15791: The Menopause That Refreshes…?

Advertising Age published a perspective from Dark Horses CEO Melissa Robertson, who is on a menopausal mission to make the condition a DE&I issue. Robertson even introduced an ‘intersectionalityish’ angle, positioning menopause as a target for discrimination based on gender, age and disability—a triple whammy. Who’s next in line to cry victim—Drunken Old White Guys with enlarged prostates?

 

How To Remove The Stigma Of Menopause In The Workplace

 

4 ways to create better environments for everyone affected by ‘the change’

 

By Melissa Robertson

 

Skin that feels like spiders crawling all over you, a brain like Swiss cheese with endless word holes, hot flushes that keep you awake at night and tired during the day, a pervasive sense of anxiety—and much more.

 

Welcome to menopause—an obnoxious life stage that sees almost a fifth of those experiencing symptoms consider leaving their jobs. And a 2019 survey conducted by the BUPA insurance company reckoned almost 900,000 women in the U.K. left their jobs over an undefined period because of menopausal symptoms. It comes down to the brutal fact that these women are simply not getting the support they need. Employers provide neither sufficient understanding of the issue nor adequate flexibility, empathy, help, guidance and respect.

 

In 2017, the British Government Equalities Office reported that “significant numbers of working women experience problems at work as a result of individual symptoms ... The evidence also paints a consistent picture of women in transition feeling those around them at work are unsympathetic or treat them badly, because of gendered ageism.”

 

The U.K. has approximately 4 million employed women between 45 and 55, accounting for more than 25% of all women in the workforce—the largest cohort. So, you might think that this sort of affliction in the workplace might be protected by law. It is, after all, both an occupational health and equality issue.

 

But menopause is sadly not covered by the 2010 Equalities Act, which deals with protected characteristics in the workplace (among other things). What is covered: pregnancy and maternity, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, sex, age and disability. You could argue that menopause is covered by age, sex and disability, but it’s discomforting for it to be so vague—and it’s why there is a huge push to get menopause formally categorized.

 

A couple of years ago, I started experiencing menopausal symptoms. It was insidious and gradual but became increasingly problematic to keep hidden. I felt that I needed to understand more—about the symptoms, the biology and why there is such a stigma. More importantly, I felt I needed to talk about it, for my own sanity and also because the stigma will fade only if talking about menopause becomes as normal as talking about pregnancy.

 

However, that’s easier said than done.

 

Male supervisors are often uncomfortable talking about women’s issues, and women are reluctant to reveal any inadequacy for fear of judgement or retribution. As Brits, we are disciplined, self-controlled and unemotional, stoical and stiff upper-lipped. There’s a crisis, just pop the kettle on. We keep smiling and waving, or, at the very least, only slightly awkwardly staring into the middle distance.

 

But this pointless taboo can be addressed only by acknowledging such behavior is not a badge of honor; it’s repressed, regressive and damaging to business. If leaders truly want to lead, they need to create open and inclusive working environments that offer care and support to their staff. And if they want to retain talented, experienced and dynamic women, they not only need to have menopause on the radar—they need to have it in the spotlight.

 

Developing strong menopause policies and robust support strategies isn’t just good emotional quotient, it’s good business sense. It will create better workplaces for everyone—male, female or non-binary—affected by “the change.” It will help the gender pay gap, it will help diversity and it will help business.

 

Here are some ways to begin the shift in mindset:

 

Acknowledge the challenge

 

Start by publicly recognizing the challenges that menopausal women face and develop strategies about how they can be supported. It’s important for women to feel that they don’t need to hide their symptoms, and that any discussions will be met with empathy and support.

 

Create and publicize a menopause policy

 

There doesn’t need to be loads of research and soul-searching. Both Channel 4 and Dark Horses made menopause policies public for anyone to use, adapt and improve. Make sure the policy is for everyone, not just for women, as employees of all ages and genders need to understand more about it, as they will inevitably come across menopausal women—as colleagues, clients, suppliers, friends and family. But a policy on its own is not enough.

