Art Exhibit Highlights Struggles for Women in the Construction Industry

Here is an article about a riveting art exhibit titled "On Equal Terms." The Exhibit has been featured at Brandeis University, Michigan State University Museum, and Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center in Manhattan, but it closes this week. It shows its audience a dark side of the construction industry: the side that continues to harass and discriminate against women in the industry. As the article points out, the construction industry is pretty much the ONLY industry that has NOT seen gains for women in recent decades. Still today, only 2.6% of construction workers are women, and that is the SAME as it was 30 years ago. This art exhibit is interesting in part because it seems to offer its viewers a glimpse of a day in the life of a female construction worker. As you move through it, it seems you would get the chance to experience what it would actually be like on the job--a chance to walk a mile, or even just a step or two, in a female construction worker's work boots. I wish I'd had the chance to see it.

Dangerous Sexism - Colorlines

Topless Activist Secures Settlement in Fight for the Right to Bare her Boobies

As a follow-up to one of my earlier posts, one Woman in New York City, who was repeatedly arrested and detained for not wearing a shirt, finally sued the city for her multiple wrongful arrests and detentions because, as she pointed out, toplessness is not a crime. Not in New York City anyway. And that is true. But police officers there apparently still arrest and detain women for it, despite being repeatedly reminded of the laws, at which point the charges are presumably dismissed as nonexistent. Well, this lady finally settled her lawsuit against the city for $40,000 because, as she acknowledged, she would not play well to a judge or jury . . . not without a shirt (assuming she would also show up shirtless to court).

Topless Activist Wins $40,000 Settlement From City for Boob Freedom - nymag.com

Earlier information about the legality of toplessness in New York:

Cops Reminded Repeatedly That Exposed Boobs Are Not a Crime - nymag.com

2013 Gender Gap Report Ranks America as 23rd Best Place for Women (Out of 136 Countries)

Well, the 2013 Gender Gap Report is out, and the United States ranks #23 out of 136 countries as far as the status of women is concerned. And the U.S. has NOT made relative progress; it has actually fallen one place in the rankings since last year. Perhaps we (as in the U.S.) have not actually fallen backwards but rather have stagnated as the status of women in other countries has improved slightly. Either way, we have a long way to go. But naturally, this is only a relative measure with other countries; the relative rankings don't measure the absolute progress being made in each country. Hopefully, there have been improvements across the board. But broadly speaking, as you can see from the rankings table on pages 9-10 of the report, Scandinavia seems to be the best place to be a woman right now, and the Middle East seems to be the worst.

Gender Gap Report 2013 - World Economic Forum

 

Gender Equality: Is there an App for That?

Here's another wonderful editorial about gender equality by Natascha McElhone. (This is actually an edited version of a speech she gave at Wired 2013 in London.) She shares a lot of anecdotes of her experiences with sexism which will probably ring true for (or sound familiar to) many of us. She discusses the phenomenon of "casual sexism," which is oft times subtle and is far more pervasive, I would imagine, than any of us realize. One facet of that phenomenon is the casual objectification of women, which, according to McElhone, is sexist primarily because it happens so much more frequently than the converse (the casual objectification of men), and because of the powerless positions in which women are portrayed in sexual images.

And McElhone asks a number of great questions about a variety of issues. Among those most important in my mind are:

"Why should men not garner respect for staying at home for those formative years?"

Undoubtedly an issue worthy of much discussion is the right of men to play a more active role in raising their children and maintaining their households if they so choose. The importance of this issue should be abundantly clear because, as anyone who has thought long and hard about gender equality should realize, women will never and can never play a truly equal role in the workplace until men play a truly equal role at home. Or, in the paraphrased words of Sheryl Sandberg, women can't "lean in" at the board table until men "lean in" at the kitchen table.

Many men are wonderful fathers, and homemakers, but they are never truly given the chance because of the stigma, stereotype, or casual sexism wrapped up in the still prevailing idea that these tasks are women's tasks--and continue to be women's tasks--even as women are expected to contribute equally to the workforce. If you find this insulting to men, then that only proves the point that domestic (and traditionally feminine) roles are demeaned and stigmatized in our society. Maybe a woman makes a free choice to stay home, or a man makes a free choice to bring home the bacon, but until the stigmas are eliminated for both sexes, no one can really make a choice that is completely free. And, in my view, this is the area in which WOMEN are the most guilty of contributing to the problem of gender inequality, by refusing to let their male partners play a more active role at home. You have to step back if you want them to step up. I only know this because I have been quite guilty of this myself!

Here was another of my favorite excerpts from McElhone's piece: "If I were a journalist, I would ask every man I interviewed if he was worried about his hair loss, his weight, how he managed his work/home balance, what his neuroses were – and skip over the content of what he actually did."

Ha. I would pay to see that. This is of course hilarious because this is usually what happens when the media interviews many women; they ask them about their appearance and not about their accomplishments--even women as accomplished as Hillary Clinton, which is presumably what brought them onto the show in the first place.

Natascha McElhone: It's Time to Find an App for Gender Equality

City of Los Angeles Contemplates Sexual Harassment Training for its Employees

Two City Council Members in Los Angeles, CA are asking the City to providing mandatory sexual harassment training to all of its employees, after two recent lawsuits. (Until now the City has provided such training only for managers.) Um, this really seems like a basic thing to me; I'm surprised the City hadn't been doing this already. But okay, good for them if they go along with the proposal and finally get with the program. I guess most private businesses STILL don't require such training, and are not required to in most cases, but I think a lot of governmental employers do. Exactly how effective such training is in actually preventing sexual harassment, I really can't say. Maybe it would depend in part on how good the training program is. But hey, at least it's something.

Sexual Harassment Lawsuits Against LA Prompt Calls For Prevention Training - Huffington Post

Companies with More Women Leaders Enjoy Higher Profits

Here's a great opinion piece by Nicholas D. Kristof in which he advocates for more women in positions of power. As his first example, he points out that the majority of tweeters on Twitter are female, yet the board of directors at Twitter is comprised of seven men and ZERO women. That's a company that is likely pretty out of touch with its own consumers. And this is an all too common occurrence. Kristof argues that equal representations of the sexes in leadership positions isn't just good for women; it's good for everyone, AND, more important to some, it's good for business. He cites some powerful facts and figures showing how companies with higher numbers of women in leadership positions have higher profits. And before you start debunking the correlation as not necessarily causative, whether the chicken came before the egg here isn't really the point. The bottom line is that these companies have something to show the rest of the corporate world--a world where still, in the 21st Century, women hold only 18% of board positions. Thanks to Mr. Kristof for this great editorial.

Twitter, Women, and Power - The New York Times

Meet Samantha Marquez, Girl Genius and Up-and-Coming Scientist

Here's a story about am amazing 17-year-old girl named Samantha Marquez who already has seven scientific patents under her belt. One is for Celloidosome, something that can organize cells into a new or different structures. Most of this science talk is beyond me, but I thought it was a great example of girls who are succeeding in STEM fields.

INNOVATOR: Samantha Marquez, Pioneering Teen Scientist - NBC