Don't expect to see a lot of feminists in Utah on vacation or at conventions.
Leading feminists are calling for women to stay away from Utah to protest what they say is "bottom of the barrel" treatment of women in the state.That call was made Friday by Dr. Phyllis Katz in a speech at the National Press Club. She issues the same plea in her new book, "The Feminist Dollar - The Wise Woman's Buying Guide."
Katz, a social psychologist who founded the Institute for Research on Social Problems in Boulder, Colo., ranked companies, nations and states on how they treat women. She urged feminists to avoid doing business with those she says treat women poorly.
She had few kind things to say about Utah, ranking it 46th in its treatment of women among the 50 states. She wrote that it is "pretty solidly at the bottom of the barrel."
Her book tells women: "Utah is a beautiful state and is a popular destination for skiing and visiting national parks. Based on its record with women, however, we suggest that readers look elsewhere for their vacation travel."
For example, she suggests they go skiing in the more "women-friendly" states of California, New Mexico and Colorado. She urges women to visit national parks and monuments in Washington, Hawaii and California, not Utah.
"Voting with your pocketbook is empowering. It makes you feel good about yourself," she said. "And it sends a message the boys in the corporate boardroom understand. This is how the average woman can actually get companies to improve their treatment of women."
That idea was praised at the National Press Club by Heidi Hartmann, director of the Institute for Women's Policy Research in Washington, D.C., which often releases studies on how women are treated in the workplace.
"Dr. Katz has given consumers a new source of power, the power of objective information about the companies (and states) behind the advertising," she said.
Katz ranked states using such criteria as the state government's performance as an equal-opportunity employer; the proportion of women at all levels of state government; and women's civil and family rights.
About Utah, she said, "As an employer, Utah hits rock bottom. It has the worst numbers of women has the worst numbers of women in management - 20 percent of state managers are women as compared with a national average of 31 percent - and the fourth worst salary differential for female government employees."
She added, "Its numbers are not quite as bad in the private sector, where women occupy 25 percent of managerial positions, compared with a national average of 29 percent.
"However, it plummets again in the women's rights category, where the state has taken every action possible to restrict a women's access to an abortion."
The few nice things, she said, included, "Utah has an average number of women-owned businesses and does have some female politicians and a (female) lieutenant governor. The domestic violence laws are very strong, and the state gave women voting rights long before the federal government did."
Besides Utah, Katz said other "dead end" states for women - in order from the worst - are Alabama, Mississippi, West Virginia and Arkansas. It said the best, or "open door," states for women are, in order, Washington, California, Nevada, Maryland and Hawaii.
She also listed the top 10 "open door" corporations as Avon, Moving Comfort, Johnson & Johnson, Gannett, Children's Television Network, Birkenstock Sandals, Merck, Dayton Hudson, the Body Shop and Liz Claiborne.
She listed the five worst "dead end" corporations as Citgo, Sharp, York, Northwest Airlines and Emerson.
Among 35 countries that she ranked, the United States finished fifth in its treatment of women behind Finland, Australia, Canada and Denmark. Ranked worst was Saudi Arabia.
Katz said, "When women plan family vacations or arrange conventions or company retreats, they should know the status of women in the state or country they're enriching with their consumer dollars."
"So take your kids to a Six Flags theme park rather than Universal Studios. Fly on American Airlines rather than Northwest. Fill up with Conoco and not Citgo. And hold your annual conference in Seattle or San Francisco, not Alabama or Mississippi," she said.