Media
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The Feminist Queries: Sheryl Wudunn
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Women Almost 50% of U.S. Workforce
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Are Men Really Happier than Women?
Friday Femme Fatale: Social Media, Book Lists & Beth Ditto
Published November 06, 2009 @ 11:22AM PT
This weekend I am taking a reprieve from the bright lights of New York City and heading to Washington, DC for a few days to do some speaking at the Pledge2Protect conference and visit old friends.
Additionally, for those who wonder what I do over at my full-time gig, Air America Media, I just published this column today in SmartBrief titled: Can social media save the radio star?
I hope you all are gearing up for some rest and relaxation this weekend as well, but before you unplug completely check out the stories you may have missed in the world of women's rights:
- Social Media Salary Report: Ladies, It's Not Pretty (Social Media Today)
- No. 1 Omission From Top 10 Book List: Women (New York Times)
- Jewish Women Lag Behind Men in Promotion and Pay (Jewish Daily Forward)
- At the UN, Criminalizing Rape as a Weapon (Women's Media Center)
- No More Women's Unhealthy Healthcare (Feminist Peace Network)
- Beyond Breast Cancer: "Awareness" Must Extend to Other Women's Cancers (RH Reality Check)
- Beth Ditto On Punk, High Heels And Breaking All Fashion's Rules (Air America Media)
- The day-care dilemma (Market Watch)
Friday Femme Fatale: Gore Vidal, Gen Y Women & Transphobia
Published October 31, 2009 @ 09:32AM PT
Ok, so this is more like a Saturday Femme Fatale - but I didn't want to let anyone down who is looking for the most interesting links in the feminist sphere from the past week.
Without further delay, here's this week's list:
- What women's lib? 70 percent of Americans think women should take spouse's name after marriage (NY Daily News)
- Work/Life Balance Is Not a Woman's Issue (American Prospect)
- No Dignity For NBC (Ms. Magazine)
- A [Disgusting] Conversation With Gore Vidal (The Atlantic)
- Pro-Palin Book Takes on Tina Fey, Feminists (Washington Independent)
- 'Why Y Women' (Media Post)
- Is Seventeen teaching transphobia? (Salon.com)
- Dating, love and feminism: do men prefer submissive women? (The Examiner)
The Feminist Queries: Cindy Gallop
Published October 26, 2009 @ 09:45AM PT
For today's Feminist Query, I am featuring a woman I admire very much and have been lucky enough to spend a bit of time with here in New York City. Her name is Cindy Gallop. She is half English, half Chinese, grew up in Asia, in Brunei, and read English Literature at Somerville College, Oxford. She began working in theater marketing and then moved to advertising, where she spent the majority of her career working for one agency, global creative network Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH).
She joined BBH in London in 1989 to run global accounts such as Coca-Cola, Polaroid and Ray-Ban; moved to Singapore in 1996 to help start up and run BBH Asia Pacific; and finally, moved to New York in 1998 to start up BBH US. In 2003, she was voted the "Advertising Woman of the Year" by Advertising Women of New York.
Four years ago, Cindy resigned as chairman of BBH to do something different. She now consults for clients who want to change the game in their particular sector, and who are looking for radical reinvention, as well as groundbreaking, innovative, forward-thinking strategic and executional approaches. She is the founder and CEO of IfWeRanTheWorld.com, which is a simple crowdsourced web platform designed to turn good intentions into action and will launch in January 2010. She has also launched another side venture called MakeLoveNotPorn.com at TED 2009. In her "free time", Cindy acts as board adviser to a number of technology and media start-ups.
I hope you enjoy her responses as much as I did and think deeply about her question for you at the end.
Do you call yourself a feminist and if so why? When did you start identifying with the feminist movement?
I call myself a rampant feminist. I amplify that deliberately because I hate the way so many women shy away from the term 'feminist' as if it implied something negative along the lines of 'strident man-hating unfeminine harpy'. I am a self-described feminist because I believe in championing women's rights and women's issues, and doing everything I possibly can personally to help make the world a better and more advantageous place for women. Note I don't use the term 'equal' in there - we are so very, very far away from equality with men in so many respects that are not fully realized or acknowledged by either gender, that I find it hard to use that term casually.
To the second part of your question - I always have.
