Tag: women

Women’s Equality Day

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The Woman Suffrage Amendment was first introduced on January 10, 1878. It was resubmitted numerous times until it was finally approved by both the House and Senate in June 1919. The bill needed to be approved by two-thirds of the states, so suffragists spent the next year lobbying state legislatures to gain support for the bill. On August 24, 1920, Tennessee became 36th and final state to ratify the amendment, which passed by only one vote. That one vote belonged to Harry Burn, who heeded the words of his mother when she urged him to vote for suffrage. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed the amendment into law on August 26, 1920.

Fifty years later on August 26th, 1970, Betty Friedan and the National Organization for Women organized a nationwide Women’s Strike for Equality. Women across the political spectrum joined together to demand equal opportunities in employment and education, as well as 24-hour childcare centers. This was the largest protest for gender equality in United States history. There were demonstrations and rallies in more than 90 major cities and small towns across the country and over 100,000 women participated, including 50,000 who marched down Fifth Avenue in New York City.

It was a good day – for men who support women’s rights to stand up and be counted.

5 (of 120) Women Photograpers

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Consuelo Kanaga, by Annie Mae Merriweather, 1935

A new show opened July 2nd at the Metropolitan Museum of Art continuing recent efforts to reinsert women into the history of photography. Organized by Andrea Nelson and Mia Fineman with Virginia McBride, “The New Woman Behind the Camera” features 120 women photographers working during the 20th century. Its focus is not only Western artists who are already well-known, such as Dorothea Lange and Claude Cahun, but also under-recognized artists from other parts of the world whose work has been influential.

Look at five under-recognized artists included in the Met show, which is slated to travel to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. after its run in New York.

One of those rare moments when I regret leaving the metropolitan Northeast. Quite rare. But, I don’t travel well, anymore. Too much of that as part of earning a living much of my life. Perhaps someone will produce something in video or print recording the experience of wandering through this show.

Before Roe vs Wade

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Janet Gotkin remembers a time when young women had unsafe abortions…

“I was 37. I had two children and I found myself pregnant. There was no question in my mind I did not want to have another baby. My husband did not want another baby,” Gotkin said.

She said “it’s time to say the word ‘abortion…’”

Gotkin, a retired librarian and research entrepreneur, said whether legal or not, abortion has always been with us and will continue to be.

“Abortion has been available in home remedies for a millennia. The first recorded abortion came from ancient Egypt thousands of years ago. When people talk about ending abortion, they really talk about banning legal abortion with safe practitioners,” she said.

Just as an aside, before you think this was a problem for women alone…jive laws like Roe vs Wade were applied to men as well. As a young man in New England, when I had a vasectomy it was just as illegal as an abortion. My urologist swore me to secrecy. All the religious dogma applied to the law-writers in my home state’s legislature. They lived up to every piece of the non-science pie, perfectly willing to ignore any citizen’s rights.

Ignoring Women Costs $700 Billion a Year

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❝ The male-dominated finance industry is missing out on more than $700 billion a year in revenue by failing to listen to or tailor products for women, according to management consultancy Oliver Wyman.

“Women are arguably the single largest under-served group of customers in financial services,” Jessica Clempner, the report’s lead author, said…“Firms are leaving money on the table by not listening to and understanding their women customers.”

❝ The problems are compounded by lack of women in senior management in the finance industry. Just 20% of finance executives globally are women, up from 16% in 2016, the report said. The industry continues to grapple with many of the same challenges as it has in the past, including the mid-career gap that holds many women back, it said.

NSS. Every few years some “open-minded” analysts roll out a report like this one. Gets a couple hours coverage on a Bloomberg afternoon show. Vanishes. Financial industry in America is about as self-aware as a clam.

Employers Used Facebook to Keep Women and Older Workers From Seeing Job Adverts

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DO NO HARM, EH?

❝ Two years ago, ProPublica and The New York Times revealed that companies were posting discriminatory job ads on Facebook, using the social network’s targeting tools to keep older workers from seeing employment opportunities. Then we reported companies were using Facebook to exclude women from seeing job ads.

Experts told us that it was most likely illegal. And it turns out the federal government now agrees.

❝ A group of recent rulings by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found “reasonable cause” to conclude that seven employers violated civil rights protections by excluding women or older workers or both from seeing job ads they posted on Facebook.

The agency’s rulings appear to be the first time it has taken on targeted advertising, the core of Facebook’s business…

I stopped being surprised by crap like this from social media long, long ago.

Women’s brains scan as younger than calendar age – men scan as older

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❝ Women tend to outlive men and stay mentally sharp longer, and a new study out Monday could explain why: female brains appear on average about three years younger.

❝ A machine-learned algorithm showed that women’s brains were on average about 3.8 years younger than their chronological ages.

And when compared to men, male brains were about 2.4 years older than their true ages…

❝ Scientists hope to find out if metabolic differences in the brain may play a protective role for women, who tend to score better than men on cognitive tests of reason, memory and problem solving in old age.

Evolution is a trip, eh?