�鶹��ý

Youth can profit from the contributions and unique perspectives women bring to S&I classrooms. Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

ABSTRACT: December 2025 marked the ten-year anniversary of the first hiring of a woman with dependents in the home as a paid full-time religious educator. Written by that first hire, this article reflects on some of the early challenges she encountered, as well as the successes, evolving opportunities, and distinctive perspectives associated with women serving in Seminaries and Institutes.

KEYWORDS: teaching the gospel, women, Church history 1946–present

As the first married woman with children at home to be hired as a full-time seminary and institute teacher for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have encountered many different experiences with colleagues, administrators, parents, and students over the past ten years. The greatest thing I have learned from the good (and the not-so-good) of pioneering my position in the Seminaries and Institutes (S&I) community is that when we all—married or single; male or female; with older children, younger children, or no children—strive to teach and interact as the Savior would, greater conversion happens in our own lives and in the lives of our students.

Introduction

The released-time seminary program for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has existed since roughly 1912.[1] As the program grew and became established through the ensuing decades, it became policy that women who had dependents in the home could not be hired as full-time seminary teachers (now referred to as religious educators). In November 2014 a policy change allowed women with dependents in the home to become eligible for hire as full-time teachers.[2] The adjustment had been considered for several years by the Church Board of Education and the General Relief Society and Primary Presidencies.[3] Chad H Webb, an administrator over Seminaries and Institutes (S&I), shared the following comment when the policy change was announced: “We previously had not employed women who have minor children at home, in consideration of their important role as mothers. . . . While we continue to recognize [the] contribution that [mothers] make in their homes, we also recognize that sometimes their personal and family circumstances require them to work.”[4] Not only do women at times have a fiscal need to work, but some wives and mothers may also choose to work for other reasons.

This change offered an opportunity for women with dependents to seek a career within S&I. Such a career also became an attractive option for single women, who could now experience more job security in S&I regardless of whether they eventually got married or had children. Barbara Morgan Gardner, who was single at the time of the policy change and oversaw institutes throughout the Boston area, commented, “It’s been a concern that if I ever had children I would have to leave Seminaries and Institutes. This decision is great. I love it. I think it’s the right time. I would have been surprised if it hadn’t changed soon.”[5] December 2025 marked the ten-year anniversary of the first hiring of a woman with dependents in the home as a paid full-time religious educator after the policy change. That first hire happened to be me.

I want to share with you my personal experience of navigating into the S&I organization during such a monumental change, as well as the experiences and blessings for myself, my students, and the S&I organization when we work together to help bring our youth and young adults closer to their Savior.

Personal Background

Before beginning my own personal story, I must recognize the many faithful female teachers and leaders who prepared the way for married women with children to join the teaching ranks. There have been paid female teachers throughout the history of seminary who set an example of what a capable job and positive impact women teachers can have in the system. If they had not been diligent in their work, even while knowing that they would need to give up their career if children entered their life, I would not be where I am today. I am thankful for their work, goodness, expertise, and faith.

Before I was hired, I graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) with a secondary-education degree. Teaching was a significant part of my upbringing; both my father and mother were natural, gifted teachers, and several of my siblings became educators, so teaching came naturally to me. With a Church scholar for a grandfather and a scriptorian and BYU religion professor for a father, I gained an easy understanding of scriptural context and doctrine. After marrying and moving to Arizona, I had the opportunity to teach one semester of seminary before having children. Fifteen years and five children later when my youngest started kindergarten, I felt the financial need to go to work to supplement our family’s income. I opted to substitute teach for a year to get my bearings after being out of the classroom for so long, and I substituted in both public schools and seminary. Many days I would come home from substituting and exclaim to my husband, “I just wish I could teach seminary! If I could, I’d totally go back into the classroom.” I remember having a conversation at one point with the administrative assistant to the S&I Phoenix area director in which we discussed the benefits and possibilities of women with children at home being hired. She pointed out that most of the early-morning, stake-called teachers worldwide were women, with or without dependents. Thus, most of the youth in the Church at the time were entrusted to female teachers, yet women could not be hired as full-time seminary teachers in Utah.[6]

First Hire

Then one day in November 2014 I got an email from that administrative assistant telling me of the policy change and forwarding the phone number of the local Arizona preservice director so I could find out what to do to be hired. I also got a phone call from my mother-in-law telling me about the policy change, as well as a visit from a ward member who taught seminary making sure I had heard. After a semester of taking a preservice class and a semester of student teaching part-time, I was hired to teach full-time in December 2015. Being hired midyear meant I became the first woman with dependents in the home to be hired as a full-time religious educator after the new policy adjustment. And with that came some opportunities to forge the way into the S&I organization, contribute to a well-established workforce culture, and lay the groundwork for future increase of female hires, including those who have dependents still living at home.

