Disparities

Protest Outside Facebook HQ Challenges Pale, Male And Stale Board

Teaser:

The women's rights group UltraViolet organized a demonstration outside of Facebook's New York office to protest the social media company's appointment of an all-white, all-male board ahead of its IPO.

Editorial:

From Forbes:

There was a demonstration outside of Facebook’s New York office on Wednesday, organized by the women’s rights group UltraViolet, to protest the social media giant’s decision to appoint an all-white, all-male board ahead of its IPO. The group attempted to deliver a petition, signed by over 53,000 people, demanding that women be added to the board.

“Facebook is going to launch one of the largest IPO’s in history this summer, a success built largely on the participation of women – 58% of their users are women and the vast majority of sharing on the site is done by women – and yet zero people on the board are women.” said UltraViolet co-founder Shaunna Thomas.

Protesters argued that the decision to appoint an all-male board, was bad for the company and for users. Marie Wilson of the White House Project, an non-profit working to advance women in business, stressed the positive effects of women on boards, “We know the difference women make on boards in terms of long-term thinking that’s needed for the future and the value they bring in terms of what they want when they get on boards.” With the involvement of women, the board would better understand and serve its mostly female users, she argued.

[...]

Source:

Forbes

URL:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/evapereira/2012/04/26/protest-outside-facebook-hq-challenges-pale-male-and-stale-board-video/

Date:

April 27, 2012

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Studying how much powerful men and women talk

Teaser:

Yale School of Management Assistant Professor Victoria Brescoll finds that even women in power purposely curtail how much they speak in a group because they’re aware, whether they like it or not, that being too outspoken can be off-putting.

Editorial:

From The Washington Post:

Now an assistant professor at the Yale School of Management, Brescoll has recently published a paper in the Administrative Science Quarterly that looks at how much men and women who hold powerful positions talk in group settings. Her study found that while men who have high-power positions tend to talk much more than men without very powerful jobs, the difference in how much women in high- and low-power roles talk in group settings, on average, turns out to be insignificant. While that may not be surprising to many, Brescoll wanted to find out both why it happens and illustrate its actual occurrence in the real world.

Her hypothesis? Women — even those in power — purposely curtail how much they speak in a group because they’re aware, whether they like it or not, that being too outspoken can be off-putting. “When men talk a lot and they have power, people are like ‘oh, that’s fantastic, I’d vote for him.’ But when women do it, they are seen as being too domineering, too presumptuous. Women perceive this, and that’s why they temper how much they talk.” Or as Stanford professor Bob Sutton put it in a blog post about Brescoll’s work, “The blabber mouth approach works for guys, but backfires on women.”

To examine this question, Brescoll designed three studies.

[...]

Source:

The Washington Post

URL:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-leadership/post/studying-how-much-powerful-men-and-women-talk/2011/04/01/gIQAXHGFlT_blog.html

Date:

April 27, 2012

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Associated Issues & Expertise:

Importance of Social Security by Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Marital Status, 2010

Submitted by asklar on Fri, 04/27/2012 - 10:09am

Bar graph: Persons Aged 65 and Older in Beneficiary Families Relying on Social Security for 90 Percent or More of Their Income

URL:

http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/importance-of-social-security-by-gender-race-ethnicity-and-marital-status-2010

Member Organization:

Institute for Women’s Policy Research

In Our Best Interest: Women, Financial Literacy and Credit Card Behavior

Submitted by asklar on Thu, 04/26/2012 - 10:21am

Prepared by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, this study finds that women with low levels of financial literacy were more likely to engage in costly credit card behaviors than men with low financial literacy. The findings suggest that increasing financial literacy can improve credit card management and reduce or eliminate gender-based differences in credit card behavior (released April 2012). The study is based on data from the 2009 National Financial Capability Study.

In Our Best Interest: Women, Financial Literacy and Credit Card Behavior (PDF 216 KB)

URL:

http://www.finrafoundation.org/web/groups/foundation/@foundation/documents/foundation/p125971.pdf

Black Women, Sexual Assault and the Art of Resistance

Teaser:

Brooke Axtell examines the implications of the statistic that 60 percent of Black girls have experienced sexual abuse before the age of 18.

Editorial:

From Forbes:

According to an ongoing study conducted by Black Women’s Blueprint, sixty percent of Black girls have experienced sexual abuse before the age of 18. More than 300 Black women nationwide participated in the research project. A similar study conducted by The Black Women’s Health Imperative seven years ago found the rate of sexual assault was approximately 40%.

The pervasive nature of this trauma could translate into an increased risk for Black women and girls to experience depression, PTSD and addiction, common symptoms experienced by many survivors of rape.

The Department of Justice estimates that for every white woman that reports her rape, at least 5 white women do not report theirs; and yet, for every African-American woman that reports her rape, at least 15 African-American women do not report theirs.

There are many reasons why Black women may choose not to report incidences of sexual assault. Survivors of all races often fear that they will not be believed or will be blamed for their attack, but Black women face unique challenges.

[...]