 

Educate managers

 

Ensure that line managers understand their role in delivering good working practices. They need to be prepared to make accommodations and aware of the easy adjustments and small tweaks that can make a significant difference. These include a safe environment to bring up any challenges their staff are facing—how long they can concentrate, what impact physical symptoms might have on them. It’s good to be able to agree some basics, so there is no guilt or feelings of underdelivery, including working from home/flexible working, condensed or shorter hours, desk fans, cameras off and so on.

 

Champion menopause support

 

Hold a menopause workshop; there are plenty of great organizations that don’t cost a fortune and make it an engaging and interactive experience. Appoint a menopause champion. Commit to paying for hormone replacement therapy treatment for staff.

 

Menopause symptoms are wide and varied and sometimes challenging to cope with. But structured support and good management can make a huge difference. Let’s really try to stop losing women each year to this. Let’s change “the change.”

9451: IBM CEO Trailblazer.

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

IBM names Virginia ‘Ginni’ Rometty first female CEO

By Jordan Robertson AP Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO — IBM Corp. ushered in the first female CEO in the company’s 100-year history on Tuesday.

Virginia “Ginni” Rometty, a veteran at the technology giant famous for its conservative corporate culture, will take over as CEO from Sam Palmisano, IBM announced.

Palmisano has been CEO for nearly a decade and turned 60 this year. He will stay on as chairman.

Rometty, 54, takes over on Jan. 1. She is currently in charge of sales and marketing at the company based in Armonk, New York.

After she takes over the helm at IBM, women will be in charge of two of the world’s largest technology companies. Last month, Meg Whitman was named CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. Whitman had previously joined eBay Inc. when it was a fledgling startup during the dot-com boom and guided it to become an Internet auction powerhouse. She also ran unsuccessfully for California governor last year.

While Whitman’s HP is a sprawling company in disarray, Rometty will inherit a finely tuned IBM whose focus on the high-margin businesses of technology services and software has helped it thrive.

Their appointments are “setting a fabulous example” in the promotion of female executives, said Jean Bozman, an analyst with IDC who has followed both companies closely for years.

“It is a good sign,” Bozman said. “It does create an environment in which more of these high-ranking women executives can see that’s within reach. The more that happens, the more normal that will be. I think this might be a great sign that we’ve turned a corner. Certainly the Baby Boomers have wanted this for a long time.”

HP, of course, had another female CEO, Carly Fiorina, but her tenure ended in acrimony when she was forced out in 2005 over disappointing financials and the fallout from her hard-fought battle to buy Compaq Computer.

IBM’s move was unexpected. Palmisano had tamped down earlier talk of his retirement, insisting that he wanted to stay on as chief. In rare public comments, he said last year that he was “not going anywhere” and that there’s no formal policy at IBM dictating when a CEO should retire.

Palmisano in a statement said that Rometty has led some of IBM’s most important businesses, and was instrumental in the formation of IBM’s business services division. She oversaw IBM’s $3.5 billion purchase of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ consulting business in 2002, which is a key element of a strategy that has made IBM a widely copied company. She is “more than a superb operational executive,” Palmisano said.

“She brings to the role of CEO a unique combination of vision, client focus, unrelenting drive, and passion for IBMers and the company’s future,” Palmisano said. “I know the board agrees with me that Ginni is the ideal CEO to lead IBM into its second century.”

Bobby Cameron, an analyst with Forrester Research who has worked with IBM in various roles over the years, said that in meetings with Rometty is “engaging” and inquisitive. Her interest in emerging technologies, not just the established sales leaders, is an important characteristic. Cameron thinks she’s an ideal choice to continue Palmisano’s work.

“I think she’s smart. She asks questions; she doesn’t just come in with an agenda, and she’s interested in the leading edge, not just what’s driving volume — all those things are important for a CEO to have,” Cameron said.

Palmisano has the same characteristics, Cameron said.

“I think it will be more of the same, and I think that’s a good thing,” he said.

IBM shares fell $1.16, or 0.6 percent, to $179.20 in extended trading, after the change was announced.

7062: Baby Bias.

