Why the LDS Church’s top women’s leaders in the global faith

Why the LDS Church’s top women’s leaders are not necessarily top leaders in the global faith

No matter how many women belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or how many advances they make in the hierarchy, they are not part of the faith’s top-tier leadership.

And the decision-making and visibility of the female general presidencies in the 17.2 million-member global church may be even less these days than for some of their predecessors.

It remains a hierarchical patriarchy, governed by a 99-year-old prophet-president, Russell Nelson, and his two counselors in the three-member First Presidency, who meet every Thursday with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to discuss church affairs. All 15 men are viewed as “prophets, seers and revelators.”

Unlike in the past, today the general presidencies of the Relief Society for adult women, Young Women for teenage girls, and Primary for children, do not meet regularly on their own with either the First Presidency or with individual apostles.

Instead, they sit on three executive councils, presided over by two apostles and which include up to 10 other men.

The women presidents work, says Relief Society General President Camille Johnson, “in harmony with other leaders to further the mission of the church.”

The Relief Society “reports directly to the senior apostle leading the Priesthood and Family Executive Council, a senior decision-making body, including two [apostles],” Johnson, who declined to be interviewed for this story, says in a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune. “We have standing meetings with [the council] weekly, and at other times as needed or requested.”

The women also “meet with, advise and counsel, with other leaders of the church on matters related to humanitarian efforts, and the general welfare of our brothers and sisters around the world,” Johnson adds. “In this latter responsibility, the Relief Society presidency sits on the Welfare and Self-Reliance Executive Committee, which includes the Presiding Bishopric, to collaborate and make recommendations relative to the global humanitarian efforts of the church.”

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Relief Society General President Camille Johnson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speaks at the European Union Parliament in Brussels on Monday, March 4, 2024, on religious liberty for women.

The women were added to these ruling councils in 2015 in the wake of the Ordain Women movement, a change that was generally viewed as a positive step toward more empowerment.

Still, many presumed that would not eliminate regular exchanges with an apostle or the First Presidency.

Yet, even J. Anette Dennis, in responding to the feedback to her controversial speech about Latter-day Saint women having “priesthood power,” implied a distinction between male and female leaders.

“As a member of the General Relief Society Presidency,” Dennis wrote on Instagram, “I can assure you that we and our church leaders are listening and learning from the things you have shared with us.”

A ‘broken’ hierarchy

(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Susan H. Porter speaks at General Conference on Sunday, April 7, 2024. She was one of three women to give a sermon at the two-day gathering.

Upon hearing the news that the faith’s high-level female leaders, in general, don’t meet separately with the top 15 men, some Latter-day Saint feminists say they were “gobsmacked,” “floored” and “shocked.”

Several bloggers for Exponent II, a long-standing magazine for Latter-day Saint women, decried the women’s lack of authority and diminished access.

Though the church has done away with the term “auxiliary” to describe the Relief Society, “that’s still very much how it functions,” says blogger Lindsay Denton. “Neither women nor their organizations are present at all in the church’s vast central hierarchy. The women’s hierarchy is broken, if not nonexistent: The general Relief Society president does not have any direct authority over stake Relief Society presidents, who likewise have no authority over ward [congregational] Relief Society presidents, and there are no regional Relief Society leaders. Compare this to the central male chain of command where there is a clear authoritative hierarchy.”

That means that the female leaders who represent the church’s 8 million-plus women “have even less authority than ward Relief Society presidents, who at least get to pick the hymns for their own meetings and assign teachers for lessons,” she says. “There is no reason there can’t be more than two or three female speakers in five sessions of General Conference and no reason the general female leaders can’t serve longer than five years. No reason, that is, except that the men in charge have no interest in changing things.”

Another Exponent II blogger, Abby Maxwell Hansen, asks what role the general female leaders play in running the church.

“Are they only part-time callings and unpaid, or do they receive a salary like male general authorities do?” she wonders. “Are any women involved in who they call to a new female presidency, or is that a decision made exclusively by men?”

The ‘13th apostle’

(Signature Books) The influential Susa Young Gates was sometimes referred to as the "13th apostle."

These questions are all a huge comedown from the heady days when Susa Young Gates — first editor of The Relief Society Magazine who worked for women’s suffrage and rubbed shoulders with Susan B. Anthony — was sometimes known as the “13th apostle.”

Or when Young Women General President Florence Jacobsen single-handedly saved downtown Salt Lake City’s Beehive House and Lion House from demolition, and was on a first-name basis was church President Thomas (Tom) Monson and late apostles David (“Dave”) Haight and Marvin (“Marv”) Ashton, referring to Latter-day Saint general authorities as “boys.”

Or when Primary General President LaVern Parmley helped finish a hospital for children, Relief Society President Amy Brown Lyman organized welfare and social work for members, and Relief Society President Belle Spafford was at the helm of the National Council of Women.

For much of the 19th and 20th century, women’s organizations had financial autonomy and semi-independent publications, says Latter-day Saint historian Katie Ludlow Rich, along with curriculum control.

