Posts Tagged ‘ sexism ’

Woman Fired After Complaining About Sexist Jokes

March 22, 2013
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Woman Fired After Complaining About Sexist Jokes

  Last Sunday, Adria Richards was at PyCon, a technology conference, on behalf of her then employer, email company SendGrid. Two men sitting behind her made comments Richards found to be sexist and inappropriate for a professional event and so she took a picture of the men and tweeted it along with this tweet, “Not cool. Jokes about forking repo’s in a sexual way and “big” dongles. Right behind me ‪#pycon” Then she tweeted, “Can someone talk to these guys about their conduct? I’m in lightning talks, top right near stage, 10 rows back ‪#pycon” According to reports, PyCon staffers saw the tweets and escorted the two men out of the exhibit. Conference organizers tweeted, “Thank you ‪@adriarichards for bringing the inappropriate comments to our attention. We’ve dealt with the situation.” A few days later, one of the men was fired from his job. Richards was threatened and harassed on Twitter with death threats, requests for her to kill herself, and many other ugly, ugly comments. And then, Richards was fired. SendGrid explained its decision in a blog post writing, “To be clear, SendGrid supports the right to report inappropriate behavior, whenever and wherever it occurs. What we do not support [...]

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How Your Christmas List Can Support Women

December 8, 2012
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How Your Christmas List Can Support Women

It’s the most stressful wonderful stressful time of the year. Most of us have crazy to-do lists this month and some of our regular activities fall off of our radar (remember exercise and sleep?). Luckily, even as we scramble to cross off every item on our to-do list, we can still be mindful of supporting women and girls. Miss Representation has just released a video compilation of the worst ads of 2012 as far as gender stereotypes and hypersexualization of girls and women. We can send these companies a message this Christmas by not shopping in their stores or buying their products. Instead of companies that objectify women try to shop with companies that promote them. 2020 Women on Boards, a campaign dedicated to increasing the percentage of women on corporate boards, publishes a gender diversity directory that quantifies companies by the percentage of women on their boards. Companies are ranked based on the percentage of women on the board. W, or Winning, companies have 20 percent or more women on the board. V, or Very Close, companies have 19 percent women on the board. T, or Token, companies have only one woman on the board. And Z, or Zero, companies have no women on the board. Click here [...]

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Heroine of the Week: Australian PM Julia Gillard

October 10, 2012
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Heroine of the Week: Australian PM Julia Gillard

This week’s Heroine of the Week is Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard who called out her colleague for sexism and misogyny. Her blistering speech is a must-watch. The best part of Gillard’s comments is that she delivered them in person. We applaud her for tackling the issue in a face-to-face setting instead of a media interview or a prepared statement. Some background on Gillard’s speech: The Leader of the Opposition coalition Tony Abbott, called for a vote to remove the Speaker of the House Peter Slipper, for sexist texts messages Slipper sent. Gillard condemned Slipper’s behavior but blocked the vote because she said Abbot’s motion was hypocritial. “I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man,” said Gillard who cited several examples of Abbott’s past statements she classified as sexist. One was a comment Abbot made while discussing some legislation, “what the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing…” Slipper has since resigned. Gillard has vowed to continue calling out sexism. And one of her opponents has accused Gillard of ”using gender as a shield against any criticism of her performance, her honesty, her competence. ” For more background on identifying unfair treatment of female [...]

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The Hello Ladies Guide to Sexism in Politics (revisited)

September 12, 2012
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The Hello Ladies Guide to Sexism in Politics (revisited)

Clearly it’s time to revisit The Hello Ladies Guide to Sexism in Politics. In recent weeks: Reporters at the Chicago Sun Times, in reporting a story about whether or not Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan would run for governor, wrote, “Madigan and her husband, Pat Byrnes, have two young children, ages 7 and 4. She was asked whether she could serve as governor and still raise her kids the way she wants to.” Eric Golub, a writer for the Washington Times Communitites section wrote following the Democratic National Convention, “Sandra Fluke and Elizabeth Warren gave shrill, angry, hysterical speeches that validate every negative stereotype about women. They began their speeches enraged and ended somewhere between conniption and apoplectic.” Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman John Walsh referencing one of Senator Scott Brown’s campaign ads said, “ He spent a couple million dollars folding towels on TV to prove he’s an honorary girl.” So in an effort to help easily identify and respond to unfair treatment of female politicians, here again is “The Hello Ladies Guide to Sexism in Politics.” Overt sexism: In this category we have the outrageous remarks that make you scream, “How does this person (insert name of person who spoke or wrote the sexist [...]

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Men Can’t Have It All Either

June 24, 2012
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Men Can’t Have It All Either

As evidenced by my recent lack of blogging, I’ve been really busy the past two months and unable to “do it all.” However I’ve been asked by several people what I think of the current Atlantic magazine cover story, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” written by former State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter. So it seems like a good time to get back to work here. Slaughter was the first woman director of policy planning at the State Department, working for Secretary Hillary Clinton. The demands of life in Washington, and of working for someone else, after having been a tenured professor who controlled her own schedule, made parenting her two teenage sons too difficult and so she left the position to be with her family. What do I think? At first pass, I think, no kidding the life of a working mother is incredibly challenging – for women at the highest levels of success and those working at hourly wage jobs. I think many things contribute to having it all – a good boss, a good partner at home, well-adjusted kids out of diapers and out of trouble. And many things can make success difficult – a less [...]

