Sexism in Silicon Slopes: Religion and Gendered Organizational Structures in the New Economy

Alyssa Calder Hulme, University of Chicago

Abstract. This study investigates the role of religion in perpetuating gender inequality within contemporary workplaces, focusing on Silicon Slopes. Applying gendered organizational theory, I show how religious beliefs sustain discriminatory organizational norms and practices because religion is built into the gendered logic employed by company founders and their employees. Through 94 in-depth interviews and 147 hours of ethnographic fieldwork, I use an innovative social network strategy to examine the impact of Mormon religious beliefs on gender and labor dynamics in Utah’s emerging tech space. This study reveals three key insights: (1) Religion shapes educational and professional norms, leading to the structural disenfranchisement of women within organizations, irrespective of women’s religious affiliation. (2) Religious teachings continue to influence corporate norms and language, even when divorced from their original source, thereby perpetuating gender biases in the workplace. (3) Despite shifts in religious dedication among company founders, religiously influenced gendered logics persist, impacting organizational dynamics of a growing company with employees from around the world.

These findings underscore the profound and direct impact of religion on women’s economic precarity, particularly when they are closely associated with LDS male professional gatekeepers who adhere to gender complementarian beliefs. Furthermore, religious leaders wield significant influence over the global economy through the creation of structuring documents on gender, labor, and family dynamics.

Hulme, Alyssa Calder. 2026. “Sexism in Silicon Slopes: Religion and Gendered Organizational Structures in the New Economy.” Journal of the Mormon Social Science Association 3, no. 1: 43–77.