Last week I was listening to The Crüxshadows, a band whose lyrics, lead singer, and violins I simply love, and I knew I heard the right song. My video addresses women's pain and isolation as a whole, but the heart of the video is most specifically about my desire to know more about my Heavenly Mother. My religion teaches that our spirits are literal offspring of Heavenly Parents. While Heavenly Father has a clear doctrinal position as God whom we worship, pray to, make covenants to, and whom we are commanded to learn of, and love, our Heavenly Mother is an almost entirely absent figure in doctrine. I don't know the reason, but I wish for the day when we will know more. I truly, truly do. I don't think it is an unrighteous desire, or an insignificant pang.
4.30.2012
Deception
For Feminist Theories, we were asked to collect images that inspired us and create a collage, video, or other project to display our collection. Now, some years ago I simply loved making collages. I think I got pretty good at them too. But I haven't made any in a few years. So, I certainly considered making one again for class, but I don't really have a lot of images on hand that are inspiring to my Feminist Self, so, I decided to try a Youtube video.
Last week I was listening to The Crüxshadows, a band whose lyrics, lead singer, and violins I simply love, and I knew I heard the right song. My video addresses women's pain and isolation as a whole, but the heart of the video is most specifically about my desire to know more about my Heavenly Mother. My religion teaches that our spirits are literal offspring of Heavenly Parents. While Heavenly Father has a clear doctrinal position as God whom we worship, pray to, make covenants to, and whom we are commanded to learn of, and love, our Heavenly Mother is an almost entirely absent figure in doctrine. I don't know the reason, but I wish for the day when we will know more. I truly, truly do. I don't think it is an unrighteous desire, or an insignificant pang.
Last week I was listening to The Crüxshadows, a band whose lyrics, lead singer, and violins I simply love, and I knew I heard the right song. My video addresses women's pain and isolation as a whole, but the heart of the video is most specifically about my desire to know more about my Heavenly Mother. My religion teaches that our spirits are literal offspring of Heavenly Parents. While Heavenly Father has a clear doctrinal position as God whom we worship, pray to, make covenants to, and whom we are commanded to learn of, and love, our Heavenly Mother is an almost entirely absent figure in doctrine. I don't know the reason, but I wish for the day when we will know more. I truly, truly do. I don't think it is an unrighteous desire, or an insignificant pang.
My Feminist Affirmation
I’ve heard it described as waking up from a long sleep. It is. Or a bell that’s ringing in your head that can’t be unrung. I hear it ringing everyday. Or like coming out of Plato’s Cave, into the light. There is so much more to see now. I am a Feminist, and I know it is my path to selfhood, sisterhood, social justice, and a more perfect world.
It begins with hearing a sister, a friend, a woman in need. Feeling her pain, digging down to the roots of it. It continues with a desire to walk in her shoes, examine the source of her distress, and dissect it. And most importantly, it involves looking inside, discovering the weaknesses we have been conditioned with, and finding new strength, and watching it grow. We can then look outside, we must, we’re drawn to it. We gather our friends, our family, our colleagues, whoever will listen, and we reveal what we now know. What we now believe. What we sincerely question. Our observations and activism flow over like water from a spillway. It is exhilarating.
It begins with hearing a sister, a friend, a woman in need. Feeling her pain, digging down to the roots of it. It continues with a desire to walk in her shoes, examine the source of her distress, and dissect it. And most importantly, it involves looking inside, discovering the weaknesses we have been conditioned with, and finding new strength, and watching it grow. We can then look outside, we must, we’re drawn to it. We gather our friends, our family, our colleagues, whoever will listen, and we reveal what we now know. What we now believe. What we sincerely question. Our observations and activism flow over like water from a spillway. It is exhilarating.
4.18.2012
Restore the Life of Woman to Splendor with Regender (.com)
So, the other day my husband told me about a motivational speaker he listened to on campus. He mentioned that the speaker posted an inspirational quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson up on the projector screen, and then read:
There is a time in every woman's education when she arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that she must take herself for better, for worse, as her portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to her but through her toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to her to till. The power which resides in her is new in nature, and none but she knows what that is which she can do, nor does she know until she has tried.After which, he immediately noticed that while the original quote on the screen had male pronouns, the speaker used female pronouns while reading it. The audience, he noticed, was not primarily made up of women. To make this adjustment to the quote, he thought, seemed weird and unnecessiary, and perhaps even insulting, as it specifically seemed to focus on the need for women to rise to their potential.
4.10.2012
5 Myths About Career Women
The best way to stop stereotypes and myths about women from being perpetuated and internalized in society is to realize what they are, and speak up against them. A while ago, I read about some myths regarding women in the workplace from my text book Women Lead the Way, by Linda Tarr-Whelan, that I felt were important to mention here today. The problem with these myths, the author points out, is that there is a little bit of truth to them. I imagine, just enough to keep some people skeptical. So, after briefly acknowledging that, it's time to dispel these buggers.