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What Should We Do About Sexism and Bachmann?

January 5, 2012
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What Should We Do About Sexism and Bachmann?

Let’s not waste time debating whether sexism was a factor in Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann’s failed bid for president. It was. Let’s instead focus on what we will do about it. Because something needs to be done. Not that we wanted to see Bachmann in the White House. God no. But nor do we want to see Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry or any other anti-woman candidate get elected. But why is Bachmann going home and not the other non-Romneys? For several reasons. First, there is a double standard at work. Susan Mulligan at U.S. News points out, “Michele Bachmann, the Tea Party-approving Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota, has said some crazy things… All of that provides a solid basis for questioning her as a candidate and wondering whether she’s suited for the Oval Office. But has Bachmann said or done anything more bizarre than some of her opponents, including several who are above her in polling in Iowa?” Not really. Second, women don’t “look presidential.” Remember when Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen wrote, “I can think of no reason why anyone who, for some unaccountable reason, supports Michele Bachmann will not move over to Perry… Perry, who actually looks like a president …” [...]

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Have You Thanked Your Body Today?

October 19, 2011
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Have You Thanked Your Body Today?

I promised myself by the time I turned 40 I would run the Falmouth Road Race. I had watched it as a spectator for years and knew one day I wanted to experience it as a participant. Four years after my deadline, I did it – I ran seven hilly miles on a humid August day. A friend told a mutual acquaintance what I had done and the acquaintance responded, “So then she must have lost some weight.” I had just run seven miles. I had honored a commitment to myself. I had a great time doing it. And she wanted to know about a number on a scale? I started running to avoid taking a medication prescribed by my doctor. I thought my health was the motivation that helped me fit exercise into an already packed day, but when I crossed the finish line in Falmouth, I realized it was more than that. Growing up I never played sports, much less exercised. I was the kid picked last for teams. My nickname in elementary school was Big Foot, a joke about my inability to get on base during Friday afternoon kickball games.  My lack of athletic prowess only bothered [...]

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Mark your Calendar: Miss Representation Airs October 20

October 14, 2011
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Mark your Calendar: Miss Representation Airs October 20

Mark your calendars and don’t miss the new documentary Miss Representation which will air on October 20 at 9 p.m. ET, on Oprah’s OWN channel. This documentary has been garnering great reviews and generating necessary discussion. The film looks at the messages the mass media perpetuate that women and girls’ value comes from beauty and sexuality and examines how those messages impact the way in which women are viewed in society, by themselves and others. Consider this: sixty-five percent of women and girls have eating disorders. Miss Representation goes beyond the groundbreaking work in the Killing Us Softly films and discusses how media affects women as leaders. Consider this: Women makeup only 17 percent of Congress despite representing 51 percent of the population. Eighty-four percent of guests on Sunday morning political tv talk shows and  85 percent of radio producers are men. Eighty percent of the op-ed pages are dominated by men. The number of women in senior management positions globally has gone from 24 percent in 2004 to 20 percent in 2009. According to the makers of the film, American teenagers spend 31 hours per week watching TV, 17 hours listening to music, 3 hours watching movies, four hours reading magazines and ten hours online [...]

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Ignorant Legislator of the Week

October 1, 2011
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Ignorant Legislator of the Week

Life’s been hectic lately, but we just had to find the time to bring you a new Ignorant Legislator of the Week. The chair of the Abington, Mass. school committee is this week’s pick. Russell Fitzgerald, who is also an amateur magician, apparently starts all of his board meetings with a trick. However, the AP reported: “Russell Fitzgerald may have crossed a line … when he performed a trick that made it appear that he and a teacher ripped the bra off another committee member through her clothes.” We’re not sure what’s unclear to the AP reporter. Fitzgerald did cross a line. The Brockton Enterprise, who’s writer also states Fitzgerald may have crossed a line, reported: “Asked if the magic trick was inappropriate, Fitzgerald responded after the meeting, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ “”Why did you choose this particular trick,” a reporter then asked. “’I like it,” Fitzgerald said.” The AP has since reported that Fitzgerald, “says he is sorry for the embarrassment he caused committee member … He also says he will no longer perform tricks before meetings.” The “bra trick” story has gone viral, covered at sites from Gawker to the Washington Post, and many commentors have suggested [...]

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The Hello Ladies Guide to Sexism in Politics

August 18, 2011
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The Hello Ladies Guide to Sexism in Politics

The latest presidential election cycle has only just begun and already we are engaged in some lively discussions about the sexist treatment of candidate Michele Bachmann. Was the Newsweek cover photo of the Congresswoman and the accompanying headline sexist? Was the “submissive wife” question out of line?  Sexism may seem more out in front during a presidential campaign but it exists in politics all the time – and at the state and local level too. Some of the sexism is over the top, and some not so obvious. To help you easily identify and respond to unfair treatment of female politicians, here is “The Hello Ladies Guide to Sexism in Politics.” Overt sexism: In this category we have the outrageous remarks that make you scream, “How does this person (insert name of person who spoke or wrote the sexist comment) keep their job?!” Examples: Conan O’Brien sidekick Andy Richter’s recent tweet that read, “There’s nothing wrong with Michele Bachmann that two solid weeks of orgasms won’t cure.” Statements like that one attempt to reduce a female candidate to a shrew, a sexual object, anything but a viable contender for the job. An Alex Beam column in The Boston Globe during the Massachusetts Senate race last [...]

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