Reviews for Impact of Ledbetter v. Goodyear on the effective enforcement of civil rights laws

The average rating for Impact of Ledbetter v. Goodyear on the effective enforcement of civil rights laws based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-09-10 00:00:00 Kathleen Horn Forgive the length of this review; I have a lot to say about “Feminism.” I started reading classic feminist literature in my teens (Susan Fauldi, Germaine Greer, Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill, Betty Friedan, Naomi Wolf, Gloria Steinem, Simone De Beauvoir, Kate Chopin, Henrik Ibsen, Virginia Woolf, etc.). As an undergraduate, I minored in history and took several courses in women’s studies with particular emphasis in slavery, suffrage, and the women’s movement. I also took sociology/world history courses about women’s experiences in places like the Middle East, Africa and China. As a graduate student in educational/counseling psychology, I took courses on development, diversity and minority experience. I have directly benefitted from the contributions to change that women have pushed for over the course of history. I was raised by an educated, single, career-driven mother and also single, artist grandmother. This upbringing has had its challenges, but has also proven to be invaluable as I make my way in the world. I consider myself a feminist. As such, I have applied feminism to my life as I have sought my own fulfillment as a human being (education, politics, career, the arts, motherhood) rather than relying on my husband to provide it for me. In addition, with my knowledge of feminism, my open-minded husband and I have set up a richly satisfying egalitarian marriage/parenting practices. By all above accounts, it would seem that I have a very reasonable understanding of women/gender roles/culture. False assumption. I was completely unprepared with the magnitude to which the truth of women’s experiences in religious patriarchal cultures would hit me. It just goes to show, things are fuzzier when you are in the midst of them, specifically, Mormonism. For me, Sonia Johnson’s memoir “From Housewife to Heretic” was a game changer. Although it was written in the late 1970s, the content is still very current. Minimal change has occurred in the LDS Church in decades and nothing has needed to change because the church wielded its political/financial strength and defeated the Equal Rights Amendment(Much like it has recently defeated Proposition 8).The Church will cling to its power and patriarchy at any cost. Johnson sheds much needed light on common practices and dogma in the Church that have lasting consequences for both sexes and the culture as a whole. Several of the consequences are: “Patriarchy.” In the Mormon Church, patriarchy is sacred; it is held to be the principle of organization by which a male God created and governs the world through other males like himself. It is the masculine glue that holds the world together. Members of the Church are taught this all our lives, and have it reinforced one hundredfold in the temple, the most sacred Mormon structure in which the divinity of maleness—is the basic message. “Priesthood.“ Women are able to have babies, men should have the priesthood=everything else=power=privilege. Women are more spiritual and righteous than men; therefore, men need to have the priesthood to teach the men to be better persons. Women don’t need to hold the priesthood when they have men to act for God on their behalf. Men are women’s link to heaven above even their own personal inspiration. When did God begin being withholding of people for being more righteous? When it served men’s interests. “The Pedestal.” (Patriarchal Reversal.) As the rhetoric about women in a patriarchal institution or society ascends—the oppression descends. As rhetoric becomes more elevated, more exalted- (women are superior and have never had it so good!) -reality sets in where women actually experience their lives. The language is a deliberate attempt to distract women from what is really happening to them in their lives. The rhetoric manipulates our perceptions so we will believe what it benefits men to have women believe. Men are the authorities and women have never had it so good because men say so. “God-ordained Roles” are divisive to women who stay home and those who work. Role theory has systematically subjugated women. It places too much burden on men for sole breadwinning and too much pressure on women to find all they need to at home with children. It perpetuates high levels of intolerance and are also extremely destructive the psyches of those with genetic same sex attraction. If these roles are so sacred and important to keep, where is “Mother in Heaven” and why are we deluded in to thinking that she is too precious and sacred to even acknowledge? Doesn’t she deserve to have a say in the parenting with more than half the world’s population is female? “In Authority.” The mandate for relying almost exclusively on priesthood leaders for spiritual direction provides too much control for leaders over our lives. It is a form of spiritual oppression when we are too dependent upon them for “word from God.” “Institution.” The institution is far more valuable than any of its members who sacrifice their whole lives for it. Politics that are threatening to the institution of the Church are grounds for excommunication and dismissal. Apparently, the idea of equality is grounds for dismissal in the Mormon Church. The patriarchy is so “sacred” that it will use any method necessary to keep it in tact. Lying, intimidation, secrecy, and coercion are all free game for “Men of God”/ “good ‘ole boys club” to use. (The methods used to excommunicate Ms. Johnson were pretty horrifying.) Bottom Line: This book was written years before the enacting of the “Proclamation of the Family” and gender roles were not yet considered doctrinal. In recent years (post women’s movement and in the midst of gay rights) gender roles have become doctrinal and even more dogmatic for the Church and the New Right. There are good men in the Church who believe in priesthood and try to act kindly and honorably, I don’t dispute that a belief in priesthood can guide and inspire them to be better people. Nor do I dispute that women do so much good when they are home with their children. I do however, take issue with the assumption that having babies being is the same league as being able to act for and in the name of God. To me, perpetuating that assumption as “from God” and basing an entire system on that principle feels blatantly wrong and unequal to human beings. I believe in an equal distribution of both “male” and “female” roles in all aspects in order to fully experience humanity. As a memoir, “Heretic” is a little long and flowery, but the content is vital. Overall, highly recommend and worth seeking an out of print copy. “I still thought I could be a good Mormon and a good feminist at the same time. It is an impossible combination. Either one is true to oneself as a woman and to other women out of direct experience of being female, or one is loyal to patriarchy’s idea of what a woman is, which comes out of men’s direct experience of being male and benefiting from the devotion and unpaid labor of women. But women cannot serve two masters at once who are urgently beaming antithetical orders, many women try to do just that—compromising, adjusting, rationalizing, excusing and apologizing for the men and the men’s system. It is psychologically unhealthful and in the long run spiritually disastrous for both sexes. Either we believe in patriarchy—the rule of men over women—or we believe in equality. We cannot believe in both at once. Neither can we with impunity choose not to choose which one we believe in. To remain in indecision erodes great chunks of our identity, along with great chunks of our integrity.”-Sonia Johnson

Review # 2 was written on 2012-02-15 00:00:00 Steve Fehl I think this is an important book for every Mormon feminist to read. (Actually I wish every Mormon would read it; we'd get some more feminists if they did.) It is both inspiring and infuriating. It was often unpleasant to read what Sonia Johnson went through. I wanted to scream at the absurdity of what she experienced. I also felt sad to realize once again that my Church has been the cause of so much suffering. And even more sad to read this book 30 years later and realize how little has changed for women. Still no ERA after so many worked so hard for so long. I think its really important to read the stories of the women who have come before us. It is important to see how their struggles are still our struggles.