Marriage is an Equal Partnership

Men and Women as Equals

It takes two people –two opposite genders to come together, each with characteristics the opposite lacks, in order to perfect and refine one another. And it takes two different genders to come together to create life, and raise a family.

Since the Industrial Revolution, men and women have been separated by their differentiating social roles. My purpose in writing today, is to express my views as a Latter-day Saint on gender roles and the necessity for man and woman to work together in an equal partnership.

Gender roles within a marriage are divine and sacred. We as members of the church believe that men are called to, “preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families”, while women are “primarily responsible for the nurturing of their children” –The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Although men and women clearly have different responsibilities, we are also taught as Latter-day Saints that we are to recognize our spouses as equal partners, and treat them as such.

Women are by no means inferior to men because they do not earn a salary, and men are not subordinate to women due to their inability to bear children. The world portrays “man’s work” as being superior to motherhood, telling women that they are not good enough by simply being home-makers. We are told a career is what brings a person true happiness, that staying at home with children is imprisoning, and we as women should seek a greater title. When in reality, mother is the greatest and the most rewarding title a woman can ever have. Nothing is more beautiful, or more sacred.

Women are to nurture and rear their children, while men work hard to provide for and protect their families. Both of these roles are essential and equal, and a single individual will never be able to exemplify both, in a way that a husband and wife working together will be able to. Elder Bruce C. Haven, a leader in the LDS church, states that “each spouse freely gives something the other does not have and without which neither can be complete”. He continues to emphasize the need for equality between men and women, explaining spouses as “not a soloist with an accompanist, [but as] interdependent parts of a duet, singing together in harmony at a level where no solo can go”. Roles of men and women are divine, different in responsibility, but equal in essentiality to the family. We should not perceive these roles as barriers to our identity as men and women, but as sacred callings from a Heavenly Father who loves us, and knows what will bring his children the most joy possible.