They served much longer terms of office — sometimes decades — and were known inside and outside the church as powerhouse women.

After the faith’s mid-1960s “correlation effort” stripped much of that independence, the women were treated more like an afterthought, according to Chieko Okazaki, first counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency from 1990 to 1997. “Sometimes I think they get so busy that they forget that we are there.”

(The Salt Lake Tribune) Chieko Okazaki, a member of the General Relief Society Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1990-1997, died in 2011.

Case in point: the 1995 Family Proclamation.

After “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,” she told Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. “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?’”

The apostle who was the women’s “liaison” said, “‘Isn’t it wonderful that he [President Gordon Hinckley] made the choice to present it at the Relief Society meeting?’” Okazaki said. “Well, that was fine, but as I read it, I thought that we could have made a few changes in it.”

Still, these female leaders at least did have an assigned apostle liaison.

Five-year term limits

In a popular 1993 class at church-owned Brigham Young University, “Teachings of the Prophets,” first-year student Cynthia Winward learned that apostle Neal Maxwell had been a pig farmer and eventual church President Howard Hunter was a musician and had even formed his own orchestra.

“Knowing about their lives, coupled with the years of listening to their conference talks, I have always felt I had a real sense of their personalities,” Winward says. “Their teachings seemed more relevant to me as I came to ‘know them’ over the years. I mourn that that is never the case with our women leaders. Before we get more than a hint of their personality and speaking style, they’re released in just five years.”

On top of that, the loss of the women’s sessions of General Conference, Winward says, has been “incalculable.”

When the church held separate general Young Women and Relief Society meetings every six months, “there were more opportunities for women to address women,” says Winward, who hosts the “At Last She Said It” podcast with Susan Hinckley.

(Photo courtesy of BYU Photo) The Relief Society General Presidency speaks at the 2021 BYU Women's Conference. From left are Sharon Eubank, President Jean Bingham and Sister Reyna Aburto. The three were seen as dynamic leaders.

Julie Beck, then Relief Society general president, gave nine General Conference talks from 2007 to 2012 — an average of 1.8 talks per year — Winward notes. Contrast this with Jean Bingham, who gave five General Conference speeches as Relief Society general president from 2017 to 2022.

Vanderpump Rules’ Star Brock Davies Reveals He Was Raised in the Mormon Church Until He Was a Teen

Brock Davies. Gizelle Hernandez/Bravo

Brock Davies dropped a fascinating fact about how he grew up in the Mormon church.

During a new episode of Vanderpump Rules, which aired on Tuesday, April 29, the cast celebrated Lala Kent‘s birthday at a 1920s-inspired speakeasy that featured burlesque dancers. Brock, 32, however, didn’t seem thrilled when one of the performers turned in his direction.

“Don’t come over here,” he said before his wife, Scheana Shay, offered more context. “Brock is like, ‘I don’t know where to look.’ He hates strip clubs because he doesn’t know where to look.”

Brock elaborated on his upbringing while filming a confessional, adding, “I was raised in the Mormon church until I was 14. So there’s a small little Mormon boy in me that is very uncomfortable when there’s women dancing around me.”

Since joining the Vanderpump Rules cast in 2021, Brock has opened up about his surprising childhood. He was originally raised on a dairy farm in Australia before making the move to the United States in an attempt to make it as a professional rugby player.

Life on the farm wasn’t easy though. Brock previously revealed that he lost his index finger when he was four years old in an accident.

Nicole Weingart/Bravo

“We grew up on a dairy farm. And then one afternoon, I was in the yard, and it’s a circular yard, and there’s a pin in the middle with a gate — just like a clock hand. As it rotates around, it pushes the cattle onto the table to get milked,” he explained on Lala’s “Give Them Lala” podcast in August 2022. “When it gets to about 7 o’clock, there’s a side gate and you take the bulls out of the side because you don’t want the bulls to go onto the milking table.”

Brock recalled a regular day on the farm taking a turn. “There’s me. Four-and-a-half years old, walking past this big bull, and I walked straight past him to get him out of the side,” he detailed about trying to get the bull to move but instead “startled” the animal.

The former athlete was subsequently kicked by the bull and he “fell back onto the gate” that was behind him.

“It just so happened that the cover was off and then I rolled my hand in. It rolled in, like, gears. It caught my hand and then it crushed my first finger, flange number one, my pointer, and a bit of the two. But then it actually crushed all of my hand,” he continued. “We were on the farm, so we had to go to the vet in town. I had to go to the vet and then they wrapped it up in a bandage. I had to get airlifted to the hospital because it was two hours away.”

Brock has also been candid about the more emotionally-heavy aspects of his life. After moving overseas, Brock found love with Scheana, 38, and they welcomed daughter Summer in 2021. However, Brock’s appearance on Vanderpump Rules started a conversation about his eldest kids: Winter and Eli.

Season 9 of Vanderpump Rules highlighted Brock’s two kids with his ex-wife. He confirmed at the time that a domestic dispute between him and his former partner led to a tumultuous coparenting relationship. The incident — and a delay in child support payments — resulted in Brock losing contact with his kids.

