Well, we’ve slipped. The U.S. has gone from 25th to 31st in economic gender equality. But yeah, there’s no need for feminism in America. None at all.
Feminists Have More Fun
As it turns out, a survey has found that “having a feminist partner is linked with healthier, more romantic heterosexual relationships.”
The study, published online this week in the journal Sex Roles, relied on surveys of both college students and older adults, finding that women with egalitarian attitudes do find mates and men do find them attractive. In fact, results reveal they are having a good time, maybe a better time than the non-feminists.
And:
Among the findings:
- College-age women who reported having feminist male partners also reported higher quality relationships that were more stable than couples involving non-feminist male partners.
- College guys who were themselves feminists and had feminist partners reported more equality in their relationships.
- Older women who perceived their male partners as feminists reported greater relationship health and sexual satisfaction.
- Older men with feminist partners said they had more stable relationships and greater sexual satisfaction.
(Thanks to Lena and www.livescience.com.)
Tech is Still a Boy’s Game
According to The San Jose Mercury News:
Valley companies based in Santa Clara County ranked dead last in the state, elevating fewer women to executive ranks and corporate boards than any other county.
Only 9 percent of companies in the county have promoted a woman to a top post, according to a University of California-Davis study of the 400 largest public companies in the state. Only 7 percent of corporate boards include even one woman.
But most frustrating of all, said Nicole Woolsey Biggart, is that California companies have shown little improvement over the past three years that Davis’ Graduate School of Management has conducted the study.
“The numbers are abysmal,” said Biggart, the management school’s dean. “What has absolutely dumbfounded me is we look just like the Industrial Belt. We don’t look any different to me. That is the big shock.”
Wow, new boss, same as the old boss. Why am I not surprised? Because I have been in tech offices, & sometimes they feel like locker rooms for the geeky boys. The only thing that’s different is there are no jocks there to beat them up, but it’s as if girls are still kind of scary, & so – not allowed in.
Make Your Own Money
A woman recently posted an ad on Craig’s List here in NYC asking for advice on how to find a rich – and by rich she means really rich – husband. She’s found guys who make $250k a year, but
“$250,000 won’t get me to Central Park West,” she said, asking questions like “where do rich single men hang out?”
A rich guy responded:
“Your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity … in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful!” the banker wrote.
“So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset,” he said. “Let me explain, you’re 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!”
“It doesn’t make good business sense to “buy you” (which is what you’re asking) so I’d rather lease,” he said.
Both posts have since been removed from Craig’s List, but the lesson is indelible.
(Thanks to Lena for the tip!)
She’s the Boss
If diversity itself wasn’t a worthwhile goal to some companies, maybe the better financial performance of a diverse board will motivate more companies to getting some women involved:
The study, which looked at three financial measures, found that companies with more women directors outperformed companies with fewer by 53 percent in return on equity, by 42 percent in return on sales, and by 66 percent in return on invested capital.
The study was done by Catalyst, a non-profit research organization whose goal is to expand business opportunities for women.
Five Questions With… Julia Serano
Julia Serano is a Bay Area slam-winning poet, author, performer, activist, & biologist. She organized the GenderEnders event from 2003 until last year; plays guitar, sings & writes lyrics for her band Bitesize, and oh – has a Ph.D. in biochemistry. We got to meet her when she was in town promoting her book Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
(1) I loved Whipping Girl, for starters. I think it’s a pivotal work for trans communities, especially in building trans pride. But you know I kept waiting for you to actually define “feminine” – maybe if not for all time, but in some way that I could understand what you meant by it specifically. Your “barrette Manifesto” came close, except that I see barrettes as childish, not feminine per se. So can you help the genderblind like myself? What is femininity? Can you be feminine without being girly?
In the next to last chapter of the book, “Putting the Feminine Back into Feminism,†I talk about that a bit, but I’ll try to define it here a little more clearly. I would say that femininity is a heterogeneous set of traits (some of which are cultural in origin, some biological, some psychological, and many are a combination thereof). The only thing that all feminine traits have in common is that they are typically associated with women in our culture. But they certainly aren’t exclusive to women, as many men and MTF spectrum transgender folks also express feminine traits (similarly, many women express masculine rather than feminine traits). I think most of us tend to express some combination of both feminine and masculine traits.
Forbes’ Top 100 Women
Forbes has just published their list of the Top 100 Most Powerful women. Among them, politicans and CEOs, a couple of Queens (of Jordan, & the UK), a judge (Ginsburg), a few anchors (Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric), and Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, activist and Nobel Peace laureate (who is probably my favorite woman on the list).
Interesting, though, to see “Chairman” so frequently after a name. I guess “Chairperson” just doesn’t trip off the tongue the same way.
Don’t Get Married
Had I known this before, I might have told Betty we had to wait until she learned to do more chores:
Within marriages, the study finds that women do about twice as much housework as men, even after adjusting for employment status and other factors. While men living with their partners do more housework than married men, women still shoulder the burden of household chores. (bolded for emphasis by yours truly)
What’s interesting, however, is that in cohabitating couples, the chores are split more evenly.
Every study I’ve read backs this up, and that women do more chores than their husbands seems to be true despite childcare breakdowns and employment status. One woman I know worked fulltime and made most of the family’s money and still came home to do most of the chores.
Globally Re-Gagged
Well, here’s a bit of good news: the Senate voted to repeal the Global Gag rule. The Global Gag Rule was put in place by Reagan (removed by Clinton & reinstated by Dubya) and prevented the U.S. from funding any organizations that even mentioned abortion as an option when providing services or counseling to women in need. In legislation introduced by Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA), this restriction was lifted (and people think having women in positions of power doesn’t matter!)
The good news is that the House already passed similar legislation in June and the two versions will be reconciled so that Dubya can veto it, sadly. But at least our legislators are fighting back some on this issue.
What Men Do
In the ‘astonishing, but not surprising’ category: CNN does a report on Iraqi women who have ended up prostituting themselves due to the war, asking sometimes as little as $8 a day. The point of course was to do a human interest story, or a feminist story, or a reality of war story, but some guy, dick in hand, instead wants to know if it’s true & how he can get in on the action. Another comments:
You are a fortunate man to find ass here in the IZ so quickly. I live here and it took me 4 months to get my connections. We have a PSD team contact who brings us these Iraqi cuties but dangerous it is.
Now that’s class. Don’t keep reading that message board if you’re an actual person with actual compassion, please.
There are days guys wonder why women hate them en masse. This is why, sensitive New Age guys. Please do something about these fuckwads & then get back to me about your problems.
(via The Cunning Realist.)