We are the Women

Amanda Marcotte has written a column on why women's rights issues such as contraception and discrimination of pregnant workers are very much an economic issue and not something to be called a "distraction" from "real economic issues".

Mississippi might loose its only abortion clinic, the Jackson Women's Health Organization (J.W.H.O). After July 1, a new Mississippi law which requires all physician associated with an abortion clinic to have admitting privileges at a local hospital goes into affect. That the physicians at J.W.H.O do not meet this requirement is no secret and Gov. Phil Bryant said during the bill-signing ceremony "If it closes the clinic, then so be it".

Mississippi has a population of nearly 3 million. It is the "poorest state in the country and has the highest birth rate among teenagers, and the second-highest infant mortality rate, according to statistics compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation".

Earlier this week Ellen Pao, a female partner at well-known venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, filed a lawsuit against the firm for gender discrimination and retaliation. 

Ms. Pao claims that she has "suffered multiple instances of sexual harassment, retaliation and sexual discrimination over the past six years".

Ms. Pao alleges that she repeatedly has complained about the situation to several other partners but that Kleiner has failed to solve the situation.

Moreover, Ms. Pao put forward that discrimination is an integral operation of the firm, and that it fails to promote and compensate women comparably to men.

On paper, Kleiner is more gender-diverse than average in the industry, employing 12 women out of 50 employees on its investment and operations teams.  

"The number of women partners at the firm is one of the highest within the venture capital arena and the firm has actively supported women in all respects," a spokeswoman for the firm said.

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It is so discouraging to find out that even companies that seems to be doing the right thing is failing on such a major scale to treat women equally.  

Cute blog post from Swedish blogger Underbara Clara reflecting on that rather than being opposed or hesitant to hiring mothers, employers should embrace any opportunity given to do so. In fact, they should even give mothers a bonus since no overachievers out there beat mothers when it comes to multitasking and working effectively!

The article on the NY Times front page today is good news, mostly. It tells us that more men are entering the professions traditionally dominated by women. And it is no longer the "foreign-born", "non-English speakers" but men from "nearly all races and ages", many who have a college degree.

Meanwhile, women's inroad to prestigious (male-dominated) high-wage professions continue to increase. One reason for the shift mentioned is the gradual erosion of gender roles making the stigma associated with typical female jobs less apparent for today's young men.

Worth mentioning is the fact that higher-educated men entering female jobs does not mean equality in the workspace, even though it can result in higher wages for everyone. On the contrary, the factor of the glass-escalator is at play and contributes to men earning more for the same position as well as men easier and faster reaching supervisory positions.

Another reason for the shift is that men have started to question the quality-of-life brought by working the long hours typically associated with male-dominated professions. As they take an larger part in home-making and child-rearing, they start value less stress and more time at home.

The article also mentions interviews in which about two dozen men emphasizes how their new professions are more satisfying. One of the men interviewed in the article compares his former job as a database consultant to his new one as a nurse, bringing up one example of a hug he recently received from the older sister of a premature baby he took care of. "It's like, people get paid for doing this kind of stuff?", he says, "choking up as he recounted the episode". 

And here is where the real concern is - are we loosing something much more valuable than what we are gaining in our struggle for equality?