Female Watchtower Lawyers and submission

Lady Lee

Now this has to be absurd. They have a few female lawyers at Patterson - well they did in 2003

Christine Benham. Connecticut
Michelle Dickinson Ossining NY
Lisa Douglas Patterson, N.Y.
Carolyn R. Wah. Patterson, N.Y.

Now when I was a sign language interpreter I had to be very careful how I said things to elders especially those I was teaching sign language to. It wasn't easy to try to correct them and still maintain my role as a submissive woman.

How on earth do these women do it? Are they given some kind of exemption? Is their education respected as highly as the male lawyers? If there is a conflict regarding how best to deal with a problems legally do the viewpoints of the men over-ride what the women bring to the table?

It would be interesting to see what Kerry and Barbara have to say about these issues or anyone else who has been at Bethel and may have come across some of these female lawyers

dgp

I know nothing at all about any of this, of course, but I would like to make a comment or two. It hadn't dawned on me that females are to be submissive even to men who are not their father or husband, and even if they are teaching them something. Wow.

And then I wonder how a male who were very sure of his "headship" would react to a worldly woman with authority. Say, a black policewoman who can certainly cuff him and throw him in jail. Or a family judge.

wasblind

Hey dgp,

the single sisters in the cong I attended would run to the elders about whatever

problem they were havin', so I guess that would make the Elders think that all women

had to be submissive to them, especially when it seemed like the sister couldn't handle

her own bussiness

Lady Lee

dgp

sisters were to be submissive to all baptized males in the congregation - even if the male was 12 years old and the only male present a sister would have to cover her head so she could conduct the pre-service meeting and either allow the boy to say the prayer of say it with a head covering.

wasblind

Thanks for the correction Lady Lee,

wasn't any thinkin' to it, the sisters were expected to be submissive

dgp

Well, thank you, people. I understand now.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

The list as of Bethel Lady Lawyers in 2005 (not including some non-Bethelites they could use) would have been:

Carolyn Wah
Keturah Dunne
Erna Neufeld

I also looked on the Interweb... http://lawyers.justia.com/lawyers/new-york/patterson and the name "Beth Carlson" showed up under a WT phone number.

As far as being sisters, it just means that they won't be "overseers" and will have sisters as secretaries, not brothers. They'd need to know their place as "sisters", just as any hired attorney or junior partner would be "submissive" to their seniors. Frankly, even as a brother in Bethel I had to be submissive to two different brothers that were complete idiots and incapable as "overseers". That kind of thing goes with the territory in Bethel, and often in many other work environments.

Back to the subject of sisters, they were treated rather poorly in all departments. But there were wide differences. For example, in Writing Department Offices, sisters were very much "in the know" and knew a lot about what was going on... like Barbara Anderson. However, that was not the case in Teaching. Under Jaracz's thumb, it was very much a "no sisters allowed" zone. Similarly in Service Department, it was all men with all male secretaries, except for a few sisters that were used for recordkeeping duties like boundries of congregation territories. But just down the hall, or upstairs, sisters in Braille translation were reading and translating the elders book, sisters were directing photoshoots, etc. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the new GB would crack down more on entrusting sisters with such responsibilities.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

LL: "sisters were to be submissive to all baptized males in the congregation - even if the male was 12 years old and the only male present a sister would have to cover her head so she could conduct the pre-service meeting and either allow the boy to say the prayer of say it with a head covering."

From what I knew of Carolyn and Erna, they might put on some headcovering under those circumstances, but "submissive"? They're both way too independent for that nonsense. They wouldn't hesitate to tell the 12yo "brother" to sit down and shut up.

Joliette

I've never understood the whole watchtower attorney thing. Lawyers are traditionally very smart people, so how can anyone want to be a laywer for the watchtower, and how do they get paid?

Lady Lee

very in teresting Billy Thanks

I saw the name Erna but wasn't sure if it was a male or female name

Female Watchtower Lawyers and submission

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