Mormonism is big on sharp gender divisions. This is hammered in throughout childhood and adolescence. Women are not prohibited from working, but motherhood is women's primary role. Men are supposed to be the breadwinners. Many smart women probably don't even pursue demanding careers (or any career) because of this. A lot of women just go to college to find a husband. When I grew up, it was basically assumed that if a woman worked she a) was a bad mother/didn't love her kids, b) her husband was not making enough to support the family and should step up, or c) the family was materialistic/greedy and didn't want to live on one income. Of course there are exceptions, but especially when the kids are young, it is heavily frowned upon to have a mother work outside of the home.

Anonymous wrote:Some women do have jobs outside the home, and even careers, but Mormonism really pushes traditional gender roles, and women are primarily responsible for childcare and homemaking responsibilities. Add in marrying young and having many kids, and it can be hard to have much of a career outside the home.

It's similar for many Conservative Christian Faiths. Gender Roles can be pushed fairly hard along with patriarchal society norms. Also, being a single woman or even childless couple is very hard socially.

They can. But it is not encouraged and hardly any do.

Some women do have jobs outside the home, and even careers, but Mormonism really pushes traditional gender roles, and women are primarily responsible for childcare and homemaking responsibilities. Add in marrying young and having many kids, and it can be hard to have much of a career outside the home.

Yes, of course. I have a friend who is Mormon and an elementary school teacher, and another friend who works as a rock climbing instructor.

I have a Mormon friend who is a top level executive at Marriott. Definitely possible.

Anonymous wrote:One of my law firm partners was a devout Morman woman who went to Harvard Law. You aren’t looking hard enough, and yes you sound like a bigot asking this question.

I dont' thikn it's bigoted. Seems like many replies in this thread back up OP's observation that many Mormon women become SAHMs.

One of my law firm partners was a devout Morman woman who went to Harvard Law. You aren’t looking hard enough, and yes you sound like a bigot asking this question.

Anonymous wrote:I think they have intense pressure to be home actively raising kids. My sister married a merman and really felt this. Thats why Utah is MLM Mecca. Because a lot of them want to contribute and miss it but feel like they HAVE to be at home. It's bizarre. My sister has a JD and literally does medical billing in her basement during preschool hours. Ugh.

Lucky sister! Was it Jason Momoa?

Anonymous wrote:I think they have intense pressure to be home actively raising kids. My sister married a merman and really felt this. Thats why Utah is MLM Mecca. Because a lot of them want to contribute and miss it but feel like they HAVE to be at home. It's bizarre. My sister has a JD and literally does medical billing in her basement during preschool hours. Ugh.

Best typo: “My sister married a merman.”

I had a friend who had a pretty successful career in marketing, but she married fairly late for a mormon woman, and didn’t have kids until her thirties. She did step back once she had kids though.

Op here. That makes sense. I mean, a few of my Mormon friends were really smart, in GT and tech programs in high school. Now they are SAHMs, which I respect (was one myself). But it just seems like there is only one mold for Mormon women. What happens if you don't fit?

Anonymous wrote:This is not an attack on the faith. I had many friends growing up who were Mormon. I just recall that all of my friends' moms were SAHMs, which made sense because they had large families. Since then, I realized I've never met a female Mormom doctor, lawyer, business exec. My circle may be small. Is there something in church doctrine that forbids women from having careers? Just curious.

It encourages women to have many children. It is against premarital sex which means getting married and having children at a young age. Would be very challenging to already have two kids while in law or medical schools. There are exceptions, but having kids young really limits a woman professionally.

I think they have intense pressure to be home actively raising kids. My sister married a merman and really felt this. Thats why Utah is MLM Mecca. Because a lot of them want to contribute and miss it but feel like they HAVE to be at home. It's bizarre. My sister has a JD and literally does medical billing in her basement during preschool hours. Ugh.

This is not an attack on the faith. I had many friends growing up who were Mormon. I just recall that all of my friends' moms were SAHMs, which made sense because they had large families. Since then, I realized I've never met a female Mormom doctor, lawyer, business exec. My circle may be small. Is there something in church doctrine that forbids women from having careers? Just curious.