girl power: mormon edition

Have you seen The Mormon Women Project? It rocks.

From the site:

"This digital library will show that among the 7 million women currently members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is stunning diversity and strength that may not always be recognized."

Project founder, Neylan McBain, shares some insight into her motivation to begin the undertaking. You can read the entire interview here, but in case you're too lazy to click over, I've pasted some highlights:

If left merely to the impressions of the media, one might understandably think that a woman with my background couldn't possibly be affiliated with an organization that -- as it is so often presented -- funnels its women into wifely and motherly servitude and has some sort of relationship (no one's quite sure) with polygamy. But Mormonism's best kept secret is that intelligent, engaged and proactive women are legion in our culture. Why does no one know about us?

Part of the problem is many Mormon women themselves don't recognize that these intelligent, engaged women are in our midst. Many are afraid to admit they are one of these women. "If I were a 'good' Mormon, I wouldn't have gotten my master's degree. I wouldn't be working, and I wouldn't want to work so much. I'd want to be a mother and have kids and stay home," one young filmmaker said to me recently. How did we get to a point in our culture where our free agency -- the ability to choose that our doctrine holds as the most ennobled quality of our human condition -- has been disparaged to the point that a young, talented woman feels ashamed of her pursuits?

The importance of marriage and motherhood is never in question among faithful Mormons, but my own youth was filled with female role models who remain true to themselves, their talents, their interests and their families. With the help of prayer, faith and a hard-won understanding of our unique missions in life, this balance is not only possible, it is demanded by a doctrine that celebrates individual worth. But this balance is not widely practiced: as I've grown older, I've seen many Mormon women feel ostracized and sometimes leave our church altogether because they're not sure how their choices fit into "the mold". These experiences have prompted me to share some of the role models from my own life and search out others who have made thoughtful, considered choices about who they want to be.