Walmart Discrimination Case

The Supreme Court began to hear oral arguments in a very important case yesterday, Wal-mart Stores v. Dukes.  The case was originally filed in trial court in 2004.

While only a few women are listed as the plaintiffs in this case, they are representing hundreds of thousands of other women who were allegedly similarly treated by Wal-Mart.

So what happened?  Well, these women claim that Wal-Mart discriminated against them on the basis of their sex (which is a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964).  They claim that women are paid significantly less than men in equal positions even though the women have better performance ratings and higher seniority, and that there are fewer opportunities for promotion for women and that, when they do receive promotions, they must wait longer for them than the men in the company.  The women also claimed that this sex discrimination has been happening since December 26, 1998.

One of the most important legal components of the case is the fact that the plaintiffs are representing all women employed by Wal-Mart since December 26, 1998, because all of them may have been subject to discrimination.  Whether or not such a large number of women can be represented is what is being brought to the Supreme Court right now (remember, if the plaintiffs were to win the case, all of those women would actually be winning the case).  This would include female employees in 3,400 stores.

That's about as much time as I'm going to spend talking about the legality of whether this case can actually be brought in the court system.  It will be interesting, of course, to see if the Supreme Court says that the case can be brought in this manner, since then the real decision of whether discrimination occurred will then, finally, actually be brought to trial (the case itself has not been heard yet because of these technicality issues).

Why is this case so important?  Well, there are a few reasons.  It's no secret to feminists that there are huge disparities in pay on the basis of sex.  I talked about it a little in my second post, where I gave you all some facts about the wage gap.  It certainly exists, and I don't think that anyone can contest that if they have seen the facts.

There's a lot of talk about whether or not, if the Supreme Court allows the case to continue with the hundreds of thousands of women as plaintiffs, the women will actually be able to prove discrimination on the basis of sex.  Maybe they will, maybe they won't.  What's so important, though, is the amount of media attention that this case has received.  I know that it has caused many companies to become more aware of their wage and promotion policies and forcing them to take concrete steps towards stopping that subtle discrimination.

And, of course, the popularity of this case has brought it to the attention of many people who don't follow gender issues.  The more people who are aware, the more likely we are to be able to bring about a change.  I try to constantly advocate the small things that you can do - talking about this case with a friend would be one of them.  Show him or her some of those facts that I put up on my second post.  Remember, for every dollar than men make, women make on 77.5 cents.  That's not okay, in my opinion.

Of course, if, eventually, the plaintiffs are able to win this case, it will be a huge step forward for women.  We would be one step closer to stopping discrimination on the basis of sex.  But, even if they lose (which I sincerely hope they don't if they are able to prove the discrimination), at least more people will have been made aware of the disparities in wages and promotions between men and women.

If you're interested in the case brief, check out the brief from the Ninth Circuit appellate court (California).

Planned Parenthood & Federal Funding

There's been a lot going on in Congress lately concerning the federal funding set aside for family planning.  I think it's important to know just exactly what's going on in DC and, even more importantly, what the federal money set aside for family planning actually goes to.

One of the most prominent organizations that we're all familiar with when it comes to family planning is Planned Parenthood.  While it does provide contraception and abortion services for women, the ways in which the organization helps women reaches much farther than that.

In addition to those services, Planned Parenthood also provides breast exams, pelvic exams, sexually transmitted diseases tests, and much more.  Most importantly, the organization provides these services at a much lower rate than at a doctor's office or the hospital.  Sometimes they are even offered at no cost.

This isn't a complete list of what Planned Parenthood does, so if you are interested I encourage you to go to  their website and see what else they offer.  What I want to address now is what is going on right now in Congress concerning federal funding and family planning.

Most basically, (and I apologize in advance for any confusion because many of these political/economic terms are still new to me, too) the House of Representatives last month adopted an amendment spending bill H.R. 1 that would stop federal funding for family planning services such as Planned Parenthood.  This would be a cut of $75 million.

The amendment now faces the Senate.  If it is passed, it will mean the end of federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

For me, this is not a pro-life nor pro-choice problem.  Now, I know that this is not true for everyone, and that they are some whose pro-life beliefs are so strong that even though the organization provides many more important services to women, they simply cannot support its funding because of its abortion services.  And I completely respect that view.

