http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/business/michelle-munson-of-aspera-on-always-respecting-the-opportunity.html

Who's Michelle Munson? Nothing to do with exMormons, except that she is a great demonstration of the inherent sexism of Mormonism. What are the odds that a girl raised in Mormonism will grow up to become head of a major corporate entity and rate a feature article in one of the world's premier newspapers? It could happen, but the odds aren't good.

Utah has one of the largest wage gaps in the nation between men and women.
Utah has significantly fewer women applying to medical school than other states. And the list could go on and on.

Anecdotally, men raised in Mormonism tend to have difficulty working with women as equals, and working for women. Sheri Dew is their one and only counter-example that Mormon women can succeed in the corporate world, though she is succeeding in a Mormon corporation. LDS Inc may have decided it needed a successful corporate woman, and she was "called" to fill the role.

So, for all you people thinking you will stay in Mormonism for your children, it damages your girls. And boys, in their future ability to work with women.

Mitt. Damaged goods. He had no clue how to be authentic, though surprisingly, his father did. Anyway, don't look for Mormon culture to produce a lot of Michelle Munsons.

When you say that Utah has the largest wage gaps in the nation between men and women, what is that based on?

If it is based on the average wage of a woman compared to the average wage of a man, it would make sense when you look at the culture.

My wife is a good example. We had kids way too young and had way too many. I know - I kick myself often for our choices. But because of that, she was a SAHM. She did not finish her degree or establish a career. Because of that, now that our kids are older, she does not have the skills or resume to find a good paying job. Not that she is not a hard worker, because she is. It is only because of where her skills are at.

I think there are many like her, which brings down the average wage for women.

Now, if the study was comparing same job vs same job, man vs women, my theory is wrong.

Sheri Dew is a poor example, since she's so well connected to the inner circle of Mormonism. She co-owned a home with Kristen McMain (I think) who married Dallin Oaks. (McMain and Dew were/are widely believed to be a lesbian couple.)

cludgie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sheri Dew is a poor example, since she's so well
> connected to the inner circle of Mormonism. She
> co-owned a home with Kristen McMain (I think) who
> married Dallin Oaks. (McMain and Dew were/are
> widely believed to be a lesbian couple.)


Anyone else think Oakes was doing a threesome while in a LDS top executive position?

Actually, you're thinking of Wendy L. Watson. She married Russell M. Nelson in 2006. She's the one that co-owns the house with Sheri L. Dew. It's in Midway, UT. In addition to that, each of their primary residences are a few doors down from each other on the same street.

Hmmmm....

They bought it together in 2000. It is held as Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship (JTWROS), which is something I wouldn't have expected from two (non-related) friends who went in on a 2nd home together. I would have expected to see it held as Tenants in Common (TC).

Right. Watson. As I was writing this, I knew something was wrong and that I might be going down the wrong track.

cludgie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>(McMain and Dew were/are
> widely believed to be a lesbian couple.)

Has there been any actual proof of Sheri's assumed lesbian lifestyle? You would think a lesbian that did have a relationship with Sheri wouldn't feel too bad by outing her.

I supposed the simplest thing could be that Sheri is a A-type personality and a man would hold her back. The irony is she works for a corporation that dictates MAN is always better. Sheri is an anomaly within the organization and the church spins her as something for house wives to look up to as a the city on the hill. She keeps writing books making money for the corp by those house wives that aren't as successful because they are busy breeding.


