May 2010
31 posts
1 tag
Tales from the Frontlines: Why Are My...
From reader Julie, who lives in Japan (!):
As a kid I didn’t understand that just wanting to be treated decently made me a feminist. I thought it was normal to expect equality and to ask for fair treatment. I was probably a teen before I realized that I had been a feminist all along… I also know I get reminded of WHY I am a feminist every day. When I do just as well or better...
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Fun Fact of the Day: Did You Know Newspaper Want...
Yup. When former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor graduated from Stanford Law in 1952, she couldn’t find a job—because no law firm would hire a woman. In 1968, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission issued guidelines banning want ad segregation, but the EEOC had little power to enforce the law. It wasn’t until 1973, when a lawsuit filed against The Pittsburgh...
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Women March for Equal Rights. While Topless. In...
Um, what the hell is going on in Maine? (Ed: What up, Maine! You so crazy! xoxo!) A few weeks ago, a group of women in Portland made a few minor waves when they marched through downtown topless— in the name of promoting gender equality. Or something.
Anyway, one 22-year-old woman was “inspired and liberated by the Portland march,” so decided to organize her own, in Farmington....
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Robin Givhan, the Washington Post, and Why On...
Well hot damn, Robin Givhan. We know you won a Pulitzer and all, but our jaw straight-up dropped when we read this headline, from Sunday’s Washington Post Style section: “Elena Kagan goes on Supreme Court confirmation offensive in drab D.C. clothes.” Wow! (And is there such a thing as non-drab DC clothes?) But then, there’s the caption, showing Kagan looking perfectly...
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Lady Gaga Talks Feminism: "It Really Doesn't Mean...
Gaga talks feminism with the Times of London, which gives us a great excuse to post the Lady Gaga barbie collection. On feminism:
“Do you know what that girl at the bar said to me?” Gaga says, sipping her Scotch. “She said, ‘You’re a feminist. People think it means man-hating, but it doesn’t.’ Isn’t that funny?”
Earlier in the day, conversation had turned to whether Gaga would describe ...
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Washington Post Ombudsman on Gender Bias: 'We're...
In Sunday’s Washington Post, ombudsman Andrew Alexander takes on the ongoing criticism of his newspaper for sexism—most recently, for its cutting review of the new PBS public affairs program, “Need to Know,” in which author Tom Shales declares that cohost Alison Stewart, an award-winning journalist, looks, during a “fawning” interview with Bill Clinton,...
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Bad Time to Be a Dude: Dissecting Male Studies,...
Ever since we went to Staten Island for the male studies symposium last month, we’ve been wondering about something. It seems that a growing number of men have signed onto the idea that because women earn more bachelor’s degrees than men today (and are close to surpassing men in the earning of advanced degrees), it’s proof, suddenly, that it’s men who are being...
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Supposedly One of the "Best Companies" for Women...
Well, then. Despite making Working Mother’s 100 Best Companies list for four years straight, Novartis Pharmaceuticals was found guilty of discrimination against its female employees earlier this week, and today the company was ordered to pay $250 million in punitive damages to its 5,600 female employees—the largest ever employment discrimination verdict.
The women said that they...
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Maureen Dowd on Kagan and 'Unmarried': When Does a...
Ladyfriend/colleague Sarah Ball got us thinking about Maureen Dowd’s column in today’s Times, in which she takes on the White House use of “unmarried” to describe Elena Kagan. The question, Dowd asks, is when does a woman go from single to unmarried? “Single” carries the connotation of eligibility and possibility—single gals are fun! Like Sex and the...
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Turns Out, Men Get Ahead Cause They're Just Plain...
In a newspaper article last month, Susan Greenfield, one of Britain’s best-known female scientists, bemoaned the lack of female science professors in the UK. Which prompted Richard Lynn, a retired psychology professor and possessor of crazy-ass thoughts, to ask, in last week’s Daily Mail, Is there really a glass ceiling? To which he quickly answered his own question: No (or is it...
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If I Had a Hammer, I'd Smash Patriarchy: The...
Anna Spysz of the Krakow Post has a nice post on her blog about embracing “equalism” over feminism, because, as she puts it, “to me it signifies in the simplest, most elegant way, the goal of the movement: complete gender equality.”
Equalism, of course, has had various waves of popularity over the years: as a more inclusive way of proclaiming feminist ideals; as a term...
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How to Ask For a Raise: Be Nice, But Not Too Nice....
We know how important advice like this is. Believe us, we do. But still, this piece, in the New York Times, just has us sighing and shaking our heads. It summarizes a study showing that women, duh, need to take a different tack when negotiating a raise—one that lets them ask for what they deserve without seeming, you know, pushy, or, god forbid, “unattractive.”
Yes, the advice...
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Tales from the Frontlines (and a Click Moment):...
From Rosie, an Orange County social worker:
I have been a feminist since birth. I grew up in Seattle, and my parents were both self-proclaimed feminists. I was in the local newspaper at a week old, with a story about my father’s struggle for paternity leave from his job as a public bus driver, to bond with his new daughter. But I do have a “click” moment in my professional...
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"Husky" girls - those who are just a little on the...
Feministing points us to the July 1943 issue of Transportation Magazine, written for male supervisors of women during World War II, featuring “helpful tips” on supervising women at work. Excerpts:
1. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they’re less likely to be flirtatious
2. When you have to use older...
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People Saying "The Glass Ceiling Has Been...
Bloomberg has found that female heads of companies earn “substantially more” than their male counterparts—averaging over $14 million annual pay, and getting double-digit raises in 2009 while men took pay cuts.
