https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-c..._V45N01_CO.pdf
This is interesting on a number of fronts.
Okazaki was part of the last RS general presidency that really got independent Mormon women exicted. At least that is my perception. I don't follow the scene very closely.
Okazaki relates that her presidency was never consulted about the Family Proclamation. And never even consulted when they made the new manuals for Priesthood/Relief Society. They did get some input in after the draft was completed, having asked for it.
She paints a picture of a male-led leadership who don't even think to consult women. About anything.
The interview also describes the stripping of power from the Relief Society General Board over the years.
We may focus a lot on the gay Mormon issue. That's what the leadership of the church wants. They want it in our minds.
But the larger issue facing Mormonism is what to do about the women. What is the role of women in this church? And is the current model tenable going into the future? Will the modern woman in the United States hold out any interest in the Mormon church?
It's my impression that if you are a working single professional woman, going to LDS church and specifically attending RS feels so anachronistic that is shocking to the senses. Often lightly educated women, who have had no careers, or never worked at all, or are working poorly-paid dead-end jobs. There's exceptions of course. But that describes I think the majority of the women I have seen. And that model is fine for many. It's just that it becomes the dominant model that resents all other models.