Abstract
This paper reviews Fundamental Latter-day Saints beliefs in polygamy and a woman's role within their communities. It was found that polygamy is closely tied to their belief in getting to heaven for both men and women. In order for a woman to get into heaven she is to be married to a polygamist man and to serve him dutifully. If a wife does not serve her husband dutifully she would be unable to become a goddess alongside her husband in heaven. Maslow's hierarchy of needs was examined as it applies to the women in polygamist societies. Because of the constant fear and judgment women are put under, women would be unable to develop to their fullest potential or reach self-actualization.
Women in Fundamentalist Mormon Polygamous Marriages, and Self-Actualization
Polygamy is basically defined as someone being married to more than one spouse at a time. It can be someone of any gender but most people think of a man being married to more than one wife when they hear about polygamy. There are three forms of polygamy: polygyny where a man is married to multiple wives, polyandry where a woman has multiple husbands, and group marriage where there are multiple husbands and wives. Polygyny is the most recognized and common form although all forms is practiced. Countries around the world and from several religions and cultures practices plural marriage. Almost all religions, at one time, supported the practice of have more than one spouse. Although most religions have practiced it, most banned the practice before the 18th century.
The most recognized religion which supported the practice of multiple wives was the Mormon Church, better known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). In fact, polygamy was a critical part of their religious beliefs. The practice of polygamy, or more accurately, polygyny start around the same time as the Mormon Church began. Joseph Smith is considered the founder of the LDS and a prophet of God. It is believed that God came to Joseph Smith when he was only 14 to restore the church. Three years after God came to him an angel appeared and instructed him to translate the Book of Mormon (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). As Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon, he included passages, which by some, could be said to be a commandment by God to practice polygamy. Because of this, polygamy was considered to be a major doctrine to the LDS church. As a doctrine of the church, polygamy was not done away with until the Manifesto in 1890 which stated that any member caught practicing polygamy would be excommunicated. Because of the Manifesto, groups split off from the mainline LDS and formed the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS).
Most FLDS members currently live in small communities in rural areas because they still practice polygyny. The FLDS is a patriarchal religion, as with any patriarchal religion, the husband is considered to be the head of the house and the wife is subordinate to her husband. Women often times take a much more traditional role in the FDLS communities and remain at home to raise children. A wife's purpose in the fundamentalist churches is to ultimately serve her husband in this life and in the next. Wives are also expected to accept all other wives whom would come. Women in these societies would not be able to develop to their fullest potential and would not be able to reach self actualization according to Maslow's theory of needs.
Fundamentalist Church
“True” Mormons
The Fundamentalist church believes that the mainline Mormon Church is currently in “a state of apostasy” (Lifting the Veil of Polygamy). They believe that they are the “true” Mormons because they have not given up the practice of polygamy in this life. A fundamental part of their belief system relies on polygamy. Plural marriage is considered to be a holy law which was commanded by God through His prophets (England, 1987). In the “Journal of Discourses” both Brigham Young and Joseph F. Smith stated that a man would not be saved unless he had multiple wives. In addition to that, women have to rely on their husbands in order for them to get to heaven. Husbands must marry multiple wives because they believe that God was at one time a man and had multiple wives and by having multiple wives they themselves would become gods. A wife must always “stay sweet” and to consistently serve her husband. As mentioned before, a wife must always accept other wives or else she would not enter heaven (Lifting the Veil of Polygamy).
Fundamentalist Women
Women of fundamentalist communities are often times socially isolated from the rest of the world living on compounds in rural areas. It is considered to be the husband's will, therefore God's will, that the wives were to bear him children. Women in these communities have little to no rights as a person because they are not considered individuals but a part of their husbands. Because of this, they are often times not given free will over who they marry but forced into arranged marriages. From the time they are capable of doing so, women were to provide help around the house to their mother learning the necessities of being a “good” wife to their husbands (Bradley, 1990).
There is only one way to heaven for women in fundamentalist groups which is to be completely submissive to their husbands. It is believed that only by living a plural marriage will they ever enter heaven. They also believe that this one of God's laws and the only form of marriage that will help the woman to become a goddess alongside her husband (Principle Voices). It is continually taught in fundamentalist groups that women would be damned if they were not totally submissive (Lifting the Veil...). Not only were the women supposed to submit, the wives were ranked by “seniority” and was never equal. The first wife would be given higher priority in the way of economics than the other wives (Embry, 1984).
Fundamentalist women are constantly in a state of fear of “not being good enough” and losing favor with their husbands therefore losing their chance in heaven. Their ultimate goal is to become goddesses alongside their husbands in heaven. This is what they feel they are meant to do but the only way of doing so is to marry a man who has or will have multiple wives. The only chance into heaven for either the wife or husband is to practice plural marriage. This is because it was what God had done before becoming a god. Their belief is centered around that God was once a man and both God and Jesus were polygamists.
