The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of the people to petition the government for a redress of grievances. If you think that after 225 years the Constitution still does not guarantee women equal rights with men is a grievance in need of redressing, then you can do something about it with [...]
While members of Congress waste time naming post offices and devising ways to get seniors to pay for billionaire’s tax breaks through cuts in Medicare and Social Security, other important business is slipping through the cracks. Specifically, if the Violence Against Women Act—signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 after a four-year battle—is not reauthorized [...]
April is the month every year when the paychecks of women working full-time, year-round catch up with what men earned by the previous December 31. This year Equal Pay Day falls on April 17. There are a number of causes for the pay gap, including job segregation (so-called “men’s jobs” pay more than “women’s jobs”) [...]
Today’s tee-off at the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia came and went without a single woman arriving at Augusta National Golf Club in the icky green jacket that denotes membership. The club never announces new members; members announce themselves by showing up at the tournament in the aforementioned green. Not having a woman in Augusta [...]
Sarah Weddington was a 27-year-old, inexperienced lawyer when she argued one of the most important cases of the 20th century before the Supreme Court. She ended up having to argue it twice, because the first time the court had two vacancies, and the justices wanted to rehear the case after President Nixon filled them. Weddington [...]
“Wal-Mart Launches Global Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative; Effort Includes Goal to Source $20 Billion from Women‑Owned Businesses in the U.S.” read the headline on Wal-Mart’s press release announcing a new “gender washing” initiative. Well, ok, it didn’t say “gender washing.” I made up the term to convey the same meaning as “green washing” when it’s [...]
by Martha Burk When former senator Alan Simpson, Republican co-chair of President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, called Social Security “a milk cow with 310 million tits” last summer, it was not only a misogynistic insult but a symbolic shot at the benefit program older women depend on most. Started in 1935, [...]
Today is the 90th anniversary of suffrage, and we’ve indeed come a long way, baby. When the suffragists finally got the 19th Amendment passed in 1920, it was after two generations of women had busted their butts to get it done. Movement leader Carrie Chapman Catt told just how hard it was: [Getting the vote] [...]
