A: It is the creation story that defines roles or dictates what men and women should do and be. Obviously, in the world there are many interpretations of that story. We should at least understand, both LDS and non-LDS, that when we want to observe what is likely the most accurate representation of that or any paradigm we look back to the time at which it was instituted. Voila! What do we find? The men and women of early Israel had parity, a functioning equivalence. In spite of the fact that they lived in a patriarchal society, or perhaps because they lived in revealed patriarchal society, men and women were on an equal footing. Their labors fell into the three areas needed for the absolute survival of any people, 1. procreation, 2., subsistance, and 3. defense. Nature required that woman be in charge of procreation, nature provided that the man who was bigger and stronger be in charge of defense. But both had to be intimately involved in subsistence. By example we might observe that God commanded Adam to protect and provide, that he delegated a chief nurturing role to Eve, and that Eve labored with Adam in the feild. These three areas required absolute cooperation between husband and wife, both were dependent upon the other and the child was dependent upon each of them. In these nacent times, the woman was in charge of the manufacture of clothing, carding, spining, weaving, design, comfort, and whatever was necessary. She was also in charge of preservation, preparation and distribution of food. EVERYBODY was dependant on her and what she did with these stores. So she had authority over these absolute areas of survival. Everybody knew this and her position was honored. At an early point she carried keys which meant that she controlled the rooms and stores in the areas where production occurred. And nobody messed with that. Her husband did what was necessary to provid and protect, and together they had a perfect balance. This system placed the child in the lap of security. It is perhaps on this account that children, when rising in the morning, would greet their parents with the words, "My father, my teacher, my mother my teacher." The gospel, in every dispensation, begins with emphasis on the creation paradigm, roles and individual and family stability. From time to time in the history of this earth, we might suppose that gospel cultures got it together.
Vivian