Women's Identity
As polygamy was a primary symbol for Mormon identity during the nineteenth century, it is for the current fundamentalist Mormons (White & White, 2005). Not only is polygamy but the entire religion is tied to the person's identity. There are no individuals within fundamental Mormon church. The person is a part of the religion and community and the person would basically not even exist without the community. A woman's identity, as part of fundamental Mormons, would basically be her belief and practice of her religion. Very little uniqueness is ever really accepted especially among women. Their identity, as with many patriarchal religions, is being a wife and mother. Although this sounds harsh, there are many women who supports the practice of polygamy. They feel that is what they should do in order to be a good wife and mother. This requires a deep commitment to her faith and to what she truly believes will help her and her husband attain heaven. It is also believed that by being in a plural marriage it will allow the woman to achieve and “becomes the ultimate female” (Principle Voices). Through a research which studied how Mormon women kept their autonomy in their religion discovered there are three types of Mormon women: “Molly” Mormons, Mormon Feminists, and moderates. “Molly” Mormons who follows church teachings even though they may a disconnect in some areas. On the other hand, Mormon feminists tend to be angry with a woman's position within the church but follows doctrine none the less (Beaman, 2001). It seems that, at least, these two broad generalizations of women can also be given to women within fundamentalist groups as well. Women who remain and report to be relatively happy and follows by church doctrine no matter what even though there may be areas they are not happy with. While the women who end up leaving the groups feels too constrained with the little role which women have.
Although the life within a polygamous family is often times hard, wives still support it because their religion is so apart of them. Often times people look at communal, patriarchal religions which they are not a part of through the eyes of an outsider. By doing this, most of what you see and read leans toward what you would expect, as not being very good. Polygamy is so strange and foreign to most of society that it is viewed as not very good. The general society's view on polygamy also plays a role in the fundamentalist woman's identity. Often times, women in polygamist societies have to remain secretive to the general society. The secrecy also helps in forming social isolation.
Self-Actualization and Fundamentalist Mormon Women
Self-actualization is the highest level in Maslow's hierarchy of needs and can only be achieved when all other needs are met. The other levels are physiological needs, safety needs, need for love and belonging, and self-esteem needs. Only when a need is fully met can a person go on to the next need. Only when a person's physiological needs and safety needs are met can they go on to the need for love and belonging. Besides self-actualization, the two needs which seem most important for fundamentalist women are the need for love and belonging, and self-esteem needs. The need for love and belonging is a person's basic need to feel they are loved and belong someplace. Often times the women of fundamentalist groups are kept in a constant state of fear in which if they are constantly “perfect” they would lose God's favor and ultimately lose the chance of entering heaven. With constantly being told that in order to obtain God's favor is to live in a near perfect state seems to ultimately set themselves up for failure. Ultimately, it seems that living in a state of constant fear of obtaining God's love basically leaves them feeling lonely and isolated. Many women who have left polygamist groups have stated that they felt that they loss God's favor and was alone (Lifting the Veil...).
The fear which is instilled in them also prevents them from ever achieving self-esteem needs, when they are able to feel loved and wanted. Self-esteem needs are the need for respect by other and the self. For the most part, it seems that a person, especially a woman, is consistently judged by the community on how good they are. It is hard for a person to develop self-esteem when they feel they aren't quite good enough. Also, as part of a patriarchal community, women are subordinate to men which keeps them in a state of feeling inferior. For the most part, subsequent wives are subordinate to “senior” wives who help to keep them feeling inferior.
Only when all other levels have been achieved can a person possibly reach self-actualization. Polygamous communities do not seem to be a place where a woman could reach the final level. With the amount of fear put on a person it seems that it is to keep a woman in a perpetual state of inferiority. Although women in polygamist communities state that polygamy allows them to become the ultimate female, they are always dependent on the husband to reach that point. If a woman is divorced or unmarried they would never become a goddess in heaven and would go to hell. They would never feel like they could possibly reach self-actualization and ultimately feel like a failure.
Conclusion
Women in polygamist societies would be unable to reach their fullest potential and self-actualization because there are no expectations for them to do so. They are subordinate to men and has to rely on being a good wife to their husbands to reach heaven. In order for them to be a good wife they have to have children and be accepting of subsequent wives. If they are not accepting of polygamist marriages they would be damned to hell. This is because only those men with multiple wives would enter heaven and only women whose husband have multiple wives enter heaven. According to the FLDS and the mainline LDS before the manifesto, a monogamous would never be able to go to heaven.
Also, a woman has to be “sealed” to the celestial temple in order to serve her husband in heaven. In that case, a woman who gets a divorce from her husband and never “sealed” to another man with multiple wives would spend eternity in hell. In believing that a woman would be damned to hell if not married prevents her from ever truly developing to her full potential. This is basically telling women that they are only worthy only if they have been sealed to a husband for eternity. Finally, the only people who would ever become gods are men and women are there to serve them in this life and in the next.
References
Beaman, L. G. (2001). Molly Mormons, Mormon feminists, and moderates: Religious diversity and the Latter-day Saints church. Sociology of Religion, 62, 65-86.
Bradley, M. S. (1990) The women of fundamentalist Short Creek, 1953. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 23, 15-37.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith: Life of the prophet.
http://www.josephsmith.net/josephsmith/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=056f982b9ab42010VgnVCM1000001f5e340aRCRD&locale=0
Documentary. Lifting the veil of polygamy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjDJs7wvGLg
Embry, J. L. (1984) Effects of polygamy on Mormon women. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 7, 56-61.
England, E. (1987). On fidelity, polygamy and celestial marriage. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 20, 138-154.
Principle Voices. Why do Women Choose Polygamy? http://principlevoices.org/ourlibrary/essays/why-do-women-choose-polygamy
White, O. K. & White, D. (2005). Polygamy and Mormon identity. The Journal of American Culture, 28, 165-177.
