Congress finally passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in February, despite massive opposition from House Republicans; and President Obama signed it into law in March. But the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) has yet to be passed. It is expected to be re-introduced in Congress in the next couple of weeks. But will it pass? And what does it do? To find out I called into a phone conference with three women working to raise awareness about I-VAWA: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida), member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, who is helping spearhead passage of the bill, Ruth Messinger, President of the American Jewish World Service, and Rupsa Mallik, of CREA, a feminist human rights organization in New Delhi, India, which works to advance the rights of women and girls and the sexuality and reproductive rights of all people.
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A translation of the Supreme Court’s arguments against marriage equality
The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments on California’s Prop 8, the law banning same-sex marriage in California. Because legalese is hard to understand, I’ve translated some of the arguments made against marriage equality, and one of the arguments made for it, from yesterday’s hearing.
1. Justice Samuel Alito kvetched to the Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, “Traditional marriage has been around for thousands of years. Same-sex marriage is very new…. But you want us to step in and render a decision based on an assessment of the effects of this institution which is newer than cell phones or the Internet? I mean we — we are not — we do not have the ability to see the future.”
Translation: Gay marriage is really new so we obviously can’t rule on it. Just like we can’t rule on cell phones or the internet. Whoops. Actually, we can. And do.
2. Attorney George Cooper defended Prop 8 by arguing that, “The concern is that redefining marriage as a genderless institution will sever its abiding connection to its historic traditional procreative purposes, and it will refocus the purpose of marriage and the definition of marriage away from the raising of children…”
Translation: Marriage is about having children. Which is why we don’t let people who can’t have children marry each other. Oh, wait, we do. People like Justice John Roberts and his wife who adopted their children.
How “Operation Iraqi Freedom” killed women’s freedom
The saddest part of the story is the lost memory of what Iraqi women once were. I grew up in Baghdad with a working mother who drove herself to the office and always told me that I could anything I wanted with my life. My mother’s friends were factory managers, artists, principals and doctors.
It has been just over 20 years since I left Iraq. Today, female college students ask me if it is true that the streets of Baghdad were once full of women driving, that women could walk around in public at all times of the day without worry, that university campuses were once filled with women who did not wearing headscarves. –Zainab Salbi
Yesterday marked the 10-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. In the media, there’s much discussion about the impact of the war on America’s economy, politics and veterans, as there should be. But the war’s impact on Iraqi people and especially Iraqi women has received scant attention.
Though Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator (whom the United States was happy to support), he and his Ba’ath Party advanced women’s rights. The Constitution drafted in 1970 guaranteed women the right to vote, attend school, own property and run for political office. The Personal Status Law, enacted in 1958, gave women equal rights to divorce and to inherit property, restricted polygamy, and prohibited marriages under age 18. But the new Iraqi Constitution replaced these status laws with an article stating that “Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation” and that ”No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam.” Thus, the delineation of women’s rights is in the hands of religious leaders. As Hillary Clinton has explained, “Now, what we see happening in Iraq is the governing council attempting to shift large parts of civil law into religious jurisdiction.” In the words of Iraqi feminist Yanar Mohammed, “We used to have a government that was almost secular. It had one dictator…Now we have almost 60 dictators—Islamists who think of women as forces of evil. This is what is called the democratization of Iraq.” […]
Pink smoke released over Vatican protesting lack of women priests
The release of black smoke, and not white smoke, from The Vatican chimney signified that a new pope had not been named. But what was the meaning of the less visible and less discussed pink smoke released over The Vatican? It was a protest against The Vatican’s refusal to ordain women priests.
Erin Saiz Hanna, the director of the Women’s Ordination Conference, which staged the protest and has been advocating for the ordination of women for three decades, stated,
“The current old boys’ club has left our Church reeling from scandal, abuse, sexism and oppression…. The people of the Church are desperate for a leader who will be open to dialogue and embrace the gifts of women’s wisdom in every level of Church governance.”
Surprise! Another Republican says something offensive about rape (and there’s something you can do about it)
What is it in the Republicans’ drinking water that makes it so hard for them to refrain from making offensive and ignorant comments about rape? And what is it that makes a party, which largely disavows science, think it can speak with any authority about anything related to science. Perhaps, we’ll never know.
What we do know is that the head of the California Republican Assembly, Celeste Greig, joined the impressive ranks of Republicans saying inane shit about rape earlier this month when she suggested that pregnancies resulting from rape are rare:
“Granted, the percentage of pregnancies due to rape is small because it’s an act of violence, because the body is traumatized…. I don’t know what percentage of pregnancies are due to the violence of rape. Because of the trauma the body goes through, I don’t know what percentage of pregnancy results from the act.”
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Ten reasons 30 isn’t the new 20 (apparently)
You may have heard that, since people are living longer, and marrying, having kids, and establishing their careers later in life, 30 is the new 20. But, according to pyschologist Meg Jay, who “specializes” in 20-somethings, 30 is just 30. It is most definitely NOT the new 20. So, 30 year-olds who are unmarried….be afraid… be very afraid.
