Digital Commons Network^™

Stem Superstar Women: Ada Lovelace, Pioneering Computer Programming, Erica Sonzogni

Children's Book and Media Review

When a person thinks of a scientist, they usually consider the men that dominate the field. In reality, there were many important women who made a strong contribution in this area. Ada Lovelace is one of those women. Ada’s life is chronicled from birth to death in this book. The text focuses on her many contributions to science and mathematics in a time when women were not supported in receiving an education. Ada’s mother encouraged this, her husband continued with the support, and Ada pursued her passion until her early death.

A World Of Her Own: 24 Amazing Women Explorers And Adventurers, Leah Christopher

Children's Book and Media Review

Join twenty-four women explorers and adventurers as they dive into the deep sea, summit Mt. Everest and other peaks, discover new plants and animals, cross the world in a yacht, explore the Amazon River, catch venomous snakes, save endangered species, and venture through forest canopies. These women are diverse, coming from various countries, ethnicities, family situations, age groups, time periods, and career fields. Although each woman’s path is different, they share a love for nature and discovery—and they all have to overcome others’ doubts about their abilities. These motivating accounts can transform readers’ thinking about the great potential women have …

Ladies Of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation, Cynthia Phillips

Children's Book and Media Review

Ladies of Liberty is a book about the women who helped to lay the groundwork for the United States. Included are stories about a number of women who were educators, writers, mothers, reformers, novelists, explorers, and more. These women opened orphanages, started women’s rights movements, supported presidents, raised children, and powerfully helped to form a young nation. Women such as Sacagawea, a Native American who helped lead Lewis and Clark through the Louisiana Territory, and Lucy Terrace Prince, a freed slave and brilliant poet and orator, offer stories about amazing women “of color” during a time where skin color was …

Because I Was A Girl: True Stories For Girls Of All Ages, Emilee Bell

Children's Book and Media Review

This is the anthology of the modern age of women. Girls of all ages, from all walks of life, unfold the events of their lives to the eyes of the public. Raw, honest, positive, and hopeful stories line the pages of de la Cruz’s book. Read of the courage of trailblazing politicians, financial executives, and fiery entrepreneurs. Witness the bloom of young girls into fierce advocates, truth-speaking writers, and empathetic social innovators. Ache with the bruised, abused, and suppressed; rejoice as they rise above the cards they’re dealt to mentor and raise the ones behind them.

Life In The Ocean: The Story Of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle, Cynthia Phillips

Children's Book and Media Review

Sylvia Earle has spent more than seven thousand hours underwater and has dedicated her life to studying the ocean. When she was a little girl she was given ample opportunities to study and explore her surroundings. She called her curiosity “investigations” and was determined from a young age to explore the ocean. She walked on the ocean floor deeper than anyone has ever walked, helped design underwater equipment, and enthusiastically observed ocean life. Sylvia Earle has become an advocate for protecting the sea. This picture book biography is about an amazing woman who changed the world.

Metoo, Anna Rose Smith

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

Autobiographical essay of #MeToo experiences: Three vignettes, three experiences.

“Among The Finest And Truest Off Earth's Noble Women”: Evaluating The Public Roles Of Mormon Women After The Manifesto, Natalie Larsen

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Change For Women, Change The World, Kiana Stewart, Dr. Daryl Lee

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My project goal was to translate from French to English significant chapters of a study on gender-based violence (GBV) in Senegal documented by Dr. Fatou Diop Sall. Dr Sall is the head coordinator of GESTES, a Senegalese research group focused on gender equality. A previous group of BYU students and ORCA recipients translated sections of the document that focused on domestic violence, and published the translation with the WomanStats Project, which is the largest statistical database regarding the status of women in the world (Hudson, 2015). The chapters I translated deal with GBV in different spheres, specifically educational spaces (schools, …

