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“Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies” is a statement often used in Mormondom to give us hope that our volunteer workforce will be able to fulfill callings if they rely on the Lord. It’s a fine sentiment, one that should be humbling and aspirational all at once. But what about when a calling requires specific qualifications, such as a certification or degree, to be able to perform that role? Well, in those cases we are a bit more specific in whom we call. I noticed decades ago that our stake had called someone to the role of financial auditor who had no financial acumen, despite the fact that there were women in the stake who were CPAs and had the right qualifications; however, it was deemed a “priesthood” calling for some mysterious reason, so these women were not considered, essentially invisible to those extending the callings. That was decades ago, though, and we’ve entered a new era of gender inclusiveness, right?

Perhaps not.

A recent search of missionary assignments on lds.org yielded this result:

There is apparently a “High Need” for senior missionary couples who can provide legal support in various global assignments. When the search for opportunities for Sisters is done, though, no such opportunities exist:

So either “legal counsel” is deemed a “priesthood responsibility” for some mysterious reason, or whoever is responsible for these assignments can’t fathom that a woman could possess these qualifications and has automatically excluded them from consideration, even though a “high need” exists. This is a huge missed opportunity given how many single LDS sisters (and married ones) have achieved higher education and would love to serve in capacities that utilize their full range of skills.

I remember an incident that happened when I was on my mission almost thirty years ago. My companion and I had flown in from another island for our mission conference, and we had been assigned to stay overnight in the mission office to catch our morning flight. It was strange to be in the mission office at night when it was vacant, and I walked around, looking at the conference room and the board of assignments, thinking about how much I would enjoy being a mission president, making decisions, addressing problems, handling transfers, helping missionaries deal with relationship issues, organizing this important work. Almost as quickly as the thought occurred to me, I had the realization that no matter where my talents and skills and interests lay, I would never be able to be considered for such an assignment because I was a woman. I felt a wave of disappointment wash over me.

I’ve had a long, successful business career since that quiet moment in a darkened mission office. I’ve found a lot of personal fulfillment as I’ve utilized and developed my natural talents for organization, leadership, decision-making, and problem-solving.

I was recently perusing a corporate training document I did that summarized a global women’s conference, including information on gender intelligence for my staff, mostly market heads running large departments of hundreds of employees across the Asia Pacific/Oceania region. We had talked through many of the issues that made it difficult for women to feel valued and get promoted, an issue that my company saw as a competitive disadvantage. A term that was new to me at that time describes very well the feeling that these incidents create for me as a woman:

Grunch: a sudden realization of one’s minority status.

It’s hard to think of women as a minority when there are more women than men in the church, and yet, in decision-making bodies and leadership, we are clearly a minority. The recent organizational changes that put more weight on decision-making in the more gender-equal ward council meeting are a step in the right direction at including women and using their natural talents in more situations.

It’s time to see callings that require specific educational qualifications be open to women as well as men. It’s long overdue, but easily remedied. We have a lot of women in our ranks who are qualified, even overqualified, yet completely invisible.

Discuss.