Religion's Role in Setting the Stage for Women's Economic Precarity
In June I completed my MA in Social Science from the University of Chicago; along with that achievement, I finalized my research from over the last year. This project was a massive labor of love on my part for all who participated, especially the Mormon women who opened their hearts, homes, and social networks to me.
What started as an enthusiastic stream of stories became a roaring river of powerful united voices as I got deeper and deeper into this work. We cried together. We laughed together. We rolled our eyes together. I am grateful for every single participant and want them to know each moment and story is written in my heart and impacted my work even if I couldn't share it. Researching and writing about religion, gender, and sexism at work is very taxing; I did my best to accurately share the groundswell of voices that met my gentle probing for participants. Ladies, thank you! Your words have validated each other in ways I could never imagine.
What began as a search to locate and understand mentorship for Mormon women in business became something much larger and deeply concerning. Mormon women in business not only lack role models and mentorship, but they face compounded sexism in the workforce in direct proportion to the number of Mormon men they work with.
This religiously informed and socially maintained sexism is actively taught at religious universities and later codified when men from these programs form companies in Utah Valley. Tight geographical bounds and a high density of Mormons in business form the perfect crucible to yield precarious results for these women who often have never experienced other work, religious, or social cultures.
The crucible of sexism explodes its geographical bounds as soon as these businesses expand across the globe, creating a brand of Mormon sexism that one never-Mormon woman employee called, "bizarre and different from any company I've ever worked for."
At each stage, women, Mormon or not, face increased level of economic precarity at work and in professional networking. My research explores those precarious settings to show how Mormon church's leadership have the unique power to directly shape Utah’s tech industry and the experiences of their global employees who have never even met a Mormon. In a country with declining rates of religiosity, religion certainly still has a direct and strong hold on our economy and women's economic precarity!
For the full text of my thesis, see the PDF below. I own all copyrights, but I am happy to see it cited and improved by future scholars. A copy also resides at the University of Chicago’s Knowledge Repository.
I continue to write, publish, speak, and consult on the results of this research. I also provide academic, professional, and leadership training on the topics of gender, women’s mentorship and networking, organizational culture, and nurturing ambition. To work with me, please send me a message.