This policy change came at a time when there were many adjustments giving women more visibility within the Church structure:

2012—female missionary age drops from 21 to 19 (age again drops to 18 in 2025)
2013—first female organizational leader prays in general conference
2014—policy is changed to allow hiring of women as full-time seminary teachers
2015—female organizational leaders are assigned to serve on the executive councils of the Church
2019—Young Women theme is changed to include concept of Heavenly Mother (“I am a beloved daughter of Heavenly Parents”)
2020—female organizational presidents are referred to as President rather than Sister
2021—female area advisors are added[7]

Forging the Way

At the time of my hiring, the process was rather lengthy—often taking a year or more of classes, training, and part-time teaching. I felt that I had proven my capabilities as a theologian and as a teacher when going through the hiring process but did not anticipate the biases and positionality that came with my being hired. In practice, entering an organization that had historically included few married mothers as teachers was more difficult than expected. Most S&I employees in my area were—and continue to be—supportive of female seminary teachers within their ranks. However, as with any policy change in an organization, I saw firsthand as my colleagues adapted to the changing workforce.

Shortly after I was hired, my area realigned regional boundaries, and I was placed in a region that had a much younger population, both in age and in teaching experience. In that region I found myself working with more colleagues whose mothers or wives had chosen to work outside the home. Thus, working with married women and mothers did not seem to be an anomaly to them as it had in earlier S&I employment settings I worked in. This ideology became more mainstream over the 2010s as the culture of the Church became increasingly global and women’s employment choices were more frequently understood as personal, familial choices rather than institutional expectations. Among this group of colleagues, a female teacher was seen as an asset.

Room for Improvement and Positive Momentum Forward

In the beginning, there were many encounters I faced that were frustrating and comments made that were hurtful—even if unintentional. For example, a month or so after being hired, the annual Evening with a General Authority broadcast took place, followed by a pie social where employees and spouses were invited. Naturally, many colleagues asked my husband where he taught. After a few of these interactions, we realized that they were assuming he was the S&I teacher. This situation was humorous but difficult for me because I had to repeatedly clarify my hiring, since having a female teacher was new to many of them. I usually found that after explaining my situation, many were excited for my journey and were beginning to realize what this policy change meant for the future of S&I.

The policy change also helped challenge assumptions that some had regarding women who choose to have a career outside the home. One scholar noted that Latter-day Saint women find themselves needing to explain or justify their employment choices with the use of sanctification—when individuals look at elements of their lives (such as their career) as being divinely significant.[8] Working Latter-day Saint women may point out their opportunities to be a light and example for others, have missionary experiences at work, or utilize their divine, spiritual gifts. As a seminary teacher, using sanctification was an especially effective way to challenge these assumptions.[9] I know that when I was first hired, I used this position with others to justify my choice to work outside the home while still raising my children. Over the past ten years I have found that within the culture of the Church, people have become more supportive of women’s career goals, and women have felt more of this support throughout the education, hiring, and employment process. While many Latter-day Saint women had side jobs or home-centered hobbies that created income, at the time of the policy change, I found that in general Church leadership there were not many mothers who were visibly career-oriented that I could look to as role models.[10] I know that in the past there have been female leaders who had professional careers while raising a family, but it was not touted or included in the biographies shared with the lay membership of the Church. We often would not know unless it was shared publicly, such as in a general conference talk anecdote. Now, however, we have visible examples of women who successfully navigated employment with family responsibilities, including President Bonnie H. Cordon, former Young Women General President, called in 2018; Camille N. Johnson, the current Relief Society General President, called in 2022; and others.

Meanwhile, my male colleagues within S&I whom I have discussed this with do not feel the need to attach sanctification to their employment choices. I have found that employment is a major part of men’s identity, whereas I identify as a wife and a mother who happens to teach seminary.[11] This difference in mentality has taken some getting used to for male administrators I have worked with.

