I.I. seems like a fairly well-rounded, if orthodox, fellow, but I fail to see the humor in this. It's just another not-so-subtle form of misogyny, where a woman's institutional lack of power is enshrined by a sort of elbow-in-the-ribs, wink wink nudge nudge, we know who really wears the pants kind of attitude that is more degrading than just acknowledging the reality that the man is the one with the responsibility and the woman is along for the ride. It reminds me of the attitude that women were just too pure to sully themselves with matters of politics, so, um, sorry about that franchise.On a humorous note, my mission roster always had my mission mom listed as the senior companion and my mission president as the junior companion. Take that as you will.
"Mission Mom" is rather patronizing (and what if one of these women had no children of her own? Surely that'd hurt), and while "Mission Matron" is more respectful, could also make a woman in her 50s feel like she had both feet in the grave.
Junia's relationship with Andronicus is somewhat ambiguous. While it is generally supposed that they were husband and wife, they could have been siblings or simply a team of evangelists. What is important is that Junia is referred to in her own right, not as an attachment to someone else. This means that she earned her title and position on her own merit, rather than it being simply a natural derivation from her husband's status.
Junia, an apostle from the New Testament
Until men AND women within the LDS structure see women as individuals in their own right, and not simply an attachment to someone else, nothing will change and women can hardly reach their full leadership potential. I wish that at the very least it would be acknowledged that this "eternal" order got established sometime between 1890 and 1968, and then we could move forward from there.
I know plenty of women, single and otherwise, who would make bang-up Mission Presidents. Wasting their talents is a shame.