Latter-day Saint Life

How the Young Women Values Teach Girls Healthy Feminism

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Critics of the Church often claim that the Church needs to do more to empower its women. Well, here are a few ways that the Young Women values are doing just that by teaching girls from a young age how to be self-reliant, influential leaders--in every area of life.

I gained a powerful testimony of the Young Women’s theme just after high school graduation. I attended a young activity in Denmark with other teens of various nationalities. I don’t remember Americans being the majority and I loved it.

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At one point, I attended a devotional just for the girls. We were asked to stand and recite the Young Women’s theme in our own languages. At once, the room was flooded with Danish, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Spanish, Dutch, and who knows what else. It was the closest I’ll ever get to a concord of angels in this life.

I felt the overwhelming witness that the Lord loved literally every teenaged girl in that room. We are daughters of our Heavenly Father—He loves us and we love Him. No matter what we looked like or what language we spoke, He loved all of us. He wants us to start off early as strong, wonderful people.

This week, I’d like to take a closer look at the Young Women values to show how they personally taught me to be my best self—and how the program can be designed to strengthen and prepare young women all over the globe.

The YW Values Promote Healthy Feminism

Let’s look at the values and how they are designed to help young women prepare for church and secular roles.

Faith—This value teaches the girls how to learn for themselves what they believe. 

Lead image from LDS.org.

To help keep these values alive in your Young Women's mind, check out these beautifully illustrated and framed valuesfrom artist Liz Lemon Swindle.

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