A little less conversation, a little more action, please

October 30, 2009 | Benefits,Books,Corporate Voices for Working Families,Economics,Ethics,Leslie Bennetts,Maria Shriver,Media,MSM,Politics,PR,Working Mother

Maria Shriver declares the United States “a woman’s nation” in The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything. Why? Because women now make up half the workforce. That, she says, “changes everything.”

Does Maria Shriver live in the same nation as the rest of us?

The same nation …

… that dropped from 27th to 31st place on the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report.

… where boys and men who “weren’t raised to respect girls” gang rape a 15-year-old girl on school grounds after a homecoming dance.

… where The New York Times glorifies on its front page the life of a robed and slippered senior citizen who amassed great wealth and notoriety literally on the backs of thousands of women.

… where people actually debate whether an adult who rapes a child should be brought to justice.

It’s not clear to me what The Shriver Report’s point is, except it doesn’t seem to be a call to action. It does, however, declare the battle of the sexes over. It’s all rather retro to dredge up a “battle” that saw Billie Jean King defeat Bobby Riggs in a tennis match, which was dubbed “The Battle of the Sexes.” That “battle” was essentially a publicity stunt.

Is that what this is? A publicity stunt? If so, to what end?

Established in 1961, the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women was a compromise by John F. Kennedy, who didn’t want to alienate his supporters who were against the Equal Rights Amendment. Maybe The Shriver Report is a compromise to its sponsors, advisers and the rest of corporate America, which is adamantly opposed to legislation that requires equality and/or benefits of any kind.

As pointed out before:

• At least 139 countries provide paid sick leave to employees, but this “woman’s nation” does not.
• Almost 100 countries require employers to provide paid annual leave, but this “woman’s nation” does not.
• Women in this “woman’s nation” get the same amount of paid maternity leave as women do in Lesotho, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland: zero.
• Men in this “woman’s nation” get the same amount of paid paternity leave: zero.
• It is legal in most states of this “woman’s nation” for employers to discriminate against mothers.
• While illegal, women in this “woman’s nation” deal with pregnancy discrimination every day.
• At least 84 countries have a maximum length workweek, but this “woman’s nation” — whose workweek length was second only to Japan’s hours among industrialized countries — does not.
• At least 34 countries guarantee discretionary leave from work — Greece and Switzerland offer paid leave specifically for children’s educational needs — but this “woman’s nation” does not.
• Women in this “woman’s nation” still earn less than men do, and mothers earn less than anyone.

Knowing all that, it’s confusing to see Shriver on national television talking about flex time as if that were the most pressing issue American women faced every day. Imagine my surprise when I read the report and saw things like equal pay mentioned.

Even so, what does it mean that American women comprise half the workforce? Nothing. Especially if women have no power (or very limited power) to implement change or write policy. It means nothing until women make up half of Congress, half the boards of directors and half the executive teams that run American businesses.

How do some of The Shriver Report sponsors and advisory-committee members measure up in terms of women in positions of power? Let’s see.

Sponsors

• Goldman Sachs has 13 members on its board of directors. Two are women. It has nine executive officers. One is a woman. It has 30 members on its management committee. Four are women.
• Hewlett-Packard has 11 members on its board of directors. One is a woman. It has 12 members on its executive team. Three are women.
• NBC Universal has 18 executive officers. Three are women.
• Pacific Gas and Electric Company has 11 members on its board of directors. Two are women. It has 41 executive officers. Nine are women.
• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has 12 members on its board of directors. One is a woman.
• Telemundo is owned by NBC Universal and MSN. MSN has 10 members on its board of directors. Two are women. It has 18 senior leaders. Two are women.
• TimeInc. has 12 executive officers. Six are women. However, Time Warner has 12 members on its board of directors. Two are women.
• VISA has 17 members on its board of directors. Three are women. It has 21 members on its management team. Three are women.

Advisory committee

• Christie Hefner is former president and CEO of Playboy Industries, which has seven members on its board of directors. All men. It has 10 executive officers. Three are women.
• Cisco has 13 members on its board of directors. Two are women. It has seven executive officers. One is a woman.

So what’s the point?

Last year, I reviewed Carolyn B. Maloney’s book, Rumors of our Progress have been Greatly Exaggerated: Why Women’s Lives Aren’t Getting any Easier and How We Can Make Real Progress for Ourselves and Our Daughters. While I took issue with a few things and especially how she publicized the book, I said it was a comprehensive look at women’s issues. For those who regularly keep up on these issues, however, not much of the information was new.

That’s how I feel about The Shriver Report, only worse. Yes, the Rockefeller Foundation/TIME survey of 3,400 people provided new data, as highlighted in a special report in TIME, The State of the American Woman, What Women Want Now by Nancy Gibbs, Oct. 26, 2009. But the rest of the essays feel so out of date and certainly undeserving of a breathless media blitz. Maybe it’s “news” to someone who hasn’t read a thing on the subject in 30 years. But for others it might feel as stale and out of place as the term “battle of the sexes.”

Oprah Winfrey says in the epilogue that the report’s intent is to start a conversation. Hello? When she and Shriver weren’t listening, the conversation had already begun.

…

Simon & Schuster published The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything edited by Heather Boushey and Ann O’Leary, with Karen Skelton, Ed Paisley, Leslie Miller, and Laura Nicholson Oct. 20, 2009. The eBook includes an introductory chapter by Maria Shriver. It lists for $20, but I got my copy for $16 with a $4 discount code.