Using Women’S Voices In Teaching History And Doctrine, Jennifer Reeder

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

In early July 1830, shortly following her baptism, Emma Smith received a revelation through her husband, Joseph Smith, about her position and responsibilities in the new Church of Christ. In the revelation (now known as section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants), the Lord described Emma as an “elect lady” and charged her to “expound scriptures and exhort the church according as it shall be given thee by my spirit.” The responsibilities were weighty: the 1828 American Webster dictionary defines exhort as “to encourage, to embolden, to cheer, to advise, to excite or to give strength, spirit, or courage.” Likewise, …

The Many Reflections Of Miss Jane Deming, Tessa Mcmillan

Children's Book and Media Review

After losing her father in the Civil War, Jane Deming gives up her friends and schooling to raise her baby stepbrother while her young stepmother works in the mill. Unexpectedly, Jane’s stepmother enlists the three of them in an expedition to bring unmarried women to Washington Territory. Using the expedition’s pamphlet as a textbook, Jane works on developing the social and educational skills she needs to survive in the Pacific Northwest. During their sea voyage, Jane’s stepmother tries to keep Jane from improving her abilities for selfish reasons. Luckily, Jane’s new friends and passengers come to her rescue. When they …

Zora! The Life Of Zora Neale Hurston, Nicole Clark

Children's Book and Media Review

As a young child, Zora Neale Hurston believed that she was so special. This self-confidence endured throughout Zora’s life, from her childhood days in a small-town making up fantastical stories to her last impoverished year spent in a county welfare home in Fort Pierce, Florida. Though Zora never achieved fame or financial success during her lifetime, she tenaciously held to her passion of writing through family troubles, poverty, and many a rejection notice from publishers. Zora lived out her belief that “nothing is destructible” and indeed, though she died a forgotten woman, her works, including bestseller And Their Eyes Were …

Female Genital Cutting In Africa, Chloe Jensen, Evie Friedbaum

Ballard Brief

Female Genital Cutting (FGC) is the partial or complete removal of a female's external genitalia. Though it is practiced all over the world. FGC is particularly prevalent on the African continent. This procedure is most commonly done to girls at a young age; FGC creates negative physical health effects for the rest of their lives, and often causes trauma. Because of these negative consequences, the United Nations has officially stated that FGC violates basic human rights. However, many communities continue to practice female genital cutting for social and cultural reasons.

A House Full Of Females: Plural Marriage And Women's Rights In Early Mormonism, 1835-1870, Lowell C. Bennion

BYU Studies Quarterly

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women's Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835-1870.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2017.

Women And Mormonism: Historical And Contemporary Perspectives, Alison Palmer

BYU Studies Quarterly

Kate Holbrook and Matthew Bowman, eds., Women and Mormonism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2016)

Pioneer Women Of Arizona, Hannah Charlesworth

BYU Studies Quarterly

Pioneer Women of Arizona, by Roberta Flake Clayton, Catherine H. Ellis, and David F. Boone, 2d ed. (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2017)

Wise Or Foolish: Women In Mormon Biblical Narrative Art, Jennifer Champoux

BYU Studies Quarterly

Visual imagery is an inescapable element of religion. Even those groups that generally avoid figural imagery, such as those in Judaism and Islam, have visual objects with religious significance.1 In fact, as David Morgan, professor of religious studies and art history at Duke University, has argued, it is often the religions that avoid figurative imagery that end up with the richest material culture.2 To some extent, this is true for Mormonism. Although Mormons believe art can beautify a space, visual art is not tied to actual ritual practice. Chapels, for example, where the sacrament ordinance is performed, are built with …

Half The Sky, Or Half A Lie? Unfulfilled Promises To Women In Republican China, Rachel Finlayson

BYU Asian Studies Journal

When the Qing dynasty fell in 1912, Chinese nationalist and communist forces fought to gain power. Both groups looked to build their base of support among the socially repressed, which included women and peasants. Thus, women’s emancipation became a central issue, and it remained primary until 1924, during an era known as the May Fourth Movement (Lan and Fong 1999, p. ix). Nationalist and communist forces both promised women better lives, in terms of education, love in marriage, value in family life, a role in the revolution and social activism, and emancipation. Mao Zedong summarized the enthusiasm of the time …