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Picture of Nicole Sbitani
Nicole Sbitani
Nicole is an adult convert, a mixed-race woman, and a professional diplomat. She blogs at nandm.sbitani.com. The content of this post does not represent the views of the U.S. Department of State or any other U.S. Government agency, department, or entity. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and in no way should be associated with the U.S. Government.

Intersectionality and Power in the Church

Something that’s often mentioned in Mormon feminist circles is that there’s no decision a woman in the Church can make that can’t be overruled by a man. It’s powerful because it’s true: no matter how high of a position a woman reaches in the Church hierarchy, even the Relief Society General Presidency, she will always be outranked by at least 15 men: The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

This is how we get “revelation” like The Family Proclamation, which then-First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency Chieko Okazaki said in an interview with Dialogue was pushed through without Relief Society input: “in 1995 when ‘The Family: A Proclamation to the World’ was written, the Relief Society presidency was asked to come to a meeting. We did, and they read this proclamation. It was all finished. The only question was whether they should present it at the priesthood meeting or at the Relief Society meeting. It didn’t matter to me where it was presented. What I wanted to know was, ‘How come we weren’t consulted?’”

When the interviewer, Greg Prince, asked, “You didn’t even know it was in the works?” She answered, “No. They just asked us which meeting to present it in, and we said, ‘Whatever President Hinckley decides is fine with us.’ He decided to do it at the Relief Society meeting. The apostle who was our liaison said, ‘Isn’t it wonderful that he made the choice to present it at the Relief Society meeting?’ Well, that was fine, but as I read it I thought that we could have made a few changes in it.”

This injustice rightfully grates on feminists, who argue correctly that the whole Church would be better if women had real authority, a means to contribute to shared decision-making that would be honored and respected by (and even apply to) men, a path to autonomy that didn’t require endless permission from men or begging to have their suggestions considered by men, and the list goes on.

At the same time, there are many similar intersectional injustices we cannot neglect. Right now there is no decision that any person of color or Indigenous person can make in the Church that couldn’t be overruled by a white man. There is no decision that any person outside of the United States can make in the Church that couldn’t be overruled by an American man. There is no decision that a person in a low-income household or a low-income country can make in the Church that couldn’t be overruled by a high-income individual in a high-income household in a high-income country. For over 10 years, a majority of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have lived outside the United States. But those members do not wield the same authority and do not have their interests, perspectives, and backgrounds as represented in leadership and decision-making as Americans do.

In some ways, these power differentials are easier to address: there aren’t the same doctrinal prohibitions on non-Americans or people of color or people in low-income households rising to even the highest levels of Church leadership that there are on women and gender minorities.

However, there are practical barriers which are obvious to even a casual observer even though there’s no transparent selection process for general authorities and officers of the Church. Reading the public bios of our leaders, it’s clear that they’re not a representative sample of the population. They tend to be wealthier, more educated, and more likely to be in single-family households with two married heterosexual parents and children than the average population.

You need to be financially stable enough to devote plenty of unpaid time to your callings and be recognized for increasingly higher positions of leadership. If you work multiple jobs or have a work schedule that conflicts with regular Church attendance, chances are you won’t be a Bishop, let alone an Area Seventy. Fluency in English is practically a requirement for the highest offices and at a certain point so is the ability to be based in Utah at Church headquarters. The Basic Manual for Priesthood Holders on the Church website also says General Authorities are fathers and husbands with “the responsibility to lead their own families and guide them to the celestial kingdom,” so it appears single and childless men may not be considered or at least at an institutionalized disadvantage.

If these men are truly selected to guide the Lord’s Church and to speak for God on the Earth today, what does it say about our religion that so much of the Church population isn’t represented in the highest levels of leadership? In Matthew 19:14, Jesus says of little children, “forbid them not, to come unto me” – and are we not all children of God? Just as women need to make decisions that can’t be overruled by men, marginalized groups need to make decisions that can’t be ignored or overruled by the dominant group. We’re told in 2 Nephi 26:33 that “he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him” and “all are alike unto God.” If we’re to follow Jesus’s example, then our membership and our leadership should reflect all of humanity and not just a select few.

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Nicole is an adult convert, a mixed-race woman, and a professional diplomat. She blogs at nandm.sbitani.com. The content of this post does not represent the views of the U.S. Department of State or any other U.S. Government agency, department, or entity. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and in no way should be associated with the U.S. Government.

3 Responses

  1. Alas, the Q15 believe, by virtue of their frequent trips abroad, that they are very much in tune with the thoughts, needs and interests of Church members worldwide. However, as I know from firsthand experience, when they visit the far flung stakes of the Church, they remain within the bubble by interacting mostly with men who are, as you describe, more like them than the general population they are visiting. As you are doing here, this needs to be pointed out! Repeatedly. But until they perceive that they are not as in touch with lay members as they think they are, I don’t see anything likely to change.

  2. Nicole, I really appreciate this post. Good points and well put. As much as the Q15 feel very distant from me, this post reminds me that I could easily be distantly related to some of them and my experiences are similar to those of their granddaughters, who they can on some level legitimately represent identity-wise. I like how this post points out the brokenness of the system. The failure to be transparent about how new leaders are chosen. The bias toward white Americans.

    Yesterday I was chatting with an older teen who is a person of color from a family that sometimes struggles to make ends meet. He talked about his resentment that his family and The Church are pushing him to serve a mission and expect him to pay for it himself. As a restaurant worker right out of HS, tithing seems like an impossibility, let alone saving up for a mission. This post made me think about the oppressive and troubling nature of imposing high and strict religious standards like tithing and mission fees on people who face disadvantages and discrimination. It breaks my heart. We need a big dose of democratic elements to the way the church functions– options to say no, sliding scales, a break up between tithing and worthiness.

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So, for me: enduring to the end really has nothing to do with me thinking about some end that I struggle to imagine. Instead, enduring to the end means learning how to feel Christ on those stressful random Tuesdays when the purple cup threatens to push me over the edge. It means learning to rely on Christ to help me make decisions for my family. It means learning how to rely on Christ to help me when I realize I’ve made a decision that I need or want to change. It means learning how to rely on Christ when I’m wanting to develop my relationships with my family or friends. It means learning how to rely on Christ when I’m seeking forgiveness. More succinctly, for me, enduring to the end means learning how to love the Savior who loves me. 

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