Navigating this new employment opportunity early on included several awkward interactions. I had a colleague express his concern regarding the policy change, stating that he did not feel women could teach theology as well as men. This statement is ironic, given that Joseph F. Merrill—credited with starting released-time seminary—shared that his motivation for doing so stemmed from his wife’s knowledge of the scriptures and her style of teaching them to their children.[12] Another colleague accused me of taking “bread out of the mouths of another man’s family,” reflecting the prevailing Church culture at the time (at least in the United States) that fathers should be the primary breadwinners while mothers stay at home.

As I have interacted and talked with other women who were hired shortly after the policy change (married women with children and also single women), we also often felt an element of imposter syndrome,[13] wondering if we are really good enough to be doing what we were hired to do. This disjunction was a little unsettling; I felt like I was on display and had to constantly prove my abilities to myself and others. Through experience, the support of colleagues (especially other female teachers), and eventually leadership opportunities from my administrators, I felt less pressure to continuously prove myself. I grew to be more confident in the profession and felt less compelled to justify my employment decision to work outside the home in terms of sanctification.

Early on, some parents were also unsupportive, having never previously seen or been aware of female seminary teachers. A few times I had parents requesting that their student be moved out of my class to someone “more authoritative and knowledgeable.” This happened not just to me but to other female religious educators I know. Luckily, I had good administrators that encouraged parents to wait and give me a try, expressing confidence that their student would enjoy having me as their teacher. In every case, I never had an issue with that student. In one case, a former student who did not initially want the “girl teacher” wrote me a letter from his mission, expressing his gratitude for having stayed in my class due to the things he learned, particularly by example, that were helping him to be a better missionary, especially when working with sister missionaries.[14]

Additional Positive Outcomes

Chad H Webb, the administrator over S&I, felt confident that the hiring of female seminary and institute teachers would allow for fantastic role models for students. In an interview with Deseret News regarding the policy change, Sister Barbara Morgan Gardner stated, “I’m honestly very excited. [Number one], for my future and for other women, and [number two], I’m really excited for the students, both male and female students, that have the possibility of having women with children who are experienced raising families as teachers in the classroom.”[15] I have experienced this as well. When I was being observed by others during my student teaching before being hired, the first comments of most observers were along the lines of, “It’s obvious you have teenagers in your home,” or, “You know what teenagers are interested in, and you know how to handle them.” I realize that many people, regardless of age or gender, can work well with teenagers, but I also know the experience and maturity that I and other mothers bring to the classroom often supplements those of younger male colleagues with very young children or no children yet.

Being a female teacher also made an impact in other ways. One year, I had a graduating senior who was sharing his post-graduation plans and his feelings about seminary and the gospel with his class. As he shared, he mentioned that he was glad he had me as a teacher because it helped him know what kind of future wife he wanted—one who loves Jesus and knows the scriptures. He further explained that these were characteristics he had not prioritized before.[16] I have also had female students that have felt empowered having a female teacher. Just recently a female student commented to me how she appreciated having a female teacher because it has helped her see herself in the male-heavy scriptures. She said I had taught her skills on how to “flip” the male-centric stories so that the principles being taught are more relevant to her. It has allowed her to more easily make the scriptures personally meaningful.[17] Teachers naturally teach from their own perspective;[18] thus female teachers often more naturally point out aspects of the material related to women, while male teachers often must do that more intentionally. Having differing perspectives can be beneficial. A male colleague mentioned that working around women has made him more cognizant of the terminology he uses when teaching. It has empowered him to be more aware and more sensitive in his reach among his students.[19] This can be a good thing for both male and female students.

Many religious educators will tell you that it is difficult to understand the needs of students of the opposite gender. It makes it difficult to relate. I have also had many, many experiences where students (predominantly female) have come to talk to me about things in their personal lives and spirituality that they have acknowledged they would not have gone to a male teacher to discuss. I know other female teachers who have had the same sort of experiences.[20] It is good for the youth to have a variety of role model options (both male and female) for them to find one they are comfortable confiding in and discussing concerns with.