…
 
Others weigh in

• It’s Not a Man’s World or a Woman’s Nation by Gloria Steinem, Oct. 15, 2009, The Women’s Media Center.
• Maria Shriver Says It’s a Woman’s Nation. Do You?by Joanne Bamberger, Oct. 20, 2009, on PunditMom.
• Media: It’s a Woman’s Nation While Dad’s on His Knees by Wendy Norris, Oct. 23, 2009, RH Reality Check.
• Maria Shriver Misses the Point by Mona Charen, Oct. 23, 2009, Jewish World Review.
• The Shriver Report – “A Woman’s Nation” Still Has Far to Go by Linda Lowen, Oct. 21, 2009, About.com.
• When We’re Equal, We’ll Be Happy by Judith Warner, Oct. 22, 2009, Domestic Disturbances blog, The New York Times.

Related posts

• Books: The Feminine Mistake by Leslie Bennetts
• Books: Rumors of our Progress have been Greatly Exaggerated by Carolyn B. Maloney
• Working Mother works for … you?
• What Working Mother magazine won’t tell you: Global gender gap
• What Working Mother magazine won’t tell you: Work/life balance not so important to companies
• What Working Mother magazine won’t tell you: Employers offer ’soft’ benefits

Books: The Family

October 29, 2009 | Books

I just finished reading The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet. It wasn’t as scary as it was hyped, what with the blurb from Barbara Ehrenreich: “Sharlet’s book is one of the most compelling and brilliantly researched exposes you’ll ever read — just don’t read it alone at night!” Sharlet’s portrait at the beginning of the book shows only half his face. The rest is hidden in shadow. A wee bit over the top. I couldn’t help wondering how he gained such access. But, all in all … interesting read.

Books: A Reliable Wife

October 28, 2009 | Books

I just finished reading A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick. He had me on the second page with this: “Nothing says hell has to be fire, thought Ralph Truitt, standing in his sober clothes on the platform of the tiny train station in the frozen middle of frozen nowhere. Hell could be like this. It could be darker every minute. It could be cold enough to sear the skin from your bones.”

Someone who wrote those words had to have spent at least one winter in the great, cold North. When explaining to a friend recently about winter in the North, I said, “Norway winters are much different than Iowa winters, but each is its own special version of hell. Norway is the land of the midnight sun in summer, which means NO sun in the winter. Incredibly depressing. We lived on the west coast, which is right on the fjords and near the Atlantic, which meant TONS of snow. Until June. Iowa doesn’t get as much snow, but the wind whips up some mountainous drifts, and it’s bitterly cold. The kind of cold you can’t be in too long before your ears pop right off.”

I bought his book at the recently opened local bookstore that has a shelf of “local” authors and books. Goolrick’s book is about Wisconsin, and I bought it more for that (and the pretty cover … whoever designed the cover obviously read the book, and … wow) than the author. I wasn’t familiar with him. I took the book home and stashed it on my to-read pile.

In the meantime, seemingly everyone was talking about the arrest of Roman Polanski and all that surrounded that decades-old crime. I read this article, Polanski’s Victim And Me, posted on The Daily Beast. What a powerful article, I thought. Then I looked at the author. Hmm. There was something familiar about his name. I turned and looked at my shelf. I had his book sitting there. Wow. There must be more to this book than I originally thought.

Goolrick seemed somewhat surprised at the … humanity … of the North / Midwest. It didn’t really surprise me, but I grew up here. He kept me interested all the way through, and he surprised the hell out of me at a key turning point. I honestly didn’t see it coming. What, for all intents and purposes, should be a tragic commentary on the human condition is actually a testament to the strength and sheer stubbornness of some human beings.

Such things happen.

Ladybug, ladybug fly away home

October 26, 2009 | Iowa

But not MY home, please? Like the birds, the sheer numbers are … creepy. What’s next. Locusts?

They’ve been harvesting the bean fields lately. Ladybugs (aka, Asian lady beetles) apparently feast on soybean aphids. No soybeans, no food, no home.

Snapshot image froze without a sound

October 22, 2009 | Iowa

Freeze frame!

I watch the birds fly south across the autumn sky

October 21, 2009 | Iowa,Weird things

For just a few hours one day in October, my yard was filled with thousands of birds. When I first pulled into my driveway, I noticed the grass in my yard was black. Then I looked again. My grass wasn’t black. My grass was covered with black birds. As I neared the garage, they flew off in a mass. I parked the car, grabbed my cameras and followed them around the yard.

They flitted about and flew from tree to tree in droves. It was fascinating and a little creepy in a Hitchcockian way.

They were so high in the trees, I figured there was no way they could hear me over their own noise. But as I walked through the yard, it seemed as if I disturbed one and set them off to swarm away in a group to the next tree. At that moment, the chirping would stop, and all I could hear was the fluttering of wings. (I’d also get that dippy feeling in my stomach that maybe I should duck or run for cover.) Then the chorus would start again.

I listened and watched for about an hour. By the time I brought the kids home from school, all the birds were gone.

You like tomato and I like tomahto

October 18, 2009 | Garden,Iowa

Two of my favorite tomato dishes: guacamole & tomato soup. Yum.

There’s a full moon rising, let’s go dancing in the light

October 17, 2009 | Iowa

So the season of the fall begins

October 16, 2009 | Iowa

More fall colors. Before the snow.

Leaves are falling, autumn leaves are falling

October 13, 2009 | Family,Iowa

Before I was so rudely interrupted with it’s-still-fall-dangit snow, I had lots of fall colors to share. We took a road trip Sunday to the Mississippi River — we’re only a couple of hours away. We fed the fish in Decorah. We also had lunch at a pizza place in Decorah, apparently home to lots of Norwegian-Americans. We also stopped in Marquette and McGregor. It was tons of fun. I’ll post some now and some later.