Linkin' it up

I decided to post some links to some interesting articles or Web sites. Check 'em out!

Vatican to Excommunicate Female Priests
Iraq War Vet Charged in Rape of Mich. Infant Makes Plea Deal
Anti-rape Condom Good But...
Protecting the Right to Abortion an Issue of Safety
Police: 10 Witness Rape, Do Nothing (I realize it's old but it's so shocking that I had to post it!)

Clinics of love

My best friend has been taking a class on gender and violence (such interesting discussions that are stemming out of it!) and recently had to do an interview with someone who works with a rape clinic or battered women's shelter. This got me thinking that I should really do a post about such places, especially since the people who work at these places are AMAZING! The amount of compassion those women and men have is unbelievable. I realize I'm probably speaking to the choir here, so I'll get to the point.

You want a learning experience? Go sit down and talk with someone who works for a rape clinic/battered women's shelter/etc for a few minutes. I haven't had the chance to do this yet, but I really, really want to. I'm guessing that it's going to lead me to volunteering somewhere.

If you're in Minnesota, here are a couple of great places to check out:
Cornerstone (Battered women's shelter)
Neighborhood Involvement Center: Rape and Sexual Abuse Clinic
Planned Parenthood
Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women
Minnesota Domestic Violence Crisis and Support Resources

Remember, if you have been a victim of rape (which is any kind of unwanted sexual contact), please tell someone about it! The easiest way to heal and move on is to talk about it.

Wage gap switcharoo?

If you've read my blog at all, you've probably seen how I feel about the wage gap between men and women. For a reminder, in case you're too lazy to look back a few entries ;), women still make about 70% of what men earn.

Well I recently read a blog post that poses an interesting theory or perhaps observation about that:

Weirdly enough, in the midst of all the job losses, the business closures and the foreclosures there is a bit of good news about the wage gap. No, the gap hasn’t closed; women still earn about 70 cents for every one dollar men earn. They may not have parity, but women are actually getting even.

You see, the wage gap in this country is due, in part, to the fact that women are concentrated in lower-wage professions like teaching, nursing and administration, while men are concentrated in higher-paying professions like investment banking and financial services. Until now, that stunk!

Well, the tide is turning. From last November through this April, American women aged 20 and up gained nearly 300,000 jobs, while American men lost nearly 700,000 jobs during that same period. Not only were the big-money men affected, the poorer boys have struggled too. Man-heavy industries like construction and manufacturing have also been hard-hit by the economic downturn.

Meanwhile, woman-heavy industries like health care and education are experiencing growth.

An interesting turn of events in our steadily downward-facing economy. But trust me, ladies, keep working the negotiations and such to try to get that wage gap closed. Just because the women-dominated fields are growing doesn't mean that women are getting paid appropriately.

But woot for having jobs and makin' money!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while...things tend to get crazy busy and then I have no energy left at the end of the day to get online at the library. Anyway, saw an interested little story in Yahoo! News about the pay gap between men and women:

It is ironic that the Pennsylvania primary is being held on Equal Pay Day. That's the day in April every year when women's earnings finally catch up with what men made by December 31 of the previous year. The pay gap is still a stubborn problem, with women who work full time, year-round making 77 cents to a man's dollar. And, women are losing ground when it comes to how long it takes to pull even with men - a decade ago Equal Pay Day was April 11.

"Talk to Women for A Change" by Martha Burk

Ironic, indeed. Ironic that I didn't hear a thing about it.

This quote on Equal Pay Day from the Business and Professional Women network shows the difference in race:

Equal Pay Day is held annually in April to signify the point into a year that a woman must work to earn what a man made the previous year. According to the 2006 Census Bureau, women on average earn 77 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts. For women of color, the wage gap worsens: African American women make 66 cents, Latinas make 55 cents and Asian American women make 80 cents.

Now, there have been studies that show that part of the reason women are lacking in pay is because they don't negotiate, and this can lead to a gap of hundreds of thousands of dollars over one person's career! DEFINITELY negotiate!!! But that doesn't make up for the increasing pay gap between women and men. Just another way to work towards equality!

Wait honey, I need to sign this contract first...

Just wow on this one. An article by NEWSLIVE.com.au states that apparently in an independent state of Australia, women should sign a contract before having sex. Huh? What? Why is this? Ohhh, read on...

