Women And Mormonism

A few days ago I did a post about the Book of Judges and retold one of the more hypocritical and misogynistic parts. Trace, a regular reader/commenter asked this question: What does the book of Mormon have to say about the role of women in Christianity? Is it even more enlightened than the New Testament? I've done some reading about Mormonism and can point out some interesting points about the faith (God literally had intercourse with Mary to father Jesus, Native Americans are actually Jewish, etc.), but I would definitely not regard myself to be an expert in such matters. I contacted Mormon411 and asked if they could handle this question. They agreed and here is the answer.

The Book of Mormon has very little to say about women. Nephi barely mentions his mother's name and not even his wife or sisters'. The Book of Mormon, right from the start is very male dominated. The story is all about the men... Lehi, the great prophet; Nephi and Sam, the good brothers; the bad brothers. Heck, we even know more about Laban's servant, Zoram, than we do of the women in Nephi's family. While Lehi's party is in the wilderness, the birth of two more brothers is described, Jacob and Joseph. 2 Nephi 5:6 is the only reference that Nephi ever makes to his sisters. And he just says "my sisters". How many? Don't know. None of them are even named. Yet that very same verse names every one of Nephi's "good" brothers and the servant Zoram.


There are a few (6) women mentioned by name in the Book of Mormon and not one of them is given any detail. Their roles are minor. The story would have been the same without even naming them, perhaps with the exception of Mary, mother of Jesus.

Come Mothers Day, you can count on hearing the reference in Alma to the mothers of the 2,000 stripling soldiers who fought in battle for the lord and not one of them died because their mothers had taught them to fear god. Mormons love to use this example of the true role of women... to raise children to the lord. In other words, be a housewife.

In Alma 19:10, when the missionary Ammon addresses the queen of a certain Lamanite tribe, he calls her "woman", not her name, not 'your highness'. Even a queen does not get the honor of being addressed by her actual name. She is just "woman".

I think that most people would agree that the Book of Mormon perfectly reflects the attitude towards women in the church. If you are a woman, your role is mother, no other. Raise up lots of future faithful tithe payers.