‘No woman will ever be president’: A USU study of sexism in Utah

By Kaigan Mears Bigler

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    SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (KSL) — “You haven’t found a husband yet, huh?”

“You’re getting a little fat.”

“That’s a high score for a girl.”

“Women just cause drama.”

Many women face unsolicited comments from people around them — remarks on appearance, work ethic, parenthood and intelligence — from supervisors, family members and strangers. A recent study found that Utah women are no strangers to these comments.

In a survey of 839 participants conducted by researchers at Utah State University, most felt they had experienced bias due to their gender and received what were perceived as sexist comments directed toward them.

The survey also found that participants who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were more likely to feel that Utah is home to increasing gender equality, as compared to members of other religions or nonreligious participants.

The survey — part of a study conducted by Utah Women and Leadership Project founding director Susan Madsen and project researchers Robbyn Scribner and April Townsend — mainly consisted of participants sharing comments made toward them that were perceived as sexist. The 839 participants could submit up to four comments, which resulted in a total of 1,750 comments.

A leadership forum held on Oct. 10 brought Madsen and Scribner together with marriage and family therapist Heather Sundahl and CEO of EluVen Ventures Deneiva Knight to discuss how the results of the survey reflect sexism in Utah. The survey was broken down into four categories of sexism toward women: inequity and bias, objectification, stereotypes and undervaluing women.

A summary of findings for each category is listed, along with links to the study briefs.

Inequity and bias “I was taking a standard exam and the person running me through the timing/rules asked what score I was hoping for and told me it was ‘a high score for a girl,'” one anonymous participant said. Other comments were about being told the participant didn’t “look” like an engineer, personal ideas being ignored until a male colleague brought up the same idea and a manager having a male peer present female-conducted research because “it will look better coming from a man.”

37.6% of the 1,750 sexist comments submitted were categorized as inequity or bias. The researchers defined inequity and bias as not seeing the genders as equal, showing backlash toward feminism, and emphasizing the gender pay gap and hiring inequity between genders.

Objectification One submission said, “Upon meeting for the first time, a man said, ‘My wife is here somewhere. She used to model, but she was too weak to get back into shape for me after the kids were born.'”

Another said, “He said, ‘You’re getting a little fat here (grabbed the back of my arm in the triceps area). I bet you could … run on your lunchtime.'”

Objectification comments totaled 35.7% of the 1,750 comments submitted. Comments on women’s physical appearance categorized 251 of the 625 overall objectification submissions. During the forum, Scribner said the “most horrific” submissions were in the objectification category, and were so graphic that they could not be included in the brief. Participants who shared objectification comments most often received the comments at work. Stereotypes “I overheard my supervisor tell the boss once that he wished they didn’t have to hire any women as women ‘just cause drama.'”

“When I informed a certain man, to whom I had just been introduced, that I was in the process of getting my Ph.D., his response was, ‘You haven’t found a husband yet, huh?'”

69.8% of the submitted comments were categorized as stereotyping. The stereotypes most often assumed of the participants of the study were that women need to be homemakers rather than employees and that once women became mothers they were penalized in the workplace. Again, stereotyping comments were most often received at work, and most often from someone with authority over the study participant. Undervaluing women “I had an assignment to research a career that interested me. When I asked my teacher to approve my topic, he looked at it and said, ‘No woman will ever be president. Pick a different topic.’ He handed my paper back.”

Of the 1,750 comments, 50.7% were related to undervaluing women. Undervaluing women was most often categorized as discrediting women’s contributions, assuming incompetence and treating women like children. The study researchers concluded the introductory brief by writing, “We hope to educate readers on the various ways that language and related behaviors can demean and disempower women, especially for those who may not realize their words are problematic. … By raising awareness of the widespread occurrence and damaging effects of sexist language, comments, beliefs, and behaviors, we can reduce the frequency of sexism in our homes, neighborhoods, communities, and the state as a whole.”

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