An Independent state MP has suggested women should sign a contract before having sex in order to prevent men being subject to false rape allegations, News Limited has reported.

In a response to proposed laws making it an offence to continue a sex act with a person who changes their mind about consent, South Australian MP Ann Bressington suggested to Parliament men should carry a sex contract to prevent being accused of rape.

Are you f'ing KIDDING me??? As if it's not hard enough for women to come forward about being raped, now they have to sign a contract before sex because people think they're lying??!

Ann Brennington states, “This Bill makes men guilty until proven innocent and they will have no defence.” Okay then, Ann, what are you doing to protect innocent women from being raped??? I agree that people who "cry rape" have absolutely no excuse and are ruining the judicial system for those who actually are violated, and yes, this needs to end somehow...but you're putting ALL of the blame and fault on the woman and that's just not right. Worse than that, you're making it even harder for someone who truly WAS raped to come forward about it. Remember, peeps, 1 in 4 women are raped and only 16% of these rapes get reported - check out possible reasons why women don't report rape in this undeniably real and honest blog post.

Women are already:
- Subjected to painful rape kits
- Further harassment by the rapist and their supporters
- Mocking by strangers and trusted ones alike
- "Questions" that are more like accusations by police and others

...and by the time it's all over, they find out the police don't believe them. Cause we needed another reason to worry.

The ONE good thing about this is that it's somewhat two-fold...men without a signed contract could be charged with sexual assault. But considering the amount of cases that actually get anywhere now...well, let's not hold our breath on that one.

Board up!

A workforce-related article to start your day:

Fox Business: Many Women Aspire to For-Profit Board Membership

Many women executives who currently serve on non-profit boards of directors actively aspire to serve on for-profit boards -- where women currently are dramatically underrepresented -- according to a survey released today by the Simmons School of Management (http://www.simmons.edu/som) in Boston.

But survey authors say that the growing number of organizations who want more women board members need to change their traditional search procedures. And women who aspire to board membership need to develop a concrete plan to be recruited...

Women comprise 51 percent of the U.S. managerial work force, but less than 15 percent of board membership of large, publicly traded U.S. corporations -- despite research by Catalyst research and advisory organization showing that Fortune 500 firms with more women board members outperform those with very few women, on such measures as return on equity and return on sales.

Go for it, ladies!

Colleges don't prepare you for this part of the real world

An article came out today in the Los Angeles Times about how women in the military are being raped by their fellow soldiers/commanding officers/physicians/etc. Here are a few highlights...or rather, lowlights.

Sexual assaults are frequent, and frequently ignored, in the armed services.

Women serving in the U.S. military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.

41% of female veterans seen at the clinic say they were victims of sexual assault while in the military, and 29% report being raped during their military service. They spoke of their continued terror, feelings of helplessness and the downward spirals many of their lives have since taken.

At the heart of this crisis is an apparent inability or unwillingness to prosecute rapists in the ranks. According to DOD statistics, only 181 out of 2,212 subjects investigated for sexual assault in 2007, including 1,259 reports of rape, were referred to courts-martial, the equivalent of a criminal prosecution in the military. Another 218 were handled via nonpunitive administrative action or discharge, and 201 subjects were disciplined through "nonjudicial punishment," which means they may have been confined to quarters, assigned extra duty or received a similar slap on the wrist. In nearly half of the cases investigated, the chain of command took no action; more than a third of the time, that was because of "insufficient evidence."

THIS IS COMPLETELY INJUST AND UNACCEPTABLE.

Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against the Army as an organization. They have many great programs in place and the soldiers work hard. But they MUST address this issue. Denial and ignorance will never solve this, and they're only proving that they don't care about rape and the offenses against women if they continue to let cases slide by unnoticed.

Sexual harassment doesn't just happen in military work, by any means. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission;

In Fiscal Year 2007, EEOC received 12,510 charges of sexual harassment.

And an employer/employee Web site reports:

Currently at least 40% of all women report being sexually harassed at some point in their career

And those are just the people who are brave enough/able to report the issue.

OVER 70% OF RAPE CASES GO UNREPORTED.

These are the kind of things that make me too sad to speak...however, we have to speak up in order to stop atrocities like this from happening.

So how are we going to stop rape? Let's hear it!

Comments are very, very welcome.