In October 2011 on the View I heard that Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown (posed nude for Cosmo to help pay for college) took heat for comments about rival Elizabeth Warren. She was asked how she put herself through college and said I kept my clothes on. On a radio show after her comment Brown was asked what he thought of it and he said ‘Thank God’. On October 10, 2011 Anita Hill (as an Oklahoma law professor 20 years ago had to testify against George Bush’s narrowly confirmed Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas), author of Reimagining Equality said that the Senate just didn’t seem ready to accept the reality of women’s experiences in the work place. She believes today is better but it’s not perfect. When Robin Roberts asked if she felt things would’ve been different in today’s social media age – she said there were 3 other women ready to testify but they weren’t called back in 1991. Robin said that last year Virginia Thomas, Clarence’s wife, left a voice mail on Hill’s phone asking her to apologize; Anita thought it was a prank. Hill has been approached by many saying that her testimony at the hearing allowed them to find a voice of their own and that is the greatest legacy she could ever hope for. At the 2011 Google Science Fair, 3 American girls won out of 7,000 entries from 91 countries. On October 7-3 women won the Nobel Peace Prize and today 12% of engineers are female. On January 12, 2012 we heard about a 17 year old girl that’s a finalist in the Intel National Science competition; her parents (a nurse and taxi driver) and 2 siblings are living in a homeless shelter; she’s 4th in her class with almost a 4.0 grade point average. On February 8 it was reported that 300,000 women had served in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Pentagon is opening up 14,000 jobs including intelligence, logistics and communications to women and they’ll be assigned to forward deployed units. Yet women continue to be treated as second class citizens; on November 16 it was reported that a survey found that 1 in 4 American women are harassed at work.
The Supreme Court’s 2011 opinion – The women failed to show that WalMart has a policy of discrimination that worked to harm all female employees. To sue about literally millions of employment decisions at once (Plaintiffs need) some glue holding the alleged reasons for those decisions together. Women make up 70% of WalMart’s workforce and only 33% are Managers. I understand why this was not good enough for the Supreme Court but because of this decision people have to fight corporations one on one and we all know that the corporations have the resources to crush the individual. I agree with Judge Ginsberg that “discrimination is more subtle. Managers, like all humankind may be prey to biases that they are unaware.” Nancy Pelosi said “The ruling of the Supreme Court sets back the cause of equality for women.” I agreed with others that WalMart was trying to appease women when it announced in September 2011 that it would buy more products from women owned businesses. Shortly after the Supreme Court decision ABC News reported that dozens of women at the Bloomberg Media Company said they were punished and passed over for promotions after having a family. Judge Loretta Preska said there was no companywide discrimination and the law doesn’t mandate work life balance. Ruling: In a company that explicitly makes all out dedication its expectation, making a decision that preferences family over work comes with consequences. Apparently the judge gave voice to managers and workers who said working mothers shouldn’t get special treatment. ABC went on to say that studies show that Fortune 500 companies with the best record of putting women in executive positions are on average 40% more profitable. I’m confused with the statement regarding the company’s expectation. If in hiring the women the company put in writing that they were to work an extreme number of hours and identified the hours in which they were to work and the women weren’t doing so then I agree with the judge. If they did not have said written documentation then I’m assuming in order to meet the company’s expectation they had a schedule that equaled a 40 hour week and the same issue of hours would apply. In both these cases I wonder if anyone got the percentage of how many wanted a promotion and although qualified didn’t get it.
If women are going to be held back at work because they have a family then I say the men have to pay to play. Husbands can pay their wives for having babies (like a surrogate) and they can pay for the Nannies. It is said that women in the private sector are paid 23% less than the men doing the same job; in government they’re paid 11% less. On September 6, 2011 it was reported that a survey showed women making 78 cents on the dollar when compared with men. On October 26 it was reported that IBM for the first time in its 100 years named a woman to a CEO position. In November Healthways Science and Well-Being Research said women age 45-55 are earning $750,000 less in their career than their male counterparts.
On November 4 Alan Alda said Marie Curie is his inspiration; in 1903 got a Nobel Prize that had to be given to her and her husband because as a woman was not permitted to receive it and when she won again they didn’t want her to get it because she as a widower was in love with a married man; she received awards in physics and chemistry and never let anyone stop her. On November 15 I heard Bill Maher on the View say that any institution where there are no women around - it always goes bad - you do really need women around as a moderating influence.
I will not be posting a blog for the next 2 weeks (tax time).
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