Posts by Guest
Sotomayor’s Confirmation—What Her Victory May Cost the Republicans
Conservatives tried to convince the Senate, and the nation, that an impressive judge with an impeccable record was simply a product of affirmative action. It didn’t work.
By Peggy Simpson for the Women’s Media Center, reprinted with permission.
The confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor as the third woman and first Latina to sit on the Supreme Court never was a done-deal.
It might look like it from the 68 to 31 vote of approval in the Senate Thursday.
But there were bumps along the way, potential derailments that were dealt with and some bizarre resurrections by conservatives of Reagan-era complaints that white males were victims of affirmative action policies that benefit women and minorities.
Here’s what helped Sotomayor clinch the job:
- impressive coalitions by liberal advocacy groups, including the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, with feminist and reproductive rights groups stifling initial qualms about their uncertainties about her views on abortion;
- unwavering support from Team Obama, especially in the midst of early accusations by conservative activists that she was a racist or worse, when even some supporters were nervous about remarks she made in 2001 about the virtues of being a “wise Latina.” She never apologized or took back those thoughts but did acknowledge a “poor choice” of words;
- most of all, her own steady performance before the cameras in hearings that had been expected to feature fireworks but instead bordered on boring. Boring was good, in this context. Behind the scenes, Sotomayor visited with an unprecedented number of senators and by all accounts was a charmer. She carried that civility and personal touch into the Senate hearings with gestures, smiles and mini-conversations with GOP senators she knew would oppose her.
Before Oprah, There Was Molly
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Before Lucy Ricardo, before Oprah Winfrey there was Molly Goldberg, powered woman and media mogul. In this Women’s Media Center exclusive, Emily Wilson interviews prize-winning filmmaker Aviva Kempner, whose documentary brings to life the star, writer and producer of the first TV sitcom, “The Goldbergs.” Yoo hoo, readers–Trust me, darlings, when I say you should go to the nearest theater where “Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” is playing. You’ll find a fascinating story that weaves together global events with feminism, anti-semitism, and the American Dream through the prism of one groundbreaking woman’s life. Enjoy!
Filmmaker Aviva Kempner, in town to receive an award at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, has a lot to say. She tells stories about a photographer who complimented her about her earrings, muses on why her hotel room has a little jar of stones (“Are these supposed to center me? Because I’m in San Francisco?”), and when her brother Jonathan pops in she greets him enthusiastically. Most of all, she wants to talk about her latest documentary, Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, the story of television and radio pioneer Gertrude Berg, which she says would make a perfect date movie.
“Don’t go see The Hangover, go see Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg,” she says. “It’s a great uplifting story for young women.”
Read MoreIt’s All About Choices: A Nurse’s View of Health Reform
As Congress prepares to leave for its August recess, the health reform debate is sure to be hotter than ever. C. Stacy Beam has been a nurse for over 15 years with a background in both medical and psychiatric nursing. She holds a law degree from Northeastern University School of Law and is an adjunct professor of clinical psychiatric nursing at Northeastern University’s Boeve College of Health Sciences. She has a longstanding interest in national politics and women’s rights and can be found blogging over at her very fun website, Secretary Clinton. She wrote this post for the Women’s Media Center, where it was originally published.
If health care reform is enacted—and if it works to lower costs and keep Americans healthy—nurses will be a large part of the solution, argues the author. Trust her: she’s a nurse.
When President Barack Obama appeared in the Rose Garden on July 15, 2009, to continue to stress the urgent need for timely passage of health care reform, there was a reason he was flanked by some of the biggest names in nursing today. No other profession is more trusted than the nursing profession, at least according to Gallup’s Most Trusted Profession poll, which nursing has “won ” for seven consecutive years.
At the president’s side were, among others, Dr. Mary Wakefield, the administration’s highest ranking nurse, and Becky Patton, American Nurse’s Association president. The message was clear—for decades nurses have consistently advocated for affordable, quality, equitable distribution of health care services for all Americans. And while much of the health care debate has focused on major stakeholders such as physicians (largely via the AMA), the insurance and hospital industry, labor unions and to a much lesser extent, the health care consumer, it is nurses who can and will be an essential aspect of any health care legislation that seeks to provide cost-saving, quality care, particularly to America’s most vulnerable populations.
