment of women.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2010 01:18PM by george.

Not that I'm any great loss, but I'm happy to be out.