I take issue with several things yayfulness said in his answer.
yayfulness wrote:For whatever reason, individual women were considered of no historical importance by the writers of the Book of Mormon. Only three women are mentioned by name (Nephi's mother Sariah, the Lamanite woman Abish, and the harlot Isabel). The fact that Nephi had sisters is mentioned only once. Women are referred to collectively, but almost never individually.
I can think of at least three more women mentioned in the Book of Mormon by name, Eve, Sarah, and Mary. They are not exclusive to the Book of Mormon, but they are important to the story.
There are several more women individually mentioned, but not by name, who are historically important. The queen who married Amalickiah. The queen who married Lamoni, of whom Ammon said, "Blessed art thou because of thy exceeding faith; I say unto thee, woman, there has not been such great faith among all the people of the Nephites." The mother of Lamoni. The daughter of Jared. They and many others all played important historical roles though we don't know their names. For that matter from the Book of Mormon we don't know the name of the brother of Jared, but you wouldn't say that he was of no historical importance!
The fact that often times women are referred to collectively does not lessen their importance to the culture and to their history. The role they often played does not lend itself to fame, but was nonetheless extremely important. What would Helaman's 2000 young warriors have been without their mothers? "yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it." Unsung heroines are heroines just the same. Why diminish their power and influence just because you don't know the details of their lives? They are known to God.
