Many have forwarded me opinion pieces discussing Dr. Regina Benjamin’s weight. I found myself saying out loud “You’ve got to be kidding me! WTF?”
Is this a gender issue? Well, I think it is because the appearance of women is always discussed despite its irrelevance. Call me cynical, but I have a really hard time believing that the people discussing this are genuinely concerned that the Nation’s heath will be detrimentally impacted because Obama appointed a “fat chick” to be surgeon general.
Whether it is an excuse to trash a woman, or …

I am a child of the 80s and a teenager and young woman of the 90s.  To me, the idea of a woman entering the workforce was a given, if that is what she chose to do.
During my upbringing the only time I saw issues arise for women when it came to work vs. family was by watching movies such as Diane Keaton’s Baby Boom.  Of course, now that I’m older, I know that things are much more complicated than shown in this film.
I grew up receiving mixed messages about …

In questioning Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, Sen. Lindsay Graham dredged up the already debunked meme that she’s a angry bully, using this choice line:
You stand out like a sore thumb in terms of your temperament.
We’ve said several times on this blog that it’s sexist to characterize women as  temperamental bullies just because they are tough.  But in case you’ve had any doubt about Graham’s tendency toward gender-biased imagery, he took the rhetoric to a whole new level:
It’s hard enough being a lawyer, having your client being there to begin with without the judge …

This piece by Amy Siskind is posted at The Daily Beast.
With the silencing of Hillary Clinton and Kirsten Gillibrand, is it any surprise that a brave woman from Alaska might decide to take a road less traveled?
Women should be seen and not heard. Or perhaps neither seen nor heard. That would be the message that our political leaders are sending us. Time and time again, our few rising stars are seeing their words dissipate as they ascend.
Is it any surprise then that the only way for women to be heard …

Thanks to Susan at No Quarter for sending this clip along.

And my favorite part of the speech from the transcript:
Our development agenda will also focus on women as drivers of economic growth and social stability. Women have long comprised the majority of the world’s unhealthy, unschooled, and underfed. They are also the bulk of the world’s poor. The global recession has had a disproportionate effect on women and girls, which in turn has repercussions for families, communities, and even regions. Until women around the world are accorded their rights – …

What an interesting day for the Supreme Court hearing to confirm Judge Sotomayor.
The expected happened and we heard about her “wise Latina” quote and she defended herself by stating:
“I gave a variant of my speech to a variety of different groups, most often to groups of women lawyers or to groups, most particularly, of young Latino lawyers and students. As my speech made clear in one of the quotes that you reference, I was trying to inspire them to believe that their life experiences would enrich the legal system, because …

The following is a letter written by Nora Bredes, Director, Susan B. Anthony Center for Women’s Leadership at the University of Rochester, in reaction to a cartoon yesterday in the NY Daily News depicting Senator Gillibrand. Opinions expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily The New Agenda.

To the Editor,
The cartoon you published today depicting Senator Gillibrand speaking at the Senate’s confirmation hearing for Judge Sotomayor deserves a place in the Sexists’ Hall of Fame.
For more than 200 years, the 11,648 men who have served in the …

It started right here in our community:  The New Agenda.
Last week, we asked Where’s Hillary?  The story started to spread around the blogosphere.
Earlier this week, Tina Brown wrote a piece at her blog The Daily Beast titled Obama’s Other Wife. Tina writes:

It’s time for Barack Obama to let Hillary Clinton take off her burqa….
… It becomes clearer by the day how brilliantly Obama checkmated both Clintons by putting Hillary in the topmost Cabinet job. Secretary Clinton can’t be seen to differ from the president without sabotaging her own power.
… …

Child rearing and family care are the responsibility of the womenfolk. That seems to be the assumption underlying former General Electric CEO Jack Welch’s comments to journalist Claire Shipman at the recent Society for Human Resource Management conference. According to Cari Tuna and Joann Lublin of WSJ.com here’s what Welsh had to say:
“There’s no such thing as work-life balance… There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences.” Mr. Welch said those who take time off for family could be passed …

And, the race is on.
Yesterday, the confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor began.  There was praise, and there was criticism, nothing surprising there.  It was expected and much of the comments were along party lines.
I did find it interesting that Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer pointed to the literary character of Nancy Drew as one of the main influences of her life.  He stated that the character “inspired her sense of adventure, developed her sense of justices, and showed her that women could, and should be, outspoken and bold.  Now, in …