Jay recently gave a talk at TED–the nonprofit dedicated to “ideas worth spreading,” so brilliantly satirized by the Onion–which I listened to so you don’t have to. I will now present the top 10 highlights of this speech, my reaction as a member of the demographic (I’m 31) thoroughly shat upon by its deliverer, and finally, my reaction in GIF form.
#1. Jay recalls her first psychotherapy client, Alex, aged 26. Alex walked into Jay’s office wearing a “slouchy top” and “kicked off her flats.” Red flags numbers one and two. Responsible 20-somethings wear fitted tops and keep their shoes on.
#2.Alex wanted to talk about guy problems. Jay was so relieved: “My classmate got an arsonist and my first client wanted to talk about boys. This, I thought, I could handle. But I didn’t handle it.” Just what didn’t Jay handle? You’ll have to read on.
#3. Jay ominously continued: “’30′s the new 20,’ Alex would say. And as far as I could tell, she was right. Work happened later, marriage happened later, kids happened later, even death happened later. 20-somethings like Alex and I had nothing but time. But my supervisor pushed me to push Alex about her love life. I pushed back: I said, ‘Sure, she’s dating down, she’s sleeping with a knuckle head. But it’s not like she’s gonna marry the guy.’ And then my supervisor said, ‘not yet. But she might marry the next one. Besides, the best time to work on Alex’s marriage is before she has one.’ That’s what psychologists call an ah-ha moment, that was the moment I realized, 30′s not the new 20. Yes, people settle down later than they used to, but that didn’t make Alex’s 20s a developmental down time, that made Alex’s 20s a developmental sweet spot and we were sitting their blowing it.”
Shouldn’t the ah-ah moment have been “I’m not a very good therapist.” Shouldn’t you discourage your client from “dating down” and “sleeping with knuckle heads” regardless of his or her age? And who blows a “developmental sweet spot”? That would have been my ah-ha moment.
Today in Women’s History: Frances Perkins is first female cabinet member
80 years ago today President Franklin Delano Roosevelt named Frances Perkins the Secretary of Labor and the first ever female member of cabinet. FDR was lucky to have Perkins. And, today, we continue to reap the benefits of the policies Perkins pushed through the department of Labor. Some credit Perkins with the New Deal legislation that characterizes the FDR administration. She was key to the creation of Social Security, the establishment of a minimum wage and passage of legislation protecting workers’ right to organize. The headquarters building of the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., is named for Perkins, who was also the longest-serving secretary of labor in U.S. history.
Christian college fires employee for becoming pregnant & offers job to her boyfriend
A California woman was fired after her supervisor at a San Diego Christian college asked her if she was pregnant. The sin, so to speak, was not the pregnancy itself but the fact that Teri James, 29, was not married when she conceived. This violated San Diego Christian College’s “community covenant,” signed by a not yet pregnant James, which is a two-page contract asking its employees and students to abstain from drugs, alcohol and tobacco and “abusive anger, malice, jealousy, lust, sexually immoral behavior including premarital sex, adultery, pornography and homosexuality, evil desires and prejudice based on race, sex or socioeconomic status.” Well, the prejudice part is nice, at least.
James, who is herself Christian, is suing the school and being represented by Gloria Allred. Allred pointed out that the covenant “does not say that you will be fired if you do not comply.” What the school did is also likely illegal under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, which “prohibit[s] sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy.”
15 women politicians rally for sick days/ thank you Gloria Steinem
You probably didn’t know that more than one million New York City workers, mostly low wage workers, lack paid sick days, with the largest concentrations in food service, retail and health care. Or that nearly one in four workers reports that they have lost a job or were told they would lose their job if they took time off due to personal or family illness. Or that half of working moms miss work when a child gets sick. Of these, half lose pay when they take this time off.
But it’s because of injustices like these that New Yorkers, and everyone, really, needs paid sick days. And that’s why New Yorkers are demanding a a paid sick days bill, which would allow workers to earn five paid sick days a year, which employees could use to recover from illness, seek preventive care, or care for an ill family member. The bill has support from the majority of the City Council.
Mental illness and why Silver Linings Playbook deserved an Oscar for Best Screenplay
Besides earning Jennifer Lawrence a well-deserved Oscar for Best Actress, Silver Linings Playbook was robbed at last night’s Academy Awards. The Academy wasted an opportunity to honor a film that dealt with mental illness in a nuanced, realistic, sensitive and engaging way.
Let’s look at the important categories SLP was up for.
Editing: the award went to Argo. If Argo deserved to win for anything it was definitely editing. So, I wasn’t that upset. The film was superbly edited. Props.
Best Actor: the award went to Daniel Day Lewis. I was rooting for Bradley Cooper, but you could hardly say he was robbed. DDL did an exceptional job at becoming Lincoln. Still, given that DDL has now won three Academy Awards for best actor, breaking a record, it would have been nice of Cooper to win just won. But nobody every said life or the Academy was fair.
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