Leadership and LDS Women: Carpools and Conference Calls

Recently the Press has spent a good bit of time questioning whether LDS Women are given the same leadership rolls as men. Many focus on the influence of only a few visible positions as a measure of all women's experiences in the Church.

Many people miss the equality of opportunity given to women in the organizations of the Mormon Church. I want to stand up and be counted. My husband and I jointly share the Presidency of a Brigham Young University Alumni Society for people who have shown a desire and skill to lead. No, BYU isn't the Mormon Church, but it runs on the same principles.

 In my normal life I am a housewife and a mother. I teach part-time. When my kids were younger I did the carpool thing like so many other women. But when I go to BYU, I am an executive. I help organize meetings that involve well-known leaders in government and in the church. through my duties I have met with many of the same men who are addressing the general membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during LDS General Conference. I have had the blessing of meeting with Apostles and Seventies and I can say that I have never felt that they looked down on my leadership responsibilities or capabilities. My husband and I are actually in positions of leadership over two Apostles. I have very different responsibilities from them, but my net of service takes their needs and interests into account. Within the bounds of the Society that I help to lead, I, as a woman, have authority over them.

I acknowledge that women can experience oppression. Women can be marginalized, but it isn't through the leadership of a truly Christ like man. Real men, real leaders and real followers of Christ know that sometimes it is a woman' s place to be at the head of an organization and they respect and honor these women as they serve and as they receive personal revelation for their stewardship.

Women and leadership in the LDS Church means I give prayers at meetings full of high powered men. My contributions are heard and my experiences are honored. I am also lucky to have had other bright, determine and talented women as my role models. All of them active and satisfied leaders of their families, communities, employers and the world.

Some days I wish I had fewer leadership opportunities! I could have more time to feel bored and dissatisfied with my life. For now, I will just have to accept my loss of free time with family and the extra time and expense and sleepless nights and worries about budgets and conference calls. Lack of Leadership responsibilities for LDS women? Some days, I sure wish that were my problem!

Courgar Friday, on Monday

Photo of LeVell Edwards Stadium
Provided by BYU.

Well, Ok, the game on Saturday wasn't a nail biter.  We mustn't let a bad game dampen our hopes for a great football season.  I was at BYU during some of it's most memorable football years.  It was always great winning, but what I remember most were the great parties and gatherings as we cheered our team on to victory.

If the only good pass is with the dip, then, by golly pass it this way!  Where are the Corn Chips? 

No matter how we do in football, our commitment to the success of BYU is going to remain True Blue!  We are working hard to get our organization organized.  It takes a lot of background work to plan for successful meetings, whether they are large or small groups.  This year we are going to ask you to participate in making our organization great. 

Keep checking back for details, until then,  just keep the Buffalo Wings warm.

A True-Blue Cougar Eat Memory

Don't we all share memories of the Cougar Eat.  This is one of our personal favorites.

We had returned to BYU to do some additional research for a degree.  By this point we were not longer carefree, but the parents of three children ages,7, 5 and 3.  My husband and I had taken a little time out for a study date at the Harold B. Lee Library.  Even though it was a working date, it was wonderful to be alone together, just the two of us.

After counting our change, we had enough money to order one "Navajo Taco" that could be shared by both of us.  My husband got in line to await our food and I sat at one of the tables.  In came a woman and several children who were about the same ages as our own.  Since we were sitting only a table away, I couldn't help but hear their conversation.

The anxious mother asked each child the same question, "Which one did you like best?"

One little boy said, "I liked Michelangelo!"

Another girl chimed in, not to be outdone, she said,  "No, I like Leonardo best!"

The youngest who couldn't have been more than three said, "I wike Raphael."

While waiting in line my husband could also hear the same conversation.  He returned to the table with a crushed expression on his face.  "What have we done wrong?  Why don't our kids know all of the great artists like those kids do?"

I thought for a moment about the exhibits at the art museum, the displays at the Lee Library, but I couldn't think of a thing that highlighted these great artists of the Renaissance.  What in the world could be on campus that would produce such excitement in the minds of these little children?  Then I remembered and smiled.

My response to my stricken husband was quick. "They forgot Donatello. Those are the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Their movie is showing on Campus today!"

