Here is the list of women named in the Bible:
Abi, Abiah, Abigail (Nahash’s wife), Abigail (David’s sister), Abihail (Abishur’s wife), Abihail (Rehoboam’s wife), Abijah, Abishag, Abital, Achsah, Adah (Lamech’s wife), Adah (Esau’s wife), Agar, Ahinoam (Saul’s wife), Ahinoam (David’s wife), Ahlai, Aholah, Aholibah, Aholibama, Anna, Apphia, Asenath, Atarah, Athaliah, Azubah (Caleb’s wife), Azubah (Shilhi’s daughter), Baara, Bashemath (Esau’s wife), Bashemath (Solomon’s daughter; ), Basmath, Bathsheba, Bathshua, Bernice, Bilhah, Bithiah, Candace, Chloe, Claudia, Cozbi, Damaris, Deborah the nurse, Deborah the prophetess, Delilah, Dinah, Dorcas, Drusilla, Eglah, Elisheba, Elizabeth, Esther, Ephah, Ephrath, Ephrata, Euodias, Eunice, Eve, Gomer, Hadassah, Hagar, Haggith, Hammolecheth, Hamatal, Hannah, Hazelelponi, Helah, Heph-zibah, Herodias, Hodesh, Hodiah, Hoglah, Huldah, Hushim, Iscah, Jael, Jecholaih, Jedidah, Jehoaddan, Jehosheba, Jemima, Jerioth, Jerushah, Jezebel (Ahab’s wife), Jezebel (the prophetess), Joanna, Jochebed, Judith, Julia, Keren-happuch, Keturah, Keziah, Leah, Lois, Lo-Ruhammah, Lydia, Maacah, Maachah (Asa’s mother), Maachah (Caleb’s concubine), Maachah (Mahor’s daughter), Maachah (Machir’s wife), Maachah (Jehiel’s wife), Maachah (Absalom’s daughter), Maachah (Talmai’s daughter), Mahalah, Mahalath (Esau’s wife), Mahalath (Rehaboam’s wife), Mahlah, Mara, Martha, Mary (Jesus’ mother), Mary (Cleophas’ wife), Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany, Mary (Mark’s mother), Mary (John’s mother), Mary (Lazarus’s sister), Mehetabel, Merab, Meshullemeth, Micaiah, Michal (Saul’s daughter), Michal (Zelophehad’s daughter), Milcah (Haran’s daughter), Miriam (Moses’ sister), Miriam (Ezra’s daughter), Naamah (Tubalcain’s sister), Naamah (the Ammonite), Naarah, Naomi, Nehushta, Noadiah, Noah (Zelophehad’s daughter), Oholibamah, Orpah, Peninnah, Persis, Phanuel, Phoebe, Priscilla, Puah, Queen of Sheba, Queen Tahpenes, Rachel, Rahab (the harlot), Rahab (Boaz’s mother), Rebekah, Reumah, Rhoda, Rizpah, Ruth, Salome (Herodias’s daughter), Salome (Zebedee’s wife), Sapphira, Sarah (Abraham’s wife), Sarah (Asher’s daughter), Shelomith (Dibri’s daughter), Shelomith (Zerubbabel’s daughter), Shelomith (Rehoboam’s daughter), Sherah, Shimeath, Shimrith, Shiphrah, Shomer, Shua, Susanna, Syntyche, Tabitha, Tahpenes, Tamar (Absalom’s daughter), Tamar (David’s daughter), Tamar (Pharez’s mother), Taphath, Thamar, Timna, Tirzah, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Vashti, Zebudah, Zeresh, Zeruah, Zeruiah, Zibiah, Zillah, Zilpah, Zipporah.
And here is the list of women named in the Book of Mormon:
Abish, Isabel, Sariah (Eve, Mary, and Sarah are also named, but these are Biblical women).
The following books in the Book of Mormon, which supposedly span over a thousand years of ancient American history, neglect to name even one woman:
Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni, Words of Mormon, Mosiah, Helaman, 3 Nephi, 4 Nephi, Mormon, Ether, Moroni.
