Thursday, July 8, 2010

Gender equality? Not really

Read Victoria Shannon's report in the New York Times here. She reports on a Pew Research Center poll, conducted in 22 nations in April and May, about gender equality. The poll found "that in both developing countries and wealthy ones, there is a pronounced gap between a belief in the equality of the sexes and how that translates into reality." Here's the story's lede:

People around the world say they firmly support equal rights for men and women, but many still believe men should get preference when it comes to good jobs, higher education or even in some cases the simple right to work outside the home, according to a new survey of 22 nations.

* * *

In nations where equal rights are already mandated, women seem stymied by a lack of real progress, the poll found.

“Women in the United States and Europe are shouldering major responsibilities at home and at work simultaneously, and this makes for stress and a low quality of life,” said Prof. Herminia Ibarra, co-author of the 2010 Corporate Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum.

1 comment:

Rebecca said...

Sarah Palin was plucked out of the political wilderness and thrown head first into a presidential campaign where she upstaged the headliner. She drew bigger crowds and “going rogue” ignoring her handlers, made her more popular with conservatives.
I admit that I cringed during her Katie Couric interview. I admit that I thought my dog Butterscotch had more foreign policy experience. After all, her dog food came from China.
But although I may disagree with most of her policy positions, I must say she has developed rather astute “branding” skills in the 2 years post election. She did not slink away after McCain’s loss. She went back to Alaska and began designing a new and stronger political identity for herself and it began when she resigned as Governor! She has enough strategic sensibility to have single handedly become the most influential female political figure in America and she is doing it while not being an elected politician.
I have had the great privilege to serve as an elected representative. I speak from experience when I say that strong, progressive female candidates are out there. But until the Democratic Party puts muscle and money behind them, like they do the good- ole boys, they won’t have their voices heard. In the absence of these progressive women’s voices, Sarah Palin is going to continue to
suck up all the oxygen and airtime.

Rebecca Cohn
J.D. Candidate 2011
UCDavis School of Law