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Students say Strain changed how they see women’s roles across time and feminism

Rebekah Strain teaches Church and world history at BYU–Hawaii.

Bringing to light women’s history is Special Instructor Rebekah Strain’s goal. She said she intertwines women’s history with her classes, teaching them together, rather as a separate subject.

“Women’s history [gives] power for our female students to have someone they can empathize and relate with,” Strain said.

“It helps women see they have a place. If my students see strong women in the Church and have had something to become, they’re not just sideline cheerleaders to help men go on missions, get married, and then sit on the stand,” she said.

A need for recognition

Strain described her journey in recognizing the need for a multi-perspective analysis. She said, “It started in law school where I had a professor who pushed the importance of women’s voices and stories. This was law, and women’s perspectives had been lacking in the past.

“Entering the professional realm, I realized there were sexism and a discounting of women’s voices. Even in wards, there’s a tendency to discount the Relief Society, and that’s when I realized it was time to make some progress in bringing women out of the shadows.

Strain said her passion has grown since she has been teaching Church history and the stories of women of the Restoration. She said, “These stories are powerful, and the Church archives wouldn’t take their records for a while, so their journals stuffed away in attics waiting to be forgotten. Their stories and witnesses are not ones we want to lose.”

The importance of women’s history

“We all benefit from having a balance of men’s and women’s voices,” Strain said. “History is mostly military, governments and power structures... are all male dominant, but it’s important to recognize the female contribution. Consider what women have done to change the world?”

She continued, “It’s like only using half your brain – you’re not reaching your full potential. The addition of the female perspective adds depth and new meaning.”

Welcoming Strain’s stance on women’s history, Stephanie Eldenberg, a sophomore from Sweden studying art, said, “I appreciate Sister Strain as a champion for women’s history and her capability to challenge preconceived notions of women’s history.

“If you have an issue about discussing women’s history, rethink it. Women’s history is often seen as a minority even though [women are] a huge demographic.”

Derek Clarke, a freshman from California studying biology, said Strain was one of his favorite professors because of the effort she puts into her lessons and generating class discussions instead of lecturing. He also said Strain was able to make feminism and its activists less extreme and relatable.

“When you think of women’s history you think of bra burning and women who dress like men, but Sister Strain made it seem a lot more real.”

Aspen Boyer, a freshman from Texas studying social work, said, “[Strain] incorporates women’s history in other parts of history including the Great Depression and Civil Rights instead of treating it as a separate topic, which has been my experience so far.

“I’ve always known about the importance of women’s rights in the mainland, but this class just opened my eyes to how important it has been in the past.”

As an example, Boyer shared her revelations on the demographic discrepancies between voters during the women’s suffrage movement unit. “When you don’t have 50 percent of the population voting, do you really have a good representation of the population choosing leaders?”

Eldenberg added, “It has empowered me as a woman to see how much women have done and not just as a part of society that has been in the home and taking care of domestics. Women had a lot of responsibility in helping America be a functioning culture and society.”

Eldenberg then gave the example of the shift in labor demographics during World War II when women stepped up to fill the positions vacated by men overseas. In turn, women getting accustomed to working outside the home impacted feminism in the future and left behind the traditional part of the society of being confined to domestic housework.

Before Strain’s class, Clarke said he had never considered women’s history since it did not seem to play a role in his life. He considered Strain’s class eye-opening and taught him women’s history was much more complex than he initially thought.

He said he used to think American women’s history began with suffrage but Strain’s focus on how women were affected during every time period helped him understand women bound to domestic duties had significant impacts on society and history.

“I think we should discuss women’s history more,” Clarke concluded. “After all, it’s half the population.”

Boyer also encouraged anyone with questions on women’s history to consult Strain. “She’s very knowledgeable on [women’s history], and you can tell she’s passionate about it just in her teaching and class. She would be a good person to talk about it with.”

Reception in the classroom

However, perceptions towards the acceptance of female perspective differ amongst Strain and her students.

Eldenberg said her Swedish background prepared her for discussions of women’s history because of the Swedish feminist power structure.

Clarke found students were open to talking about women’s history in class. He said, “Whenever we talked about women’s history, we got a lot more female involvement.”

Boyer added, “Overall, the class accepted Sister Strain’s approach pretty well. There was some backlash Sister Strain was prepared for, but it was more a fact that the word feminism had negative connotations. There was nobody in class [who] spoke out against women’s rights, and that’s why we were able to discuss these topics in a constructive way.”

Strain reflected, “Overall students are very receptive, especially when I explain the why to women’s history.

“When I would try and teach this a number of years ago, there was a push back by men, but there’s been a strong shift and now a stronger interest and value placed on women’s experiences. I attribute a lot of that to the Church’s own shift, which highlights a number of female Church scholars. I think [this] generation is a little more open to a new approach.” She smiled, “Or my students are indulging me.”

“There is a one problem I’ve run into,” Strain said, “texts are very male-dominated, and I’ve had to go outside the texts to find diverse voices.”

Students interested in learning more can visit Strain’s office in the Stake Center or register for her upcoming Church history and world history classes.

Writer: J. Eston Dunn