“When you see numbers like this, one can truly say that the glass ceiling in corporate America has been shattered,” said Frank Glassner, CEO of San Francisco-based ...
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Really, Michael Savage? Kagan "Looks Like She...
We probably shouldn’t be surprised by this, (or for that matter this) but really, Michael Savage? Amid the media obsession over Elena Kagan’s sexuality (thanks, Eliot Spitzer, for clarifying that you “did not go out with her”), Savage took it to a new level on Monday, saying that he finds the Supreme Court nominee’s appearance “personally grotesque,” playing off his...
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Power of the Purse: A Note on Women's Global...
We came across an interesting interview with the author of “Influence,” about how women will transform business in the 21st century. Some highlighted factoids to impress your friends:
Over the last two decades, womens’ increased employment has contributed more to the growth of the global economy than either China or India, or even global technology. Says the author:...
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Congress Weighs 'Potty Parity': "Holding It Can...
Yup, “Potty Parity” is the real name of real legislation that Congress hopes will provide much-needed relief to the bladders of women and children everywhere. (Er, at least those of us who visit new federal buildings.)
The average American uses a toilet more than half a dozen times a day, nearly 3,000 times a year, and, all told, will spend up to two years of an entire life in the...
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It's OK to Be a Geek, But Not a Feminist?
Jessica covered the rise of girl geeks for Newsweek back in 2008, prompted, in part, by the growing popularity of the Girl Geek Dinners. At the time, Jess wrote that young, tech savvy women were embracing the “geek” label for themselves—and, in turn, redefining it. The women she talked to didn’t use the word “feminism”—if anything, they embraced the...
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Ezra Klein Calls Bulls**t on Accusations that...
Big ups to our colleague (for now, anyway) Ezra Klein, whose Washington Post column today thrashes the argument that Obama shouldn’t nominate two women in a row to the Supreme Court. Since women make up half the population, the odds of two women being seated to the high court in a row are a solid 25%. The odds that 34 male justices would be seated even after women got the vote?...
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The More TV Girls Watch, The More Limited They...
We were on a panel recently, and someone asked us how we would raise our daughters, knowing what we know now. We stumbled a little—we don’t have kids, and haven’t yet given it a whole lot of thought. Well, Geena Davis just clarified things for us.
Turns out five years ago she started the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (ed: who knew!?!?), which monitors the portrayal...
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Study Says Students are Ruder to Female Profs. Or...
We were intrigued last week by the headlines about a new study showing that college students are more likely to act out in classes headed by female professors. We’ll certainly be the first to say that sounds about right, but on this particular study, we’re going to call BS. Based entirely on an online survey, the researchers asked faculty members from nine different colleges to...
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Watch“I don’t think Carrie Bradshaw couldn’t be Carrie Bradshaw if she didn’t have a real awareness of feminism,” Candace Bushnell tells MTV. Really?
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Groped on the Subway? There's an App for That.
We have a friend who got ejaculated on while riding the subway once. Yes, this is a true story. And it wasn’t just on her arm or her jacket or even her legs—she got ejaculated on on her neck. She’d been sitting on a crowded subway, coffee in one hand, newspaper in the other, and felt something wet. She whipped around to see a man run off the train, to which a woman across from...
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A Friday Tale from the Frontlines: 'Respect? What...
We promise we’ll be back in less-depressed form next week. In the meantime, write to us! We’d love to hear what you’re thinking about this weekend.
Today’s “Tales from the Frontlines,” from a Colorado VP of Human Resources:
See my title? Well, three years ago, I was promoted to VP when the then-MALE VP got caught with illegal drugs in his system. I was...
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WatchSorry we’ve been MIA, readers. Sad times at NEWSWEEK, which was put up for sale yesterday. (No buyers yet.) But we promise we’ll be back with cheer in the coming days. (And send job tips our way!) Above is Jon Meacham, the editor of NEWSWEEK, on the Daily Show last night.
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Return of the (Ok, Not at All Daily) Dose of...
Aaaaand we’re back with a bang! In the form of an awesomely grandiloquent letter from Darryl Edwards to the Columbia Daily Tribune. We have no clue what he’s writing in about, but the title alone (Nanny state feeds on teat of women’s lib) is so great that it doesn’t even matter. It’s long, but it’s worth it. Herewith, our new favorite sad guy, and our interpretation...
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What's Your Click Moment? Readers Share Their...
Last week, Salon’s Broadsheet blog spoke with the authors of a new book from Seal Press about the the feminist eureka moment. It’s called, appropriately, Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists, and features essays from thirty feminists under 40, describing their own click moments, prompted by everything from bad sex ed to Kurt Cobain’s suicide.
Despite this variety, Salon writes,...
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Today in Amazing Gems from the Newsweek Library:...
Yup, that’s really the title, of a real book, published in 1980, by Casey Miller and Kate Swift. “It sometimes takes a well-turned ear to make appropriate choices from among the everyday words,” the authors write. And so, they offer practical examples, and advice, to solve the subliminal messages of words. They trace the evolution of “man,” advise on the propriety...
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Are You the de Facto Office Secretary? How to Deal
We’ve all been there, haven’t we? In situations where you’re the sole woman in a sea of dudes, it’s those of us with boobs who are expected to order the supplies, brew the coffee, clean the fridge, pick up after the party, and on and on….
Well, today the San Diego Union Tribune offers a little advice:
Don’t focus on the sexism but rather on the fairness — or lack...