Women Misbehavin'

Well behaved women never make history

Archive for January, 2010

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Woman Misbehavin

Posted by joyinhome on January 29, 2010

Consider this a ping to?/from? PunditMom for her Political Quote of the Week.

As I said to some friends … in the press, we will go through the gate. If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, we will parachute in. But we are going to get health care reform passed for the American people for their own personal health and economic security and for the important role that it will play in reducing the deficit.

-Nancy Pelosi

Posted in Advocacy, Economy, Families, Health, Politics, Woman Misbehavin' | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Lilly’s Fight Is Not Over

Posted by espressodog on January 29, 2010

BPW Foundation Says Equity and Access Are Key to Rebuilding the Workforce
 
Statement by Deborah L. Frett, CEO Business and Professional Women’s Foundation

Lilly Ledbetter and Deborah L. Frett, CEO, BPW Foundation

“One year ago today, I joined leaders of women’s, civil rights and human rights organizations at the White House to witness the historic signing of the pay equity bill named for a grandmother from Alabama who demanded equal pay for equal work. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act ensures that women subject to wage discrimination will get their day in court. It is an important step towards closing the persistent and sizable wage gap that remains between men and women.
 
Wage discrimination is still a very real problem in the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women who work full time earn, on average, only 78 cents for every dollar men earn. The figures are even worse for women of color: Black women only earning 66 cents and Latinas 54 cents on the dollar. This wage gap not only impacts the economic security of women working today, it also affects women’s future economic security and therefore the economic stability of the whole family.
 
Historically, BPW Foundation has empowered women to advocate for themselves and their families on issues such as equal pay. The signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was a critical step, but the fight is not over. Lack of equity and access in the workplace continue to plague women and other under-represented groups. As we collaborate to rebuild the workforce and our economy, we need to ensure that the workplace is ‘ready’ for all workers and the way we work today and will in the future.
 
BPW Foundation urges employers, policymakers and working women to support and advocate for legislation and workplace policies that seek to create successful workplaces such as Ledbetter. Equal pay for equal work is mandatory for a competitive workforce; all employees should be valued in order to compete in a global marketplace.  Last year, the House of Representatives passed the Paycheck Fairness Act twice, which strengthens the Equal Pay Act and closes loopholes; it is time for the Senate to follow suit.
 
Let’s close the gap of equity and access for Lilly and the 70 million working women who continue to strengthen our workforce.”

Posted in Advocacy, Economy, Families, Feminism, girls, Misbehavin' Notification, Pay Equity, Politics, Successful Workplaces, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Question for Gen Y Women: What workplace perks would “perk you up” about your job?

Posted by leadlikeagirl on January 29, 2010

You can post your musings on Young Women Misbehavin’, Facebook, Twitter or email us at kbarrett@bpwfoundation.org.

Posted in Gen Yner | 1 Comment »

Tell Us What You Want, What You Really Really Want

Posted by leadlikeagirl on January 28, 2010

During the seven years I served in the US Army, the things I considered ”workplace perks” included sleeping in past 5 am and being in a unit that slept on cots when we went to the field (as opposed to our infantry friends that just curled up on the ground next to the nearest tree).

Apparently anything that got me better sleep constituted a perk!  But beyond that, I had no concept of what real workplace benefits looked like.

When I transitioned out of the military into the civilian world, this meant even the smallest of perks made me giddy beyond words.  I remember calling my mom and squealing with delight about the free coffee in my first office.

“You wouldn’t believe the beverage machine I get to use at my new job.  It makes coffee, tea, and chococinos!!  I don’t even know what a chococino is but I want one!”

Coming from the army, standard run-of-the mill perks that the rest of the work world had grown accustomed to were still big news to me (and truth be told…the chococinos do still make me giddy).

But as I’ve continued in my civilian career, I’ve learned not all those little extras are created equally.  I’ve discovered there’s more to employment than considering what kind of coffee machine is in the office.  Each new job I’ve held has introduced me to new perks, each time setting the bar higher for future employers.

