Religion:Modesto Manifesto

Short description: Rule of some evangelicals to avoid isolated time with women other than their wife

Billy Graham crafted the Modesto Manifesto while traveling for a business trip in Modesto, California.

The Modesto Manifesto, was a set of standards for religious leaders that became notable as the signature practice among men in which they avoid spending time alone with people of the opposite sex to whom they are not married. It has additionally taken a more modern meaning as a display of integrity, a means of avoiding sexual temptation, to avoid any appearance of doing something considered morally objectionable, and to avoid being accused of sexual harassment or assault.

Created for male evangelical Protestant leaders by Billy Graham, it has been popularly known as the "Billy Graham rule." Its adoption by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has had it additionally nicknamed the "Mike Pence rule". The Modesto Manifesto has found a prominent foothold on Wall Street and more generally in American finance for its ability to limit the "risk" of perceived sexual impropriety.

Background

"Billy Graham rule"

In 1948, Graham held a series of evangelistic meetings in Modesto, California. Together with Cliff Barrows, Grady Wilson and George Beverly Shea, he resolved to "avoid any situation that would have even the appearance of compromise or suspicion". The accountability agreement, which has become known as the "Modesto Manifesto", covered not only their interactions with women, but also commitments to integrity with respect to:

• finances,
• their interactions with local churches, and
• publicity.

From that time onward, Graham made a point of not traveling, meeting, or eating alone with a woman other than his wife Ruth. Graham biographer Grant Wacker observed that "Over the years Graham received intense media scrutiny, but hardly anyone accused him of violating any of those four principles."

By Graham's own admission, though, he was not an absolutist in the application of the rule that now bears his name: his autobiography relates a lunch meeting with Hillary Clinton that he initially refused on the grounds that he does not eat alone with women other than his wife, but she persuaded him that they could have a private conversation in a public dining room.

"Mike Pence rule"

Vice President Mike Pence with his wife, Karen, in 2017.

In March 2017, The Washington Post noted that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence never eats alone with a woman other than his wife, Karen, and that he won’t attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side. Emma Green, writing for The Atlantic, noted that the controversy was an example of how "notions of gender divide American culture": while "socially liberal or non-religious people may see Pence's practice as misogynistic or bizarre", for "a lot of conservative religious people" the "set-up probably sounds normal, or even wise".

Polish science fiction writer Jacek Dukaj called this rule an inevitable and likely to grow in popularity outcome of the Me Too movement and cancel culture.

Prevalence on Wall Street

The rule has become increasingly popular on Wall Street, and more generally, in American finance, in the wake of the late-2010s #MeToo movement. Many male (and more rarely female) bankers, financial advisors, and financial service professionals have adhered to the rule in order to avoid the appearance of sexual impropriety. According to a 2019 LinkedIn report, 30% of corporate superiors (of both male and female genders) felt uncomfortable mentoring female colleagues. Female workers are considered by some to be “an unknown risk” to banks, akin to market, liquidity, contract, and user risks. According to a December 2018 Bloomberg News study, financial professionals often refuse to eat dinners alone with female colleagues and clients, sit apart from them on flights, book rooms on different hotel floors, and avoid meeting them one-on-one, particularly in private rooms. Private meetings with senior members are typically conducted “with the door left wide open”. This rule has been identified as a factor in the lower levels of women in finance. The Economist criticized and praised the rule's spread across Wall Street in 2018. It has allowed the workplace to become "all the most transparent" the paper said, adding that it was "[men], rather than the women, who were creating all the risk."

Worries about exaggerated, mischaracterized, incorrect, inaccurate, or misleading recollections of interactions with females are said to fuel some of the rule’s popularity on Wall Street. The #MeToo movement created a “culture of walking on eggshells” around women on Wall Street due to the highly subjective nature of sexual harassment and assault. The practice has been critiqued by corporate and human resources lawyers for potentially being gender discrimination. However, it is difficult to prove that the rule is actually being applied as most of financial services is project -, client-, and account-based. The Guardian reported that in August 2019, “27% of men avoided one-on-one meetings with female co-workers, 21% of men said they would be reluctant to hire women for a job that would require close interaction, and 19% of men would be reluctant to hire an attractive woman.” The same study also found that women were more reluctant to hire attractive women in jobs that required close interaction. MarketWatch reported in June 2019 that nearly 60% of men were uncomfortable being alone with their female colleagues.

Reactions

The rule has been criticized for viewing women as potential objects of lust, as well as restricting opportunities for women to network with any male colleagues who happen to implement this rule. When applied to workplace dinners or meetings in the United States, it could result in illegal labor discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. American pastor Tracey Bianchi says that one result is that "women are marginalized and cut out of opportunities to network, share their ideas, and advance in the organization." Bianchi also says that the rule conflicts with the practice of Jesus himself, who spent time alone with the Samaritan woman at the well. American pastor Ty Grigg says that the rule (assuming all American pastors implemented it) has not been "effective at curbing infidelity". He says that the rule "has framed relating with the opposite sex with fear", and that this leads to a diminished mutual respect, which in turn creates "the kind of environment where inappropriate relating is more likely to occur". Others, though, suggest that unfaithful pastors must have failed to implement the rule. Messianic Jewish author Michael L. Brown says that critics of the rule have misunderstood the purposes of the rule. He says that the rule prevents third parties from suspecting that an illicit romantic relationship exists (avoiding the appearance of evil). It also protects against any future accusations should the other party become embittered and seek to attack the innocent boss. Finally, it does protect both parties from developing natural attractions and potentially falling into adultery.

U.S. public opinion

According to a 2017 poll conducted by the Morning Consult for the New York Times , 53% of women and 45% of men believe that it would be inappropriate to have dinner alone with someone of the opposite sex who is not their spouse, compared to 35% of women and 43% of men who would consider it appropriate.

See also

• Appearance of impropriety
• "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion"
• Islam and gender segregation
• Yichud