It is so amazing to me that the sisters who helped settle the Salt Lake Valley, and organize the Relief Society, which we all benefit from, were so strong, determined, progressive, pro-active, and innovative.\u00a0\u00a0 Mormon women were judged unfairly by women of the world.\u00a0 Polygamy was misconstrued.\u00a0 It was assumed that Mormon women needed to be taken care of because they were helpless, mindless, and manipulated into female slavery.\u00a0 Nothing could be further from the truth and the Mormon women set out to prove it.<\/p>\n
Brigham Young believed in women.\u00a0 He knew how capable woman could be.\u00a0 He encouraged his wives to delve into any interest they had, and they were very diverse in their abilities.\u00a0 Many of them pursued education, either by learning, or by teaching.\u00a0 Many were leaders in the church, as well as the community.<\/p>\n
Eliza R. Snow was called an \u201cElect Lady\u201d by her peers.\u00a0 She had a quick mind and could organize anything.\u00a0 What I love best about her is that she understood the gospel thoroughly, and she accepted the godly position of the Priesthood without question.\u00a0 Eliza was adamantly opposed to strong-minded women.\u00a0 She was not interested in creating war between the sexes.\u00a0 She never crossed a Priesthood leader, always preferring to honor that authoritative role set by God.\u00a0 However, she was spirited enough to organize a wide variety of programs for women allowing them to improve, educate, and stretch themselves.\u00a0 Eliza organized the Relief Society in Utah after the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo.\u00a0 She became President of this organization. \u00a0As the Young Women Retrenchment Association developed, and the youngsters organized into the Primary, Eliza became the overseer, or Presidentess, of all these organizations.<\/p>\n
Having to create a city from scratch, being a part of a polygamist family, and having a husband gone serving a mission, put the women in a position of having to invent, provide, and operate.\u00a0 The women of this time did just that.\u00a0 They organized themselves, laid out a plan, and moved forward.\u00a0 Brigham Young was very much in favor of this enterprising attitude.\u00a0 He asked Eliza to overseer much of this activity.\u00a0 Eliza saw to it that all programs were approved by local male authorities.\u00a0 She reminded women of their duty as wives and mothers and of the importance of obedience.\u00a0 Relief Society provided a setting for domestic and commercial enterprises, commitment to self-improvement, and a constant affirmation of their own spiritual powers producing a vibrant sense of sisterhood and a setting to discuss women\u2019s rights and responsibilities.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s Press Clubs were popping up all over the nation, and so, Utah developed its own.\u00a0 This was a club where women could discuss professional issues and career strategies; all this in a world where women were largely excluded from male-dominated institutions.\u00a0 Utah women were in the thick of things, planning, organizing, causing change, accepting assignments to bolster, campaign, and set an example of equality.\u00a0 Politics would of course become center stage as women demanded to be heard and represented well.\u00a0 Women\u2019s rights became the rage throughout the nation.\u00a0 But only in Utah, were the rights desired to equal men, not surpass them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is so amazing to me that the sisters who helped settle the Salt Lake Valley, and organize the Relief Society, which we all benefit from, were so strong, determined, progressive, pro-active, and innovative.\u00a0\u00a0 Mormon women were judged unfairly by women of the world.\u00a0 Polygamy was misconstrued.\u00a0 It was assumed that Mormon women needed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[476],"tags":[785,139],"class_list":["post-606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womanhood","tag-press-clubs","tag-women"],"yoast_head":"\n