An October study by 24/7wallst.com shows Utah is the worst state for women to live in and cited lack of leadership roles in government and unequal pay as part of their findings.
Michael Lyons, associate professor in the political science department at Utah State University said Utah’s conservative culture that promotes traditional gender roles means many women in the state don’t choose leadership positions. He said change is a matter of time.
“You’re never going to convert a population to a different set of political values in a short time-frame," Lyons said. "Instead, what you see is generational replacement, altering cultures and political attitudes.”
Jeannie Johnson, an assistant professor in the political science department at USU, and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said women in Utah are not without a voice, though their choices might infer otherwise.
“There are plenty of women in my neighborhood who would never want to trade places with me," Johnson said. "It is of no interest to them, their interests lie elsewhere. Being active at the community level, being home with their children and they don’t have to make many of the trade-offs that I make and they see those trade-offs as terribly painful and aren’t interested in them.”
Johnson said women in the workforce need to be tougher negotiators and not settle for less pay than their counterparts. She added that what people will find in Utah is mix of an interesting social and cultural texture that reveals a far stronger group of women than considered in the study.
