The Silent Majority: Conservative Perception, Mobilization, and Rhetoric at the Utah State International Women's Year Conference
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Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2005-03-08 The Silent Majority: Conservative Perception, Mobilization, and Rhetoric at the Utah State International Women's Year Conference Jenny Lynn Mcgee Harris Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the History Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Harris, Jenny Lynn Mcgee, "The Silent Majority: Conservative Perception, Mobilization, and Rhetoric at the Utah State International Women's Year Conference" (2005). Theses and Dissertations. 270. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/270 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. THE SILENT MAJORITY: CONSERVATIVE PERCEPTION, MOBILIZATION, AND RHETORIC AT THE UTAH STATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S YEAR CONFERENCE by Jenny Lynn McGee Harris A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History Brigham Young University April 2005 Copyright © 2005 Jenny Lynn McGee Harris All Rights Reserved BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY GRADUATE COMMITTEE APPROVAL of a thesis submitted by Jenny Lynn McGee Harris This thesis has been read by each member of the following graduate committee and by majority vot e has been found to be satisfactory. Date Brian Q. Cannon, Chair Date Thomas G. Alexander Date Mary Stovall Richards BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY As chair of the candidate’s graduate committee, I have read the thesis of Jenny Lynn McGee Harris in its final form and have found that (1) its format, citations, and bibliographic style are consistent and acceptable and fulfill university and department style requirements; (2) its illustrative materials including figures, tables, and charts are in place; and (3) the final manuscript is satisfactory to the graduate committee and is ready for submission to the universit y library. Date Brian Q. Cannon Chair, Graduate Committee Accepted for the Department Neil L. York Department Chair Accepted for the College Renata Forste Associate Dean, College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences ABSTRACT THE SILENT MAJORITY: CONSERVATIVE PERCEPTION, MOBILIZATION, AND RHETORIC AT THE UTAH STATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S YEAR CONFERENCE Jenny Lynn McGee Harris Department of History Master of Arts Held in 1977, the Utah State International Women’s Year (IWY) Conference became a battleground. Mobilized by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and conservative groups, 14,000 women revolted against the state coordinating committee. Chaired by Jan Tyler, Utah’s IWY committee tried to plan the conference to include both liberals and conservatives; however, they found themselves overwhelmed by the audience. The participants rejected all nationally formulated resolutions, voted against or reworded workshop-sponsored resolutions, and elected to the National IWY Conference an overwhelmingly LDS, conservative slate of delegates. Mobilization of conservatives at Utah’s meeting was complex. The LDS Church enlisted the help of state representative Georgia Peterson to encourage LDS members to v attend and to promote a slate of conservative LDS women. Concurrently, Dennis Kerr and the Conservative Caucus mobilized conservatives through political channels to encourage attendance. Conservatives were suspicious of the National IWY Committee and Utah’s IWY committee, their motives, and practices. They feared resolutions would be passed that they did not endorse. Conservatives believed this meeting was part of a national conspiracy to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. In addition, they wanted delegates who would represent them and t heir values at the National IWY Conference in Houston. While so me conservatives voted blindly against resolutions, the rhetoric within workshops shows that many women who attended the conference had defendable reasons for rejecting resolutions. These conservatives opposed resolutions that favored increased taxes, federal control, reverse discrimination, the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion, and homosexuality. Conservatives rewrote or altered resolutions to advocate local control, community involvement, reform of government agencies, protection of traditional gender roles, and volunteerism. Understanding conservatives’ motivations and rhetoric in this conference explains why they acted the way they did and their objections to many liberal tenet s. Conservatives saw Utah’s meeting as a bat tlegro und, and they came prepared to fight. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my chair, Dr. Brian Cannon, not only for his critique of this document but his endeavors to challenge me personally. Dr. Thomas Alexander and Dr. Richards both deserve recognition for their editorial suggestions. All three members of my committee contributed a unique perspective to this work. Any greatness it espouses is in part theirs as well. I would also like to thank those conservatives who shared their experiences with me, believing that I would tell their story. Finally, my gratitude extends to my family and my wonderful husband, who has never wavered in his support. It is to him that I dedicate this work. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..............................................................................................vii PREFACE......................................................................................................................ix Chapter I: THE ORIGIN OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S YEAR, INCLUDING A HISTORIOGRAPHIC OVERVIEW OF UTAH’S CONFERENCE.....................1 II: PREPARING FOR BATTLE: PERCEPTION AND MOBILIZATION OF CONSERVATIVE GROUPS AND THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS..............................................33 III: THE SILENT MAJORITY SPEAKS: CONSERVATIVE ACTIONS AND RHETORIC AT THE UTAH STATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S YEAR CONFERENCE.................................................................................................67 IV: EVALUATION OF CONSERVATIVE ACTIONS AT THE UTAH STATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S YEAR CONFERENCE.................................107 APPENDIX.................................................................................................................127 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................149 viii PREFACE [For the Utah International Women’s Year Conference] I was asked to serve on the Displaced Homemakers Committee. As we neared the time for convening the co nference, news of other conferences in other states not only filtered in, but crashed through every media and personal source available. The state was hot with debate and finally panic. The [National] IWY had, in many eastern and midwestern states, overwhelmed the debate and the voting process and had passed very controversial resolutions without many of the local people having a voice in it. It seemed, from reports coming in[,] that the Feminist Agenda, manifested in the conferences, was intent upon swallowing up dissent and passing their resolutions come what may. The issues, without this advance swelling dissent, were hot,[;] we had to deal with them in our committee work. All of us on the committee were concerned, however, with the lack of advance material. Those who had signed up to attend were not receiving the books that were promised to study ahead of time. This was a four hundred page book with a lot of stuff in it. They kept saying the books were coming, but they didn’t. So people got more and more suspicious. There were hateful rumors surfacing that the [LDS] Church had waged a big campaign, that church authorities at all levels had gathered their groups and insisted that they attend and vote what the Church wanted them to. That deepened each day and opposition began to build. An ugly black cloud was floating over the valley. We could see a huge conflict coming, and it seemed we could do nothing about it.1 Gloria Firmage, a conservative, helped plan the Utah State International Women’s Year (IWY) Conference. Held in 1977, the Utah IWY Conference became a battleground. Mobilized by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and conservative groups, 14,000 women revolted against the state coordinating committee. 1Gloria Firmage, Unpublished Memoirs, 258-259, copy in author’s possession. ix They rejected all nationally formulated resolutions, voted against workshop-sponsored resolutions on affirmative action, the ERA, abortion, sex education, and federal interference in local or family interests, and elected to the National IWY Conference an overwhelmingly LDS, conservative slate of delegates. The fourteen women who formed the delegation became an isolated and despised minority at the national convention at Houston in November of 1977. The LDS Church became involved in Utah’s conference in a variety of ways. The then-current president of the LDS women’s organization, Barbara Smith, wanted to encourage women to attend. A letter sent by one male leader, Ezra Taft Benson, 2 directed each church, congregation, or ward to send ten women as delegates to the conference. Many wards interpreted this as a call to arms. To complicate matters,