Betrayal!

[Gregory Matthews]

In 1973 two employees of the SDA Pacific Press filed a lawsuit against the Pacific Press which employed them.  In short, the two women, Marikay McLeod (Silver) and Lorna Tobler, alleged that they were paid less, simply because they were female, than men who did equal jobs.   The article linked below tell their story and sums the content of the book, Betrayal  which has just been published on this event.    This historical event deserves to be known by every Adventist today.

 

https://spectrummagazine.org/culture/betrayal-of-gender-inequity-in-the-adventist-workplace-exposed-in-book/

 

[phkrause]

I remember when that came about, I had just started working for Atlantic Union College Press, and they were also having discussions, not only teachers but also other workers, about the pay scale at that time between men and women!!

[Asia Joe]

On 8/19/2025 at 11:01 PM, phkrause said:

I remember when that came about, I had just started working for Atlantic Union College Press, and they were also having discussions, not only teachers but also other workers, about the pay scale at that time between men and women!!

What was the outcome? 

[Gregory Matthews]

In general terms, the SDA Church in the U.S. does not discriminate against women in their pay scale.  IOW, women who are hired for a specific position are paid the same as a male is paid in that position.  However, women may be discriminated against as to being hired for a position.  Discrimination still exists in pastoral positions, ordination and in certain administrative positive positions.  Males who hold pastoral positions are ordained and females may be commissioned when they are given such positions.  

NOTE:  SDA females are currently serving as military Chaplains due to a Federal lawsuit, which involved me,  in which the Federal judge ruled that the requirement for ordination discriminated against women who came from denominations that did not ordain women.  But, that is another story.

 

[Gregory Matthews]

O.K., I will tell the story.

After retiring from the U.S. Army, I applied for a 16-hour per week position as a chaplain at the Denver VA hospital.  Two others applied for that position.  One was a Roman Catholic woman named Mary Murphy.  I was accepted and she was ruled not eligible for the position.

She filed a lawsuit against the VA arguing that she was discriminated against on the basis of age (We were of the same age group.) and race.

The judge ruled that she had been discriminated against on the requirement for ordination and ordered the VA to change the requirement to endorsement, which the VA did.  Endorsement is now the requirement for Federal Chaplaincies.

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/990/540/434692/

The above link takes you to one of the Court rulings on this litigation.  There is more, and you will need to 
Shephard the case to find those rulings.  Also, do not be confused by finding other litigation by this same person which involved the VA.

[phkrause]

On 8/29/2025 at 1:39 PM, Joe Knapp said:

What was the outcome? 

I can remember the jest of it, that mostly they agreed that the women working there and having the same jobs as the men should be getting paid there worth. Like if the man is being paid 5 dollars and the woman, if she had worked the same amount of time, had the same credentials, etc., should also be paid 5 dollars!! As far as the outcome? I don't really recall, all I know is that we're still complaining about unequal pay!!!!!

[Gregory Matthews]

The Adventist Church publishes many books by people other than Ellen Wite.