Source:

Forbes

URL:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/shenegotiates/2012/04/25/black-women-sexual-assault-and-the-art-of-resistance/

Date:

April 25, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

An Upside to the 'War on Women'?

Teaser:

Karin Kamp asks "Is there an upside to the so-called 'war on women'? Could it be mobilizing a new generation of women leaders?" She interviews some prominent women representing the interests of other women to find out.

Editorial:

From the Huffington Post:

Women's issues have been all over the media lately, and not for all the right reasons. Birth control, abortion rights, the Rush Limbaugh Sandra Fluke 'slut' comment controversy, Hilary Rosen's comments on Ann Romney never working a day in her life -- it's really enough to make your head spin. (At least we have one more woman on Forbes' list of billionaires, thanks to Spanx inventorSara Blakely, which had The Story Exchange staff cheering.)

I overheard some young women talking about these issues on the train the other day and that got me thinking... Is there an upside to the so-called "war on women"? Could it be mobilizing a new generation of women leaders? I decided to contact some prominent women representing the interests of other women to find out. Here's what they told me.

[...]

Source:

Huffington Post

URL:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karin-kamp/war-on-women_b_1446322.html

Date:

April 25, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Secret Service Needs More Women, Lawmakers Say

Teaser:

Two female lawmakers, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York, and Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said Sunday that the dearth of women Secret Service agents might have contributed to the scandal linking agency personnel to prostitutes in Colombia. And they credited a female Secret Service supervisor, Paula Reid, for bringing it to light.

Editorial:

From The New York Times:

Two female lawmakers, both of them members of oversight committees, said Sunday that the dearth of women Secret Serviceagents might have contributed to the scandal linking agency personnel to prostitutes in Colombia. And they credited a female supervisor in the agency for bringing it to light.

The lawmakers, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York, and Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, were asked on the ABC program “This Week” about a report describing a female Secret Service supervisor, Paula Reid, who ordered the crackdown on agents working in Cartagena, Colombia, ahead of a visit by President Obama last weekend.

“She acted decisively, appropriately, and I can’t help but wonder if there’d been more women as part of that detail if this ever would have happened,” said Ms. Collins, ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

[...]

Source:

The New York Times

URL:

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/secret-service-needs-more-women-lawmakers-say/

Date:

April 23, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Cannes' Female Director Problem Highlighted By 2012 Selections

Teaser:

An Huffington Post analysis of the films competing at the 2012 Cannes festival finds that none of the 23 movies eligible for awards like the prestigious Palme D'Or were directed by women. And just two of the films chosen for the "Un Certain Regard" category, reserved for movies by young filmmakers, had female directors.

Editorial:

From the Huffington Post:

With the international media assembled in Paris Thursday to find out which movies made the cut for this year's prestigious Festival du Cannes, festival president Gilles Jacob began with a heartfelt ode to the glorious history of Cannes and the film industry.

Near the climax of the speech, he asked, then answered, a rhetorical question: "What has a changed in cinema? Everything."

But an analysis of the films competing at the Cannes festival, which starts May 17, this year shows that at least one thing remains the same: the gender of its most prominent directors.

None of the 23 movies eligible for awards like the prestigious Palme D'Or was directed by women. And just two of the films chosen for the "Un Certain Regard" category, reserved for movies by young filmmakers, had female directors.

The lack of female representation is especially disappointing on the heels of last year's Cannes, which was heralded as a high-water mark for gender parity in the history of the festival. Four of the movies in competition last year were directed by women.

[...]

Source:

Huffington Post

URL:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/19/cannes-film-festival-female-director_n_1438632.html

Date:

April 20, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Rising to the Top?

Submitted by asklar on Thu, 04/19/2012 - 10:52am

Asia Society and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy deliver “Rising to the Top?”, a study that highlights the current socio-economic landscape for women in China and the region. The report discusses gender gap issues and presents policy recommendations to ease gender inequality.

URL:

http://sites.asiasociety.org/womenleaders/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Rising-to-the-Top.pdf

CNN Poll: Support for working women almost unanimous

Teaser:

A new CNN/ORC International poll shows that most Americans now think the number of women in the workplace is a good thing for children of working mothers, which is a significant change from attitudes on that topic in the 1980s and 1990s.

Editorial:

From CNN:

The CNN/ORC International poll also indicated that nearly nine in ten Americans approve of mothers of young children working outside the home, even if their husbands can support their families. Six in ten women, including six in ten mothers of children under the age of 18, said they would prefer to have a job outside the home.

Full results (pdf)

[...]

Source:

CNN

URL:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/16/poll-support-for-working-women-almost-unanimous/

Date:

April 18, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

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NCRW is a network of leading university and community based research, policy, and advocacy centers with a growing global reach dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women and girls. We also have a Corporate Circle comprised of senior diversity professionals from leading U.S. and global member companies and a Presidents Circle of college and university leaders who share our commitment. NCRW harnesses the collective power of its network to provide knowledge, analysis, and thought leadership on issues ranging from reducing women’s poverty to building a critical mass of women’s leadership across sectors.

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