Myth 1: Be Patient
Women are told that if they are struggling to advance in their career that they need only be patient, and wait for the opportunity. It's all just a matter of time. However, The New York Times ran an article pointing out that while women have comprised much of the business world for many years, only 2% of the C.E.O.'s of Fortune 500 companies are female. Furthermore, over 10% of these companies don't even have one woman on their board of directors. Ilene H. Lang, president of Catalyst, says, "Women are almost two and a half times as likely to be channeled into staff jobs like H.R. and communications than into operating roles where they would be generating revenue and managing profit and loss." She adds, "When more women hold line positions, there will be more women top earners and C.E.O.'s." Executives and analysts also cite the fact that men at the top tend to choose to work with someone they feel comfortable with, generally other men.
Myth 1: Be Patient
Women are told that if they are struggling to advance in their career that they need only be patient, and wait for the opportunity. It's all just a matter of time. However, The New York Times ran an article pointing out that while women have comprised much of the business world for many years, only 2% of the C.E.O.'s of Fortune 500 companies are female. Furthermore, over 10% of these companies don't even have one woman on their board of directors. Ilene H. Lang, president of Catalyst, says, "Women are almost two and a half times as likely to be channeled into staff jobs like H.R. and communications than into operating roles where they would be generating revenue and managing profit and loss." She adds, "When more women hold line positions, there will be more women top earners and C.E.O.'s." Executives and analysts also cite the fact that men at the top tend to choose to work with someone they feel comfortable with, generally other men.
Showing Support for the LGBTQA Community
Where feminist issues meet religion, it is often difficult to have an open discussion with others. That's why I like to retreat to my feminist Mormon blogs where I can get a healthy dose of it, and don't need to worry about offending anyone. However, my friend Heidi courageously tried to open up a discussion with her roommates a while ago by asking them if they had ever experienced any gender related oppression or discrimination in church. None of them admitted to having any experiences of this kind, or feeling like any members should ever really feel this way. Then she asked them, "What if you were a Mormon lesbian?"
I certainly admire her guts in asking that question. It is blunt, and deserves consideration. I personally am not aware that very many of my acquaintances are LGBTQ, let alone LDS church members who are. But I can only imagine how difficult it would be to identify as one while also being Mormon. I'm glad that members are increasingly more sensitive to issues regarding sexual orientation, and are fostering the development and expression of greater love, tolerance, and acceptance for LGBTQ people. It's totally awesome, in my book. I even read that BYU recently hosted a panel discussion with a few homosexual and bisexual students. It had a big turn out, and was a positive and encouraging event.
Showing support and understanding can begin in simple ways. I'll offer some suggestions from a handout I got in one of my classes a while back.
I certainly admire her guts in asking that question. It is blunt, and deserves consideration. I personally am not aware that very many of my acquaintances are LGBTQ, let alone LDS church members who are. But I can only imagine how difficult it would be to identify as one while also being Mormon. I'm glad that members are increasingly more sensitive to issues regarding sexual orientation, and are fostering the development and expression of greater love, tolerance, and acceptance for LGBTQ people. It's totally awesome, in my book. I even read that BYU recently hosted a panel discussion with a few homosexual and bisexual students. It had a big turn out, and was a positive and encouraging event.
Showing support and understanding can begin in simple ways. I'll offer some suggestions from a handout I got in one of my classes a while back.
4.09.2012
Women and Higher Education in the News
My last post focused on the Utah Women and Education Project and the study they conducted with women from throughout Utah. For those interested, Dr. Susan Madsen gave an interview recently about the study's findings. Thanks to Missy for posting this on Facebook.
4.05.2012
Utah Women and Education Project
Throughout the United States, there are more women enrolled in college than men. The national average for women's enrollment is 57%. However, Utah is well below this average, and at 49% enrollment, we are actually the lowest in the nation. I was surprised in learning this last week when I attended a presentation given by Susan R. Madsen about the Utah Women and Education Project. This project was created to understand and determine why enrollment for women in Utah is so low, and how to move forward and make improvements.
A qualitative research study was conducted to examine the factors influencing Utah women's decisions to go to college. The demographic of the study consisted of 245 women, ages 18-32. 89.9% of the participants were white, 80.4% LDS, 44.1% married, and 56.2% from Salt Lake and Utah counties. Here's a look at the what the research of the UWEP has revealed.
A qualitative research study was conducted to examine the factors influencing Utah women's decisions to go to college. The demographic of the study consisted of 245 women, ages 18-32. 89.9% of the participants were white, 80.4% LDS, 44.1% married, and 56.2% from Salt Lake and Utah counties. Here's a look at the what the research of the UWEP has revealed.
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