From The Miami Herald…

Job-related claims of pregnancy bias on the rise

By Cindy Krischer Goodman

Samantha Stone, 29, would like to have a baby soon. But with the job market tenuous, being pregnant in the workplace has become much more risky.

Just look at the number of pregnant women who are blogging about job discrimination, filing lawsuits for unfair removal and turning to advocacy groups for relief after being targeted in job cuts.

Claims of pregnancy discrimination are on the rise, maternity leaves are a luxury and conducting a job search while pregnant is like trying to win the lottery.

Even more, many pregnant women are shocked to learn they have few workplace protections. Women swept into the layoff frenzy are discovering you can be fired while pregnant or on maternity leave.

In the tough economy, employers consider expecting mothers to be expendable employees, says Robert Weisberg, a Miami labor lawyer who represents victims of discrimination. “In these times, pregnancy is viewed as a real liability.”

Weisberg says more employers consider new mothers less productive and don’t want the disruption of maternity leave. “Women are telling me they’ve been encouraged, coerced or told by their boss to have their baby and stay home.”

He adds, “When business is good and the job market isn’t as tight, they’re much more tolerant.”

The numbers reflect this lack of tolerance. Pregnancy-bias complaints recorded by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rose 14 percent in 2008 to 5,587, the biggest annual increase in 13 years.

As the complaints stream in, Nora Curtin, an attorney with the EEOC, says, “It’s still shocking to me that some employers are blatant about this kind of discrimination.”

In Florida, the EEOC is suing one of the largest general contractors in the Southeast, Choate Construction, on behalf of an administrative assistant. The woman claims a manager on a construction site criticized her for getting pregnant, harassed her, and called her a liability. She was fired shortly after she complained to human resources.

Choate denies the claim and says the firing was performance based.

Attorney Stuart I. Grossman says the most common employer defense against pregnancy bias has become the economy. “Companies will assert they need to reduce their workforce to survive and the burden shifts to the employee to prove otherwise.”

What employers cannot do is treat expecting mothers differently than they would another employee or job candidate. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act says it is illegal to fire, or not hire, a person because she is pregnant. To succeed in a claim, a woman who brings charges must prove an employer’s action was motivated by her pregnancy or status as a mother.

“The law is not designed to treat a pregnant woman or new mother differently or give them more rights. It’s designed to keep them equal,” explains Grossman of Tew Cardenas, which defends employers against bias claims.

In the most obvious way, getting the ax while pregnant is a double whammy. Employers are warned that asking personal questions in job interviews can get them in legal hot water. But in a tight job market, chances of finding work while pregnant are minimal, even with the law on your side.

Combine job fears with economic factors and it is no wonder America’s first decline in births this decade came in 2008. Florida and California, the two states hit hardest by the housing crisis, saw the largest drops.

“I had really hoped to have two children by the time I was 30,” says Stone, who fears being laid off, pregnant, and without health insurance.

Stone works at a construction company and her husband is self-employed and covered by her policy.

Such risk has become too high for families that depend on women for economic security, says Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families. “In this recession, many men have been laid off, leaving families with the wife’s paycheck as the primary source of income.”

New moms often are unaware they aren’t entitled by federal law to paid childbirth leave. Nataly Kogan, founder of WorkItMom.com, says if your family needs your income you have to make some judgment calls. “The harsh reality is that it’s important to be in the loop, be visible. That may mean shorter maternity leave,” she says.

It may also mean grappling with how to handle a job search. Career websites are filled with pregnant women out of work querying whether they should tell a prospective employer they’re pregnant during the interview process. Kogan says the key is to emphasize commitment to your job. “The burden is on the employee to emphasize your productivity and your intention to come back.”

7056: Biological Clocks Warfare.

Ad Age’s TalentWorks published the semi-annual perspective on why White women don’t succeed as well as White men in agency creative departments.

Creativity Knows No Gender, but Agency Creative Departments Sure Do

Why Motherhood and Creative Directing Don’t Mix

By Karen Mallia

This year’s Advertising Age Women to Watch were asked the question: Why are there so few women creative directors? The answers barely scratched the surface of this complex subject—one I and several other academic researchers have been investigating for several years. I’ve interviewed dozens of women on the subject, both highly successful creatives and others who dropped out, detoured or reinvented themselves after spending years building creative careers.