Most Book of Mormon authors don’t even name their own wives and daughters!
So what best explains this dearth of women in the Book of Mormon?
Hey, they might not have been given names, but the BoM totally mentions the mothers of the 2,000 stripling warriors. And if Mormon families back then were the same size as they are today, that translates to roughly 100 women.
I find Mike L’s calculation to be flawed.
After all, it’s unlikely that all of those families were just guys. If girls and guys are born at about the same rate, then in addition to 100 women, there should be 2000 sisters.
But does the BoM mention them?
Also, some of the sisters will also be mothers.
Do these 100 women and 2000 sisters also include lesbians? Let’s take 7% of the total number and just add them up as lesbians. That’s 147 lesbos added.
//Those books cover a period of more than a thousand years. So according to
those books, during those thousand years –– think of it, ten centuries –– not one
woman in the Western Hemisphere did anything worth mentioning!// – From the PDF link you provided.
This statement is problematic for a number of reasons. One, it assumes that the BoM covers the entire Western Hemisphere, when you and I know that such a view is both naive and out dated. Second, those book which supposedly encompass a more than thousand years (it actually only covers just over 900 years), the book of Alma splits them up right down the middle, which mentions two woman, Abish and Isabel, so the whole “1,000 years without a single woman doing anything worth mentioning” is shot down with that one single fact.
Furthermore, the book of Ether cannot count because despite not mentioning her by name, the daughter of Jared plays a major role in one of the stories (Ether 8). The book of Ether can’t be too faulted for not mentioning the name, since it doesn’t even name the founding prophet-leader of the whole civilization (known in the book only as “the brother of Jared”)!
It is further misleading when we consider that the books of Enos, Jarom, and Omni sweep through 290 years in a mere seven pages while 4 Nephi covers approximately the same amount of time (285 years) in even more brevity (4 pages). That means nearly two-thirds of the time covered by all those books is summed up in only 11 pages. I’m quite certain that in that nearly 600 year time many people (both men and women) did plenty of things worth mentioning which simply didn’t get mentioned.
I think the concise nature of the record in the above mentioned portion adequately explains the lack of women mentioned. When you look authors who wrote more, such as Nephi (55 chapters in two books) and Alma (63 chapters), women show up in the record.
Factor out those eleven pages and we are dealing with much smaller time frame (about 300 years) in which no women are mentioned.
Anyway, I think the answer as to why woman are not extensively mentioned is because the BoM, unlike the Bible, was abridged, which involved a process of in which only a few events out many were selected and summarized. The selection process was very selective, focusing on important spiritual experiences in order convey a specific message. Even in the unabridged parts (1 Nephi – Omni) we are told over and over that the greater historical details have been left out in preference for spiritual insights.
The Bible, on the other hand, never went through such a process. Large portions of the Old Testament are purely historical. How many of the women listed above are mentioned only because of the more historical aspects of the Bible? Contrast that with how many women are mentioned in the Bible because they play a key role in a sacred event/story? Not to mention the Biblical time frame is approximately six times the length of the BoM (assuming typical Biblical time lines), so of course more women are mentioned.
Combine all that with the fact that this was a patriarchal society, and the lack of woman playing a significant does not seem to bizarre. Interesting, and I’ll admit a little strange, but not testimony rattling.
None of this is meant too imply that woman play less of a role in the spirituality of society. Only that, in the view of such primitive societies, women were unfortunately deemed as less noteworthy. They not only didn’t get mentioned as often as men in historical records, but they didn’t even get the same kind of opportunity to contribute to society in the ways men did. As I state already stated, combine this with all the other factors above, and the lack of women in the BoM is understandable.
First, thanks for the comments, Neal.
I can’t speak to/defend everything that the link argued. He’ll have to answer to his mistakes. But your criticisms of his stronger statements are fair. It was wrong for him to claim that no woman was mentioned in that 900-year period (as per the book of Alma). But the more salient point is that no woman was named in those dozen books he and I cited. That alone is curious, at best.