The first boss that allowed me to work from home one day a week certainly changed the way I look at benefits.  On that one day, I found I was twice as productive in half the time (while also getting my laundry done).  With my weekend free of worrying about my lack of clean underwear, I also able to better enjoy my time off, leaving me fully recharged when I showed up to work on Monday.

Now, the ability to telecommute is on my must-have list when I consider a new job.  In addition, I’ve also come to love casual work environments (who’s not more productive in comfy clothes?!) & flexible schedules (because sometimes I do my best work at 2am).  I find the quality of my life is better, which makes me happy.  But the quality of my work is better too…which makes my employer happy! (Read: Workplace Flexibility = Return On Investment)

I stumbled into these benefits before I ever knew to ask for them but now can’t imagine living without them.  And I’m thankful there are employers out there who continue to push the limits of what is considered a “normal perk.”

This continued search for work-life balance may just be what helps cure the economy, diminishes crazy city traffic, and makes us all a bit more productive in the long run!

This week’s “Tell Us What You Want, What You Really Really Want Theme” is workplace perks. We want to hear from you, Gen Y:

  • What kind of perks would your dream job include?
  • How do those perks foster a good work-life balance?
  • What barriers are preventing you from getting those perks?

You can post your musings on Young Women Misbehavin’, Facebook, Twitter or email us at kbarrett@bpwfoundation.org.

Posted in BPW, Gen Yner, Lifestyle, Worklife Balance | Tagged: , | 6 Comments »

So close. Yet so far away.

Posted by egehl on January 27, 2010

So close.  Yet so far away.  It’s amazing how one day can completely transform a landscape and erase months of grueling work and momentum.

No one can deny this country needs health care reform.  Our system is not working.  Just ask the millions of uninsured, those who have gone bankrupt due to health care costs, or the people with pre-existing conditions that can’t get coverage. Americans have to rely on an unregulated insurance industry, which fails on most counts because costs are exorbitant, outcomes are poor, coverage is restricted, and patient satisfaction is low.  The time is now for reform and it’s scary to think all of it could slip away because of one political race.

It’s obvious Democrats and health care advocates have an uphill battle on their hands to get meaningful legislation passed.  After the Massachusetts election, Democrats are now shying away from efforts to clear a comprehensive package because of fears surrounding the upcoming election.  As of now there aren’t enough votes in the House to send President Obama the Senate-passed health care bill so other options are being considered.  One such option is passing only the most politically popular pieces of the health overhaul as discrete legislation.

This is a situation of trying to make everyone happy and nothing gets accomplished. And as Obama said last week, “the things that are non-controversial end up being the things that don’t solve the problem”. If the overall reform objectives are access to insurance and controlling costs, it’s hard to see how Members of Congress will be able to compromise on anything.  And if Congress decides to go the route of passing “bite size pieces” of the bill, what impact will that really have on our health care system?

Since it looks like we will have to accept only incremental changes to the system then priority should be placed on cracking down on harmful insurance practices such as denying coverage because of medical problems, expanding Medicaid, and helping small businesses and low-income people afford coverage.  In the end, without these key elements Congress is completely missing the boat and not helping the American people.

On the Senate side, a top Democrat is saying that the majority party should take a break of up to six weeks in the health care debate to allow the caucus to regroup and refocus on how to move a bill forward.  This timeframe has dire consequences because the Senate is expected to take up and start working on a jobs bill after the President’s State of the Union address.  As a result health care could easily get lost in the shuffle as this year’s legislative priorities start to take precedent.

With the Congressional setback of Scott Brown’s election and political emotions running high, it is up to the President to guide the legislative process. He must calm Democrats so that a bill can be accomplished without jeopardizing their seats.  I fear that if health care reform is not tackled now under the Obama Administration it will be years before another President will take up this extremely complicated and politically divisive issue.  It will be become a policy albatross for years to come.  And it’s scary to think how expensive and inaccessible health care will be in the future.

