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For quite some time, women in the Church have noticed that there is an awkwardness in naming organizations associated with women and positions held by women in the Church. We believe this is the result of a male focus heretofore in the Church, where such things were named by men as they relate to men. Nowadays we understand the importance of women naming who they are and what they do as it relates to women as well as men. This is a healthy development that fosters the creation of a truly equal partnership between men and women in the Church.

To that end, we ask you, our readership, to help supply some creative thinking:

1) The Relief Society, Young Women's, and Primary organizations have been called the "auxiliary" organizations of the Church. That term unfortunately connotes the idea that they are secondary to organizations of much greater importance. In the Great Plan of Happiness, however, we know that what women do is not auxiliary to what men do. The work of men and the work of women both equally contribute to the success of the Plan. So what term would you use in place of "auxiliary" to suggest that equal contribution?

2) What term would you use to refer to the female position in the Church currently called "mission president's wife"?

3) Do you have suggestions for changing the names of the Young Women age groups that are called "Beehives," "Mia Maids," and "Laurels"?

4) In the Young Women theme, would you favor changing the first line to read, "We are daughters of our Heavenly Parents, who love us and we love Them"?

5) The highest achievement for Young Women in the Church is currently called the "Young Womanhood Award." (The highest for the Young Men is called the "Duty to God" Award.) Do you have suggestions for changing the name of the YW award?

6) Can you think of a term for the "bishop's wife" that would recognize what she does for the ward?

7) Do you have any suggestions for changing the name of the female position called "sister training leader" among sister missionaries?

8) Would you change the name of the female position called "temple matron"?

Feel free to send us your comments to publish online, and we have also created a Google Poll that you can share with your family and friends. Given the purpose of the poll, we are interested in hearing from female members of the Church. Here is the link to the Google Poll: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19tkbbxflWWe9GKPnUlvG-qpd0Z-1fAK8fp7DzwszXJI/viewform

UPDATE: The results of the poll are now available! Check it out!

 



Full Citation for this Article: Editorial Board (2016) "Readers' Puzzle for Spring 2016: Renaming Women's Positions in the Church," SquareTwo, Vol. 9 No. 1 (Spring 2016), http://squaretwo.org/Sq2ArticleReadersPuzzleSpring2016Auxiliaries.html, accessed <give access date>.

Would you like to comment on this article? Thoughtful, faithful comments of at least 100 words are welcome. Please submit to SquareTwo.

COMMENTS: 3 Comments

NOTE: The poll results will be presented in the Summer 2016 issue, available in August. In addition, we have received some comments outside of the structure of the poll, which we reproduce below.

I. Leslie P. Rees

1) The Relief Society, Young Women's, and Primary organizations have been called the "auxiliary" organizations of the Church. That term unfortunately connotes the idea that they are secondary to organizations of much greater importance. In the Great Plan of Happiness, however, we know that what women do is not auxiliary to what men do. The work of men and the work of women both equally contribute to the success of the Plan. So what term would you use in place of "auxiliary" to suggest that equal contribution?
Answer:
Auxiliary Organizations
Author: Ericksen, Irene Hewette

“The LDS Church is characterized by two types of organizational entities: priesthood quorums and organizations auxiliary to the priesthood. Members of priesthood quorums, or groups of priesthood holders, along with those called to priesthood leadership positions, have the ecclesiastical responsibility and authority for carrying out the missions of the Church. The auxiliary organizations are complementary to priesthood line organization and exist primarily to assist the priesthood. The auxiliaries are the Relief Society (women, eighteen and older), Sunday school (all members twelve and older), young women (twelve through eighteen), young men (twelve through eighteen), and primary (all children eighteen months through eleven years).” (emphasis added) 
http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Auxiliary_Organizations   (linked from lds.org site)

