The first bill President Barack Obama signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. This gives workers more time to sue in discriminatory cases and helps to ensure equal pay.
Obama is continuing this trend by signing another executive order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. The Council’s mission is “to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls,” according to a White House press release.
The president said he wants to make certain that women and girls are treated fairly in matters of public policy. “But I want to be clear that issues like equal pay, family leave, child care and others are not just women’s issues, they are family issues and economic issues,” Obama said. “Our progress in these areas is an important measure of whether we are truly fulfilling the promise of our democracy for all our people.”
Those who oppose the Council suggest we don’t need it because things are great just the way they are. Some opine that, while women have been oppressed, they shouldn’t expect to be treated like goddesses forever. Others express that the equal pay thing is not a result of women being discriminated against, but because they intentionally seek out lower paying jobs.
The same old concerns survive; if we continue to have committees and councils dedicated to ending discrimination will it ever go away? The answer is yes.
We must address why people believe like the white male who posted the following comment in the Chicago Sun-Times: “Attn all discompassionate, anti-male, self entitlement feminists who think no sacrifice made by a man for women is even worth mentioning, much less acknowledging! Why is such an organization being formed in this age when males are STILL required to register for the draft, to fight for your right to hate men?”
He continues that, until the president has sons, the Council on Women and Girls is proof that, “too many American women are insatiable, power hungry, sexist…”
It’s easy to claim we no longer have racial or gender issues, but it’s not reality. We still have problems with race, and women are abused daily, usually carrying the entire responsibility of family on their shoulders — without equal pay.
This is not solely a woman and girl issue, as Obama pointed out. It’s a family issue, an economic issue and a social flaw.
Perhaps those against the Council think we are beyond discrimination because of the plethora of strong women leaders in our history. For instance, take every woman who stepped it up during World War II by working in factories. We have had three women as U.S. Secretary of State, one of whom was also black.
Dolores Huerta is another hard hitter on the strong-woman activist team. She has been fighting for farm laborers’ rights since the early 1960s, when she co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with Cesar Chávez. Some say she was the driving force behind the United Farm Workers, but most only know of Chávez. Of course, Huerta is merely a woman.
Until the day comes when we can guarantee women receive equal pay and are treated fairly, we must pay attention to how policies impact them.
Obama said, “When women still earn just 78 cents for every dollar men make, when one in four women still experiences domestic violence in their lifetimes, when women are more than half of our population but just 17 percent of our Congress, when women are 49 percent of the workforce but only 3 percent of our Fortune 500 CEOs, when these inequalities stubbornly persist in this country, in this century, then I think we need to ask ourselves some hard questions.”
It’s about time.
Another thought:
Most Feminists don’t hate men, in fact they love men to the point of infatuation. Your entire movement is based on male behaviour. Feminists have the ‘knight in shining armor syndrome.” Your looking for a hero, a man who rides his white horse in order to save you from the horrors of the world. When we do something bad, you take it personally. You love men not for what we are, but for what we can become. Feminists incorporate the most basic aspect of female interpersonal communication, manipulation. You take it upon yourselves to change or mold men into an unattainable form of chivalry.
Dare I say feminists are also very horny and obsessed with sex yet are somewhat intimidated by male genitalia and see it as a weapon?
Edit from the below post.
“but the majority of men AREN’T violent felons.”
Here’s a couple of interesting quotes by confident women who don’t feel victimized by men.
Camille Paglia: “While masculinity can be destructive, its also the most creative social force”
When asked why their are no female equivalents to Ted Bundy. Ms. Paglia responded by saying — “The same reason their are no female Beethoven’s.”
Christina Hoff Sommers: “The majority of violent felons are male, but the majority of men are violent felons.”
The “prominent adult magazine” editor should be prosecuted for pedophilia because you certainly are childish. Consider taking a break from the crack pipe.
Are you flirting with me? I think I should be up front. I was born a man but through extensive surgery became a woman. This is where it gets complicated. Once I became a woman I decided to pose for a prominent adult magazine. After several photo shoots I realized I wanted to once again become a man. I was in luck. My former ‘parts’ were frozen as a part of a cryogenic experiment. With the help of some top surgeons I returned to my original gender. Eventually I became tired of the human element and decided to become a penguin. I went to the North Pole and was fortunate enough to meet the great Eskimo surgeon, MuffStench. After hours of penguin replacement surgery I once again had changed my mind. I now wanted to become a bottle of Crown Royal Canadian whiskey. Whats next? Maybe a resinated bong named — Velvet Acid Christ?
I hope “Caberet Voltaire”/”your name” in the boys-only club has a string of daughters. Only then will HE need to choose between what he spews and what he allows to be the life experiences his rhetoric ministers. Hopefully then he will understand and empathize the deeper implications of why the glass ceiling needs to be shattered. The double-edged sword, of course, is that he would both produce more women that are subject to oppression, and would endanger us with yet another generation of bigoted and unenlightened men-to-boyz!!!!
Quit trying to be a poser “Caberet” Every chauvinist in existence uses the “I don’t have anything against x,y,z because one of my friends are one. If you consider feminism as a “hypocrisy” in any form, you either haven’t done your homework about suffrage, or just don’t care. I would guestimate that you refer to anybody involved in any women’s movement that didn’t involve your getting laid as a “FemiNazi” (referring to your ‘your name’ comment “angry woman.”
