I’ve had the privilege of being in my ward’s Relief Society presidency for about 2 years, and during much of that time, the president has given me the task of selecting General Conference talks for our teachers to reference. I cannot overstate what a joy this has been for me. Prayerfully taking this on feels like a simple way I can obey the two great commandments; to love God and to love others (see Matthew 22:36-40).
That love has grown as I have taken seriously this opportunity to be a small part of the education arm of the church – identifying aspects of our doctrine and modern day revealed truths that might produce enlightening conversation during our bi-monthly discussions in that sacred and soul-enriching space. That heaven/haven feeling truly does exist in our ward, in North Carolina, USA.
Because of the seriousness of the task, I have sometimes felt compelled to sort of scrutinize the long list of talks. Which talks do the sisters in our ward need? Which ones will help the sisters grow in light and truth and love of our Savior? What have the female leaders of the Church said, specifically?
This is how I came to a startling realization; 1 of 3 of 35 talks in the most recent General Conference (April 2024) were delivered by women, and directed to the general membership of the church. Wow!
Allow me to clarify.
In five sessions, talks were shared by 35 church leaders from around the world. The three women who spoke were Sister J. Annette Dennis, First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, Sister Andrea Muñoz Spannaus, Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, and President Susan H. Porter, Primary General President.
We can infer that Sister Dennis directed her message to all, as she didn’t indicate otherwise. However, the same can not be said for the other two talks! You need look no further than the first sentence of each talk! Sister Spannaus: “Dear young friends, today I would like to speak directly to you—the youth of the Church.” And President Porter: “Brothers and sisters, I feel joy as I respond to an impression to speak to children!”
1 of 3 of 35. Is that figure not alarming? Is this a fair representation of what the members value, regarding leadership? Is there not space for more testimonies from women? What is lacking causes me to personally mourn for what could have been. With faith and hope, I look forward to future General Conferences, and pray that more women will have the opportunity to deliver messages to the general membership of the church, and more people who listen to and read those messages will be able to learn from women leaders, and their testimonies of Jesus Christ.
***The Exponent blog welcomes guest submissions. Learn more about our post guidelines and the submission form on our guest post submission page.***
8 Responses
Thank you for this! I was alarmed in my BYU years to see men newly returned from their missions vocalize that when women speak in general conference, it is bathroom break time. Nearly twenty years later, it’s sad to see that not only have the numbers of women speakers not increased, but some speakers seem to give men active permission not to listen to them.
Katie – Absolutely! I’ve heard that sentiment from men my whole life, picking apart things about the women’s voices (or even appearances) that make their messages (according to the men) irrelevant. It says everything about the men, and not the female speakers or the validity of their talks. Typing this out has me feeling some kinda way! Ugh!!
Have to say that I love North Carolina and would love to live there!
These numbers are alarming, discouraging, and revealing. You say that you have faith and hope that more women will have the opportunity to deliver messages to the general membership of the church. May I ask faith and hope in what or who/whom? The people who currently choose general conference speakers do not see a need to have more women speak. See Katie’s post and response from the First Presidency here: https://exponentii.org/blog/guest-post-calling-more-women-to-speak-at-general-conference-a-response-to-the-office-of-the-first-presidency/
I have had to seek women’s voices elsewhere. Beth Allison Barr, Sarah Bessey, Sue Monk Kidd, Chieko Okazaki, Maxine Hanks, and, of course, The Exponent.
This is one of the reasons I don’t gather the kids and watch conference in real time any more. The relentless parade of men says more about the value of women in the church than all the “women are so special!” talks ever given. I don’t have to welcome things into my home that give my kids harmful messages (implicit or explicit) and make me feel bad. We can revisit the ‘greatest hits’ version of conference later).
Only three of 35 speakers were women, and two of those these women explicitly told men, “You don’t have to listen to me!”
This post brought back memories for me! When I was a missionary, watching General Conference at a church with other missionaries, most of whom were male, instead of at home like I always had done until then, I was shocked to realize that male missionaries saw the very scarce women’s talks as bathroom breaks. (I even wrote a post about it once. It was a satire, but it was based on this real experience from my mission: https://exponentii.org/blog/mormon-church-officials-announce-plans-to-decrease-male-participation-in-general-conference-by-50/ )
It’s discouraging to see the women leaders themselves seeming to actually encourage this male bathroom break behavior, but I also see where they are coming from. Of course the Young Women presidency wants to speak to youth and the Primary presidency wants to address children! That makes sense. The problem is that there are too few women speakers to begin with. If a couple of the 32 male speakers decide to address their remarks to a specific demographic, there are still so many more of them left to speak to the rest of us. Not so for women.
It’s completely bizarre that when women DO speak in general conference and in other church settings, they frequently don’t share their own thoughts. They only regurgitate things the men already said. I’ve been researching quotes about Heavenly Mother and I can’t use a lot of the recent ones because it’s just a woman quoting the Family Proclamation or a man – she’s not actually sharing her own thoughts. That’s not women’s voices – that’s women quoting men, which is no better than men just speaking themselves.
Trina, I agree. I see it too, for sure. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
I believe this is one of those “cultural norms” that feels quite ordinary and expected within our faith tradition, that when more closely examined, can leave many with a longing for something different.
There is something so disheartening about hearing a woman standing in front of the congregation quoting men. It’s 10 times worse when it’s a woman speaking about women, including Heavenly Mother, and quoting men. It’s just such a picture into how endemic the patriarchy is.