There are always a multitude of women who claim that the Church instructed them to marry young, forego any education or gainful employment, and stay at home and raise their kids.

Then, their marriage collapses, and they are forced into the cold, cruel world as a single parent with no skills or confidence.

This is nonsense. The Church never taught any such thing.

"Prioritize" Family

What we were taught was to prioritize our family, that it was the woman's responsibility to nurture the children, and that the man's responsibility was to provide and protect the family.

This same guidance was aimed at BOTH genders.

We were also told to get all the education we could, to develop our gifts, talents, and skills, and prepare for contingencies that may necessitate individual adaptation.

This same guidance was also aimed at BOTH genders.

It used to be possible for nearly all women to stay home and have their husband's job support the family. That is nearly impossible in this day and age. Most women will have to work outside the home at some point for numerous and sundry reasons.

Many of these numerous and sundry reasons have existed and been known for millennia. They include: not marrying in this life, having a husband die, having a husband disabled, experiencing a divorce, financial hardship, financially needing a second income to survive, etc.

None of this is new.

All of this got punctuated for me when my father died when I was young. My mother did have to support the family. Yes, it was hard. Yes, it was unexpected. In fact, it was wrenching.

I hoped to be able to stay home and raise the kids while my husband worked, but it wasn't a given. I knew that from personal experience.

However, it was also obvious to anyone who had more than two brain cells to rub together. It was, and is, risky to assume that everything is going to be peachy and you don't need a Plan B, or C, or D, or even Plan E.

Here it comes!

I'm going to say something now that's going to make me unpopular and perhaps even a target of these women.

You can't blame Church teachings for your poor choices!

Too many women I grew up with were trying to evade education and employment by getting married. It was an acceptable way out of doing something difficult. It was even somewhat culturally and socially sanctioned. It still is. That's the problem.

Many of these women have no one to blame but themselves. However, they are trying to save face by blaming the Church.

Conclusion

We are trying to become Christlike in this life. Increasing our knowledge and skills enables us to be more Christlike. That has always been part of our canon.

In fact, it's been instruction to both women and men regardless of mortal financial circumstances. It would stand even if you are independently wealthy in this life and don't need to work to live.

There are powerful, eternal reasons for gaining education and skills in this life. It isn't just a material decision on how to financially get through this mortal one.

There are a multitude of strong, educated, competent, skilled, and powerful women in the Church. Some of them even stayed home and raised their kids.

You can still be one of them.