Learning our Duties as Leaders

Why add one more thing to our schedule?  Why gather together?

The idea of having a society for alumni who are leaders among their peers, seems like one more thing to add to your already overfilled lives.  We could have a great dinner anywhere, why sacrifice to gather to the BYU campus?  The answer is not the dinner, the answer is we get to learn from some of the most wise and inspired leaders on earth today.  Our reunion also allows us to fellowship with others who have served and in many cases, are still serving as leaders.  The following quote tells us why this is one of the most important things we can do: 

Elder Richard L. Evans

 In Doctrine and Covenants 107:99-100, the Lord counsels all to learn their (our?) duty.  These verses are directed to those serving in priesthood offices but the spirit of this counsel applies to all leaders.  Elder Richard L. Evans who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, taught: "Our families, the church, the community, the nation, the kingdom of God are better served by the best-prepared people.  Preparation and knowledge, with faithfulness, are infinitely better than just faithfulness alone.  And those who drop out for trivial reasons, those who cease to learn, those who don't continue to try to increase their competence are, I believe, failing to do their full duty" (in Conference Report, Oct 1966, 55).

Each leadership role has unique duties.  We can learn these duties from handbooks, our leaders, others who have served in the office, training meetings, personal observation, seeking the Spirit, studying the scriptures and praying.

Calls to leadership positions give people the opportunity to learn and practice a variety of abilities, such as 'evaluating alternatives, scheduling, delegating, and motivating others.  However, all Church leaders are encouraged to focus principally on people, to feed the sheep in the Lord's flock, to know and love the members, to listen, and help with personal needs.
[President David O. McKay said,] 'It is the leader's duty... to teach the member to love-- not the leader or teacher, but the truth of the gospel'  [in Conference Report, Oct. 1968, 143-44].  To do this, leaders are frequently counseled to seek the spiritual gifts of discernment and wisdom (cf. Luke 12:12; D&C 84:85)'  (in Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism,  5 vols. [1992], 2:818)". (Church Education System.  Principles of Leadership Teacher Manual: Religion 180R. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City. 2001. pg 28.)

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President George H. Brimhall tells us a story about Camels

On Cougar Friday, we celebrate great things about BYU life.  The following is a "sermonette" given by President George H. Brimhall.  I have so many pleasant memories of hearing stories told to us during Tuesday Devotionals in the Marriott Center.  This reminded me of the wonderful experience of listening, laughing and learning that occurred in those meetings.

George H. Brimhall, 1910

The Camel Test

"There is a story in natural history in which you might be interested.  I am interest in it, as a teacher.

The camel merchants of Arabia, in order to determine the value of a camel, examine him somewhat  as we would examine a horse.  But that is a preliminary examination; the final examination, upon which is based the value of the dromedary or camel, is the leading of him up to the watering trough.  He is saddled, the trough is filled with clear, sparkling water, and he is led up to it.  If he rubs his nose in the water, splashes around a little, and then turns and looks this way and that and sniffs the air, he is turned down as a fourth rate camel.  If he drinks a little, he is a third grade camel.  If he drinks moderately, he is graded as a second rate camel and his value is in proportion.  But if he drinks copiously--drains the trough--he is the highest-priced camel, granted that he is sound and able to travel.  And why!  Because that snuffler that simply splashed the water with his nose, that gazer from side to side, that looker into the distance as though he could travel the whole desert when he is loaded and started would perish on the desert.

We are not camels; students re not camels; teachers are not Arabian merchants, but they are like them.  They fill the troughs with clear, sparking water.  The students in their classes come up to drink and you will find by the tests of examination to which class they belong.  But the greatest test is the test on the desert of life, whether they carry their burden or not.  You will see some information coming from the teacher.  You will see them looking; gazing into the future, dreaming about something.  I know not what, as though they had the wings of an airship.

Then you will see others who will be moderately attentive; and you will see others whose minds are concentrated; they are reaching out, they drain the trough of information, and when they go before an examination, or when they meet the problems of life, they will not lie down and fail to get up on the sand.

All the grit some people have is what hangs to the outside of the.

But the students who succeed, they have been filled with what is to support them, and they will make their journey--they will make their journey.