Salon.com > Gender Equality

Mormons finally “let women pray”

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 20:47:00 +0000

Sources inside the LDS Church say that a woman will for the first time in the history of Mormonism offer an invocation or benediction at the Church’s worldwide General Conference, this April 6–7, veteran religion journalist Peggy Fletcher Stack of the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

The announcement comes after Mormon feminists and their allies mounted a “Let Women Pray” letter-writing campaign this winter. (LDS officials say that the Conference program was set “many weeks ago.”)

Women’s advocates within the LDS Church like LDS WAVE have long pointed to the continuing restriction on women praying in the Church’s global meetings as one of many examples of day-to-day gender inequalities in the practice of Mormonism—most of them having absolutely no foundation in current Church teachings.

Bringing feminist values to the workplace

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 19:33:00 +0000

Ed. note: This is guest post by Feministing Editor Emeritus Courtney E. Martin.

On a recent speaking engagement at the University of Richmond, one anxious senior asked me, “I want to be a professional feminist—do I have to work at a women’s nonprofit? How do you bring your feminism with you into the ‘real world,’ especially if you end up in a work culture where they just don’t get it?”

I fear that college students are led to believe that, in order to be dedicated feminists, they have to work for nonprofit organizations specifically devoted to girls and women’s issues or go the academic route. If young women, or young men for that matter, want to go in this direction, more power to them. But there is a lot of valor in braving the kinds of organizations that don’t yet “get it” in this student’s parlance, and agitating for change from within. Audre Lorde warned against the perils of dwelling in “the master’s house,” and yet, there are such rich opportunities there—especially for young people with the energy for some serious remodeling.

Hollywood’s nowhere near gender equality

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:00:00 +0000

It’s 2010, and the room is tight with anticipation. Barbra Streisand, a titan for gender equality in her own right, gingerly opens the envelope. Her voice becomes assertive, “Well, the time has come.”

That night Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win Best Director at the Academy Awards. Her acceptance speech was modest, the words poignant. The orchestra swelled with a bouncy version of “I Am Woman” as she exited, Oscar in hand.

Bigelow’s win was a major milestone in Hollywood, where women historically—big surprise—have been shuttered into the second tier. Some predictably ignored its significance, focusing instead on the fact that her win for “The Hurt Locker” came at the expense of her ex-husband James Cameron’s “Avatar.” Others saw it as a floodgate opening, demonstrating that big-money studios can invest—soundly—in female filmmakers.

Iowa Supreme Court: Woman can be fired for being “irresistible”

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 21:21:00 +0000

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a dentist did not commit sexual discrimination when he fired a woman he said was an “irresistible attraction" to him.

The Associated Press reports:

Justices rejected a discrimination lawsuit filed by Melissa Nelson, who was fired by Fort Dodge dentist James Knight in 2010.

Nelson had worked in Knight’s office for 10 years. She and Knight eventually started texting outside work about personal matters. Knight’s wife, who also worked at the office, found out and demanded Nelson’s firing.

Gender pay gap begins one year out of college

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 20:48:00 +0000

A report from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) flagged by Raw Story found that a gender earning gap usually occurs just one year after graduates leave college, with men making an average of $42,918 one year after graduation while women make an average of $35,296. The report, "Graduating to a pay gap" notes:

"Graduating to a pay gap" finds that women working full time already earn less than their male counterparts do just one year after college graduation. Taking a closer look at the data, we find that women’s choices—college major, occupation, hours at work—do account for part of the pay gap. But about one-third of the gap remains unexplained, suggesting that bias and discrimination are still problems in the workplace.

Study: Outnumbered by men, women don’t speak up

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 20:05:00 +0000

A new study confirms what most of us probably already know:

Scholars at Brigham Young University and Princeton examined whether women speak less than men when a group collaborates to solve a problem. In most groups that they studied, the time that women spoke was significantly less than their proportional representation – amounting to less than 75 percent of the time that men spoke.

This is maybe the most frustrating thing about being a feminist lady in the world every day, in my opinion. Because, as Lindy West points out, even loud-mouthed feminists often fall into this dynamic. “You forfeit, because their lungs are bigger, they’re groomed for assertiveness since birth, and you’re groomed to assume that nobody will take you seriously anyway. You wait for a pause in a room of interrupters.” I do this all the time. And the fact that I can feel myself doing it doesn’t really help usually–it just means I hate myself for it.