To leave our health care system alone without any changes or robust improvements is abominable.  We have the most expensive, least reliable health care system in the developed world and everyone knows it whether you are for or against this reform bill.  This was supposed to be the time when things finally got accomplished and people put aside their differences.

And finally for those of you celebrating about possibly derailing reform altogether, congratulations you’ve been able to keep the same incompetent system that excludes 46 million people, doubles in cost every 10 years and guarantees that if you’re sick or lose a job you’ll probably have to go bankrupt just to get care.  That’s certainly cause to celebrate.

Posted in Advocacy, Families, Health, Politics, Successful Workplaces, Worklife Balance | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

Cool Ways to Make Friends in Your New City

Posted by ywmguest on January 26, 2010

We love our network of working women. YWM encourages you to be brave, move across the country and talk to strangers. Today’s guest blogger is Maya Moore.

The life of a young careerist often involves moving to a new city in pursuit of a new job, life, or as a result of a career change.

Moving to a new city, can be a very exciting thing!

However, it can also pose its sets of challenges, especially in the social realm, i.e., trying to find friends! Below are some tips to help you discover and maximize your social opportunities when you’re the new kid in town.

Get involved!

Join a local organization, or take a class.  Taking a class is a great way to meet people who posses similar interests as yours. Consider taking up a totally new sport or learn something you’ve always wanted to know. Join a local club, volunteer organization, or a church. It always fun meeting people whose hearts beat for a mutual cause. People in these communities share the same interests as you and probably live in the same area.

Network with people you already know!

Co-workers, fellow neighbors, the coffee shop guy who always serves you your morning latté, let people know you are new to the area and would like some advice about the best place in town to watch theatre, play golf, or go shopping. People are generally friendly and willing to help, you just have to ask.

The net is your best friend!

(But resist the urge to be reclusive; otherwise that will defeat the purpose.) Since you are limited on your human resources, there are excellent web sites like Yelp! and Craigslist that provide a wealth of info helpful for people new in town. Yelp.com provides reviews and blogs about what’s great – and not so great – in your neighborhood and beyond, everything from cool restaurants and clubs to doctors and yoga instructors. Craigslist is a great website for classified ads for furniture, employment, rental listings and events. Meetup is a site that helps local people get together to hang, share a few drinks or try a new activity. You can use these sites to your advantage when deciding about whether to try a new place to eat, hang, or socialize.

Keep an open mind!

Get outside your comfort zone. Keep a smile on your face and don’t be afraid to approach people. Don’t only approach or talk to people who look like you (or your best friend back home). Part of living in a new city is experiencing new cultures. Don’t miss out on great friendships because of pre-conceived notions, your next set of best buds could be older, younger, or of a different sex than you!

Bottom line, use every social opportunity to your advantage, ask questions, be personable and keep smiling! Maintaining a work life balance is important especially when moving to a new city. Finding new friends may be challenging but by putting yourself in various social
settings it will become easier.

Maya Moore is a young careerist living and working in the city of Los Angeles, CA.

photo credit

Posted in Diversity, Lifestyle, Social Media, Worklife Balance | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Who Dat?!?

Posted by joyinhome on January 25, 2010

Congrats to the New Orleans Saints on winning the NFC championship. This will be their first-ever visit to the Super Bowl!

The Saints team members have earned this for their work on and off the field.

Posted in sports, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Princess and the Frog: Groundbreaking?

Posted by ywmguest on January 22, 2010

We love our network of working…men. YWM encourages you to sound off about the influence of images in the media. Today’s guest blogger is Garret Jenkins.

Fresh off the Golden Globe Awards…

IS THIS REALLY A GROUNDBREAKING PRODUCTION FOR DISNEY? OR IS IT A REINFORCEMENT OF CLOWN-MAKING , DILLUSION AND SELF-HATE?

