Difference between revisions of "Barbara B. Smith"

Revision as of 18:14, 29 March 2006

Barbara B. Smith demonstrated sound judgment and tolerance as president of the Relief Society during a time of intense conflict over women’s issues. She was often interviewd about her stand against the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution. She encouraged Latter-day Saint women to be involved in their communities and represent Church attitudes about women without being combative or divisive. Sister Smith continued the Relief Society’s emphasis on disaster relief, emergency preparedness, and welfare. She also emphasized homemaker education and the importance of the family. During her presidency the Relief Society grew to about two million members worldwide. Sister Smith asked the women of the Church to personally commit to a lifetime of learning and active service. She and her husband, Douglas H. Smith, have seven children.

Relief Society and the Equal Rights Amendment (1971-1982)

During the administration of Barbara B. Smith, the Mormon Church and Relief Society were official and active opponents to Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) proposals made in the 1970s and 1980s in the United States. The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposal to amend the United States Constitution adding the provisions: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." It was assumed by many that the Amendment would be certain to pass. In fact, the Amendment had passed both the US House and Senate with no changes by 1972 and only needed ratification by a two-thirds majority of states to become law.

As the implications of ERA became known, conservative groups, including the Mormon Church, opposed the Amendment on the grounds that it would cause the violation of protections given under current laws to women. While maintaining that "The place of woman in the Church is to walk beside the man, not in front of him nor behind him, " ("Frequently Asked Questions about the Proposed Equal Rights Amendment: A Closer Look," 'Ensign', Mar. 1980, 5), Church officials raised concerns related to potential effects from the Amendment, including women being required to give compulsory miliary servce, homosexual marriage, a male's financial responsibilities for children he fathered, and abortion.

Relief Society General President, Barbara B. Smith, actively campaigned against ERA and appeared on television (Phil Donahue show) to promote the Church's official position. Relief Society sisters Church-wide were mobilized to campaign against ERA. 14,000 Mormon women attended the International Women's Year meeting in Salt Lake City and voted down all ERA proposals in June 1977. Similar events occurred in Hawaii and Washington state, where high Mormon attendance at IWY meetings disrupted ERA proposals, also during 1977.

In April 1981, the National Organization of Women (NOW) sent "Feminist Missionaries" to Utah to promote the Amendment in a door to door campaign. By 1982, not enough states had ratified the Amendment and efforts by the Relief Society to stop its passage ended.

Testimony of Barbara B. Smith

• Barbara's testimony was recorded during a General Conference at the time of her release:

I am proud to testify today that our prophets and Apostles are men called of God. They will always lead the Church aright by divine direction and by the power of the Holy Ghost.

The women of the Church have an important work to do. That work requires great strength of character, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a pure heart that will be a light unto the world and a bulwark of righteousness against the darkness that covers the earth with contention and evil.

In all humility I declare my ever-expanding love for you. I assure you, too, that I deeply love our newly called and sustained general president of the Relief Society. I know Relief Society is in good hands. It will continue to grow and move forward in countless ways to bless the lives of all of the daughters of God.

I know this is true. I feel it with every fiber of my being, just as I know that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer.

May we all make the most of every moment of our lives, that somewhere beyond the hills of time we will be with them again, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. (Barbara B. Smith, "Warmed By the Fires of Their Lives," Ensign, May 1984, 29)

Sources

• LDS.org, Barbara B. Smith Biographical Sketch