Many male administrators and colleagues have commented on how they view administrative responsibilities, teaching methods, and teacher-student interactions differently after working with a female teacher. One such colleague, who had been my mentor during my first two apprenticeship years and an administrator over the program I worked at, was reassigned to a new area that would take him out of our region, and when we talked on our last day of school, he mentioned how he looked at students differently by watching how I interacted with them.[21] He stated that noticing “the one” in a class (i.e., the one sheep in need of attention, as taught in Luke 15:4) comes easily with women, and he looked forward to being more mindful of what he had learned from me as he moved to his new assignment.[22] Another colleague pointed out how women he has worked with are better at discerning needs. They can often tell more readily and easily when a student is struggling. He said that female teachers are good at tailoring to the individual and ministering to the one, and he would often ask for a female colleague’s advice on how to minister to students.[23] A seminary principal in my region commented that having women on his faculty elevates the ability to meet the needs of the students. Additionally, there are some students who need a female influence, a mothering influence, in their lives. Having female faculty members becomes a resource that allows the students’ lives to be blessed.[24]

A couple of male colleagues I was recently talking with mentioned how important it is that both male and female faculty members feel valued. Both bring unique things to the table. Certain aspects of a seminary program tend to receive less emphasis from male teachers but greater attention from female teachers and vice versa, so the combination of the two provides a balance to the social structure of seminary, better serving the needs of both male and female students. As one colleague said, working together brings an added ability to receive inspiration and revelation as male and female colleagues synergize their views and perspectives. By doing this, genius ideas are generated and can lead to answers that one gender or the other would not have achieved alone.[25]

Another personal example of this comes from a male colleague who shared the following experience with me: He had taught a student who attracted negative attention from authority figures and who was in time expelled from the public high school associated with his seminary program. The student then enrolled at a different seminary program where I was teaching. The male colleague and I were at the same meeting, and he asked how the student was doing. I shared that the student was such a good kid, so personable, and very positive in class. When the student returned to my colleague’s program the next semester, my colleague reported seeing the student with new eyes. He explained, “I no longer saw a troublemaker but instead saw the good you helped me to see, along with the trouble that was part of his experience.”[26] Years after the student’s graduation, my colleague and the student had an opportunity to reconcile. My colleague shared, “I doubt we would have had that healing interaction without your insights and influence.”[27]

“The Family: A Proclamation to the World” states that “mothers [women] are primarily responsible to nurture their children.” These inherent nurturing tendencies are often carried into the classroom by female teachers, even those without children, whether it is in seminary or any other Church setting. It can extend beyond their own children to all people that they influence.[28] Many male colleagues bring up the word nurturing when discussing fellow female teachers and explain that that influence has helped them to become more nurturing themselves and to have greater empathy as they interact with students in the classroom.[29] In a conversation with me, my current regional director indicated that as he has worked with female religious educators, he has discovered insights he would not have otherwise seen—insights that have led to deeper layers of understanding. As he said: “There’s a weight to it that resonates and leads to a better, deeper understanding.”[30]

In S&I there is a place for women to be present and to represent—not primarily their gender, but more importantly Christ, his gospel, his teachings, and his attributes. In 2019 President Russell M. Nelson recommended Doctrine and Covenants 25 to all women in the Church, emphasizing that its counsel extends beyond Emma Smith.[31] In that revelation, Emma was to “expound scriptures, and to exhort the church, . . . [to] receive the Holy Ghost, and [to spend her time] learning much” (vv. 7–8). Are not female seminary and institute teachers contemporary examples of Emma within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Women are allowed and encouraged by Christ to speak scripture and to exhort by teaching the youth and young adults of the Church.[32] In the early 1890s James E. Talmage (an educator, scholar, and eventual member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) stated that he wished there were more women available to teach at Church schools.[33] President Nelson also had full confidence in the women of the Church and their ability to influence, teach, and encourage. He stated: “As a righteous, endowed Latter-day Saint woman [note: being endowed and meeting worthiness standards are prerequisites for being hired as a full-time S&I employee], you speak and teach with power and authority from God. Whether by exhortation or conversation, we need your voice teaching the doctrine of Christ. We need your input in family, ward, and stake councils. Your participation is essential and never ornamental!”[34]

Not only did this policy change allow for women with dependents to be hired as teachers, seminary teaching became a more attractive career path for single sisters to pursue, since becoming a wife and mother would not put their job in jeopardy.[35] It has been gradual, but over the last ten years there has been an increase of women educators in S&I. At the time of my hiring, I was one of four women in our area and the only one who was married with children. At the conclusion of my two-year apprenticeship when we were invited to a summit held in Salt Lake City, there were eight full-time female teachers program-wide completing their apprenticeship. It took a couple more years before additional women were hired in my area. Today, more young women are serving missions, becoming students of the scriptures, and having experiences teaching.[36] These experiences often create an interest in being a seminary teacher. Every hiring cycle includes a small percentage of women, adding to the overall numbers. Between the lowering of female missionary age (in 2012 and again in 2025), which has prompted more women to serve missions, and the removal of the hiring restriction regarding women with children, more women are pursuing careers as seminary teachers. As of 2024, nearly 20 percent of all religious educators in S&I are women.[37] What began as just a handful of female religious educators across S&I has grown into a much larger presence, with many of us now serving throughout the region where released-time seminary is available.

