Utah Women's Issues
The Utah Women's Issues collection is an artifical collection created by archivists at the Marriott Library comprising of records pertaining to the ERA in Utah, the political activities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for and against the ERA, and general women's issues. There are documents and materials from Utah Divisions of Women's Organizations including the American Association of University Women, the International Women's Year, and the International Federation of University Women. Also included are documents and materials about Utah women's involvement in the arts, education, government, and the workplace.
Utah Women's Issues Collection Finding Aid
American Association of University Women
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) was founded in 1881 by a small group of female college graduates including Marion Talbot who later became the Dean of the College of Women at the University of Chicago, and Ellen Swallow Richards, the first woman to earn a degree in chemistry. [1] Members have included prestigious names such as the first woman elected to Congress, Representative Jeannette Rankin (R-MT) and Gertrude Rand, a pioneering researcher who created the test for color blindness. During WWII AAUW raised money for European scholars who were displaced. In 1963 AAUW president was appointed to the Steering Committee of the National Women’s Committee for Civil Rights.[1]
AAUW is still in operation today, continuing to work towards gender equity, equal pay, and the removal of barriers that prevent women in leadership roles. Their advocacy involves supporting laws and policies that ensure equity and bring about an end to discrimination in an intersectional manner. AAUW recently brought a sexual discrimination case to the Supreme Court in Dukes v. Walmart. [1]
International Women's Year
The year 1975 was designated International Women’s Year (IWY) by the United Nations. It included the first international conference on the status of women, held in Mexico City, Mexico. The purpose was, in part, to remind the international community of the discrimination faced by women throughout the world. At the conference three objectives were identified: full gender equality with the elimination of gender discrimination, the full integration and participation of women in development, and an increase in the contribution of women towards world peace. The conference resulted in a World Plan of Action over a 10 year period as part of a sustained effort to achieve its outlined goals. This 10 year period was designated “Women’s Decade.” [2]
Following the UN conference the US Congress established the National Commission for the Observance of International Women’s Year with the goal of holding women’s conference in every state before July 1977. At each conference the state was charged with electing 14 delegates to attend the National Women’s Conference in November. Utah’s first meeting of the Women’s Conference Coordinating Committee was in February 1977 [3] and was scheduled for late June at the Salt Palace.[4]
With an attendance of over 10,000 Utah’s conference was one of the largest in the nation. [5] Contention stirred when women within the Church of Latter-day Saints and the Relief Society in particular were asked to ensure that at least 10 women from each ward attended the conference to “share their individual values and viewpoints.” With this initiative the number of attendees swelled, from the predicted 3,000 to over 13,000 with an estimated 9,000-12,000 LDS registrants. [4] Despite the Committee chairperson, Jan L. Tyler, being an active member of the LDS Church and a BYU faculty member, along with half of the committee consisting of LDS members, the conference was full of distrust and animosity among the LDS attendees. The committee was accused of a feminist bias and prefiling their preferred nominations while ignoring those named by LDS members. Dixie Huefner was a Relief Society member who attended the conference and recalled the atmosphere of the crowd,[6]
“the fact that organizers and nominees were generally interested in the women’s movement seemed both perverse and conspiratorial to most conference participants – who were not similarly interested an had therefore passed up chances to become involved until the Church had rallied them. It was not until after the conference was over and their control secure that the majority would acknowledge that the Coordinating Committee had run the conference fairly and had not used dirty tricks…” [6]
In the end, all national resolutions had been defeated including a resolution supporting the ERA, a resolution urging compliance with Title IX, assistance for young parents in school, increasing the number of women in elective and appointive office, and revising rape laws to include all types of sexual assault against adults while providing graduated degrees of the crime to apply to assault by or upon both sexes. [6] However, all involved warned against interpreting the outcome of the conference as members of the Church of Latter-day Saints opposing women’s issues. When speaking to the New York Times a couple of months later Jan Tyler and Esther Landa, head of the National Council of Jewish Women, “cautioned against concluding from the I.W.Y.’s experiences there that no potential existed for a discussion of women’s issues between feminists and the Mormon Church” Barbara Smith, the president of the Relief Society, “had maintained that the church’s domination of the Utah convention should not be interpreted as a complete rejection of women’s concerns.” [7]
