Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

And your points about the church often leading the world in matters of equality are good. It frustrates me sometimes when it seems the church has regressed from earlier progress (women laying on hands, administering budgets, etc), and also it sometimes is what conflicts me about “the world is getting worse and worse” type retrenchment-admonishments. Because in so many areas, our world (culture) is a million times better than ancient times.

Anyway, I very very much appreciate your thoughtful response. Thank you.

So, I’m sure you’ve thought of this: one reason women seem (are?)secondary to men in some things is that our Church changes slowly. But note: the Church changes faster than the world. Weren’t women in Utah /the church allowed to vote sooner than women in the country and the world as a whole? Weren’t women given leadership positions in RS and Primary sooner than leadership positions given to women in the world? Aren’t women in this country ahead of women in other countries? Wasn’t Christ an advocate and a champion of women sooner than the world around him? Aren’t our GA’s more champions of women now compared to their worldly counterparts?
What if it weren’t so? What if the church tried to out-distance the world too fast, in this progress? Wouldn’t that cause big problems? Some real rebellion among its members, both male and female? There are a lot of women who have a stake in the status quo. I don’t see suddenly changing as a good thing — our secular /western culture has inequities and problems, but it IS much better now than 1-2 centuries ago. And the Church leads the way, changing faster than the world, prodding and urging, slowly and hopefuly inexorably.

I encourage you to continue the fight, prodding and pushing, and making men and women in leadership positions think. But also, be kind; be introspective about why this is so important to you. And What is it exactly the He expects of you? And are you (am I?) HEARING HIM, right now?