Figure 1. Female attendees at the S&I Apprentice Summit, summer 2018, Salt Lake City, Utah. Author (front row on right) with director of training Lori Newbold (far right). Photo courtesy of author.

Pioneering Efforts

Because there are so few of us, it has been natural for fellow female teachers to reach out to each other for support and guidance. The female teachers in my area have been such a help to one another as we navigate working in an organization that is predominately male. More recent female hires find a welcoming workplace without the learning curve that was present shortly after the policy change. They feel that we earlier female hires paved the way for them so that today they are accepted and valued and have not encountered the same organizational growing pains as we did, especially those hires with children still in the home. But like one female institute instructor shared, we women should not come into a position defensive or looking for discrepancies; if we go looking for it, we will find it.[38] Rather than be frustrated or offended by offhanded remarks and unfair expectations, I choose to embrace the opportunity to try to help colleagues and staff break out of their biases and appreciate what women on their faculties and in their classrooms can do. I have quietly reprimanded others who have made inappropriate comments (often unconsciously or in jest). In a sense, I and other early hires have become the “native speakers” and front-runners in this organization due to our gender.[39] We do not want colleagues to look back and think, “That is where I taught and worked with a woman,” but instead to look back and think, “That is where I taught and worked with (insert female colleague’s name here) and had a great experience.”[40]

Even after ten years of teaching, I am still an anomaly as a female teacher in S&I. While there are more of us now than there were when I was first hired, I still encounter people who do not know that women can be full-time seminary teachers. Recently, I had an interaction with a young, male missionary who assumed I was the administrative assistant at my building rather than a seminary teacher—let alone the principal. He exclaimed, “Wait! Girls can be seminary teachers?!” He had never had one at the seminary he attended while in high school, so he did not know that was a possibility.

Although I was not able to incorporate additional surveys and interviews into this article, I hope that my own story and experiences can be a meaningful beginning for further study and improvement in S&I. As the number of female teachers in the program continues to grow, it would be worthwhile to see more scholarship on the impact female religious educators have on the youth and young adults they work with and teach. Further exploration on the female influence in religious education could continue to show the positive effect women are having in S&I and help improve the success of religious educators in fulfilling the S&I objective.

Conclusion

A Church publication commemorating a hundred years of seminary, called By Study and Also by Faith: One Hundred Years of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion, was released and distributed in 2015. At the book’s concluding section, there is a brief reference to the new policy allowing women with dependents in the home to be hired as full-time teachers.[41] In a review of the book, Scott C. Esplin critiqued that there was very little shared from the perspectives of women.[42] With the policy change closing out the first hundred years of S&I, I am confident that a book covering the next hundred years will show the full impact of the policy change on S&I. In the past we have occasionally had women assigned to leadership and administrative roles within S&I. But now, as more women are hired and get years of work experience and advanced degrees, they will be qualified to play a more influential role as program administrators, teacher trainers, and members of regional training councils. There are other opportunities for more women to take part in the hiring process as preservice coordinators and in other administrative positions like regional and area directors. We are just starting to see women assume some of these roles. These types of assignments will allow women to have broader influence, play a more prominent role in the organization, and increase the impact of their employment. While women in leadership roles are valuable, the influence women have in the trenches of the S&I teaching pool is even more critical. This is where women teach, testify, and minister to the individual. One male colleague stated, “There is revelation scattered among us, both males and females. Let’s use it!”[43]

It is hard to quantify the impact of a religious educator. Real success is in the conversion of the student—in their heart and in their connection with God.[44] Religious educators play a role in helping to ignite that conversion. Both male and female religious educators can work together and learn from each other to be instruments in helping that conversion happen in the lives of our students. That is our ultimate goal as religious educators: to bring our students to Christ, regardless of our gender.

Notes

[1] By Study and Also by Faith: One Hundred Years of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2015), 36.

[2] By Study and Also by Faith, 592.

[3] Tad Walch, “LDS Women with Children Now Eligible for Full-time Seminary, Institute Jobs,” Deseret News, November 14, 2014, www.deseret.com.

[4] Walch, “LDS Women with Children Now Eligible.”

