When the first round of the Next Mormons Survey was conducted in 2016, one of the key findings was that Latter-day Saint women in the U.S. were, on average, nine points more certain in their beliefs about God, Jesus, and the church than LDS men were. They were also several points more likely to pray and read their scriptures every day, hold a current temple recommend, feel guided by God in their daily activities, and keep the Word of Wisdom.

That may well be changing. One of the key findings from the 2022-23 Next Mormons Survey was that this gender advantage has largely disappeared among current members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the U.S. Women still believe and have faith, but a smaller percentage say they know that certain gospel tenets are true. Meanwhile, men’s theological certainty either stayed the same or even increased slightly, on average. Women also exhibited a lower sense that they had the power to make changes or be heard in the church compared to men, and an uptick in negative feelings about sacrament meeting compared to 2016. Some (not all) of their political views grew a bit more progressive, although they are still conservative compared to other U.S. women.

In this lecture, Jana Riess will unpack the survey’s most recent findings about LDS women and religiosity, placing them in the larger context of other shifts in the American religious landscape.