"The Great Qualifications and Powers of the Daughters of God"

In his first interview with the press, Dallin H. Oaks, newly ordained President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shared that "We have not always been wise in using the great qualifications and powers of the daughters of God." "We have work left to do" (https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2025/10/16/president-dallin-h-oaks-first-interview-as-church-president/).

I attended a Saturday student symposium today at Brigham Young University. Things got going at 9:30 a.m. the Joseph F. Smith Building, kept going for five hours, and every one of the students I listened to in the various sessions impressed me deeply.

A little while before the event started, I was walking in the Student Center.

A knot of students were laying out some extensive contraptions in a large space for yet another big BYU production. Meanwhile, the best laid plans were moving toward the oft awry.

A young man, standing at some distance, suddenly shouted at me in a very determined voice: 

“Hey!”

He then pointed at a young woman—one of those shining BYU students—and yelled:

“Never listen to HER!”

 

“Well, I never have,” I replied. 

 I then added, “But I am planning to be listening to her in the future.”

One can only imagine the context; the young woman's only response to her introduction-at-large was a bewildered: "What!?"

Within a couple of hours I found myself--a guest on campus--moderating a student panel for music and art, the speakers being four poised young women, all clear of voice, articulate, and enriched by languages, international experience, and science galore. They created paintings, sculptures, whatever it took, to illustrate their themes. None of them struck me as arrogant, only as qualified and powerful--and we'll be hearing much more from each of them.

It’s clear that the future of this Kingdom will have everything to do with whether we (all of us) always listen to the women of the Church. God gave some apostles, some prophets, some pastors, it is true, and in that truth we remain doctrinally secure—but above and beyond all else, gift of gifts, He gave His Kingdom not only the Three Zinas but numberless exemplary women. We should all plan on listening.