Nurses are in a unique position to attest to the consequences of how today’s current health care market has privileged expensive, acute treatments over more cost-saving models that focus on disease prevention, health education and screening. While much has been made of the plight of the country’s almost 50 million uninsured, less has been made of the growing number of under-insured people, who can no longer afford even their employer-based plans or find that their health care needs are not being met despite their current coverage.
Read MoreThe Gender Gap in Healthcare—Our Stories Behind the Statistics
I was shocked by the experiences Linda Brodsky MD shared when she spoke at an AAUW event about gender discrimination in her medical profession. She’s become a crusader for women in medicine–you’ll see why in this guest post, and we should all cheer her on. Be sure to check out her blog and share your story with her.
Today women comprise more than 50% of medical students, 40% of resident trainees and by the end of 2010, 30% of physicians. Could it be that we’re finally closing the gender gap in medicine? No. And nothing is further from the truth. Until women decision and policy makers are leading the discussion at the table (or on the bench), women will not become impactful leaders soon enough, contrary to what these overly optimistic statistics suggest.
From the halls of medical academia to the editorial boards of medical journals, from the ranks of organized medicine to the NIH committees that judge research worthiness, the number of women are much fewer than they should be. Where are all the women leaders?
Read MoreThe Problematic of Work Life Balance Part 3: To Be or not to Be Gender Differences
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This is the third and last (for now at least) of Debjani Chakravarty’s series exploring work life balance through the lens of economic and political culture. in this post, she asks the question of whether work life balance can or should be gender neutral. Debjani is a graduate student and artist, currently pursuing a PhD in the Women and Gender Studies Program at Arizona State University. She has worked as a journalist and social worker in India.
Rebecca is a grad student, and she works part time at Starbucks. She is getting a degree in social work, hopeful of pursuing a career she’s passionate about. She also works as an editor and ghost writer on the side. When I ask Rebecca about work life balance, she says, “Strange I never think about it. My parents never went to college and they never left their little Ohio town where I grew up. For them, my life’s a dream come true, and they are hopeful that someday I’ll be able to do all those things that they only planned about, travel, work a respectable job, buy a big house. Work life balance, let’s see. For me it’s about taking the occasional Adderall, so that I can keep working. My life’s on hold right now, work is all that matters.”
Read MoreThe Problematic of Work Life Balance, Part 2: A Project of the Self
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Here’s part 2 of Debjani Chakravarty’s essay on work life balance. A PhD in the Women and Gender Studies Program at Arizona State Debjani ChakravartyUniversity who worked as a journalist and a social worker in India, Debjani is also an artist. You can view her beautiful artwork here. Comments below will thrill us both.
Neo traditional discourses and the media constructed mommy wars point at the fallacy of women having too much on their plates. The answer lies in choosing one role set, preferably home and child bearing over paid work. Motherhood is aligned with a discourse of citizenship and duties by the state. The question of a mother’s rights is articulated only by feminists in this post feminist era where women’s problems are framed as having solutions in increased consumption. The solution can range from taking a work life balance quiz in Cosmo or Oprah to setting up a home office with the latest technological gadgets. The question of work life balance becomes a project of the self, with the issue state and workplace policies not considered by the very women oppressed by multiple role expectations, smarting under immensely demanding gender identities.
Read MoreThe Problematic of Work Life Balance, Part 1
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This guest post is by Debjani Chakaravarty, a PhD in the Women and Gender Studies Program at Arizona State Debjani ChakravartyUniversity who worked as a journalist and a social worker in India. Her global approach to this much discussed topic of work life balance starts today and will continue through the week. Please ask your questions, tell your stories, and leave your comments for Debjani in the comments section below.
Here is Cosmo’s sagacious take on the issue: “When you have a million balls in the air— job, gym, boyfriend—life becomes a blur. You’re so busy struggling just to get through the week; you lose sight of what’s really important to you”—this particular notion of work life balance has generated a million self discovery quizzes and “work-life balance calculators”, been the subject of many self improvement books and is almost always directed to women, and working mothers.
