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The question of abortion, or reproductive health as the Left calls it, is one of the most hotly debated issues in America today. Now, I don’t agree with the "pro-life" view that life begins at conception and that abortion is murder. But I respect that point of view. And I’m ok with people having different [...]
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The Education of Brooksley Born, Part II: The Lesson
The Players: Robert Rubin: Secretary of the Treasury during Clinton’s presidency, after which he joined the board of Citibank; has been an economic advisor to Obama Larry Summers: Deputy Secretary of the Treasury under Clinton; later, Secretary of the Treasury; under Obama, was head of the White House National Economic Council until December, 2010 Arthur [...]
Preserving our rights in court: the threat of Dukes v. Walmart
If you found yourself victim to discrimination at work, would you try to take your employer to court? If an upcoming legal battle goes the wrong way, you may not be able to do so—especially if you’re a woman. I’m referring, of course, to the lawsuit facing Wal-Mart regarding gendered pay and promotion disparity. Thousands [...]
Is it so bad to redefine rape? HR3, #DearJohn, and Women’s Sexuality
Despite promising to focus on jobs and the economy, Republicans have introduced HR3, “The No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act," which would make it virtually impossible for any woman anywhere to use insurance to pay for an abortion. Many excellent pieces have been written by the feminist community about the monstrosity that is this bill, and I don’t [...]
The Education of Brooksley Born, Part 1
The other night, I watched a Frontline special called "The Warning" from 2009. Immediately I thought this was a bad idea, but even without understanding all the economic and market terms and lingo you can easily understand the message and the end result of the interviews. The reason we are in a recession started ten [...]
The State of (Women in) the Union: Tonight’s Speech
The very first exchange in Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues is as follows, “I bet you’re worried.” “We were worried.” “We were worried about vaginas.” I’ll admit it, after being a fervent Hillary Clinton supporter for years (and not just because I’m a New Yorker or a Seven Sisters College graduate), when Barack Obama won [...]
“Bhutto”- A Woman and Her Country
Cross-posted with permission from Marcia G. Yerman With the assassination of Salman Taseer, the Governor of Punjab Province in Pakistan and an outspoken opponent of religious extremism, the divisions within Pakistani society are once again in the news. Perhaps there is no better time to see the documentary Bhutto, which not only tells the story [...]
Women and Social Networks in Congress
You may have missed this article, because it didn’t make the front page. It didn’t even make the first fifteen pages of the New York Times. To remedy this, I suggest you read Jennifer Steinhauer’s "Among Women in Congress, a Bond of Friendship." Steinhauer begins by describing the hospital room where Gabrielle Giffords first awoke [...]
Women, Security, and the Sudan Referendum
This week, voters are flooding the polls in Sudan to vote on a referendum to allow the South to secede and form its own, independent country. Despite concerns of violence and unrest, the vote has been largely peaceful and is expected to yield a victory for the independence movement. However, despite the success so far, [...]
Corporations, Women, and Equal Protection
Supreme Court Justice Scalia recently declared (not for the first time) his opinion that sex and gender discrimination are not covered by the 14th Amendment, otherwise known as the Equal Protection clause. Just to review, the 14th Amendment forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to [...]