Folks know that I pride myself on being a husband and father of two beautiful children, one of which happens to be a 7-year old princess named Morgan.  She’s my first born, one out of two of my better half’s best pieces of creative work.  We want her to be fearless, independent, forever educating herself, questioning that in which she feels is not right, and stating so loudly so she is heard and her presence is known.   She’s a bright young lady, got that interrogator mind and mouth (gets it from her momma), and a level of confidence that puts me at ease often, for I feel she’s developing into her own and is listening to her inner drum and thus marches to her own beat.  But at this age, she’s also very much into the social circle of the other 7-year old girls in her school.  Often, the topic of conversation revolves around most things Disney related.

Whether Disney’s cable channel (i.e. Hanna Montana, Suite Life of Zak and Cody, Corey in the House), it’s radio station (Playlist: Every kid that they have on a show of theirs, they have a song  in rotation on the station in addition to your Sean Kingston’s, Some American Idol runner-ups, etc.), and of course it’s movies (PIXAR’s productions in regards to the theater releases, viewing/purchase of  DVD’s of the pre-PIXAR/Disney 2-D cell animated works).  Ironically, not only have we as a family bared witness to the election of the first African-American President, but we are now about to do the same as per Disney’s first African-American character addition to its “Princess” line of animated works (it only took them 72 years since their unveiling of “Snow White” in 1937, but I’ll give them a 34 year pass due to segregation).  Now while I’m happy that my daughter will finally have an actual character to identify with, one who resembles her the most (prior to today, the closest we had was Jasmine from “Alladin”), my feelings are but marked with a big-azz asterisk (see: *) like Barry Bond’s record setting home run.  Regardless of the fact that Disney consulted with and included in their cast one of America’s most successful media titans of our time (who happens to be African-American) in Ms. Oprah Winfrey, as well a number of other veteran and new African-American acting talents providing their voices for the film’s characters (Keith David, Terrence Howard and Anika Noni Rose), the mark was missed the minute they decided to deviate from allowing their first EVER African-American themed animated film to depict black-on-black love, and decided that such was too narrow an appeal, probably wouldn’t generate enough box office receipts domestically and internationally, and decided to go Benetton with this love story!  Meaning you ask? . . . . . Allow me to expound upon this.

Disclaimer: The following copy content will be expressed as I see fit, in a vernacular that I deem fit.  My delivery may be crass at some points, eloquent at others.  You may chuckle, you may grit, but these are my words, so get over it.  Overall, said point will be made.  Now .  . . Let’s begin.

STEREOTYPES. . . . BE DAMNED!

Yes, this story could have taken place AFTER segregation.  We can also get upset about Disney reinforcing stereotypes all we want.  I read the criticisms/reviews in such pubs as the Village Voice (thanks for the link the other day, ST) and such.  Yes, there is a firefly with a stronger Lou-weezy-anna accent and exaggerated pronunciation than the Lady-whose-bonafied-fried-chicken-you-loves from those Popeyes commercials.   Even at her the height of her pissisity (due to Popeyes only chargin’ you $4.99 for her bonafied chicken), she’s still has nothing on this gabby-gums of a firefly’s speech patterns.  Hey, guess what?  There are folks of our race, down in New Orleans who probably did/do talk just like this.  Thing is, we’re pissed when the “other man” puts a spot light on this, for we feel we’re only allowed to be depicted as such by mainstream media, and never in a more favorable light.  Yes, this is true.  However, some of our most successful critiques/comics have always presented themselves or their characters that play on said stereotypes, and we laugh and learn with them before we call them out for doing so.  Richard Pryor had Mudd Bone, Chris Rock has his delivery and teefus, and let us not talk about Steve Harvey’s country azz delivery that is all day every day, syndicated radio on the daily!  I’m not even going to harp on this fact, for it’s a fact.  But again, we know what’s what, so don’t front.  This shit is bigger than a firefly, so let us move on to what that is . . . . . . . . Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Diversity, Education, Families, girls, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

First Lady Gets It When Comes to Work-Life

Posted by espressodog on January 21, 2010

“Things like paid family leave and sick days and affordable childcare should be the norm, not the exception.”

