Beyond the Victim/Empowerment Paradigm: The Gendered Cosmology of Mormon Women

Abstract

Women's participation in traditional religions is often explained in terms of their victimization and/or their opportunities for empowerment. This paper seeks to use Mormon women as a framework in order to explore some of the consequences of this phenomenon and to advocate for the creation of multiple, complex spaces where traditional religious women may be understood beyond the paradigm of victim/empowerment. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, otherwise known as the LDS or Mormons, maintains a cosmology that is based upon highly differentiated gendered practices. A belief in a female deity, Mother in Heaven, and a related belief that all pious Mormon men and women have the ability to become gods and goddesses in a post-mortal existence are central to the Mormon gendered cosmology. Despite these beliefs, Mormon women generally resist feminism because they perceive feminism to be at odds with motherhood and family. Ironically, their belief in a female divine and their potential divinity strengthens their commitment to interdependence through maternal practices and kinship.

Diverse Yet Hegemonic: Expressions of Motherhood in “I'm a Mormon” Ads

“…However, it would be a mistake to simply employ a "brainwashing" thesis to this case. Hoyt (2007) reminds us to look beyond the victim/empowerment dichotomy when it comes to understanding religious groups such as Mormon women. Maternal identity determines Mormon women's subjectivity.…”

Women’s Agency in Gender‐Traditional Religions: A Review of Four Approaches

“…This article responds to the need to clarify agency (see Emirbayer and Mische 1998; Hitlin and Elder 2007) by reviewing how the concept has been used within a similar research context, the study of women who participate in gender‐traditional religions. Recent reviews of research on the agency of religious women criticize paradigms that present a false dichotomy of women being either empowered or victimized, liberated or subordinated (Bauman 2008; Bilge 2010; Hoyt 2007; Mahmood 2005). I, however, draw from Orit Avishai (2008), who distinguishes between four conceptualizations of agency used to describe women who participate in gender‐traditional religions: resistance, empowerment, instrumental, and her own conceptualization of “doing religion.” In this article, I extend her discussion of resistance, empowerment, and instrumental agency, and place her “doing religion” approach under a broader category of compliant agency.…”

“…They used self‐negation to describe their agency. In another example, Amy Hoyt (2007) demonstrates how Mormon women comply to traditional gender roles to fulfill duties dictated by a divine female, the Mother in Heaven. This ensures that they will become goddesses after death.…”

“…Research on women's involvement in progressive religions understands their activities as agentic, without question, as these women often attempt to break free from the constraints of traditional gender roles (for example, see Olson et al 2005). Research on women's involvement in gender-traditional religions frequently reproduces this notion of agency by focusing on instances when women challenge or attempt to change religious beliefs A Pentecostal woman who feels empowered by God's love, when her own father abandoned her as a child (Griffith 1997 Mormon women who view acts of submission as necessary to become goddesses in heaven after death (Hoyt 2007). and practices (Arthur 1998;Bayes and Tohidi 2001;Brink and Mencher 1997;Gerami and Lehnerer 2001;Hartman 2007;Katzenstein 1998;Salime 2008;Weaver 1995).…”

“…Most notably, postcolonial feminists have problematized notions of agency as being determined by western feminists who recognize only certain kinds of agency that align with women's efforts at empowerment and freedom from patriarchy (see Mohanty 1988;Narayan 1997;Suleri 1992).This article responds to the need to clarify agency (see Emirbayer and Mische 1998;Hitlin and Elder 2007) by reviewing how the concept has been used within a similar research context, the study of women who participate in gender-traditional religions. Recent reviews of research on the agency of religious women criticize paradigms that present a false dichotomy of women being either empowered or victimized, liberated or subordinated (Bauman 2008;Bilge 2010;Hoyt 2007;Mahmood 2005). I, however, draw from Orit Avishai (2008), who distinguishes between four conceptualizations of agency used to describe women who participate in gender-traditional religions: resistance, empowerment, instrumental, and her own conceptualization of ''doing religion.''…”