Her idea vs. His idea…who wins?

I think that most ideas fail out of sheer inertia. The bishop is busy just doing all the stuff that is semi-required for the ward and does not have the time or energy to start a new program.

Of the ideas that are implemented localy – it can be hard to say why one is taken up while another falls of deaf ears. While sexism is probably an inssue, I belief that the greater factor depends on who you know/how connected you are.

I agree with what SD has said.

On the other hand, I do notice that I sometimes get more respect as a man when dealing with women. I am a professional that wears a shirt and tie regularly. When I show up to my children’s schools dressed for work – I do believe that there is some additional respect given there (sometimes bordering on deference).

For this reason, DW and I have decided that I will make the formal classroom placement requests to take advantage of as many positives as we can get.

I do not notice this when dealing with men.

OTOH – DW and I have an Ebay account where we use her name. She includes little thank you notes with every purchase. On Ebay positive feedback (or at least the absence of negative feedback) is important. We feel that people may be less harsh in their critisisms to a woman with the “personal touch.” Therefore DW is our public Ebay face even though I do most of the work.

On a somewhat related topic – I have had several conversations with LDS women over OW. Every time these women say that they do not want the priesthood personally. I find it funny that for a woman to say that she wants the priesthood she is seen as a usurper whereas for a man to say that he doesn’t want the priesthood he is seen as a lazy shirker. :crazy:

I think we tend to ask permission too often, when many things simply can be done without requiring permission.

I think our society (not just Mormon society, but especially there) conditions women to ask permission more than it does for men to do so.

There is absolutely a gender bias.

So I learned that it is easier to get forgiveness than permission as an LDS woman. You want a bible study group??? Start an informal one. If it goes well enough, someone will want to formalize it, slap the ward name on it and claim credit for integrating it.

I am mechanically competent. And yet .. When someone’s car had a problem in the parking lot, and I told them what was wrong .. I wasn’t believed. A man showed up and told them the same thing and suddenly the answer was correct. He was thanked by the car owner. I got an odd stare.

I was looking at Senior Opportunities for service .. And thinking of the future. When we retire, we would love to do some volunteer work overseas, and I know that my speciality is always needed in third work countries. All the positions listed were specifically for a MAN .. And his wife would accompany to do paperwork.

Alas, I don’t think it is much better in society as a whole. This is not church-specific. It just annoys me more within the church. When I am dealing with an organization that is supposed represent God, I expect more acceptance of my god-given talents.

As I have gotten older, I have come to care less about it. Interestingly enough, as I have cared less about making waves, I have gotten more respect. There is still the random dude who feels his priesthood or manhood is threatened by the fact that I own power tools. But I have learned that those are his problems to claim and deal with — not mine.

So how come I’m still pissed off that the YM and YW budgets are not equal .. And the YM do high adventure fun activities .. While the girls get to write in another journal?

Years ago I was in a Ward Council when disagreements came up between the Young Women and the Primary. The bishop’s wife was in the Primary presidency and the bishop consistently sided with the primary. One Sunday the YW president said very loudly something along the lines of “I’m tired of the bishop making decisions based on who he sleeps with.” She had guts and I never saw relaliation against the YW president but I also don’t remember decisions being made differently.

It doesn’t fit the thread exactly but it brought up a funny memory. In general at my local level there seems to be favoritism towards men and young men, especially when it comes to summer activities, but it varies by ward. In my ward the budgets are exactly equal for YM and YW.

Ok, I have yet another tidbit on this. I just read of a transgender college professor (born a woman, now living as a man) that says that he feels that he carries more authority now and that his students respect the class rules and assignment deadlines better now than when he was living as a woman.

I feel like I am just scratching the surface of what makes up someones gender experience.

This is something I’ve noticed as a primary teacher too, the children seem to have more respect for males. It really bothers me, especially since I don’t quite get why that is. I wonder if, at least in the mormon community, since the mother often stays home the children get used to her being around and are more likely to obey their dad’s since they are gone and seem to not have as close a relationship. Or something like that. But it must be more than that since this happens in all places whether people’s mothers stayed home with them or not. that “Magic Man Sparkles” is definitely it, but it pisses me off!