Final answer:
Mother Ann Lee required her followers to maintain a celibate lifestyle, emphasizing gender equality and communal living, which led to a unique social structure within the Shaker community.
Step-by-step explanation:
Mother Ann Lee, the founder of the American Shaker church, was instructed to eliminate sеxual relations from her followers' lives. The Shakers led a celibate life, thinking that it brought them closer to God. They expanded their community by adopting orphans and converting the homeless and poor. Mother Ann Lee advocated for gender equality, asserting that since men and women are considered equal in the eyes of God, they should thus be equal on Earth. This belief was manifested in the Shakers' communal living arrangements where both sеxes lived and worked separately but held property in common, with leadership positions within the church hierarchy being occupied by both genders.