It should be noted that Sunday School (which includes both men and women), and young men (ages 12-18) are included as auxiliaries .  The above statement regarding young men, however, does seem contradictory to the statement that priesthood quorums are not auxiliary.  Is the auxiliary designation referring only to the sports and other such activities of the young men?  Also, Sunday School Presidencies are made up of men who hold the priesthood.   So the distinction between Priesthood Quorums and auxiliaries does not seem to be entirely gender based.  It seems to me to be explaining that Priesthood Quorums are at the center of Church organization, and all other organized groups (auxiliaries) are to render aid and support to those quorums in carrying out their charge to fulfill the mission of the Church.  And then of course there’s the fact that the Lord himself, speaking of the Priesthood, said:  “All other authorities or offices in the church are appendages to this priesthood” (D&C 107:5). (emphasis added) “Appendage” and “auxiliary” are sometimes given as synonyms.

In all honesty, I am not offended by the term auxiliary, especially when you realize that one definition of auxiliary is “supporting,” which surely describes those organizations.  Calling them “Supporting Organizations,” though, is a bit of a mouthful! 

Elder Richard G. Scott stated, “The fundamental role and purpose of the auxiliary organizations of the Church is to help ‘plant and make grow … a testimony of [Jesus] Christ and of the Gospel.’ Auxiliaries can also teach of the divine mission of Joseph Smith and of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. This effort will aid families and individuals ‘to order their lives in accordance with the laws and principles of the restored Gospel’ under the direction of the holy priesthood. . . . The Church auxiliaries are organized to assist the individual, the family, and the priesthood in realizing divine expectations. However, the activity of each must be correlated carefully with the other auxiliaries so that order may be maintained and revealed doctrine kept pure.  This coordination is best accomplished under priesthood leadership in stake and ward councils." (emphasis added).
(https://www.lds.org/ensign/2005/08/the-doctrinal-foundation-of-the-auxiliaries?lang=eng)

I guess we might call Auxiliaries “Organizations Meet For” (see Moses 3:18), but I suspect that would be shortened to “Meet Fors.” and I’m not convinced that’s an improvement. :) Seriously, this woman is not offended by “Auxiliary.”  I just hope I truly am a Support!

2) What term would you use to refer to the female position in the Church currently called "mission president's wife"?
Answer:
Is there a word in any language which means “Woman continually on the verge of a physical, mental, emotional break-down”?  Barring that, I could never see anything wrong with Mission Mom.  She surely fills the role of one.

3) Do you have suggestions for changing the names of the Young Women age groups that are called "Beehives," "Mia Maids," and "Laurels"?
Answer:
Hmmm...Seekers, Believers Achievers?  Probably a good idea to get some ideas from the Young Women themselves on that one!

4) In the Young Women theme, would you favor changing the first line to read, "We are daughters of our Heavenly Parents, who love us and we love Them"?
Answer:
Well, it is correct as we now say it.  However, I personally would favor the change.  I believe that in a day when there is so much confusion over “Gender Identity,” young women- and young men- need to be reminded we do have a Heavenly Mother; that Man without Woman cannot become God in the full and perfect definition of God.  If that were more clearly understood by the youth, I think many of the arguments and misunderstandings over the Church’s stand on same sex marriage, and the problems with Transgender identity, would be far less common. And young women would more clearly see their most vital place in the whole Eternal Plan of Salvation.

5) The highest achievement for Young Women in the Church is currently called the "Young Womanhood Award." (The highest for the Young Men is called the "Duty to God" Award.) Do you have suggestions for changing the name of the YW award?
Answer:
How about “Love of God Award.” ?  (Understanding, of course, that the title of God includes both Father and Mother)

6) Can you think of a term for the "bishop's wife" that would recognize what she does for the ward?
There is none grand enough!! Seriously, I’ve been a Bishop’s wife twice (same Bishop), and “Sister” was totally good for me!  I don’t think we need titles that seem to set us apart simply because our spouse has a large role to play in the affairs of the ward.  I felt the same way the two times he served in Stake Presidencies.  Many people in a ward carry heavy burdens with their spouse’s calls.  Let’s just appreciate each other and quit worrying about special titles.

