The Case for TEDWomen

Last week, TED Global announced the creation of a new conference: TEDWomen, which will take place in Washington, D.C,. this coming December 7-8. Reactions among ladyblogs have been predictably divided: Does a separate TED conference devoted to women give much-needed global attention to women’s issues, or further marginalize women’s issues by not including them in […]

Why Kids in Montana (and Everywhere Else) Need Decent Sex Ed

The capital of my home state of Montana is making national headlines for a totally wild concept: comprehensive and age-appropriate sex education starting in kindergarten. The Helena school board was inundated with protests from concerned parents at their curriculum meeting in early July. According to the AP, the controversial parts of Helena’s program include teaching […]

From the Stacks: A Typical Operating Environment

“In a typical operating environment,” reads this 1983 organizational chart, “the system accepts data and inquiries from work stations…” And apparently, a “typical operating environment” meant that every “management” or “operator” position was held by a man. Leave it to the “girls” to deal with order entry, invoicing and accounts receivable. This ad was reprinted […]

We Heart: New USC Athletics Director Pat Haden

If you’re a regular reader of the Ms. Blog, you’ll know that we’ve given one quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, a much-deserved hard time for his alleged off-the-field sexual assaults of women. But now it’s time to applaud another quarterback—or, at least, a former one. Pat Haden, who was just named athletics director of USC and was […]