Posts Tagged ‘gender’
Pow! Bam! Comic Books on Today’s Women Leaders Pack a Strong Message
Superheroines, Quemosabe! If art imitates life and pop culture depicts contemporary life most real and raw, then these new Female Force comic books deliver a powerful message that women in top political leadership have truly saturated our cultural consciousness. Embedded video from CNN Video There’s irony in that Female Force’s creators at Bluewater Productions are male,…
Read MoreGoodyear, You Can Spare $360K for Lilly Ledbetter?
You know how I like to ask “so what are you going to do about it?” Well, here’s a great example, courtesy of blogger Joanne Cronrath Bamberger, aka PunditMom. She has graciously allowed me to crosspost her commentary from Huffington Post. For those of us who feel justice requires that Lilly Ledbetter receive compensation for her heroic efforts on behalf of all women’s paycheck equality, Joanne provides an easy way to communicate to Lilly’s former employer, Goodyear Rubber and Tire, and urge them to make good on the pay they in effect robbed her of over the years. Here you go, and don’t forget to drop your note to Goodyear:
As so many women have been basking in the glow of the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the news reports reminded us that even though Lilly has become a standard bearer for the fight for fair pay for women, Lilly herself will never see a nickel of the money that she sued Goodyear Rubber and Tire for.
Read MoreTrading in “Barefoot and Pregnant” for Economic and Reproductive Justice
As Congress works through the economic stimulus package, representatives need to keep in mind the connection between a woman’s need to determine her reproductive life and her ability to benefit from and contribute to economic recovery and growth. (This is an exclusive commentary I wrote for the Women’s Media Center.)
Arkansas State Senator Paul Van Dalsem got a roaring laugh in 1963 at the then all-male Optimist Club when he railed at 
women lobbying to improve educational opportunities for African Americans. He said his home county’s solution would be to get an uppity woman an extra milk cow. “And if that’s not enough, we get her pregnant and keep her barefoot.”
Fast forward to January 2009. The relevance of barefoot and pregnant remains central to an inclusive and just America. Economic parity and reproductive justice are still intertwined, not only in the lives of individual women; they are indivisibly connected to our economic recovery as well.
While the 111th Congress awaits President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration for action on his proposed $775-billion stimulus plan, it’s considering two important pieces of legislation not included in the recovery package. Each is treated in isolation as “women’s issues.” Yet both are integral to the success of Obama’s economic stimulus.
The Prevention First Act, sponsored by Representative Louise Slaughter and others to expand access to family planning and reproductive health care, was introduced January 13 to virtually no fanfare and little media coverage. Two gender pay equity bills—the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act—passed the House of Representatives with a bit more hoopla a few days earlier. Here’s how they work together and with the economic recovery.
Read MoreLilly Ledbetter’s Courageous Acts Pump Up Your Pocketbook
Hey, Women: Want to earn a cool half million?
That’s about what the average woman loses over a career lifetime due to gender inequities in pay for the same jobs as men.
So click here to Speak Up and demand the Senate pass two crucial pieces of legislation so that Barack Obama can sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, as he has said he would do. In a historic vote, the House of Representatives on Friday passed both bills by substantial margins, largely along party lines. A Senate vote could come as early as this week.
No, these bills aren’t another financial bailout for ailing industries that don’t deserve them. They’re not a get-rich-quick scheme from late night television infomercial-land. Nor are they part of the badly needed but very expensive stimulus package—but they should be. Here’s why:
Read MoreMoose, Mousse, and Spalinism by Robin Morgan
Guest posting again! This was just too good not to share, especially with some folks who have been commenting on Heartfeldt. recently. Award winning author of 21 books, and feminist leader Robin Morgan takes laser-beam aim at a few “feminists” who have taken to the blogways lately to support John McCain and Sarah Palin. You…
Read MoreHere’s the Op-Ed Version of My Last 3 Posts
HERE’S A SHORT VERSION OF THE POINTS I’VE PUT FORWARD IN MY THREE PREVIOUS POSTS:
Read my op ed pasted in below “What Obama needs to do to attract women’s votes” in the Chicago Sun Times, One of Obama’s hometown papers. If you concur, send the link to Sen. Obama via this feedback form from his campaign website to make your voice heard.
Read MoreSATURDAY MORNING COFFEE QUESTIONS ON WOMEN AND VOTING POWER
I’ve been interviewed many times over the years by AP reporter David Crary, and he always does a great job of capturing sensitive and complex cultural issues that many other journalists can only simplify into polarized extremes.
His byline article today, in which he also interviews several of my most esteemed colleagues and fondest friends-with whom I don’t necesarily agree on this issue–is no exception.
Feminists sharply divided between Clinton, Obama
By DAVID CRARY –
NEW YORK (AP) — No constituency is more eager to see a woman win the presidency than America’s feminists, yet — despite Hillary Rodham Clinton’s historic candidacy — the women’s movement finds itself wrenchingly divided over the Democratic race as it heads toward the finish.
At breakfast forums, in op-ed columns, across the blogosphere, the debate has been heartfelt and sometimes bitter. Are the activist women supporting front-runner Barack Obama betraying their gender? Are Clinton’s feminist backers mired in an outdated, women’s-liberation mind-set?
Read the rest of the article here… and tell me a) what you think and b) so what you think women ought to do, not about this disagreement necessarily but about using our voting power?
Read MoreBy the Numbers: U.S. Women in Political Leadership
WOMEN & POLITICS FACTS*
Facts are facts, but facts always subject to interpretation. Many think tanks and pundits have asked the question: “Why are women still so underepresented in political office, especially at the highest levels?
Officeholders
- Women hold 87, or 16.3%, of the 535 seats in the 110th US Congress
- Women currently make up 23.5% of state legislatures
- There are nine women governors
- The United States ranks 67th internationally in women’s political representation**
Voting Behavior
- Women, who make up 52% of the population, are more likely to vote than men
- 67.3 million women reported voting in 2004, 8.8 million more than men
- Approximately 35 million eligible women didn’t vote on election day 2004
*Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP), Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University
**Inter-Parliamentary Union
How would you interpret these numbers?
Read MoreHillary: Get Over It So You Can Get On With Winning
I was going to call this “The Importance of Being Hillary,” but the Iowa caucus results seemed to call for something else. So I did a third “Memo re Hillary”, this time to Hillary herself telling her to “Loosen up, Girl” if she wants to win the next round of primaries. But do read the rest of it here and let me know what you think. Better yet, put a comment at the end of my commentary on HuffPo.
Deborah Siegel, posted an interesting analysis of women and men voters in the Iowa Caucuses on her Girl with Pen blog. I want to share it with you here too because dollars to donuts you’ll never see this information in the New York Times. It’s dated January 4 and the author is sociologist Virginia Rutter; the post title is “Who Votes Their Gender.”
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