I’ve come to recognize as never before the importance of understanding the priesthood and its associated blessings for women. We’re living in a day when equality, power, fairness, and tolerance are touted﻿—often above other virtues. What’s more, identity, authority, spirituality, and even God are topics of great confusion for many.

Many women, not knowing what blessings they have access to, are not taking full advantage of the spiritual feast available to them. Many men are also confused on the topic.

How can we better understand the connection women have with priesthood power and help them “to step forward,” to “take [their] rightful and needful place in [their] home, in [their] community, and in the kingdom of God﻿—more than [they] ever have before”?1 First, we can humbly seek to understand truths associated with the priesthood, especially the most recent teachings of Church leaders. Second, we can seek to understand why some women don’t fully realize their access to God’s priesthood power. Third, we can be aware of how we can help women more fully participate in the work God accomplishes through His priesthood power.

1. What Truths Have Been Clarified Regarding Women and the Priesthood?

Apostles and general women auxiliary leaders have recently given more emphasis to the relationship of women and the priesthood. The following are some truths that are vital to understand and teach correctly.

The priesthood is the power and authority of God. The priesthood is the power through which God accomplishes His great work of salvation, bringing to pass “the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). Both men and women have an important role in God’s work, and both men and women have access to His power to accomplish His work.

Women play an official and critical role in the work of salvation. Bonnie L. Oscarson, former Young Women General President, declared: “All women need to see themselves as essential participants in the work of the priesthood. Women in this Church are presidents, counselors, teachers, members of councils, sisters, and mothers, and the kingdom of God cannot function unless we rise up and fulfill our duties with faith.”2 President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) taught: “God has given the women of this church a work to do in building his kingdom. That concerns all aspects of our great triad of responsibility﻿—which is, first, to teach the gospel to the world; second, to strengthen the faith and build the happiness of the membership of the Church; and, third, to carry forward the great work of salvation for the dead. “Women in the Church are associates with their brethren in carrying forward this mighty work of the Lord. … Women carry tremendous responsibilities and they are accountable for the fulfillment of those responsibilities. They head their own organizations, and those organizations are strong and viable and are significant forces for good in the world. They stand in an associate role to the priesthood [holders], all striving together to build the kingdom of God in the earth. We honor and respect you for your capacity. We expect leadership, and strength, and impressive results from your management of the organizations for which you are responsible. We uphold and sustain you as daughters of God, working in a great partnership to assist him in bringing to pass the immortality and the eternal life of all of the sons and daughters of God.”3

Both women and men are delegated power and authority by those who hold priesthood keys. Priesthood keys are “the authority God has given to priesthood [holders] to direct, control, and govern the use of His priesthood on earth.”4 President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, explains, “Every act or ordinance performed in the Church is done under the direct or indirect authorization of one holding the keys for that function.”5 Women have authority to perform their callings, under the direction of one who holds priesthood keys, just as men do. President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, stated, “Those who have priesthood keys … literally make it possible for all who serve faithfully under their direction to exercise priesthood authority and have access to priesthood power.”6 President Oaks said: “We are not accustomed to speaking of women having the authority of the priesthood in their Church callings, but what other authority can it be? When a woman﻿—young or old﻿—is set apart to preach the gospel as a full-time missionary, she is given priesthood authority to perform a priesthood function. The same is true when a woman is set apart to function as an officer or teacher in a Church organization under the direction of one who holds the keys of the priesthood.”7 Sister missionaries are an example of women being set apart and given priesthood authority to perform a priesthood function. When teaching this concept to my students, I often ask, “If a stake is having a joint Young Men and Young Women presidency meeting, who presides?” Because both the stake Young Women president and the stake Young Men president were called and set apart by one holding priesthood keys (the stake president), with their callings, both have the same priesthood authority and therefore neither presides over the other. It would make sense for them to take turns in conducting meetings.

The Lord blesses women and men equally through His priesthood. The Lord provides many blessings through His priesthood that may come to all members who make and keep sacred covenants. President Ballard taught, “All who have made sacred covenants with the Lord and who honor those covenants are eligible to receive personal revelation, to be blessed by the ministering of angels, to commune with God, to receive the fulness of the gospel, and, ultimately, to become heirs alongside Jesus Christ of all our Father has.”8 President Joseph Fielding Smith (1876–1972) instructed: “The blessings of the priesthood are not confined to men alone. These blessings are also poured out upon … all the faithful women of the Church. … The Lord offers to his daughters every spiritual gift and blessing that can be obtained by his sons.”9 And as women go about their Father’s work, they too will be blessed to be “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17; see also verse 16).

Both women and men (single and married) may be endowed with priesthood power in the temple. In 1833 the Lord promised Joseph Smith that the Saints, both men and women, would be endowed with “power from on high” (Doctrine and Covenants 95:8). President Ballard clarified: “The endowment is literally a gift of power. All who enter the house of the Lord officiate in the ordinances of the priesthood. This applies to men and women alike.”10 All worthy members who have received their endowment and keep the covenants they have made in the temple have priesthood power. Thus, women, married or single, can have priesthood power in their homes regardless of a visit from a priesthood holder. Sheri Dew, former counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, asked, “What does it mean to have access to priesthood power? It means that we can receive revelation, be blessed and aided by the ministering of angels, learn to part the veil that separates us from our Heavenly Father, be strengthened to resist temptation, be protected, and be enlightened, and made smarter than we are﻿—all without any mortal intermediary.”11 What is the most important outcome of this power and how is it received? The Lord has revealed that “the power of godliness,” including the power to become like Him, is manifested through priesthood ordinances (see Doctrine and Covenants 84:20).