Female LDS Missionaries Can Now Wear Pants

Female LDS Missionaries Can Now Wear Pants

Female LDS Missionaries Can Now Wear Pants
Scott Catron from Sandy, Utah, USA [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
The dress code change will help protect female missionaries from from disease.

Female missionaries attached to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can now wear dress slacks during most events.[/tweetit] This new dress standards adjustment takes effect immediately. The First Presidency approved the edit with safety concerns as the primary reason for taking such a step, according to Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, member of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and also the Missionary Executive Council chairman. He pointed out that grooming standards and missionary dress adjustments were made from the time a dress code came into force in 1830 and will doubtless continue in the future. He reassured LDS church members that all adaptations will carefully take into account the dignity of any missionary asked to represent Jesus Christ. The safety, health, and security of all missionaries will be protected. The dress code will also respect the sensitivities of the geographical locations where these missionaries will be sent to minister.

Female LDS Missionaries Can Now Wear Pants[/tweetthis]

Prior to the new edit coming into effect, women serving as missionaries for the LDS church were needed to wear skirts, with a few exceptions of women missionaries permitted to wear slacks in wet climates to protect themselves from mosquitoes. The new dress code is not applicable to all spaces. The LDS church has said its sister missionaries were asked to continue wearing skirts during all church services and the same while attending Temple duties.

As per church leaders, the change signifies what it regards as a top priority: the safety of missionaries while performing their duties. The permission to wear pants will benefit women serving their missions in colder climates. It will help sister missionaries to mount and ride two-wheelers too.

The rationale of an edition of dress code has been explained by Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, a Missionary Executive Council member and general president of Young Women unit of the LDS church. She said the church is aware of the multitude of vector-borne diseases caused via fleas, mosquitoes, and ticks. The new dress code assists the sisters to minimize those bites and even stop them entirely. Even before the ordinance, sisters in approximately 50 percent of all church missions already wore dress slacks during wet seasons to insure themselves from mosquito bite causing diseases like Zika, dengue fever, and Chikungunya. This latest edit of the rules will allow them to wear slacks all around the year and when they want.

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