Today marks both the founding of the Relief Society on March 17, 1842, and the launch six years ago of the Ordain Women website. We chose the date for obvious reasons. We’d like to think our 19th-century foremothers appreciated our nod to their efforts and, in turn, gave OW a celestial shout out.
We noted on our first anniversary that in anticipation of the OW website’s launch, “a handful of us called, emailed, begged and prodded friends and family members to consider going public—photos, names … and all—on the need for the ordination of women in the LDS Church. We knew there were many in the Mormon feminist community who had thought seriously about women and priesthood—some for many years, others more recently—and what going public might mean.” Though hundreds had previously signed the All Are Alike unto God petition calling on Church leaders to “thoughtfully consider and earnestly pray” about the question of women’s ordination, we recognized that it was quite another thing to proclaim one’s conviction in an OW profile and “commit to public action, particularly in a community that tended to confuse questioning with faithlessness.”
“As the first Ordain Women profiles showed up in our inboxes, … we were deeply touched by the courage, faith, trust, thoughtfulness and sincerity of the stories we read.” Now six years and over 700 OW profiles later, we still are. Our hope is that our profiles will continue to offer a positive vision of what women’s ordination could mean for the LDS Church and its members just as we found glimpses of female spiritual empowerment in the 19th-century blessings and conferral of keys to women recorded in the minutes of the Nauvoo Female Relief Society.
We also celebrate several initiatives that indicate our leaders are responding to the prayers and petitions of Mormon women for a more gender inclusive church, including:
- A lowering of the age requirement and lifting of the no-pants policy for female missionaries
- Women offering prayers in general conference
- The announcement that the General Women’s Meeting is now a session of general conference like the Priesthood Session
- The availability of the Priesthood Session to all through live streaming
- A greater emphasis on gender-inclusive local councils
- Significant, gender equitable changes to LDS Temple rituals
- Efforts to separate priesthood from maleness by encouraging members not to use the term “the priesthood” when referring to men
As Ordain Women enters its seventh year, we look forward to more changes that reflect the radical inclusiveness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, including the ordination of women. Our profiles remain foundational to our efforts to encourage such changes, so please visit our profile pages and consider submitting your own. Happy Birthday!