Utah/Salt Lake City and women (rental, home, schools)

[easternerDC]

So it looks like I will be relocating to SLC sometime in the next 6 months (maybe as soom as March!). I have been talking to a lot of people, and using this site as a reference to get opinions. I have been ignoring what seem to be rants by bitter, unhappy people, and am waiting to make my own opinion (after all if I don't like Utah, I can always move somewhere else!)

I was talking to someone who moved to SLC a few years ago and recently moved back east. She said that the treatment of women in Utah was something she could not get used to.

Does anyone have a sense of if the work/social culture is really male-dominated?

[thwrosdlton]

I'm not sure you can draw any conclusions from my experience reading the SLC personal ads on another site. Women seeking men.

People are supposed to place ads only and not post comments, but it seems that a few men there are offended that some women are looking non-white men. If fact one women was called racist because she was looking for latin men. Other women are attacked for being too direct about the type of relationship or men they're seeking. One women was blasted for posting an ad looking for a man to pay for a strickly platonic ski day. I admit it was an unusal ad, but so what? Doesn't she have a right to post it without being judged?

[chazcrew]

I haven't noticed women being treated badly in Utah, and as a woman, I figure I should know. And yet, others keep saying women are subservient, second-class citizens here, so I guess I'm just so brainwashed I don't even realize it. I'd better take my voter card, college degree, driver's license, and passport and hand them to my husband. I'm sure he knows what's best anyway. I am currently barefoot, but I'm not pregnant, so I'd better get right on that...

Oops. Sorry for the sarcasm. I'm a bit touchy on the subject. In all seriousness, you may find that the culture here is different from what you're used to. I don't know. I suspect you'll find a higher percentage of stay-at-home moms, fewer unmarried career women, etc. The culture does lean toward getting married, having kids, and staying home to raise them. But I don't see that as men dominating so much as women choosing what they want to do. In that sense, Utah is full of feminists!

One more thing: I am a sahm myself, and haven't worked outside the home since I had my first baby, so the corporate culture might very well be male-dominated without my being aware of it. But if that is the case, I suspect it's not all that different from other places. Men run the world, women run the men.

[LlasaLost]

I'm not sure in what context you are asking, but will share a little information:

Utah was the second state (after Wyo) to give women the vote (actually, an attempt was made to give them suffarage in 1870 but Congress refused to allow it).

If you are talking from the perspective of the LDS Church, then the women are honored, and have always been (although that doesn't mean some individual male dodo now and then doesn't ignore the directive to do so).

If you're talking education the women have always been encouraged to seek the best and most extensive education possible. In fact, some of the very first female doctors in the US were from Utah--sent to East Coast medical schools by Brigham Young.

In politics they play a part (the new District Attn. of Utah is female).

What was your friend referring to?

[michelleleigh]

Hey I am looking forward to moving to Utah I am a women and I am not LDS. I am married and I do stay at home,however I have had women treat me llike I am an iidiot for doing so. Then they ask me if my husband is controlling. Its crazy I mean i think for them if they are happy working then its great.

[michelleleigh]

Of course I am going to get in trouble for this one. I have never seen so many women yell at men as I have in my 2 years in NY. I love this state people are friendly and its so beautifull but the women yell at the men.

[easternerDC]

I don't know what the specific beef was, but basically that women were not treated as equals in the workplace, and society in general was fairly male dominated. I also had heard that in some situations, if a male and female are present, the male will mostly be addressed (i.e. rental managers, repair people, etc) Her opinion, though, and she and I may react differently, so I I came here to see what the perspective of people living in Utah was.

I am pretty career oriented (warm fuzzy non-profit work) very independent. Not sure how that will come off in society.

Like I said before, I don't take what she said for fact, just her reaction after living in SLC for 2 years. I like to be well informed though and prepared for where I am going to be moving.

I guess Utah just needs to be prepared for a independent, opinionated, strong , female demcrat... hahah (I am also 31, not yet married, w/live in boyfriend and no kids, so I guess I will just be "weird")

I did read about the suffrage and the place on women in LDS (doin' my research on the net too!

Thanks! more opinions are welcome!

[LlasaLost]

Dear DC---had to respond to your statement (below). I don't know what utopia your friend has found back East---but, having lived in quite a few places outside of Utah I have to say that the reported behavior is alive and well outside of Utah, not just within its borders--such rudeness has exhibited itself everywhere (have you ever taken a car into a garage and been treated like the village idiot?). This mind-set knows no state boundries. Oh, and FYI, it gets worse as you get older; then you become, not only an idiot woman, but invisable as well.


QUOTE=easternerDC;160828]I don't know what the specific beef was, but basically that women were not treated as equals in the workplace, and society in general was fairly male dominated. I also had heard that in some situations, if a male and female are present, the male will mostly be addressed (i.e. rental managers, repair people, etc)

[coolcats]

I work part-time in the corporate HR department for the largest bank in the state. It was founded by Mormon pioneers about 150 years ago and became independent from the LDS church in the 1950s. It's now a $42 billion corporation with a presence in most of the Western states now.

My direct boss is a non-LDS woman who was recruited here from back east earlier this year. Her boss, the chief of corporate HR, is also a non-LDS woman. I don't know everyone's religious leanings, but I think that active church-going LDS folks are in the minority. Just my anecdotal experience and take it for what its worth.

[aimless35]

Originally Posted by easternerDC

Does anyone have a sense of if the work/social culture is really male-dominated?

Yes, in my experience. Utah is the seventh state I've lived in since adulthood , and this place definitely seems to place women second. It's not that it doesn't happen elsewhere, it does, but it is more prevalent here. A majority of women here still expect to be taken care of once they are married, as opposed to any of the many alternatives. And so many of them seem to just be marking time until they can get married. There's not a lot of encouragement for them to build careers or any interests outside of family. Just as an example - the Boy Scouts around here are heavily touted and there are troops associated with every LDS church. However my neighbor had a hard time finding a Girl Scout troup for her girls. It's not that there aren't girls around here - it's just that nobody is interested in teaching those girls to be the leaders of the future.