Ward Councils

[MikeWaters]

Let's look at the makeup of a Ward Council:

Males:

1. Bishop
2. 1st counselor to Bishop
3. 2nd counselor to Bishop
4. Executive Secretary
5. Ward Clerk
6. Sunday School President
7. EQ President
8. HP Groupleader
9. Ward Mission Leader
10. Providential Living Coordinator/Welfare dude
11. YM President

Females:

1. Relief Society President
2. YW President

Either Male or Female:

1. Ward Activities Chair

By my quick calculation, in a church that has the highest female/male ratio in US, second to Hindus, the female representation in a Ward Council varies between 14% and 21% (depending on whether Activity Chair is a woman).

[MikeWaters]

Positions that females could fill without doctrinal changes, but are not allowed to (bolded), positions that could be filled by women, but would require men and women to work closely together (bold italicized):

1. Bishop
2. 1st counselor to Bishop
3. 2nd counselor to Bishop
4. Executive Secretary
5. Ward Clerk
6. Sunday School President
7. EQ President
8. HP Groupleader
9. Ward Mission Leader
10. Providential Living Coordinator/Welfare dude
11. YM President

If these positions were filled with women, then added to the RS President and YW President, and Activities Chair, that would make actually for a female-majority on the council (57%).

There is no doctrinal reason that our Ward Councils could not be 50% female.

Well, if you don't consider the Handbook of Instructions to be doctrine, that is.

[RedHeadGal]

In our ward, Primary pres also goes (a woman), as does the temple coordinatory (a man), and the missionaries (currently 4 men).

I was thinking about this a little last time I went, and there was a spiritual thought. It was from a youngish man (EQ Pres), who talked about a devotional he had gone to in which some GA had discussed a scripture from D&C (wish I had written down the cite). Anyway, the interpretation of the scripture was that men may wonder why they are spending so much time away from their families in church service, but all their time in church service is actually for their families, so that makes it okay.

I had to bite my tongue when they asked for comments at the end. It had a very as-men-who-are-in-charge-and-sacrifice-so-much-family-time tone to it.

[RedHeadGal]

Also, to my knowlegde, Ward Council meets once a month, whereas priesthood leadership meetings are help on other weeks. So there's that, too.

[MikeWaters]

Yes, I forgot Primary President. In our ward, Ward Council is twice a month, and Priesthood leadership is once a month.

In my experience, the Relief Society President tends to have the best knowledge of what is going on in the ward, and is the most prepared for the meetings. Of course, I only observed a couple of RS Presidents during that time.

[All-American]

Originally Posted by RedHeadGal

In our ward, Primary pres also goes (a woman), as does the temple coordinatory (a man), and the missionaries (currently 4 men).

I was thinking about this a little last time I went, and there was a spiritual thought. It was from a youngish man (EQ Pres), who talked about a devotional he had gone to in which some GA had discussed a scripture from D&C (wish I had written down the cite). Anyway, the interpretation of the scripture was that men may wonder why they are spending so much time away from their families in church service, but all their time in church service is actually for their families, so that makes it okay.

I had to bite my tongue when they asked for comments at the end. It had a very as-men-who-are-in-charge-and-sacrifice-so-much-family-time tone to it.

Thy duty is unto the church forever, and this because of thy family?