[5] Walch, “LDS Women with Children Now Eligible.”

[6] Char Heiner, personal communication, September 2014.

[7] Matt Rasmussen, “Ready to Answer,” online class, Women and the Priesthood, Southwest Area for Seminaries and Institutes, January 20, 2026. See also Lisa Olsen Tait, “What Is Women’s Relationship to Priesthood?,” BYU Studies 60, no. 3 (2021), 241–72.

[8] Curtis G. G. Greenfield et al., “Living the Divine Divide: A Phenomenological Study of Mormon Mothers Who Are Career-Professional Women,” Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology 16, suppl. 1 (2016), 1–14, https://doi.org/10.1080/20797222.2016.1164995.

[9] Barbara B. Smith and Shirley W. Thomas, “Roles of Women,” in Latter-day Saints Essentials: Readings from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. John W. Welch and R. Devan Jensen (BYU Studies and the Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2002), 142–45.

[10] Greenfield et al., “Living the Divine Divide.”

[11] Steven Palmer, personal conversation, February 2016.

[12] Casey Paul Griffiths et al., “‘The Glory of God Is Intelligence’: Exploring the Foundations of Latter-day Saint Religious Education,” Religious Education 111, no. 2 (2016): 153–69, https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2016.1118906.

[13] Casey Elizabeth Kaf Alghazal, “Patriarchal Bargaining: Female Religious Authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the Muftiyas of Al Azhar,” The Muslim World 112, no. 2 (spring 2022): 225–46, https://doi.org/10.111/muwo.12435.

[14] Sterling Hatch, email message to author, February 18, 2021.

[15] Walch, “LDS Women with Children Now Eligible.”

[16] Doug Baldwin, personal communication, May 2019.

[17] Alexa Heywood, personal communication, January 15, 2025.

[18] Barbara Morgan Gardner, “Helping Female Students Rise to Their Spiritual Privileges,” Religious Educator 18, no. 3 (2018): 117–39.

[19] Alex Remund, personal conversation, January 28, 2026.

[20] Clare Dalton and Katie Young, personal communication, November 14, 2024.

[21] Steven Palmer, email to author, November 25, 2024.

[22] Steven Palmer, personal communication, May 2018.

[23] Alex Remond, personal conversation, January 28, 2026.

[24] Trent Allen, personal conversation, January 28, 2026.

[25] Trent Allen and Eric Goettl, personal conversation, January 28, 2026.

[26] Seth Hord, email to author, March 22, 2022.

[27] Seth Hord, email to author, March 22, 2022.

[28] “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Gospel Library, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[29] Lane Gladden and Alex Remond, personal conversation, January 28, 2026.

[30] Joel Richards, personal conversation, January 28, 2026.

[31] Russell M. Nelson, “Spiritual Treasures,” Liahona, November 2019, 76.

[32] Carter Charles, “‘Thou Art an Elect Lady’: How Christ Includes and Empowers Women in Doctrine and Covenants 25,” in How and What You Worship: Christology and Praxis in the Revelations of Joseph Smith, ed. Rachel Cope, Carter Charles, and Jordan T. Watkins (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Deseret Book, 2020), 195–220.

[33] Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, vol. 3, Boldly, Nobly, and Independent, 1935–1955 (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2018), 26–27.

[34] Nelson, “Spiritual Treasures,” 76.

[35] Walch, “LDS Women with Children Now Eligible.”

[36] Lee Hales, “How Mormon Seminaries Recruit and Keep Their Teachers,” KUER 90.1, February 7, 2018, https://kuer.org/education/2018-01-07/how-mormon-seminaries-recruit-and-keep-their-teachers.

[37] Linda Sirrine, email to author, November 14, 2024.

[38] Katie Young, personal communication, November 14, 2024.

[39] Dorothy E. Smith, “Women’s Perspective as a Radical Critique of Sociology,” Sociological Theory 44, no. 1 (1974): 585, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.1974.tb00718.x; Cognella Course Pack, ed. Marcella Gimelli (Cognella Inc., 2023), 255–67.

[40] Steven Palmer, personal communication, November 25, 2024.

[41] By Study and Also by Faith.

[42] Scott C. Esplin, “Review of By Study and Also by Faith: One Hundred Years of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion,” Religious Educator 17, no. 3 (2016): 188–93.

[43] Justin Redd, personal conversation, January 28, 2026.

[44] Griffiths et al., “‘The Glory of God Is Intelligence.’”