Literally every statement and vilification you’ve displayed has historically been used to create policies of oppression. What is your problem with equality? What exactly are you afraid of in having women on an equal social, cultural, political or employment level with men? With each post, you include something minimizing and demeaning to women. In this one you codify “miniscule percentage that adhere to feminist hypocrisy” a typical snorkel statement of the WASPesque variety.
Before you diminish the argument further, why don’t you try a little role reversal with whatever female you’re practicing your hogwash on? It’s my educated guess she’s either completely submissive, absolutely repressed, or utterly non-existent (most likely the latter). Quit hiding behind your quazi-manhood and be a real man, jackass!!! Take your foot off of the throat of feminism. It will serve humanity in a much more productive manner.
You really didn’t say anything poignant enough to necessitate a lengthy response.
Just a simple FYI:
Never anti woman. I love women. I do however have issues with the miniscule percentage that adhere to feminist hypocrisy. Never confuse the two.
Your Name the girl hater–You employ the exact same attitude you’re condemning. By your listing of all the abuses you perceive against boys, you are eliminating “girls” from the equation or striking out against them by inference and as a default argument. Slippery slope shit, excuse the alliteration. It seems that you are a misguided and angry man with therapy issues like of your own to resolve. Consider all of the snide and nasty anti-woman attacks you made at the bottom end of your ” Thu Mar 26 2009 04:11″ entry. Truly vile, disgusting and anti-female in every aspect to lash out with demeaning rhetoric like, “Was daddy mean to you? Were you rejected by that cute guy in 7th grade? Are you still unable to fit into those size 4 jeans you bought for your birthday?” Really, WTF is that about?
” vile and misguided descriptions”
You strike me as an angry woman. I don’t understand the hostility considering my original post never mentioned anything negative about women/girls. Apparently I had the nerve to suggest boys could use a little help in certain areas. Maybe I’m wrong, those dirty little rapists don’t deserve anything, right? My god, is it that unreasonable to address issues unique to boys? Its not even like you just simply disagreed, you seem to have legitimate contempt for boys.
” they keep their dicks in their pants… ” — I’m not even going to comment on that disgusting comment.
“us-against-them stance” — when did I ever say a council for Women/Girls was a bad thing???
“pitiful and curable complaints!!!!” — sorry, I guess suicide prevention is a pitiful complaint.
“FATHERS don’t give them valuable guidance” — You are severely misguided if your going to blame fathers for every problem within the family dynamic. Many boys grow up without fathers because some women choose to have children out of wedlock and act as gatekeepers when deciding how much time ‘daddy’ gets with the kids.
Listen, I’ve heard my share of feminist bile regurgitated towards men, but never such hatred for boys.
I’m not much of a betting man, but I’ll make an exception. You strike me as a hyper sensitive Women’s Studies major who feels victimized by anything with a Y chromosome. You have zero concept of individuality and demonize men as a collective unit. Like most feminists you are void of accountability because its so much easier to blame patriachry. Now I must ask, why. Was daddy mean to you? Were you rejected by that cute guy in 7th grade? Are you still unable to fit into those size 4 jeans you bought for your birthday?
Forget it, I really don’t want to know. These are issues better discussed with your therapist.
“Your name” I rarely comment in my own newspaper, but I am compelled to address your vile and misguided descriptions. It’s about time the table turns to favor women/girls:
Girls are the most likely to be raped
Girls are most likely to be victims of incest
Girls are most likely to be treated as sex objects–by boys
Girls are the leading gender/sex victims of poverty throughout the globe
Girls are not “demonized in the media as abusers, buffoons, and rapists” because they keep their dicks in their pants…
Girls are not adversarial to boys because we couldn’t have one without the other, hence the concept of equality
I’ll go as far as saying not having a council to teach boys how to be men is truly a civil rights issue.
The problem is, our patriarchal society allows boys the benefit of the doubt in controlling all of your pitiful and curable complaints!!!!
Sit in on a rape trial and notice who has the pen-is-dulum swinging in their favor. “She was asking for it because of her clothes,” or “Boys being boys,” or “She shouldn’t have been walking alone” and, if you have a conscience, you will be flabbergasted at the procedural inequities.
I think the issue is equality, not separatism. It’s too bad you take an us-against-them stance and I’m certain your mom and grandmother are extremely proud to have you attacking their contributions to society by demeaning the potential harassment or abuses they’ve survived.
Boys experience everything you listed because their FATHERS don’t give them valuable guidance; they don’t teach their that sons that male domination is rapidly and assertively being brought under the sociological and cultural microscope because of attitudes like yours. You shouldn’t be offended for such a Council to promote women and girls, you should celebrate equality and become an ally.
I have a big problem that there’s no council for boys. Remember Boys? That’s right, they’re children — just like girls.
Lets see, is a boys council necessary?
Boys are less likely to attend college
Boys are more likely to drop out of school
Boys are more likely to read below grade level
Boys are more likely to commit suicide
Boys are more likely to become addicted to drugs and alcohol.
Boys are demonized in the media as abusers, buffoons, and rapists
I’ll go as far as saying not having a council for boys is a civil rights issue.