7) Do you have any suggestions for changing the name of the female position called "sister training leader" among sister missionaries?
Are the sister missionaries unhappy with that title?  I guess they could be called Sister Assistants to the President, but I’m not sure how that changes anything that matters.

8) Would you change the name of the female position called "temple matron"?
I honestly don’t see the need to do that.  Having served as an Assistant to the Matron of a temple, I found nothing even slightly demeaning about the title.  Especially when one definition is: “a married woman, especially one who is mature and dignified.”  That describes all the Temple Matron’s I have known.  And there may be some, but I’ve never met one who was unhappy with that title.

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II. Cynthia S.

Several years ago I left the church because of problems I had with this very subject: women in the church. Thanks to an article a friend gave to me by V.H. Cassler, which lead to another of her articles and her book, which lead to your website, my misunderstandings were corrected and I have returned to full activity in the church. My husband and I were sealed a year ago.

In the scriptures (and many other places) names are symbolic. Abram was renamed Abraham, Jacob was renamed Israel, Sarai was renamed Sarah, Saul was renamed Paul.  The Savior was plain about the naming of the church. To think that the names of the positions women hold have little importance is to ignore scriptural teachings. It isn't just names that are important and symbolic, but language itself. In Moses 6:6-7 language is equated to Priesthood (with a capital P).

1. We should get rid of the word "auxiliary" and just refer to "organizations." I stumbled over the term "auxiliary" for years and took it to mean women weren't important in the church. I thought of the term as meaning "Yeah, I guess, since you feel like you have to be involved, we'll let you hang around."

2. In the mission I served in, we called the mission president's wife our Mission Mom. Perhaps "Mother Hamblin" would have been more appropriate? Since we have been told that in the family there is not a president and vice-president, but two co-presidents the mission should function the same way. However, two President Hamblins would be confusing. We could default to gendered languages and go with Presidenta.

3. I've never had an issue with the names of the YW groups. I like the history behind the names and the implications of being called a "Laurel."

4. Hallelujah! I've been advocating this change for years! I will never be like my Heavenly Father because I am female and am working on being like my Heavenly Mother. Since the language in General Conference, and the Family Proclamation, is moving toward "Parents" rather than just Father, I heartily agree with doing the same with the YW theme. Perhaps I wouldn't have felt so excluded because of my gender if there had been an open acknowledgement of our Heavenly Mother in our YW theme.

5. In my experience, the YW medallion was supposed to be seen as the equivalent as the Eagle Scout. Of course, my brothers got an entire Court of Honor and I got called up in Sacrament Meeting. I prefer the "Personal Progress" term.

6. The Bishop's wife does a tremendous amount of work supporting the Bishop and managing the family while he is doing his calling; however, since it isn't an official calling and she isn't set apart for it, I don't see a need to have a different name for her job. If anything, I think Bishop's Wife encapsulates the difficult work she does.

7. Having the title "Sister Training Leader" is amazing! I'm pleased to see the progression to this point! For the first half of my mission there was no such thing as Sisters in a training position. The second half we had the "Traveling Sisters" who would come to the zone conferences with the APs. If we get to the point that the Mission Mom has an official title, I would suggest the Sisters should be "Assistant to the _______" in the same way that the Elders are "Assistant to the President."

8. Yes, I would change the name. The word Matron now has a different connotation than it used to. I would go along with the same title we give to the Mission Moms. Perhaps Presidenta? Though I wonder why we haven't followed suit with our Heavenly Parents, who say the highest title is that of Father and Mother. Perhaps that is where the answer lies, instead of trying to come up with a term to match President, we should change that also. Father ______ and Mother ______ preside over the missions and temples?

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III. Elizabeth Carson

For the Young Women designations, why not:

Vanguards (Beehives), Beacons (Mia Maids) and Torchbearers (Laurels)

The mental image of the torchbearer is particularly powerful; that of a strong young woman running through the crowd of humanity holding high the flaming torch of virtue and honor. I love it!