Anyway -- past lesbian comments I found on the board:



Some rumor posts that came up:

scmd said "I have a female cousin who has come out as a lesbian. She says that Sheri Dew pings in a big way. That's just the opinion from the gaydar of one lesbian, obviously, but she's never told me anything that turned out to be wrong in that regard."
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1093347,1094356#msg-1094356

sistertwister said: "I think Sheri Dew is a very frustrated lesbian. It's a shame she can't be herself."
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1184905,1185018#msg-1185018
Referring to photo: http://ce.byu.edu/cw/womensconference/img/SheriDew.jpg

anonski21 said "I'm convinced that Sheri Dew leads a sad, conflicted life. There is also no doubt in my mind, that she is a lesbian. Her talks and her mannerisms, are exactly like a GA."
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,654431,656174#msg-656174

Picture link: http://www.salamandersociety.com/media/movies/fanclubs/sheri_dew/


KC said: "She lived by me when I was a kid and she rented a house with another woman. I was just a kid (10 or so) but I remember some in the ward thought she was gay, and this was in the mid 80's, well before her climb up the corporate lds ranks. She was not very social, and many of the women in our ward were intimidated by her as I remember my mom talking with her friends about her and just remember the tone. I think her roomate was a softball player as well as played on the ward basketball team. Sandy 42nd ward if I remember right, Albury road not too far from the Lahnems."

In the same thread:
NormaRae said: "She was my sister's neighbor and my sister was her visiting teacher and also lived on Albury lane (so Sherry Dew wasn't the biggest bitch on the street). In fact, you may be the same age as some of my nephews/neices. My sister used to talk about the Lesbian she visit taught until Sherry was called into the RS presidency, then she disclaimed ever saying that because now she had a claim to fame."
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,232398,232966#msg-232966


Nightingale said "Some are (inevitably) speculating that she is lesbian, which may explain why she is unmarried into her 40s/50s in a church that pushes early marriage. My guess is that she is a strong independent woman and it's just really bad luck for her that she is a member of the Mormon Church, that doesn't as a rule uphold such qualities in women. I don't find that a majority of men seem to like independent women (in my experience anyway). It's as if independence is not comfortable or predictable and therefore not as desirable - I'm not sure. But that's even more so the case in Mormonism, where obedience is a high ideal. If you are an obedient female you get married young, breed multiple children and look after the home. Sheri got on with her life which to date hasn't included marriage."

"The fact that she has been given the high (female) callings she has is quite remarkable, given her single status, in a church full of very old men at the top that value the obedient homemaker ideal, which she is not."

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,249328,249328#msg-249328




Sheri Dew Marriage excuse:
she claimed the only reason she wasn't married was because no one ever asked her.

Sheri Dew appears to be comfortable with associating with those that are gay. Yet, publicly tows the line for the church.

"“I have friends living an openly gay lifestyle with kids,” she added. “In every instance, they are caring parents who love their kids and their kids love them. They know I feel it's not my prerogative to judge them. It's their right to choose. ... Those that deal with same-sex attraction have my respect.” 2005.

I guess this similar to a remark by a quickly accused bigot/racist: Hey now, I have lots of "choose ethnic group" friends and we get a long just fine.



Sheri Dew is a poster child for successful women in a corporation. But if she didn't work for the church how successful would she really be working for a UT based business? Does she have the drive and ability to handle the stress for a real For-Profit organization that doesn't peddle belief and religion as a packaged product?

CEO of Deseret Book Company
Director of Bonneville International Corporation
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=30970868&privcapId=4333313&previousCapId=4333313&previousTitle=Deseret%20Book%20Company


HOW do you have time to be successful at both of these positions simultaneously? I learned skill I guess.


I had a nice chuckle at this:
Annual Compensation: There is no Annual Compensation data available.
Stocks Options: There is no Stock Options data available.
Total Compensation: There is no Total Compensation data available.

LD$ Inc. doesn't have to disclose anything in the U.S.

Biggets regret...Her shyness. "...My fear and shyness paralyzed me. My whole life I've felt like I didn't quite measure up. ... It's one of my biggest regrets. I've never gotten over it."Said this in 2002.

I guess her shyness hasn't stopped her anymore.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheri_L._Dew

The whole wage gap issue is one that takes almost no reality into it. In matter of fact, unmarried college-educated women make *more* than men. The wage gap is usually explained by women losing experience by departing the workforce to raise kids or the desire to have a greater degree of flexibility in their lives.

