What will 19 years old mean for women?

[_lulu]

Women and men (rightly or wrongly) live their lives in different ways.

Society (right or wrongly) treats women and men differently.

So specifically, what effect do you think allowing women to serve at a younger age will mean for women?

Short term?
Long term?

Disclosing my bais, I think it will mean something different for them than it does for men.

But what?

[_Fence Sitter]

I think it will become expected that women serve missions, if they are not married by the time they turn 19.

[_SteelHead]

Less Mormon women will get a college education. In turn Mormon culture will slowly become more insular and fundamental.

[_lulu]

When I was on a mission, back before the plates were translated (OK, I exaggerate) weekly district meeting was either all guys or 2 sisters (one companionship) at most.

If a district had 4 sisters, 6 sisters, or a majority of sisters, I wonder if that would change the group dynamic.

[_Racer]

I think it will become expected that women serve missions, if they are not married by the time they turn 19.

I agree. Women will feel more pressure to serve even though its not emphasized. It will be interesting to see how this plays out as most Mormon UT women are eager to land a hubby and have marriage wrapped up by the time they are 21. That 19-20 age range is critical to an LDS UT female. I am not saying this is the case with all women, but the current attitude right now is "Damn I am 21, not married, and no boyfriend prospects. I guess I should go on a mission..."

[_Harold Lee]

My first district had 6 sisters, had a couple that were 4/8 sisters. I didn't notice anything, there tended to be less work done and a whole lot more fun for everyone when there were a lot of sisters lol, but meetings were essentially identical.

The only dynamic is you get too many sisters and one of them becomes alpha female and you have to stay on her good side at all costs lol.

Whenever there's a district of all sisters they'll call a female district leader.

[_Analytics]

...Disclosing my bais, I think it will mean something different for them than it does for men.

But what?[/color]

According to Deseret News, right now over half of people applying to go on missions are women.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8655 ... rcent.html

The Church has liked female missionaries for a long time--witness the fact that most visitor center missionaries are women. The reduction in age is clearly an attempt to get more men and much more women to actually go. In a generation, it's quite possible that the iconic image of Mormon missionaries is likely to be a pair of sister missionaries.

Is this a step towards giving women the priesthood? They gave blacks the priesthood partly because they had so many black members in Brazil and not enough white guys to be the leaders. With changing demographics, the church is going to find itself with many large congregrations that don't have enough men to fill the essential priesthood roles. Those congregations are going to have plenty of R.M. women though. How could they not give the women the priesthood in that emerging reality?

[_lulu]

The Church has liked female missionaries for a long time--witness the fact that most visitor center missionaries are women.

After I posted I wondered if the church would try a segregation approach. Just keep the Elders and Sisters as seperate as possible. Maybe different districts, maybe different zones. But then who would be the district and zone leaders? Maybe completely different job descriptions, like Temple Square and visitor center guides.

Is this a step towards giving women the priesthood?

Not intentionally. And the leadership has a pretty good track record of keeping enough women happy enough.

But yes, I think that is the question.

I'm surprised there isn't more buzz about the long term effects.

[_SteelHead]

After I posted I wondered if the church would try a segregation approach. Just keep the Elders and Sisters as seperate as possible. Maybe different districts, maybe different zones. But then who would be the district and zone leaders? Maybe completely different job descriptions, like Temple Square and visitor center guides.

Remember AP, zone leader and district leader are not priesthood positions. There is no setting apart and no keys.

[_zeezrom]

It definitely means more women choosing to serve missions.