“The book of Ether can’t be too faulted for not mentioning the name, since it doesn’t even name the founding prophet-leader of the whole civilization (known in the book only as “the brother of Jared”)! ”
Eh, it can still be faulted as other men were named, the brother of Jared notwithstanding.
“Anyway, I think the answer as to why woman are not extensively mentioned is because the BoM, unlike the Bible, was abridged, which involved a process of in which only a few events out many were selected and summarized.”
But plenty of men were named in the BoM, despite it being an abridgement. So women didn’t make the cut? Their contributions were not significant enough to merit their being named? It’s not as though explicitly naming a woman takes up more space. At the point at which the Book of Mormon refers to, say, Nephi’s wife, why not just identify her by name?
I think your points are worth considering. By itself, this isn’t a slamdunk evidence against the Book of Mormon. But it’s not supposed to be. My case against the Book of Mormon is cumalitive.
“But plenty of men were named in the BoM, despite it being an abridgement. So women didn’t make the cut? Their contributions were not significant enough to merit their being named? It’s not as though explicitly naming a woman takes up more space. At the point at which the Book of Mormon refers to, say, Nephi’s wife, why not just identify her by name?”
Point taken. As I agreed, it is rather strange that more women are not mentioned by name. Still, though, I think that the abridgment factor combined with the patriarchal nature of their society provides an adequate explanation. Notice I am NOT leaning on the “patriarchal society” alone (as the LDS represented by the bold/italics does in that PDF dialogue) nor am I solely leaning on the abridgment. I think both played a role, combined with the fact that the BoM covers less time than the Bible, etc.
So yes, more men are mentioned, but that is just norm for their society. I understand that more women are mentioned in the Bible, but what is the Male to Female ratio in the Bible? I don’t know, but I would bet that it’s more than 2:1. If you only take a list of significant characters, then the ratio would likely be staggeringly in favor of men. This is essentially what Mormon and Moroni do – they took the stories they deemed “significant” and summarized them. Not surprisingly, the principal characters are predominately male.
“Eh, it can still be faulted as other men were named, the brother of Jared notwithstanding.”
I think the above rebuttal applies here as well. Nonetheless, you may fault it if you wish. Still, the book of Ether ought not to be counted among the books in the BoM that don’t have a significant female character. I understand the list is only those books which do not mention a female by name, but due to the example of the daughter of Jared, I am arguing that such a list is deceptive. It gives the impression that no female is deemed important, whereas that is not necessarily the case.
“I can’t speak to/defend everything that the link argued. He’ll have to answer to his mistakes.”
Fair enough, and I wouldn’t expect you to. But to the extent that you have borrowed from his arguments, you ought to take some responsibility.
“By itself, this isn’t a slamdunk evidence against the Book of Mormon. But it’s not supposed to be. My case against the Book of Mormon is cumalitive.”
Again, fair enough. This is as any argument for or against it has to be, I think. There is no silver bullet on either side, hence the reason it can still be debated.
I ought to note, though, the comparison (between the women in the Bible and women in the BoM) is an interesting bit of trivia. I hope my criticisms are not taken with any negative feelings attached. I personally enjoy the dialogue you and I can share.
“I hope my criticisms are not taken with any negative feelings attached. I personally enjoy the dialogue you and I can share.”
Of course. No negative feelings whatsoever.
Orson Scott Card wrote an interesting article on the subject of the veracity of the Book of Mormon from a science fiction writer’s perspective; in it he discusses the role of women (or the lack thereof) in the book.
If you want to skip to the relevant part, search for “American Culture and the Book of Mormon”. But you should really read the whole thing.
Those lists aren’t really a fair comparison. There are about 240 people named in the Bible and about 1400 names in the Bible. Granted, about 1% of the people named in the Book of Mormon are women while 13% of the names in the Bible are women, but that isn’t taking into account the repeated men’s names the Bible has (it was easier to find a list of Bible names than every person in the Bible). So the naming is a lot more equitable than just seeing a paragraph and then one line makes it seem.
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