Posts Tagged ‘UN Women’
C This
Where are the women of Wall Street? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 141,000 women—roughly 2.6% of female workers in finance—left the U.S. financial industry during the past decade. The drop suggests that women bore the brunt of the layoffs in the recent recession—a finding that dovetails with our discovery that women were three times more likely than men to lose their jobs during the recent recession. For more on this trend, plus the latest news on women and work, read on.
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Fruit of Life
Educate a woman…and save a life. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation estimates that increased education of women in 2009 prevented the deaths of 4 million children. How? Educated women are more likely to take their children to the doctor, seek preventative care, and create hygienic conditions in their homes.
READ: “Educating Women Saves Kids’ Lives,” by Tracy Clark-Flory, Salon, 9/17/10
Women on Wall Street
Brokerage firms, asset-management companies, and investment banks are losing women, especially young women, in droves. The number of women aged 20 to 35 working in the finance sector dropped 16.5% this past decade, while the number of men in that age group grew by 7.3%. Is sexism to blame? While industry-wide rates of sexual-discrimination charges dropped from 2000 to 2009, Meghan Muntean, formerly of Lehman Brothers, observed that “very subtle” sexist slights by male colleagues manifested in reduced bonuses for her female colleagues.
READ: “Ranks of Women on Wall Street Thin,” by Kyle Stock, The Wall Street Journal, 9/20/10
Head of the Class
For the first time, more women earned Ph.D. degrees this year than men. During the 2008/2009 academic year, 28,962 Ph.D.s went to women compared to 28,469 to men. While a milestone, I’ll hold off celebrating until we close the pay gap in academia. Men still earn more than women at every level of academic rank.
Heading UN Women
Michelle Bachelet, the first woman elected president of Chile, will head UN Women—the new UN office tasked with advancing gender equality worldwide. “We have to make sure that women’s issues are an essential element on the agendas of all heads of state, all governments,” said Bachelet following the announcement.
READ: “Former Chilean President to Lead New U.N. Agency,” by Neil MacFarquhar, The New York Times, 9/14/10
Sexism Found
The New Agenda, a women’s advocacy group, seeks to boost women leadership and expose the sexism and misogyny that pervades popular culture. In this video, New Agenda President Amy Siskind discovers that more than half of the people she spoke with in Hudson, NY, could not define sexism—and 1 in 3 thought some women deserve sexist treatment.
WATCH: “Searching for Sexism: Episode 1,” The New Agenda, 9/15/10
C This
Where is the women’s movement heading? What can we do better? Philosopher Nina Power outlines ten areas feminists should focus on. We must “campaign for fairer and better work, even in the midst of an economic crisis,” she writes. More of her points plus news about the gender pay gap, The Catalyst Canada Honours, and the new UN agency for women in C This.
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Feminism 2.0
British philosopher Nina Power charts a new path for feminism. One suggestion: Don’t fixate on female firsts. “Feminism should not be misled by the successes of individual women at the top of their professions (politicians, CEOs, etc.),” she writes. “Feminism would do well to remember how the struggle for real equality and fair income can sometimes be disguised by the purported success of the odd individual woman.”
READ: “10 Things That Feminism Could Do Better,” by Nina Power, Alternet, 7/9/10
Frozen Gap
The latest data from the US Department of Labor reveals almost zero progress on closing the gender wage gap for women ages 16–19. The gap persists because young women still start and stay behind equally skilled men.
READ: “The Persistence of the Pay Gap,” by Heather Boushey, XXfactor, 7/14/10
Financing UN Women
The new UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women—now called UN Women for short—has an initial annual budget of $500 million, less than 1 percent of the $27 billion budget for the entire UN in 2008. “With the UN’s own working group proposing that by 2015, 15 percent of overall development assistance will be allocated toward gender, why is that not happening?” said Daniela Rosech of Oxfam International.
READ: “New UN Agency for Women–First Battle Won,” IRIN, 7/16/10
Secrets to Success
The recipients of The Catalyst Canada Honours share some insights with The Toronto Star. “You just have to understand, we would not be what we are if we did not recruit the best people,” said Ed Clark, President and CEO of TD Bank Financial Group. “If you don’t do this you will not be a high performing company 20 years from now.”
READ: “Making a Business Case for the Advancement of Women,” by Emily Mathieu, Toronto Star, 7/15/10
Campus Satisfaction
A survey by The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education revealed that male academics are more satisfied with their work than their female colleagues. The differences, noted COACHE Research Director Cathy Trower, “cut across disciplines and, in fact, are most evident in disciplines in which women are relatively well represented.” Physical sciences and humanities professors reported being most satisfied with their positions, while those in visual and performing arts and education reported being least satisfied.
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