Mormon Women...read the full article at www.fairlds.org

Mormon women, like other religious women, find incongruence at times in what Riffat Hassan has called the "gap between theory and practice…" suggesting at times a difficulty that women face in finding gender equality in their religions, especially when scriptures, doctrines, and cultural practices might suggest a hierarchy of gender within that religious tradition.13 However, Mormon women still seek ways of negotiating their gendered experiences within their established institution; of course, they deny any outside pressure to reject their religion outright, because "[i]f the feminist message is posited in a strict polarity between feminism and traditional religion, making women think they have to choose between the two, then many of the world's women will choose their religion." Here, Preston invites a useful comparison to the women of Islam. Quoting from Muslim feminist Azizah al-Hibri, "The majority of Muslim women who are attached to their religion will not be liberated through the use of a secular approach imposed from the outside." Feminist Farida Shaheed also advised against making Muslim women reject the foundation of their faith: "[A] women's movement needs to be perceived as rooted in the cultural reality of the society in which it operates… [D]iscriminatory laws sanctified through Islam cannot be effectively countered with arguments which deny or discard Islam."14 Thus, rejection of a woman's religious framework will only create alienation and divisiveness. "A woman who is a practicing member of a religious institution is inevitably going to be hesitant to accept advice from someone 'who does not understand her value system and her commitment to it.'"15