But I just want to say why this isn't about pro-life and pro-choice for me.  Women need access to health care at lower costs, especially considering how much these services cost normally.  In addition to those other services that I mentioned before, Planned Parenthood also provides counseling services and even some general health care services (such as diabetes and cholesterol testing).

I wasn't aware of all of the other services that Planned Parenthood provides - and if you weren't either, I hope this post opened your eyes a little bit.  If anything, I hope it encourages you to think a little bit about whether or not cutting federal funding for Planned Parenthood is in the best interest of women.  Whatever conclusion you come to is your own choice.  I just hope that you take some time to think about it.

If you are interested in getting involved in this issue, I again highly encourage you to visit their website.

If you don't want to see federal funding for family planning cut, you can go here and sign an open letter to Congress encouraging them not to pass this bill.  It only takes a couple of minutes, and, as I'm always encouraging you all to do, is a great way to make your voice heard.

Eating Disorders & American "Beauty"

Before you start reading this post, watch this video! (It's only a minute long, and it's so worth it)

Okay, so now let's talk eating disorders.  I went to a great panel a few weeks ago at PC on eating disorder awareness, and it really opened my eyes as to how common they are.  It's also a huge women's issue.  I got all of the following facts and statistics from the National Eating Disorders Association.

The National Eating Disorders Association lists four major eating disorders.  I'm only going to focus on two here: Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa.  Anorexia Nervosa's defining characteristics are self-starvation and excessive weight loss, while Bulimia Nervosa's is a cycle of binging on food and then some sort of purging activity to rid the body of that food.

How common is it?  In the United States, it is estimated that as many as 10 million females are fighting an eating disorder.  Four out of ten Americans have suffered or know someone who has suffered from an eating disorder.

These aren't the most startling statistics, however.

• 81% of 10-year old girls fear being fat.  
• 80% of American women are dissatisfied with their appearance.
• Each year, Americans spend over $40 billion in dieting products.
• On any given day, 45% of American women are on a diet.
• For 15-24 year-old women who suffer from anorexia nervosa, the mortality rate as caused by the illness is 12 times more likely than any other cause of death.
• Of newly identified cases of anorexia, 40% are in girls 15-19 years old.

Why are eating disorders so common in the United States?  Well, if you watched that video, you can see why.  We have a completely distorted view of beauty in the United States.  For instance, the average American women is 5'4" and weighs 140 pounds.  The average American model?  5'11" and 117 pounds.  (?!?!?!)  Most models are 98% thinner than American women.

Check out these airbrushed before and after photos:

You can see the huge difference that a little touch-up can make.

What exactly are the health risks associated with these eating disorders?  Here's a few for anorexia: increased risk of heart failure, bone and muscle mass loss, severe dehydration, kidney failure, extremely dry skin and hair, and hair loss.  For bulimia: gastric rupture, esophageal rupture, tooth decay, and pancreatitis.  I'm emphasizing that these are only a few health risks.  Also, these are not to mention the increased risk of mortality.

Eating disorders also receive inadequate research funding and mental health treatment for them is often not covered by insurance companies.  

Living in an American society, we are constantly bombarded with images of beautiful women in magazines, the movie and TV screen, and on the runway.  These aren't what most women's bodies look like, however.  Like I said before, models are 98% thinner than most American women.  That is an incredible number.  Also, like the images I posted show, computers can do a hell of a lot when it comes to airbrushing and making women look more like the unattainable ideal that American society values so much.  Something needs to change here.

So what can you do?  Well, the next time you or one of your friends is complaining about how they look, think about that Dove video and the photos you saw on here.  The American perception of beauty is far off, and it is causing many girls to put themselves at risk for extreme health consequences.  Also, if you think that one of your friends may be suffering from an eating disorder, get help fast.  The National Eating Disorders Association is a great resource for any information you need.  You can recover from an eating disorder with the right help, and there are plenty of recovery stories out there.

I didn't talk much about disordered eating here because I didn't want to make this post too long.  But disordered eating is much more prevalent among women and is often a precursor to a full-blown eating disorder.  It can involve excessive exercise, dieting, or calorie-counting.  I'll try to write a post just on disordered eating soon.

