the value of women

Last week I attended a lecture given by Valerie Hudson who is a BYU professor of Political Science. She is a bright and talented woman who is also the mother of eight. I've attended some other lectures given my her and I always learn so much. Jordan had her for a teacher back in the time she was pursueing her degree. Valerie's topic was about the condition of women in the world and the fact that those countries who don't value women are the countires that have the most strife, wars, problems with their neighbors and human rights violations, especially against women and girls. Countries who value women are less prone to such human conflict problems. At the end of the lecture she posted the following quotes. I thought they were worth sharing and pondering. I feel very blessed to belong to a church that values women and their divine role.

Billboards I’d like to see put up by the Church in the major metropoles of the world

1. There is not a president and vice president in a family. We have co-presidents working together eternally for the good of their family . . . They are on equal footing. They plan and organize the affairs of the family jointly and unanimously as they move forward. (Elder L. Tom Perry, Church News, 10 April 2004:15)
2. God our Eternal Father ordained that men and women should be companions. That implies equality . . . There is no basis in the gospel for inferiority or superiority between the husband and wife. Do you think that God our Eternal Father loves his daughters less than he loves his sons? No man can demean or belittle his wife as a daughter of God without giving offense to her Father in Heaven. (President Gordon B. Hinckley, 29 January 1984)
3. Any man who abuses or demeans his wife physically or spiritually is guilty of grievous sin and in need of sincere and serious repentance . . . A man should always speak to his wife lovingly and kindly, treating her with the utmost respect. (President Howard W. Hunter, Ensign, November 1994, 49-51)
4. There is no task, however menial, connected with the care of babies, the nurturing of children, or with the maintenance of the home that is not the husband’s equal obligation. The tasks which come with parenthood, which many consider to be below other tasks, are simply above them. (Elder Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, July 1989, 72-75. )
5. Elder Dallin H. Oaks Homemaking is not just baking bread or cleaning a house. Homemaking is to make the environment necessary to nurture our children toward eternal life, which is our responsibility as parents. And that homemaking is as much for fathers as it is for mothers. (Roundtable Discussion, World Wide Leadership Training Meeting: Building Up a Righteous Posterity, February 9, 2008, accessed from lds.org)
6. Some Christians condemn Eve for her act, concluding that she and her daughters are somehow flawed by it. Not the Latter-day Saints! Informed by revelation, we celebrate Eve’s act and honor her wisdom and courage in the great episode called the Fall. (Elder Dalllin H. Oaks, Ensign, November 1993, 72-75)

• 7. Elder Earl C. Tingery "You must not misunderstand what the Lord meant when Adam was told he was to have a helpmeet. A helpmeet is a companion suited to or equal to us. We walk side by side with a helpmeet, not one before or behind the other. A helpmeet results in an absolute equal partnership between a husband and a wife. Eve was to be equal to Adam as a husband and wife are to be equal to each other." http://lds.org/library/display/0,4945,538-1-4399-1,00.html
• 8. Elder Bruce C. Hafen: “Genesis 3:16 states that Adam is to “rule over” Eve, but this doesn’t make Adam a dictator . . . over in “rule over” uses the Hebrew bet, which means ruling with, not ruling over. . . . The concept of iinterdependent equal partners is well-grounded in the doctrine of the restore gospel. Even was Adam’s “help meet” (Genesis 2:18). The original Hebrew for meet means that Eve was adequate for, or equal to, Adam. She wasn’t his servant of his subordinate.”(Elder Bruce C. Hafen and Marie K. Hafen, Ensign August 2007, “Crossing thresholds and Becoming Equal Partners,” 24-29)
• 9. Is yours a culture where the husband exerts a domineering, authoritarian role, making all of the important decisions for the family? That pattern needs to be tempered so that both husband and wife act as equal partners, making decisions in unity for themselves and their family. (Elder Richard G. Scott, April 1998 conference address.)
• 10.. President HInckley on Education for Young Women, 2007 "The whole gamut of human endeavor is now open to women. There is not anything that you cannot do if you will set your mind to it. I am grateful that women today are afforded the same opportunity to study for science, for the professions, and for every other facet of human knowledge. You are as entitled as are men to the Spirit of Christ, which enlightens every man and woman who comes into the world . . . You can include in the dream of the woman you would like to be a picture of one qualified to serve society and make a significant contribution to the world of which she will be a part.” President Gordon B. Hinckley, "Words of the Prophet: Seek Learning," New Era, September 2007, pp. 2-5
• 11.The Lord forbids and his church condemns any and every intimate relationship outside of marriage. Infidelity on the part of a man breaks the heart of his wife and loses her confidence and the confidence of his children. Be faithful in your marriage covenants in thought, word, and deed. (President Howard W. Hunter, op. cit.)
• 12. The Church cannot bow down before any traditions that demean or devalue the daughters of God. (Elder Alexander B. Morrison, August 1994 International Society meeting, comment in Q&A period).