106: Gender Equality through Partnership Families

Dr. Julie de Azevedo Hanks is the guest for this podcast discussion that focuses on moving our homes and families, and in doing so wider communities, toward genuine gender equality. In it, she introduces us to a model she created as part of her doctoral dissertation, which she calls the “Partnership Model of Family Organization.” She shares fascinating ideas about families and linking with others that match LDS ideas of Zion and even the life of gods, as well as acknowledging how the organization structure and the gendered roles it perpetuates work against full actualization of the church’s members.

After introducing the larger societal structure as a “dominator” one in which everything is ranked in importance and power, in which men’s work is valued more than women’s, in which nurturing takes a back seat to breadwinning and climbing the ladder, etc., Julie proposes “partnership” instead. She takes us through eight elements of partnership families and how we can work toward their actualization in our own homes and relationships. LDF host Dan Wotherspoon jumps in (interrupts?) with questions, connections, and angles, keeping us tied to real, lived reality as Latter-day Saints rather than focusing on the 10,000-foot, more theoretical view. It’s a great dynamic!

You’ll learn a lot, recognize yourself in much of what’s discussed, and thoroughly enjoy this episode. Dive in!