Cite here:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/09/01/129581758/

Now, take those two items that correlate strongly to losing earning power -- departing the workforce to have kids, and desiring a job with greater flexibility in order to raise them -- and you'll understand why Utah's wage gap is seen as so large. It's not because employers are inherently misogynistic; it's because women are willing to take lower pay for greater flexibility or because they lack experience that men in their age cohort may have.

I agree. In addition, all of the time they are away from work with their skills being stagnant it is hard to come back to the workforce.

Imagine a wife that who's skill set is in technology. After three years she's pretty useless. Whatever job she gets in technology is going to be a lower paid job. Unless she is a software developer C ,C++ or Unix Administrator. Java...possibly.

Tech usage advances quickly so when you are out of the game...good luck to that person.

Alpiner Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The whole wage gap issue is one that takes almost
> no reality into it. In matter of fact, unmarried
> college-educated women make *more* than men. The
> wage gap is usually explained by women losing
> experience by departing the workforce to raise
> kids or the desire to have a greater degree of
> flexibility in their lives.
>
> Cite here:
> http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/09/01/12958175
> 8/
>
> Now, take those two items that correlate strongly
> to losing earning power -- departing the workforce
> to have kids, and desiring a job with greater
> flexibility in order to raise them -- and you'll
> understand why Utah's wage gap is seen as so
> large. It's not because employers are inherently
> misogynistic; it's because women are willing to
> take lower pay for greater flexibility or because
> they lack experience that men in their age cohort
> may have.

No one claimed it was for misogynistic reasons. If you take all the men and average their wages and all the women and average their wages, there is a wage gap. Yes, some of the reasons may be wanting more flexibility, loss of skills from leaving the work force. But, that does not change the statistics. Women - especially in mormon households - are the ones EXPECTED to take the more flexible, lower paying job. The ones EXPECTED to leave the workforce. And therefore, the ones who get the lower paying jobs.

Precisely, if we took the lead of say France and other more female friendly work environments women wouldn't be discriminated against for the need to have kids at some point in their lives and need to come and go from the workforce. In mormondumb female education is not encouraged as much as very earily marriage and breeding, so they have nothing to fall back on. Utah and America have to value the work of motherhood and parenthood. We don't care for families. If you want to succeed in the workforce as a woman you have to delay motherhood til you are 40ish and maybe unable to have kids or give it up all together. I know I did that.

I was thinking of Olene too. I knew her time was limited. But it was a nice aberration. Thanks for your post esp about women's non advancement in any management positions in Utah. I experienced the same thing there.
Not getting promoted or paid the same for the same job is very common in Utah. An incompetent male is paid commensurate to two competent females. Hell it's hard to tell the ratio when we aren't allowed on the field or in the cubicle. I think there are a lot of female small business owners in Utah or maybe that's just in America in general... a work around for incompetence and bigotry. I do know there are a lot of incompetent males in positions of power in Utah. It's time they stepped aside.

Thank you! That was exactly the point I was attempting to make. Mormon culture primes women to make decisions that lower their career potential, or keep them from applying to med school. Even in fields where women dominate, like secondary education, in Utah, the leadership jobs like principal and superintendent go overwhelmingly to men.

I worked in the tech industry in Utah, for both Utah companies and out of state companies. In the out of state companies, most of the middle managers were women. My bosses, in effect. In the Utah companies, the women were admin assistants, HR, software testers, package design, documentation.

Remember Olene Walker? She succeeded Mike Leavitt as governor when he joined the Bush 43 cabinet. She had a huge approval rating and would have won reelection no problem. Except her party denied her the nomination. If my parents are any indication, it was because she was a woman. That was their explicit reason why she should not be governor. I think her party may have opposed her because she was also an educator.

IIRC, part of her problem was that she wanted to spend more tax money on public schools at the expense of charter schools, many of which were/are partly owned by some state legislators. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Beats being Monson'd!