From the popular framing of this issue, it does seem that it is only women that must achieve this fine balance, women with jobs, access to formal workout spaces and with a man and/or children in their lives.
Read MoreHealing for the Women of Afghanistan
Thanks to Gerardine Luongo for this guest post about what powered women can do for our sisters.
For almost three decades Afghan women were hidden under burquas and in homes they could not leave without a male escort. The impact of this oppression is evidenced by the horrifyingly high maternal and infant death rates among Afghan women. Indeed, each day 44 Afghan women will die giving birth.
During the rule of the Taliban (1996 – 2001), women were treated worse than in any other time or by any other society. They were forbidden to work, leave the house without a male escort, not allowed to seek medical help from a male doctor and not allowed to practice medicine! Women who were emerging leaders of their nation –doctors, teachers, lawyers were forced into horrific conditions.
But despite many gains in Afghanistan, women continue to lag behind their male peers in health and education status. Today, less than 20% of girls attend school regularly, 1-in-8 women die giving birth, child-brides and the sale of women into marriage are still common, victims of rape are stoned for shaming the family and no Afghan court will condemn an Afghan man for domestic violence. We have only to imagine what will be the impact on women’s health of spending five or more years literally without sunlight and natural vitamin D.
Read MoreLeading From Gender to Agenda
My last post was about how leaders put their purses where their principles are; this second of leadership expert Anne Doyle’s regular guest posts on Heartfeldt Politics illustrates how she is putting her principles where her politics are. I am so excited that three women I admire and respect greatly have thrown their hats into the political ring in the last two weeks. I sense a big change just in the year since I started researching this Elle article which found women don’t run for a variety of reasons. What motivated Anne? Here’s her story:
I’ve been politically active for decades. Have worked hard for candidates I believed in. Gave as much money as my budget could bear. Dialed at least a thousand phone calls. Knocked on doors. Served as precinct captain. Even turned my house into a bustling, “get-out-the-vote headquarters” on election day. And I’ve been on the “we need more women in political office” bandwagon for at least a decade.
The one thing I haven’t done is stick my neck out and run for office myself. Until now. I’ve just pulled my petitions and started to gather signatures to get my name on the ballot this November for City Council in Auburn Hills, a rapidly changing, once rural, community 30 minutes north of Detroit, Michigan.
Read MoreLegalized Neglect of Children at Risk
Rinku Sen is president of the Applied Research Center and Publisher of ColorLines Magazine. I found this guest post she wrote very compelling, for it is so often the voices of children most in need that are least heard by our policy makers. But there is something we can do about it. Read on…
As our state legislatures struggle with impending budget deficits, American families are going to be presented with a bunch of terrible “choices.” Do we want less healthcare or affordable housing? Fewer teachers or trash collectors? Childcare policy has gotten very little attention, but devoting resources to ensuring the safety and early education of kids in subsidize day care needs to go to the top of our agenda. As we see in this video and in our new report at the Applied Research Center, “Underprotected, Undersupported,” state childcare policy too often constitutes “Legalized Neglect” of the low-income children, as always disproportionately of color, who deserve so much better.
A handful of leading childcare advocates have pointed out the recession’s devastating impact on the childcare industry and parents’ ability to pay for childcare. We need federal and state governments to provide more support to low-income families as we shift “from a culture of greed to a culture of care” in the United States which ranks 18th out of 25 other developed nations on early childhood education according to Save the Children’s 2009 State of the World’s Mothers Report.
But our childcare licensing and inspection systems also need a major overhaul if we’re going to do more than just warehouse kids. In fourteen states, for example, you essentially don’t need a full license to operate a childcare center. Requirements vary, but policies and practices in these states often allow significant exemptions to their childcare standards and regulations – including child-staff ratios and even basic health and safety standards like criminal background checks and regular inspections. In the case of Alabama, deregulation of childcare centers removed the expectation of any inspections at all. While some unlicensed centers that we visited were of excellent quality, concern is growing about the small storefront centers exploiting the state’s “faith-based” exemption to avoid basic standards and inspections while simultaneously benefiting from state subsidies for “caring” for low-income kids. Call yourself a church, and avoid the cost of proper licensing.
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