LDS Women and Wage Labor

LDS Women and Wage Labor

This research allows me to explain what I learned about this topic. The reason I chose this topic is that I felt that women are unfairly discriminated against and do not receive equal treatment as men. Also, a lot of women cannot demand for their rights because of gender differences.

I chose the Clyde Archives as my first resource because it had a lot of information about LDS women’s and wage labor and how women were treated by their churches and why they couldn’t ask for their rights. After a lot of research, my part for the presentation was to talk about Mormons women’s voices.

The equal right amendment or ERA, ERA had a major part in women’s lives in 1970. Feminists support it because they didn’t get treated or paid fairly in the work field because they were women. During this time, the LDS churches staunchly opposed the ERA because they were afraid that it would make a gender difference obsolete. An interview happened with lady called Anon she said you don’t really appreciate what is the like to be a man until you see the different treatment at work field between women’s and men’s, this lady was mad on her church because they were against equality and she felt that LDS church was afraid to support ERA because they see that women’s should stay home and take care of their children.

The equal right amendment was a feminist movement; women were waking up all over the country and saying, “Our history isn’t there. Our experience isn’t represented in the publishing business”. Women were unhappy, and at the same time, they were afraid to ask for their rights because they were afraid of the social judgments on them.

Moving to another interview that happened in Utah, this lady stands against women’s liberation because she said I believe that women and men should be paid equally, and it is no difference between women’s and men’s they are both working in the same way. This topic gave me the opportunity to see how women’s feel before many years when they were working really hard, but they didn’t pay fairly just because they are women’s, I feel that gender differences remain, and a lot of business prefer to hire men’s than women.

The role of women’s in society should not be only about taking care of her husband and children, women’s role should be in business, “this world doesn’t need more men, more women trying to be a man, they need women that know what it means to be a woman and fill the measure of their creation in their home. This world needs more women to become independent in their life”.  women need to become independent in their life and they need to depend on themselves because life doesn’t give you any grantee that your husband will support you or stay with you for the rest of his life, women should always be prepared for the worst and became independent in their lives.

One of the landmark speeches was by Bruce Hafen, who said is ok to be feminist as long as you’re an equal right feminist, which means that you just believe that women should have access to education and gave them the right to finish school and ask for equal pay with men’s and all of that. That’s okay if you ask for your rights, but don’t get involved in radical feminism, because that’s evil and tainted. Women should be careful not to become radical because that will affect their rights and will affect their equality.

LDS WAVE, Women Advocating for Voice and Equality, in this interview that happened in Utah, Meredith was talking about Feminist Mormon Housewives, she said that we talk about these feminist issues in the church, they feel that they were talking about the things that want to be different but no one was actually doing anything to change it because they don’t feel that women in the church have a voice, they said that when we discuss between each other and they told them about any project or any new things that we need to change they said, yes you are right but they all know that no one will do anything or change anything.

A lot of women’s were disappointed in the way the Relief society function and that say they’re like this great Relief society that is doing all this great thing for the community, but a lot of women’s never felt like the way that it was actually captured and they really didn’t care about how women’s are going to make life better for women around the world because Mormon women are women’s that live in this world and the impact by public policies that impact women.

The ideal for women was changing and still changing a lot of women before many years they couldn’t ask for their rights because they were afraid, and a lot of church was against women go to work.

Another research that I did I chose to talk about the opinion of LDS church towards women and if their thoughts change during the years, so I decided to talk about (The Family).

“The Family: A Proclamation to the world.” This was a document released by church leader in 1995 that declares what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches bout marriage, children, and family, this proclamation talked about the role of husband and wife when they get married and how each one of them have a role toward their children to make sure that they live in good circumstances.

This proclamation teaches that “Fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.”

This proclamation teaches that father is responsible for their families they are responsible to go to work and make sure that they provide their families with the necessities of life while mother roles is to take care of her children and husband at home, I feel this proclamation is not fair for a lot of women’s because a lot of women’s have dreams that they want to accomplish, our life it’s not only about husband and children but it’s also about making sure that you do what you like and have a huge effect on your community.

Our community need more women to be able to take care of themselves and not to depend on anyone, women before many years start asking for their rights and ask for their equality but nobody support them because LDS churches see that women role is to stay home and take care of her children and husband is more important than going to work. The idle of men should be changed responsibilities should be shared between husband and wife, both husband and wife should have the right to educate and to go to work.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a major effect on women’s wages because still at the end of the 20th and 21st centuries, they consistently take positions that emphasize a mother’s role in the home first.

In the 21^st century, all LDS women do not make the same decision about wage labor, a lot of women start going to work and ask for equal pay like men and a lot of women decided to stay home and take care of children because they feel that women’s role is at home. A lot of women use religion as a reason to emphasize their divine role as a mother.

A lot of churches are still making sure that women teach their daughters that become a mother and take care of children is more important than going to school and become educated women and start looking for a job, as a feminist community we should start teaching young ladies the importance of becoming independent in their lives.

This presentation teach me a lot because it gave me the opportunity to know what other culture thoughts and ideas about women’s and wage labor, I feel that LDS women is similar in a lot of ways like my religion because in my religion a lot of women until this time they can go to work or finish their school, I chose this topic because I felt that it will help me to have better knowledge about other religious and how they stood together and ask about their rights.

First, I want to thank all my team for the great presentation that we did it was honored to work with you guys, Anna Meredith was so helpful she show me the Clyde Archives and what should I do so I can get in, Anna was so helpful she was on the top of answering any question that I have she went over my presentation to make sure that we are all in the same page.

Our plan was to meet every week and collect information about the topic that we chose to talk about, then we start to share our information on google docs to make sure that we are all in the same page, we were always on time no one miss any of the meeting, I’m so glad to have Anna, Sammy and Jaqueline as a part of my team.

Our strategy was to make sure that we use the Clyde Archives as a first resource because it has a lot of information that support our topics, Anna was on the top on making sure that we use Clyde Archives she have a lot of good information about LDS women, she help me a lot with grammar and spelling she was ready to help, Sammy was always making sure to meet and we review what we have while Jaqueline was always ready to meet and I feel as a group we didn’t have any problems we were there for each other and support each other, before we did the presentation we meet at the library and review what we want to say, for me I send my outline to Anna she did a change on it that help me a lot to do better presentation, I feel our team was great because we think as a group and what should we do to have good presentation.

This presentation was not hard like I imagine in the first day I was so worried about what should I do and how it will be, in fact it was a great experience I wish that I could do it again and have more time to share more information with my classmate.

References

Clyde archives, University of Utah, Special collections, collection number Accn2778, http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv88385/op=fstyle.aspx?t=k&q=mormon+women+voices .

The Family, a Proclamation released by the church of Jesus Christ, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world?lang=eng.