“It is a very difficult situation. Based on my actions and my past and what my actions have caused for these kids — especially when they were younger — there was obviously trauma there that needed to be mended,” he shared on an episode of the “Scheananigans” podcast in January. “I need to keep turning up and show them that I am the dad that I want to be and that they want to be around.”

Brock said he wasn’t giving up on potentially reconnecting with his children in the future.

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“It is tough. My actions put me here and now I just need to keep being aware that I need to take my time with this and keep turning up [for my kids],” he continued before getting emotional. “I wish I could tell everyone we met up but it is going to take time. They are going from preschool to high school so there is a bunch of things changing in their life and I don’t want to be another one in there. They have a loving dad, a loving half sister and a beautiful home. Right now, that is not their priority and I understand that.”

Brock concluded: “There is a side of me that just wants to fight hard. But then there is another side that reminds me this is a tough balancing act. Actions have consequences. Just hearing you talk about it [reminds me] I have to keep doing what I am doing. I am happy with the changes I made in my life and I am really happy with that.”

Season 11 of Vanderpump Rules airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET and is available to stream on Peacock the next day

How David Archuleta Left Behind the Mormon Church and Is Now Flourishing As An Openly Queer Person

When David Archuleta returned to the “American Idol” stage on April 22, he knew that singing his latest single, “Hell Together,” which he wrote about his mother’s show of unconditional allyship after he came out in 2021 and left the Mormon church (so did she, in solidarity), wouldn’t be embraced by everyone. But he sang it anyway, his pro-queer message heard loud and clear by those who are closeted and afraid, like he once was, and who still need it most — LGBTQ+ youth.

Archuleta wasn’t even close to being out in 2008, during the seventh season of “American Idol,” when his kind smile and puppy-dog eyes told a very different story than the open and honest one he’s been sharing through his candid thoughts and personal music. He told People magazine in 2022 that he would pray to God to “please take this away from me because I don't know what else to do.” He only got frustrated when he spoke to church leaders about Mormonism's views on the LGBTQ+ community. And then, at 30, after spending most of his life as a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which he has since abandoned, he came out publicly.

With years of severe anxiety attacks and suicidal thoughts behind him, Archuleta is doing what so many of us feel compelled to do when we’ve been condemned and felt betrayed by our faith communities: sharing his story with authenticity and vulnerability and standing as a beacon of hope and empowerment for those who are still finding their way to their truest selves. He’s giving his voice in more ways than one, too. As a singer, he’s hopeful that “Hell Together” — inspired by an exchange he had with his mother who texted him and said, “If you’re going to hell, we are all going to hell with you,” he explained in an Instagram post — will inspire other parents to be wholehearted allies to their queer children. 

Recently, I spoke with Archuleta, 33, about performing the emotional song on the “Idol” stage, his advice for queer youth torn between authenticity and religion, and why he identifies with his younger self now more than ever.

How did it feel to be on the “Idol” stage again all these years later, but this time as almost a completely different person in some ways? You got to step back on that stage as an openly queer person and express being openly queer.

It was invigorating. It's just nice to be able to feel like you can just lay all yourself out there when so many people feel, and still feel, like you should hide. So just to be back on the “Idol” stage and be able to be there now that I've come out, like you said, even wearing mesh, it's nice to be able to feel like you can lay all yourself out there in the open, in front of people without having to feel the need to hide. And people still feel like you should hide. They'll say, "Well, don't talk about it. Don't show yourself. Can't you just keep it to yourself?" So you have to be open about it. You have to talk about it because you have to show people “I'm here. What are you going to do about it? You can't hide me.” And they try to, because it makes them uncomfortable. 

When I hear you sing “Hell Together,” those feelings are still so raw for you it seems, and it's such an important song that you're releasing. As a kid who struggled with my sexuality while growing up Catholic, it would've changed my life in a lot of ways had I heard that song in my teen years. And as an adult, I realize there are so many young people who need to still hear the message of this song. Was that on your mind while working on it? 

Yeah, because when I came out, I had thousands of people, even to this day, still in the closet — all ages, people who are still married, people who are young, teenagers, people about to go on missions for their church — all saying, "I'm like you and I don't know what to do." That was the biggest motivating factor for me to write a book, because I'm writing a book now. I am trying to live my life authentically, but also I want to do it in a way that keeps the conversation going. I don't want it to just be a middle finger to conservative people. There's too many people like me still in that community who don't know how to find their way. They don't know how to get out of that. And they don't have a safe way to get out of that.

I think a lot of people who are out and now part of the queer community, they know how that struggle is. And a lot of people who find their way into the queer community, they have to be tough. They have to be thick-skinned, they have to be fighters, but not everyone knows how to do that. Songs like “Hell Together” and other artists who've written songs that are similar to that, I think it's like, I want to start that conversation. “American Idol” was not the place I saw myself singing a song about going to hell together and about coming out, because that's not the audience that is OK with that. It shows in a lot of the comments. “‘American Idol’ is still a very family, middle America Christian-conservative audience for the most part, and they're not OK with that kind of stuff.