Women at Church: Magnifying LDS Women's Local Impact by Neylan McBaine

I bought this book years ago when it came out, but never actually read it because of all the other books on my bedside stand, and it eventually migrated to my bookshelf where it sat for the last few years. But I finally pulled it out and read it this week, and loved the ideas in it, about figuring out ways to improve and increase women's visibility and abilities in our church. But the thing that I loved most about it was that the book already felt so outdated, even in just the few years since it was published! This book was written around the time of the Ordain Women movement, and so much has happened since then--ending the Church's relationship with Scouts and soon adding a new program for the youth, which will give boys and girls the same program and no added benefits for boys; the change in the temple ordinances; and several other things that I can't think of off the top of my head as I'm writing things. Haha! Just in reading this, I thought it was so clear that the Church is heading in the right direction, even though it's maybe hard to see it as it moves so incrementally. I am so grateful that our kids will grow up with this new program that will give the girls and boys equal funding and opportunities, for example. The thing I would like to see changed most is seeing more women speakers at General Conference to increase the impact and authority of women speakers. I know that this will happen eventually, and I am grateful to live in a Church that changes and adapts.

It felt like she was writing to a fairly conservative, orthodox audience. A good bit of her book was aimed at explaining why some women are struggling and why these changes are positive, for those people who don't understand it. I felt like she did a good job of bridging the gap between those two warring camps, and helping people to empathize with others. I loved many of her ideas of changes that could be made, and I loved reading about solutions that stakes were coming up with, and all the flexible and interested stake presidents who wanted to make women more visible and authoritative. It made me feel hopeful and excited to imagine all the possibilities. I know there are lots of opposing stories out there that could counter these positive ones, but I hope they are decreasing slowly but surely.