Study: Utah women in tech report religious sexism
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A recent study concludes women who work in Utah's tech industry frequently miss out on career advancement due to gender norms that echo teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
State of play: Women here are often excluded from networking opportunities and consideration for promotion by male bosses, University of Chicago researcher Alyssa Calder Hulme concluded in her master's thesis, first reported by KUER.
The big picture: Women in Utah's tech industry make 76.2% of what their male counterparts do, according to a separate analysis by Design Rush, a hub for marketing agencies. That's nearly 10% worse than the national pay gap in tech.
- In a survey released this year by the Utah Women & Leadership Project, about 27% said "religious influence" was a challenge for women and girls in the state.
- Some Utah companies have sought to go public but were rebuffed by Nasdaq because their leadership was all white and male, Business Insider reported in 2023.
ICYMI: Utah's software developer salaries are exceptionally high and growing fast
The intrigue: Hulme found Mormonism's influence in workplaces exacerbated women's exclusion — and not just due to its history of discouraging mothers from working outside the home.
- The faith's pattern of segregating members by gender from an early age and urging married men not to socialize with women made it difficult for employees to gain mentorship and build relationships necessary for advancement, she wrote.
How it works: Hulme interviewed 37 MBA-holding women and 57 of their coworkers, recruiters, teachers and classmates, focusing on employees at an unnamed "late-stage" startup in Utah with annual revenue over $1 billion.
What they're saying:
- "My boss ... makes it really, really clear that he is Mormon and believes women's proper place is to stay home once they have children. It's super awkward, too, because my team is pretty much all women." — An employee who unsuccessfully sought a promotion while pregnant
- "We all know that leadership really doesn't think women should be working at all, let alone mothers." — An employee who said business metrics are sometimes left unadjusted for maternity leave, to make women appear less productive than they actually are
- "They said they didn't want to take me away from my 'primary responsibility.' They did not even let me decide; they decided for me." — An employee who said she was excluded from meetings and emails by men who quoted the church's "Family Proclamation" on gender roles
- "Even our bosses ... are scared to go to lunch with us or be alone with us in a public setting. They are worried about being seen with us. ... I have a high-profile role and am a top performer. But at the end of the day, that doesn't matter." — An employee who previously taught at what Hulme describes as a top business school
Catch up quick: Several women in Utah's tech industry told Business Insider their employers were "Mormon boys' clubs," where they were held to unequal standards while male peers — friends with the bosses — were rewarded for underperformance.
The other side: An employee at Ancestry.com, another Utah tech firm, told Business Insider multiple women had ascended to the C-suite.
- The company works closely with the church itself.
Silicon Slopes, a nonprofit that represents the tech industry, did not respond to Axios' request for comment.