Also, just a disclaimer: I didn't talk about men who suffer from eating disorders because this blog is focused on women.  That's not to say, though, that men don't suffer from eating disorders as well, because they certainly do.  In fact, the number of men suffering from eating disorders has increased steadily over the years, and today more than 1 million men are suffering from an eating disorder.

Here are some links if you want to know more:

• What is an Eating Disorder?
• Health Consequences of Eating Disorders
• Eating Disorders Statistics
• Tips for Becoming a Critical Viewer of the Media
• Eating Disorders Survival Guide

Remember, we can't make a change until each of us wants to make a change.  Make your voice heard!

(From Dove's Real Beauty Campaign, a great campaign showing real women's bodies and how beautiful they can be as well)

Hillary Clinton & Women's Issues

A couple of weeks ago the magazine Newsweek published a great issue filled with stories concerning women and feminism across the world.  The March 14, 2011 issue was published in celebration of Women's History Month (March).  On the cover of the issue was Hillary Clinton, who has been one of the latest women on the forefront of the feminist movement.  I was actually unaware of how involved in women's issues the Secretary of State was before reading the article, so I thought I would share a little bit about what she's doing with all of you.

Hillary Clinton has always been a champion for women's rights, but it was a cause for her that was on the backburner of her public life until 1995 when she attended the Fourth World Conference on Women, organized by the United Nations, in Beijing.  After this, women's rights and issues have been at the top of Mrs. Clinton's to-do list.

In 1995, she worked with President Clinton's chief of staff Melanne Verveer to create the President's Interagency Council on Women.  In 2009, she encouraged President Obama to create the position of ambassador-at-large for global women's issues, the post to which Melanne Verveer was sworn into in that year.  In February, she called and attended the annual gathering of the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.  Most recently, she entered in an online discussion on an Egyptian news site, where she talked not only about the current situation in the Middle East and Northern Africa, but also about women.  All of her contributions to women are much too numerous to continue naming here.

Clinton's attention to women's issues has now seen repercussions in U.S. policy.  "The State Department's 2012 fiscal-year request includes $1.2 billion in programs specifically targeting women, $832 million of which will go toward global health initiatives" (Newsweek 50).  I think that this fact, on its own, shows just how much Hillary has contributed to the women's movement and feminism.

"All of these gains are fragile and reversible."  Secretary of State Clinton points this out when talking about the progress the women's movement has recently made in her speech at the Women in the World Summit a couple of weeks ago.  The article in Newsweek points this out as well.  When Mrs. Clinton leaves the White House, which will inevitably happen at one point or another, many, including herself, fear that the women's movement will be forgotten.  We can't let this happen.  If you care about feminism, the women's rights, or anything at all to do with the women's movement, you cannot let the hard work of its most prominent members go to waste!  I posted some links on the blog to women's organizations' websites, and I will post some more about getting involved in weeks to come.  You don't have to be Secretary of State of the United States to make a difference.  Simply telling your friends about women's rights or women's issue is a huge step forward for the movement in itself.

I can't, of course, do justice to the full article in Newsweek, written by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon.  So, here's the link to the full story if you're interested:

Newsweek: The Hillary Doctrine

"...I know that where girls and women are oppressed, where their rights are ignored or violated, we are likely to see societies that are not only unstable but hostile to our own interests.  So we must do even more to help the next generation of women leaders."
-Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State

Also, here is the link to Mrs. Clinton's speech at the Women in the World Summit in New York City on the weekend of March 10th through the 12th.  It's a bit long (about 20 minutes for the actual speech), but I encourage everyone to watch as much of it as possible - it is truly riveting and shows just how dedicated Hillary Clinton is to women's rights, and how important women's rights and roles are to American foreign policy.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Women in the World: Hillary Clinton Address

"I believe that women's roles and rights are at the forefront of everything that we should care about and need to be doing in our own lives and certainly in the life of our country.  But sometimes it's good to be reminded why it's important to have women and girls at the forefront of American foreign policy."
-Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State

Women are even important in foreign policy.  Now if that's not big, then I don't know what is.

What is feminism?

So, before talking about feminism, I figured it was best to get everyone on the same page as to what exactly feminism is.  There are a lot of misconceptions out there about the movement, so it's important to know what it truly is.  And there is no way to support the movement until you understand it.


Here are a couple of definitions:


feminism (Mirriam-Webster Dictionary Online)

1.)  the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes

2.)  organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests

feminism (dictionary.com)
1.)  the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.