What were hurdles you faced as a woman in business? What is your advice for other women trying to make it to the top?
All the usual ones. My advice is, never give in to insecurity and lack of confidence - just grit your teeth and barrel through them. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, 'No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.'
Show Me The Money: Why Don't More Women Ask For A Raise?
Published October 25, 2009 @ 06:51PM PT
The New York Times had an excellent op-ed this weekend by Joanne Lipman, the former deputy managing editor at The Wall Street Journal who was also the founding editor in chief of Condé Nast Portfolio magazine.
The piece titled, "The Mismeasure of Woman" reflects on the Shriver Report and catalogs many of the issues women face today in society: the false-positive sense of equality among young women, the effect of 9/11 on women, the stalled progress of women to achieve equal pay and crash through the glass ceiling to run Fortune 500 companies, law firms and businesses.
The part of the article that may have resonated the loudest for some was how women can end up being their own worst enemy in the job market:
In my time as an editor, many, many men have come through my door asking for a raise or demanding a promotion. Guess how many women have ever asked me for a promotion?
I'll tell you. Exactly ... zero.
Sure, it's a risk to ask for a raise. But women need to take risks - and to realize that at some point they will fail. This is an incredibly hard thing to do, especially for women brought up in a culture that celebrates unrealistic perfection in every sphere, from beauty to housekeeping.
Everyday I hear from a female friend who wants to earn more money at their job, but instead of negotiating a raise, they wait for their boss to do it for them. The problem with this method is that unless they receive a promotion it is unlikely their boss will step in and offer up company profits to their employees.
Additionally, many of my female friends don't always think about negotiating the salary they want when they start a new job, which is the most crucial time to leverage a better salary. No one should ever start a new job without a desirable base pay. It is very hard to jump a salary up by 10, 20 or 30 percent after you start working. While I believe there are systematic reasons behind why white women earn 77 cents, African American women earn only 69 cents and Latinas just 59 cents to to men's dollar - it is also our responsibility to take risks, negotiate a better pay and smash the glass ceiling once and for all.
For those in a position to negotiate salary or switch jobs here are a few tips I've learned along the way about getting the pay you want and deserve:
- Look ahead. When switching jobs ask for a salary that is 5 - 10% above the money you would receive if you were promoted tomorrow at your current job. This will ensure that you aren't losing out on money you could have earned by staying in the same place.
- Stay calm and collected. Even if you are desperate for any job, don't let the prospective employer realize that. By giving specific salary demands, it shows that you know the market landscape and what is a competitive rate for the position.
- Know your self worth and market worth. Measure everything you do from how many clients you work with, how much money you've been in charge of, and the unique relationships or networks you have that no one else can claim. These things should give you an advantage in the workplace and help you speak intelligently if your boss asks you why you deserve a raise.
- Don't budge. If a new employer doesn't offer you the number you want, then try to decline the job if you can afford it. It is probably not worth it in the long run if an employer isn't willing to start you at the salary you want and need.
- Negotiate additional benefits. If you can't get the exact salary you are looking for, try to negotiate additional benefits such as vacation, sick days or the ability to consult outside the business.
Finally, Lipman's op-ed does a great job summarizing the state of reminding all of us about the most important thing with any job, relationship or endeavor: "make sure respect is part of the equation too."
Respect, above anything else, is the best currency one can negotiate with. Give respect, get respect. It can be that easy.
What are your tips for getting the pay you want and deserve?
Photo Credit: Emdot
Cuba's Virtual Revoluciónista: Yoani Sánchez
Published October 21, 2009 @ 12:18PM PT
The latest target of Cuba's totalitarian government is Yoani Sánchez, a 34-year-old Cuban writer, editor and linguistics scholar. Last week, she became the first blogger to win a Maria Moors Cabot Prize given by Columbia University for journalism, but she was unable to be attend the awards ceremony due to the fact that the Cuban government wouldn't let her out of the country.
"We're going to keep trying to get her to come here for a few days. It's very difficult to tell who to talk to about it because the leadership of Cuba is so old, they probably don't even know what a blog is - we don't know where to apply pressure," said Josh Friedman, the Director of the Maria Moors Cabot Prize in an interview with Change.org.
