Mormon Apostle Russell M. Nelson described his family tradition of men attending the male-only priesthood session:

“Tonight I am attending with a son, sons-in-law, and grandsons.  Where are their mothers? Gathered in the kitchen of our home! What are they doing? Making large batches of homemade doughnuts! And when we return home, we will feast on those doughnuts… It’s a nice family tradition, symbolic of the fact that everything we learn and do as priesthood bearers should bless our families.”

The LDS church is currently facing the issue of discrimination against women.  To overcome this outdated tradition, it is clear to me that Mormon women should be ordained to the priesthood. Then LDS women would have the ability to play a full and equal role in their church. By comprehensively embracing all members, regardless of gender, the Latter-day Saints will better reflect the inclusiveness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This practice would enable the church to benefit from the diverse talents of all faithful members.

If Mormon women held the keys to the priesthood and were on equal footing with men, they would thrive in their positions and the LDS church would reap the rewards of being an organization that is reinforcing and rewarding. Its committed members would be working at full capacity with self-esteem intact, high aspirations, the desire to give back to the church, and the ability to be proactive in addressing needs and problems.

There is no doubt that there are many women in the church who feel they have enough opportunities already and for them the thought of the responsibility of being a priesthood holder is daunting, but it is not question of busy-ness. The problem lies in the message women are receiving because of the differences in the opportunities available to them in the church. This lack of opportunity affects women by keeping them in a second-class status and undermining their self worth by not giving them opportunity or authority within the church.

The most irrefutable reason the church should anoint women to the priesthood lies in one of the basic tenets of the church, from the Book of Mormon:  “black and white, bond and free, male and female; all are alike unto God” (2 Nephi 26:33). This is the Church’s official teaching.