Think About It 9/21/05 A compendium of interesting items
Compiled by J. Trout Lowen
Natural disasters expose race, gender divides
“Women make up 54 percent of the population of New Orleans, so the gender gap is even more dramatic than the race gap. The two gaps need not compete for our attention; they are linked. The majority of victims trapped in New Orleans appeared to be African-American women with their children, and no doubt the ranks of the dead also will be.
The gender gap is no surprise, or shouldn’t be. Disaster is seldom gender neutral. In the 1995 Kobe, Japan, earthquake, 1.5 times more women died than men; in the 2004 Southeast Asia tsunami, death rates for women across the region averaged three to four times that of men.”
—Joni Seager writing in the Chicago Tribune (www.chicagotribune.com). Seager is dean of environmental studies, York University in Toronto and co-director of the Center for New Words in Cambridge, Mass.
Is success the new sex?
According to Sex and the City creator Candace Bushnell it is. The 46-year-old Bushnell said in an interview with Reuters that unlike the female stars of the HBO series, her friends these days spend more time talking about their careers than their love lives.
Bushnell also said her new book, Lipstick Jungle, released this month by Hyperion, reflects that. The book chronicles the lives of three successful career women in New York, although each still has some kind of love interest. “It’s really the next step after Sex and the City. It’s basically what happens to all of those great single women in their thirties when they get to be in their forties,” Bushnell said.
Minnesota not the best
Only one Minnesota-based corporation made Working Mother’s top 100 list of best companies for working women in 2005.
General Mills, headquartered in Minneapolis, made the list of top 10 companies selected by the magazine this year for its generous workplace policies. According to Working Mother, nearly 7,000 of General Mills salaried employees used flex time last year, while more than 6,000 of its 18,500 workers opted for a compressed workweek, which includes a summer-hours program.
Company policy allows employees (with management approval) to take up to six months off to care for elderly relatives or for other personal reasons without impacting their careers.
Women made up more than half of the company’s approximately 400 new hires for managerial and professional positions last year.
All of which is great, but it doesn’t answer the question of why so few Minnesota employers made the grade. Both Nebraska and Texas had more companies on the list than the supposedly progressive Minnesota.
To see who else made the list, visit www.workingmother.com.
Korean women call for peace
Hundreds of women from both South and North Korea adopted a statement on Sept. 12 calling for “not war but peace” on the Korean Peninsula, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap Pyongyang.
“We confirm that women can play a major role in efforts for reunification of the divided peninsula ... We oppose any war and will make efforts to protect peace on the peninsula,” the four-point statement said.
A group of about 100 South Korean female leaders arrived in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on Sept. 10 for a series of joint events aimed at promoting unification of divided Korea, increasing exchanges between women’s groups across the heavily armed border and raising gender awareness in the peace process by strengthening inter-Korean women’s ties, the news agency reported.
Science or stereotypes?
Schools around the country are exploring the usefulness of brain research to shape gender-specific classrooms and education strategies. According to a piece in Newsweek [“Boy Brains, Girl Brains,” Sept. 19, 2005] more than 185 public schools now offer some form of single-sex education. At least some are basing same-sex classrooms on the teachings of the Michael Gurian Educational Institute, aimed at showing teachers, administrators, parents and community members how male and female brains learn differently. Gurian is co-author of the book The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons from Falling Behind in School and Life.
At one school in Owensboro, Ky., first and second graders have been separated by gender, based on Gurian’s philosophy. Because boys have les serotonin in their brains, the theory says, they fidget more, so the school took away the boys’ desks and gave them short exercise periods throughout the day. Girls have more oxytocin, a hormone linked to bonding, so they get a carpeted area where they can sit and discuss their feelings.
Critics charge Gurian’s approach is pseudoscience and based on data about the brain that isn’t fully understood.
Hurricane Katrina relief for women and children
The Ms. Foundation for Women has created a new fund to support the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Katrina Women’s Response Fund will provide direct support for the immediate needs of women of color and low-income women in the Gulf Coast region.
The fund has already awarded $15,000 to the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, a network of 20 domestic violence programs and shelters throughout Louisiana. Several of its facilities were closed or destroyed in the hurricane and its aftermath. The money will be used to help domestic violence victims relocate, purchase basic needs and pay for housing, transportation and medical expenses.
For more information or to donate, visit www.ms.foundation.org or send a check to:
Katrina Women’s Response Fund, c/o Ms. Foundation for Women, 120 Wall Street, 33rd Floor, New York, NY 10005.
Help for business women
The National Association of Women Business Owners is working to provide assistance to female business owners hurt by Hurricane Katrina. Their new web site, www.womenbizrelief.com, a clearinghouse for donations of housing, equipment and employment to help fill the immediate needs of survivors.
Several NAWBO chapters around the country are already chipping in. In Dallas, NAWBO members are working to create a Women Business Owners Resource Center to help up to 100 displaced women business owners. The center will provide each woman with a cubicle, chair, file cabinet, phone and computer, along with mentoring and emotional support.
Marilyn Bushey, NAWBO’s vice president of member services, said she anticipates a two-year project; the last six months will be spent helping these businesses get established in the community or helping them move back to Louisiana.