Of the 14 delegates and 5 alternatives elected at the conference only 1 was not an LDS member, all but 1 were white, and all were anti-ERA. [6] As the National Committee had charged each state with elected a delegation of “balanced representation” the Church Women United of Utah filed a formal challenge with the National Committee, claiming that Utah’s delegation wasn’t representative of Utah’s populace. [8] In October of 1977 the National Committee appointed 9 “at-large” delegates for Utah to attend in conjunction with the 14 elected delegates. The 9 at-large delegates would sit separately from the elected delegates, but still have the same voting power. [9] While the National Committee argued that this was to “correct underrepresentation” many within the LDS community and the elected delegates themselves perceived this action as an attempt to diminish their vote and forcefully ratify the ERA, which Georgia Peterson, the chairperson of the Utah delegation, called the IWY’s “one goal.” [9] Of the 9 at-large delegates all but 1 vocally supported the ERA, all but 1 were white, and the majority were middle to upper class.[9]
Graduate Women International
The organization Graduate Women International was originally named International Federation of University Women (IFUW). This organization is over a century old and continues to work on promoting education for women and girls, international cooperation, encouraging women leadership, and advocating the advancement of the status of women. [10] Founded in 1919 the IFUW was established by British university professors visiting the US meeting with the Dean of Barnard College. The three women agreed that an international federation of university women was needed to help prevent another world war. Soon IFUW established annual conferences and fellowships for women researchers. In late 1920’s the IFUW amended the constitution to state “No federation or association shall be admitted or retained as a member or IFUW which debars qualified women from membership by reason of their race, religion or political opinions.” [11]
During WWII many IFUW affiliates in Nazi occupied areas were “invited to dissolve”, beginning a 7 year stretch in which the IFUW wasn’t able to operate. This was in part due to its leadership, and many members, being consumed with the war efforts, but many were imprisoned in concentration camps, displaced due to invasion, and killed. In the end few IFUW associations in Central and Eastern Europe persist after WWII. It wasn’t until 1991-1992 that many of these countries reestablished their memberships.
IFUW assisted in the planning and implementation of the World Conference of the International Women’s Year held in Mexico City in 1977 by the United Nations. In recent decades the organization has focused on human rights, increasing access to education, and development projects. [11] In 2015 IFUW changed its name to Graduate Women International. [12]
[1] American Association of University Women Our History. (n.d.). AAUW : Empowering Women since 1881. https://www.aauw.org/about/history/
[2] United Nations. (1975). World Conference of the International Women’s Year. United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/conferences/women/mexico-city1975
[3] Marriott Library Special Collections International Women’s Year records - Archives West. (2019). Orbiscascade.org. https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv98431
[4] Nelson, A. (1977, June 26). Women’s Convention Hostility Mounts [Review of Women’s Convention Hostility Mounts]. Salt Lake Tribune, 1–2. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=28884753
[5] Worldwide Organizationfor Women (2019) History . Worldwideorganizationforwomen.org. https://worldwideorganizationforwomen.org/history/
[6] Huefner, D. S. (2024, April 13). Church and Politics at the IWY Conference - Dialogue Journal. Dialogue Journal. https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/church-and-politics-at-the-iwy-conference/
[7] Crewdson, J. (1977, August 10). N.Y. Times Recounts LDS Domination of IWY Confab [Review of N.Y. Times Recounts LDS Domination of IWY Confab]. The Newspaper: Park City, 2. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=22797588
[8] Nelson, A. (1977, August 11). Group Files Formal Challenge to IWY Delegation from Utah [Review of Group Files Formal Challenge to IWY Delegation from Utah]. Salt Lake Tribune, 79. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6r558mb
[9] United Press International. (1977, October 14). Nine IWA delegates selected from Utah [Review of Nine IWA delegates selected from Utah]. Logan Herald Journal, 4. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s65x85qw
[10] Graduate Women International (GWI) (2019, November 25). Our Vision Graduate Women International (GWI). https://graduatewomen.org/who-we-are/our-vision/
[11] Graduate Women International (GWI). (n.d.) GWI Timeline https://graduatewomen.org/who-we-are/our-story/gwi-timeline/
[12] Graduate Women International (GWI). (2023, August 10). Our Story - Graduate Women International (GWI). Graduate Women International (GWI). https://graduatewomen.org/who-we-are/our-story/