A Visiting Area Authority Orders Women Leaders Off the Stand During Sacrament Meeting

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Colored-pencil and ink sketch of a Latter-day Saint chapel during sacrament meeting. A silver-haired man in a dark suit stands at a tall wooden pulpit on the stand, leaning forward and pointing across the room. Two older men in suits sit at a long wooden bench below him; two younger men in suits sit further back. To the right, three women walk in single file off the stand — the lead in a cream floral dress, followed by a woman in a gray-green dress, and lastly a woman in a blue dress holding a dark scripture case. The congregation sits in pews in the foreground with their backs to the viewer.

A visiting area authority points down from the stand as Relief Society and Young Women leaders walk off in single file. For seven to ten years, some San Francisco Bay Area wards had seated female auxiliary leaders on the stand alongside the bishopric — a visible sign of shared stewardship, not a claim to priesthood office. In the mid-2020s, the North America West Area President ordered the practice ended, saying that women should not sit on the stand "at all at any time," except when directly participating. The reversal became a flashpoint over women's visibility in the church, and organized advocacy efforts continue to push for it to be restored.

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