Her two-year-old blog, called Generación Y, is filled with personal observations and social commentary from Havana, Cuba. It is some of the most vivid writing I have read about what is actually happening on the communist controlled island and I think it is really inspiring that a female writer has been able to speak out not only for herself, but an entire country through the use of the social web.
Fat or Die?
Published October 08, 2009 @ 01:14PM PT
As the new Funny or Die video featuring ex-Baywatch babe Nicole Eggert demonstrates, America is scared to death of fat.
These boys find Eggert repulsive. The very sight of her has ruined their fantasy. They find her so repulsive, in fact, that they almost let themselves drown before asking her to save them. And apparently, being called fat is so insulting it warrants letting these guys die.
If this is supposed to somehow empower women to walk away from the abusive standards of our society, it loses any credibility by promoting Eggert's participation in Celebrity Fit Camp. The VH1 show is all about competitive weight lose and public shaming people for their appearance. Not exactly a supportive environment for healthy body image.
The primary thing that stands out to me is that Eggert is beautiful. I don't remember what she looked like during her days on Baywatch, though I'm sure she has gained some weight - but that does not mean she is unhealthy, ugly or obese. If anything her body is reminiscent of the models that Glamour is proudly promoting in their latest issue, which is receiving a lot of positive feedback:
What do you think of the video? Did it make you laugh? Did her attitude in the video make you feel empowered? Did it make you feel bad about your own body?
Roman Polanski Child Rape Arrest Continues to Confuse Media
Published September 30, 2009 @ 09:07AM PT
When you read the transcripts about how Roman Polanski drugged a 13-year-old girl with alcohol and pills, told her to take all her clothes off and then took advantage of her in a hot tub - only one real conclusion comes to mind: rape rape rape.
Sadly, most of the mainstream media seems to be avoiding this possibility. If you take a look at the coverage to date, much of the media has been unwilling to call a spade a spade and tell the public that the Oscar-winning Hollywood filmmaker did something wrong. Really, really wrong. And he should be in jail regardless of whether or not the incident happened 30 years ago.
Just take a look at some of these headlines - where is the outrage?
The one article I read in the mainstream media that seemed to accurately describe what happened comes from the Los Angeles Times and includes part of the grand jury testimony:
Q: Did you resist at that time?
A: A little bit, but not really because . . .
Q: Because what?
A: Because I was afraid of him.
That's Roman Polanski's 13-year-old victim testifying before a grand jury about how the famous director forced himself on her at Jack Nicholson's Mulholland Drive home in March of 1977.
I'm reading this in the district attorney's office at the Los Angeles County Criminal Courts Building, digging through the Polanski file to refresh my memory of the infamous case, and my blood pressure is rising.
Is it because I'm the parent of a girl?
Maybe that's part of it.
But I wish the renowned legal scholars Harvey Weinstein and Debra Winger, to name just two of Polanski's defenders, were here with me now. I'd like to invite Martin Scorsese, as well, along with David Lynch, who have put their names on a petition calling for Polanski to be freed immediately.
What, because he won an Oscar? Would they speak up for a sex offender who hadn't?
To hear these people tell it, you'd think Polanski was the victim rather than the teenager....
...I'd like to show all these great luminaries the testimony from Polanski's underage victim, as well as Polanski's admission of guilt. Then I'd like to ask whether, if the victim were their daughter, they'd be so cavalier about a crime that was originally charged as sodomy and rape before Polanski agreed to a plea bargain. Would they still support Polanski's wish to remain on the lam living the life of a king, despite the fact that he skipped the U.S. in 1977 before he was sentenced?
Women's Media Center also pushes back on the impotent reporting done by many journalists about this case:
Too often, the media is complicit in misrepresenting or silencing the victims of sexual assault. The Women's Media Center calls on the media to report the unfolding story of the Polanski arrest and possible extradition with clarity and specificity. The rape of a child is at the heart of the case. That is not disputed, and should not be represented as subjective.
The media cannot continue to report on this story as something other than what it is: child rape. That is not a "so-called crime" either. Nor should it be called "sex with a child." And just because Polanksi has a little golden statue on his mantel doesn't mean he can avoid the ramifications of breaking the law - in fact it makes it even worse that he used his power and influence in such a destructive and irresponsible manner.