2.) an organized movement for the attainment of such rights for women.

3.) feminine character

These two definitions work, but are very basic.  To me, feminsm is first and foremost a movement whose goal is the achievement of equal rights for women and men.  I add the "to me" as a disclaimer because feminism is different for every person.  I know that before I learned more about the movement I thought that feminism was only about women power and women asserting their authority over men (you know, those radicals).  That is really a misconception, however.  While there are many feminists out there who believe that women should rule and would do a better job at it than men, or that the notion of gender should be completely eradicated, there are also many feminists who just want to have the same opportunities as man, who want to remove patriarchy from our many insitutions.  Feminism, at its core, is about equality not only in rights but in opportunity.  Both radical and conservative feminists share this basic idea.  It is up to you to choose what other ideas you support and the length you will go to fight for women's rights.

Now, many of you may say, as I once did, that women, at least in the United States, do have the same rights as men.  After a long struggle, the two sexes are now equal.  While many of us want to believe that this is true, the reality is that it isn't.  Here are a few startling statistics from an article from collegetimes.us:

1.)  For every dollar that men earn, women earn only 77.5 cents.

2.)  The more education a woman has, the higher the pay gap between men and women.

3.)  Only about 53% of employers offer maternity leave with pay (all employers are required to offer maternity leave without pay).

4.)  4 out of 10 businesses across the world have no women in senior management.

It's not just in pay that there is still inequality among women and men.  Here's some figures on the amount of women in some occupations:

1.)  In the 112th U.S. Congress (current), 75 out of 435 U.S. Representatives are women (17.2%) and 17 out of 100 U.S. Senators are women (17%) (thisnation.com).

2.)  Women make up 31.0% of the legal profession, but only 19.2% of partners of private practices.  Also, women make up more than 50% of law school students (americanbar.org).

3.)  In 2008, women made up 48.6% of medical students, but only 27.8% of physicians (catalyst.org).

Now, I am not trying to say that women have not made great strides in the past century - they certainly have.  The percentage of women in these professions was much less not even twenty years ago.  At the same time, however, these statistics also show that women still have a long way to go. 

If you believe that women should have just as much opportunity as men in the workforce (as these statistics show that they do not), then congratulations, you support feminism!  Of course, this is not the only issue that feminism addresses, however, it is a seriously important one, especially in the United States.  Also, it is the issue that first got me on board with feminism.

I must admit, I wasn't a believer just a few months ago.  I thought feminism was all about being radical and showing women's power over men.  It's not all about that, though.  Of course some women have those beliefs, and I completely respect them.  What feminism is really about for me, at least when we are talking about issues in the United States (which isn't the only thing I plan on talking about), is about equal opportunity and representation of women and men.  I had no idea that women made up so little of these professional occupations, nor that women made less money than man in the same occupation.  Now, that I do, however, I'm totally on board with feminism.  I hope that these statistics not only open your eyes, but also encourage you to do a little research of your own, and get on board with feminism!

P.S.  For a really in-depth definition of feminism, go here: http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/whatisfem.htm

Why a blog about feminism?

Hi everyone!

In case any of you were wondering why I would create a blog solely on the subject of feminism, I figured that I would spend a few minutes explaining myself.  I'm currently in an amazing Women's Studies class and, for our final project, we are supposed to go out and actually perform an action that has some application to the class.  Obviously our professor encouraged us to focus on something that specifically interested us.  What strikes me the most about feminism is the lack of knowledge about it that many young people have.  There are a lot of misconceptions out there about feminism, and if you don't actually seek out information about feminism, then you probably won't learn anything about it.  Finding the right resources to learn about feminism is difficult as well.  I hope for this blog to be any easy place for anyone to come to find out a few things about feminism and learn about the current issues facing women today.  I of course could never possibly include every possible detail about feminism here, but I hope it becomes a good resource and starting point for everyone out there that is interested and wants to learn a little more about the subject.

Now, since this will be an actual project that I will be submitting as for a grade, I need all the help that I can get from you!  So, if all of you that are reading this tell as many people as you can about the blog and give me as many comments and feedback as possible, I would really appreciate it!  The best way for me to know what kinds of posts will interest all of you is from your feedback, so, comments would be great!

Much more to come!