As you know if you have glanced at with the title, I love the new book titled “Changemakers: Women Who Boldly Built Zion.” This is new from Signature Books and was written by my friends McArthur Krishna and Anne Pimentel – Illustrated by Jessica Sarah Beach. I’ve had McArthur as a guest a few times on this podcast a year or so ago. In this episode, I want to talk about what I love about this book and share some of my thoughts. Thanks to the authors and illustrator!

I recorded this episode the week after International Women's Day, and I had done 9 speeches in one week. In many of them, I brought up the topic of status quo and power. The topic and wrestle with "power" was on my mind, so I decided to do an episode focused on power and even the types of power there are. I end of course with the need for us as women to embrace the power we have, and I shared a few ideas of how to do that. Listen in!

In this podcast episode I am very candid about some of my frustrations particularly the last few weeks but then shift and focus on the confirmations from the Spirit that came to me during General Conference last weekend. I choose to believe! I hope you appreciate my journey.

Last month, ago, an article was published on the Exponent II by Linda Hamilton titled “Mormon Microfeminisms”. I smiled while reading it and wanted to share some of the content. The Exponent does use the word “feminism” in their subtitle for their forum: Exponent II is “A feminist forum for women and gender minorities across the Mormon spectrum.” I share some of my experiences as well. If you have had some, you can send me stories at unleashingsistersaints@gmail.com.

List to the original blog post by Linda: Mormon Microfeminisms — Exponent II Blog

In the last few episodes, I’ve shared thoughts from sisters who have been listening to this podcast. In this episode I continue sharing women's thoughts and stories. Storytelling "is our religious heritage and essential to our future of bringing others unto Christ." One woman responded to a question about how women in the church can accomplish what President Kimbal stated about women of the Church being seen in articulate and happy ways. Another sister shared a few stories about how subtle sexism plays out in the Church as well. Stories matter. We need to figure out how to better support each other.

In this episode of Unleashing Sister Saints, I share some additional thoughts from others who have been listening to the podcast for the past year or two. Each brings out important elements that I would like to emphasis. The first is one woman's thoughts and struggle with the patriarchy. The second woman made some comments about an older episode about patriarchy and presiding and she had learned more about benevolent sexism. I added a few short comments at the end from a few other sisters. I add comments about wrestling and having a community too. I hope you enjoy listening in!

A few weeks ago, on an episode of Unleashing Sister Saints, I read an editorial I wrote for the Salt Lake Tribune on the illusion of choice. Basically, by the time a young woman reaches 18, her choices are often the culmination of years of social conditioning with strong messages given to her that she should do certain things – then we blame women for their choices. I received a powerful email from a woman and would like to focus this episode on her email and the topicsthat it brings up. I’ve removed her name, and she gave me permission to share. It focuses on making up to our true purpose, and I've shared some of my thoughts as well. Listen in. Thanks to this sister for her email.

In this podcast episode, I come back to the topic of sexism. I used to avoid using the word “sexism” because it made people uncomfortable, including me, a women’s leadership scholar. But as I began digging deeper into the research, my perspective changed. Now I use the word often because I realized that most people don’t understand the term and how it plays out in families, communities, and workplaces — particularly the more subtle form, called “benevolent sexism.” Now that I understand it, I see it all around me. I talk about what sexism is in this episode, as knowledge is power!