Women and Mormonism - Women in 20th and 21st Century Mormonism

Women in 20th and 21st Century Mormonism

In 1977 N. Eldon Tanner told the Church Coordinating Council that the Relief Society Presidency should be considered a partner with the Melchizedek Priesthood.

Other developments during the presidency of Spencer W. Kimball included having women granted their young women advancements in sacrament meeting, in 1978 the First Presidency and Twelve issued a policy allowing women to pray in Sacrament Meeting In 1980 the general presidents of the Relief Society, Young Women and Primary were invited to sit on the stand during general conference and in 1984 women spoke in general conference for the first time since 1930. Since then women have spoken in every general conference. In 1978 a conference session specifically for women was added, initially two weeks before the October General Conference, and later one week beforehand.

Brigham Young University, the LDS Church's flagship educational institution, has made several changes in its policy towards women. In 1975 the four-year, full tuition and boarding expenses presidential scholarship was changed from only being available to men to being available to an equal number of men and women. BYU established a Women's Research Institute in 1978. Among its directors over its 21 years of existence was Marie Cornwall. At the end of 2009 BYU restructured its Women's Studies Programs, freeing more money for research on women's issues by ending an institute staff, placing the Women's Studies Minor in the Sociology Department and thus putting all the money that previously was split between research and staff directly into research expenditures.