This is the history of those noble women who came into the territory, struggling to relieve the burden of poor medical service. This is an account of how well or how poorly they conducted the art of midwifery. From the first year the pioneers entered the region in 1847, down to 1896 when statehood was achieved, though there were male physicians in the field of medicine, Utah depended on its women. This is a study of their contribution.

Analysis of survey data collected from more than 400 LDS women (n=429) indicates that as the number of non-LDS or inactive LDS network associates increases, so does the women's identification with modern female TV characters. The frequency of network conversations about television also correlates to several television behaviors and attitudes such as watching entertainment and informational TV programming, identifying with modern characters, and regarding TV as useful. Mirroring the national trend, LDS women who are more educated use television less. A model is presented which details the flow and impact of personal network influence on the television habits and attitudes of a group of LDS women. These findings support the theory of audience individuality even within a highly conservative religious group of media users.

The present study is comprised of two parts: 1) an exploratory ethnography of a contemporary polygynous community governed by a strong patriarchal ideology in Pinesdale Montana with emphasis on social relationships, and 2) an analysis of the factors which have allowed women's groups to develop in Mormon fundamentalism. The ethnographic account of the community contextualizes the occurrence of female groups in Pinesdale. A model of the formation of female groups designed by Nancy Leis (1974) in her study of the West African Ijaw is used to provide a better understanding of how female groups are formed, and is applied to the Pinesdale community. This model suggests that the combination of features relevant to the occurrence of female groups are virilocality, patrilineality, polygyny, and economic independence. In spite of the kin-based nature of her African study, which limits its applicability to Western society, Leis suggests that her model "would predict the presence or absence of women's groups elsewhere," and encourages a cross-cultural study to prove her hypothesis. My thesis investigates the strengths and limitations of Leis' model within an ethnographic framework.

This thesis is comprised of ten Mormon women's miscarriage stories and it is their stories that are used as the text for my analysis. The purpose of the study is to provide a space for these women to share their experiences and to reveal their cultural values and beliefs. Because the women are all Mormon, there are some distinctive cultural and religious values that are shared within their stories and it is these aspects that are analyzed and discussed within the text.Women need to be able to share their miscarriage stories so as to alleviate feelings of isolation and grief. Many of the women in the interviews agreed that talking to others about their miscarriage helped them to feel less isolated and that they were not alone in their experience. Because there is no specific ritual in our society for miscarriage, women struggle to know how to deal with their grief. Again, being able to talk about their experience provides a "marker" to remember the pregnancy--to animate the invisible.A common response found with women who miscarry is a sense of guilt--guilt that they somehow caused the demise of the pregnancy by strenuous physical exercise, feelings of uncertainty about wanting the pregnancy or taking medications that could affect the baby. These feelings of guilt extended into religious issues as some of the women questioned whether the miscarriage was a result of their spiritual state or their relationship with God.The women also talk in detail about the actual physical occurrence of the miscarriage. Many described how they felt about their bodies during and after the miscarriage. There were feelings of embarrassment or weakness and they questioned why their body had reacted the way it did. Enabling the women to talk about their bodies in such an intimate and personal way can be empowering as well as an excellent means to educate the women's societies about the real physical and emotional effects of miscarriage.

This thesis will describe and interpret the development of this Relief Society wheat storage program from its inception in 1876 to 1940 when the program was transferred to the General Church Welfare Committee. Emphasis will be placed on the sisters' attempts to store grain and the problems they encountered. The thesis will also discuss the effects of outside forces on the program and the different ways the sisters used the grain. The final chapter will deal with the relationship between the movement and the history of the Relief Society and its parent organization, the Mormon Church.

