I am Proud to be a Mormon Woman

Lately, there has been a lot of noise surrounding women in the LDS church, and it hasn't been great noise.  It's no secret that feminists are often under condemning judgment for one reason or another, and I think I have written an abundance on why Mormons need feminism and how the culture makes me shake my head at times.

Today, I want to talk about why I am proud to be a Mormon woman.
(An aside:  Because this is the internet, I feel I should qualify that I know that these are not only characteristic of Mormon women and not all Mormon women fit these characteristics, nor does any one woman have all of these qualities.  I am certainly not, but I aspire to be.  However, I have seen more of these characteristics in higher concentrations since I have been surrounded by Mormon women.)

1. Mormon women love to learn.  I say this both in a formal sense and in an everyday practical sense.  When I first joined this patriarchal church, I got the feeling that all the barefoot and pregnant women were letting go of furthering college to have babies and keep home.  That is far from the truth.  At the time I was in the Young Women's Presidency, every single leader had at least a Bachelor's degree.  I have one friend who told me she gave birth to her daughter and then took a final exam within a couple weeks.  Hard core.
   But even more than formal education, these women love to learn to do anything, particularly if it will add to their ability to care for their family.  Whether it has to do with nutrition (such as gardening and food preparation) or keeping the house standing (such as plumbing and general maintenance) or being self-sufficient (such as making soap and knitting clothing), Mormon women want to know as much as they can.  Then, they turn around and have Relief Society gatherings to teach all the other women how to do it.  It is a whole world of learning!
2. Mormon women are go getters.  I have noticed that among my SAHM circle (which is all Mo women since I don't really have another social outlet currently), no one waits for anyone to go first.  If someone want to be a member of a produce co-op, they start a produce co-op.  The same goes for Joy School and Playgroup.  Our stake's mission slogan was:
   
   I do hard things.
   I do hard things first, 
   And I am the first to do hard things.  
   
   
   Most of the women I know have really taken this to heart.  I think this could also be see as taking personal responsibility.  I once explained the concept known as diffusion of responsibility (bone up on your diffusion of responsibility here) to a friend of mine.  Upon my explanation of Kitty Genovese and the Bystander Effect, she looked horrified and replied, "But who would do that?"  The answer is so many people, but Mormon women seem to take it upon themselves to be the responsible party which ends up meaning things get accomplished.  
3. Mormon women generally have a least one awesome recipe up their sleeve.  It's true.  Especially in the case of bread.  Another cool thing is that they create a sense of community by passing bread starter from friend to friend like in the case of Amish Friendship Bread, which leads me to another cool point: Mormon women like to share.
4. Mormon women don't waste.  I think the fact that Mormon women like to share is an expansion on this fact.  I have heard the phrase "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without," but I believe Mormon women would add upon that with "and then give it to a friend."  I love recycling clothes and household goods (Okay, I love recycling in general) because it means less junk for the Earth.  I don't know if it's a money thing or a love the Earth thing or love your friends thing, but Mormon women swap goods like it's nobody's business.  In fact, they even organize swaps in which you can drop off stuff during a particular week and then pick up anything there that you fancy.
   Along the same lines, in the produce co-op I am a part of, we get a lot of oranges, which is awesome because who doesn't love oranges?  Here I am making my orange juice and throwing peels away when one sister posts on the Co-op board something along the lines of, "We don't have to throw away our orange peels anymore;  I found something to do with them!!"  (Find out what it was here.)  Silly me thinking those orange peels were meant for the trash....
5. Mormon women know that having a bunch of little kids running around is chaotic.  And they are okay with that.  J and I had dinner the other day with another family who have two kiddos who sandwich E in age.  Throughout dinner and visiting, our kids all ran around like there was no tomorrow.  The house chaotic and loud and messy.  And no one cared.  Of course the stress of kids is lessened by the culture of Mormon life being centered around families (and big ones at that).   
6. Mormon women focus on the good stuff and press forward through the bad.  Particularly women who have been through horrendous happenings, I constantly see them reaching out to other people and focusing on what they are on Earth to do.  This makes them pretty happy and uplifting people.

In conclusion, you ladies rock!