First Lady Michelle Obama visited the Department of Labor on January 14, addressing a roomful of DOL employees on the necessity for work-life balance. In her remarks, Mrs. Obama took the time to recognize and thank both veteran agency workers and those workers just beginning their careers. 

After commending the Department for their child care center, Mrs. Obama discussed the need for better policies that would allow parents more flexibility to balance family demands and work. “It’s time we viewed family-friendly policies as not just niceties for women but as necessities for every single working American — men and women — because more and more men are shouldering that same kind of burden.”  Work-life balance is an issue “near and dear” to Mrs. Obama’s heart, involving the “constant struggle” to meet our responsibilities as employees and parents. 

Although many employers recognize the value of good work-life policies, we, as a society, “haven’t figured it out yet.” Many people don’t have access to good family leave policies or any flexibility in the workplace.  “So they struggle to find affordable childcare and emergency childcare when their usual arrangements fall through, which they always do — right?”

“Roughly 40 percent of private-sector employees work at companies that don’t offer a single day of paid sick leave.”  As a society, we view work-life balance policies as special benefits for women, rather than “essential policies that can benefit everyone in the workplace.  Our perception is that, workers that need the time off are less committed, and that places that accommodate these needs “are destined to be less profitable, less productive somehow.”

However, evidence reveals the benefits of work-life balance policies; they actually make employees more productive.  “Instead of spending all day at work worrying about what’s happening at home, they have the support that they need to concentrate on their jobs.”  We need to change our perceptions of family-friendly policies “so that our workplaces can catch up to the realities of our lives.” 

Workers shouldn’t have to risk their jobs to care for a family member or attend a child’s school event.  The Administration thinks its “important to highlight companies that are embracing family-friendly policies, ones that are experimenting with things like flex time and telecommuting and focusing on performance and output rather than face time.”

For these reasons, the Administration supports The Healthy Families Act.  It would let millions of working Americans earn up to seven days a year of paid sick time to care for themselves and their families.  “And all of us, in both government and the private sector, will need to come up with new ideas, try out new approaches, and rely on our courage and our common sense to guide us along this new effort.”

Posted in Uncategorized, Worklife Balance | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

In Support of All Allies

Posted by gansie on January 21, 2010

Monday through Friday there a few things I do each day.

I eat. Go to work. Adore my boyfriend.

If I happened to be gay, two out of three of those must-dos would be in jeopardy.

There’s a trial going on right now - Perry v Schwarzenegger – that is a challenge to Prop 8. In 2009, the voters of California decided people of the same sex could not marry. This trial will determine the legality of same sex couples marrying. Regardless of the outcome, it is expected to reach the Supreme Court.

In Congress the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is stalled (like all bills sans health care) to protect gay workers from discrimination. In 29 states it is still legal to fire someone for being gay. Just being gay.

The court case is bring some unlikely allies to the cause of LGBT rights. Ted Olson, <insert curse word of your choice>, who won the Supreme Court case that launched W into the White House is now fighting for the progressives. Mr. Olson is on team fair. He is helping to what’s right.

“I personally think it is time that we as a nation get past distinguishing people on the basis of sexual orientation, and that a grave injustice is being done to people by making these distinctions…I thought their cause was just. –Ted Olson [Washington Examiner]

At first I thought we were being duped. How could the man that brought us W also be the man that would bring equality to the country? I guess this made me face my own prejudices of conservatives. Maybe there are no real lines of red and blue. Just decisions  we all make to choice the best  for ourselves, our families and our world.  Shit, even Cindy McCain is on board.

For real-time updates, follow National Center for Lesbian Rights @NCLR

photo credit

Posted in Diversity, Families, LGBT Rights, Successful Workplaces, Woman Misbehavin' | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

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