This thesis project explores the discourse in Mormon culture addressing Mormon female communities. The discussion is sociological rather than theological and examines the functional characteristics of discourse found in the tradition regarding women. It sets out to review a paradox in the discourse addressing Mormon women that has been documented over time. I examine how this paradox in Mormon discourse establishes and limits women's roles; to do so, I use personal examples and the experience provided by thirteen women whom I interviewed.The thesis is divided into three main discussions: Community, Discursive Action and Cooperation. My methodology involves a theoretical discussion of discourse and community and observes how discourse helps to create and shape identities with respect to that community. I then use the theoretical discussion to illuminate poignant moments of social texture through collected interviews. My method of ethnography involved tape-recorded interviews with thirteen women. The thesis reviews the women's discourse as representative samples that demonstrate how the paradox has created resistance and sometimes confusion in their own lives. I then make suggestions for addressing particular discursive practices with an eye toward fostering respect and appreciation for and among Mormon women.

The purpose of this study was to build theory about parasocial relationships and to examine what affect, if any, religion had on parasocial relationships. Using qualitative methods, the researcher watched the show three times with five women followed by an in-depth interview. The women chosen were LDS stay-at-home moms who had watched a soap opera for at least a year. From this data came several surprising findings about religion and soap opera viewing. The women said they did not feel guilty about the content of the shows, rather the time required to watch. This guilt was alleviated by structuring their daily tasks around watching the shows. Also, since the women viewed the show as entertainment, they were less likely to judge the actions of the characters as harshly as if it were real-life. Current life situation was also the biggest factor in whether or not a parasocial relationship existed and how strong that relationship is. This thesis illustrates the need for a comprehensive theory about parasocial relationships. As the media becomes more prominent in our lives, parasocial relationships will need to become understood in greater detail in order to understand what possible effect, if any, they could have.

This thesis explores Mormon women's experiences with death as revealed in their personal writings from 1847-1900. The study includes an examination of women's involvement in caring for the sick and tending to the dead, as well as an exploration of women's personal reactions to death. A careful reading of Mormon women's writings from this period reveals that Mormonism equipped believers with powerful doctrines and rituals which helped women cope with the sorrow and profound grief that accompanied the deaths of those they loved. In addition, members living in Mormon communities rendered invaluable physical, emotional, and spiritual support to each other as they cared for the sick and dying, prepared the dead for burial, and dealt with the lingering sense of loss brought on by death. Significantly, special community-sanctioned customs and traditions associated with illness and death provided solace in difficult times.

This study ethnographically explores the experiences of 30 American Mormon women who chose to give birth at home, a practice which differs from the culturally expected birth practice supported by most media birth scenes. The dominant birth practice among American Mormon women aligns with the biomedical birth system nearly universally practiced in the United States. Recent research indicates that the biomedical model is supported by most media portrayals of birth (Elson 1997b). Mormon women who had given birth at home with a midwife were located and invited to participate. A semi-structured interview guide was used to frame the research process. Verbatim transcriptions of the interviews provided the raw data for coding and analysis.

Within the Mormon culture, women are expected to marry, raise children, and be a "helpmeet" to their husbands. Both men and women are taught that they cannot attain the highest degree of heaven unless they are married in a Mormon temple, where they have been "sealed for time and all eternity." Although neither one can achieve this lofty goal without the other, and although there are some aspects of the Mormon culture in which there is a fair degree of equality between men and women, there is no denying that this is a patriarchal culture. Men hold the priesthood and they preside in their homes. The woman is the man's companion and counselor. Kathy Haynie converted to Mormonism when she was just eighteen, and she met and married her husband only two years later. She is committed to her religion and to her new family, and so she is as surprised as anyone when she begins to chafe under a manipulative and controlling husband. She is naive and credulous, and so she assumes that she needs to pray more, keep her mouth shut, and endure to the end. All of that changes when she attends a week of outdoor training for Boy Scout leaders, where she is one of only a handful of woman, and the only woman in her training patrol. Near the end of the week, Kathy realizes that she has been ignoring a self she has held within for fifteen years. Torn between her love of her children and her commitment to stable family life, and the increasing need she feels for genuine companionship, Kathy navigates the uncertain realm of friendship with one of her scouting friends. We watch her blossom as she gains confidence and skills to take her family out into the wilderness at the same time that she is deluding herself about her involvement with her friend. Family, faith, and friendship collide in this memoir of a Mormon wife and mother.