There is no doubt an extraordinarily complex relationship between sex and the creative job, or it wouldn’t still be an issue 100 years after women entered the field. Creative women have not enjoyed the level of success that women have found in every other advertising-agency department. The number of women in account management has doubled in the past two decades, resulting in equivalent numbers of men and women. More than half of planning and research employees are women. In media, women outnumber men 3-to-2. Yet, in creative, the ratio of men to women is 2.3-to-1.

Research shows that portfolio schools have had a fairly equal gender breakdown in the past few years. Women enter creative departments in numbers equal to men, yet they hold just 18% of creative-director positions—the logical career progression after seven to 15 years. So what happens?

What’s working against women
A convergence of cultural and organizational factors inhibits many women from climbing the creative ladder. First, there’s the pervasive masculine culture in agency creative departments. While some women can deal with it, research shows being an “outsider” negatively affects careers—and creativity. It’s an environment particularly hostile to female leadership as well.

Second, while their portfolios may get them their first jobs, a great book alone doesn’t get people hired in middle- to upper-level creative jobs. Creative directors show a conscious or unconscious prejudice for hiring people like themselves—people they want to hang around with. That buddy system often plays a role in giving out plum creative assignments, too. If women get sidelined to tampons and diapers, they’re unlikely to build award-show currency that furthers their careers.

Most important, the economic pressures of the past few years have made creative jobs tougher and more competitive for everyone—with fewer people doing more work, shorter lead times and 24/7 client demands. Combine that with the inherent nature of creative work and the way creative departments function, and work-life balance is almost impossible. Few advertising agencies have embraced policies that foster flex time, job sharing and flexi-place, the very workplace programs proven to enhance women’s careers.

Despite all that, women have succeeded in becoming creative directors in advertising agencies. And research has sifted out the traits they share: great creative talent, a competitive nature, resilience and an outgoing personality. They are politically astute, primarily focused on career and/or childless.

Aha, and there we have it: Gender isn’t really the issue; motherhood is.

Can’t have it all
No matter what your sex, a creative job is highly competitive, an unrelenting mind game that knows no timetable. As the second wave of feminism proved, you can’t have it all. So sacrifices are made. For some, that’s the agency career. For others, that’s children. Years ago, McCann Erickson, New York, Chairman Nina DiSesa directly said, “I wouldn’t have this job if I had kids.”

Some brilliant women opt out of agencies for freelance and consulting, such as former Wieden & Kennedy Art Director Charlotte Moore and Sally Hogshead, founding creative director/managing director of Crispin Porter & Bogusky’s West Coast office, who is self-employed as a consultant. Others, such as Linda Kaplan Thaler, CEO-chief creative officer, Kaplan Thaler Group, and Joyce King Thomas, exec VP-chief creative officer at McCann Erickson, New York, are lucky enough to have househusbands, or husbands whose careers give them more flexibility. Research didn’t reveal a single major-league executive creative director who has both children and a husband with an equally demanding job.

A rare few get to job-share, like Ogilvy Toronto’s co-executive creative directors, Janet Kestin and Nancy Vonk. They also work in Canada, where generous maternity benefits and flexibility further underscore the huge impact organizational culture and policies can play in helping women succeed. Still others work in smaller advertising markets, leverage individually negotiated flexibility or part-time deals that aren’t widespread, start their own agencies, or freelance.

Sex roles are socialized. For creative women with fairly traditional expectations of motherhood, role conflict becomes untenable. They cannot have two 24/7 jobs. Creative work is just too consuming. Those women exit for alternate careers in real estate, academia and other fields.

The sad fact is that promotion and leadership in the creative department coincides with the ticking biological clock. And the creative job is much more difficult to balance with motherhood than any other agency position. Until huge institutional change occurs, women creative directors will remain an endangered species.

About the Author
Karen Mallia is a former copywriter and creative director who teaches creative strategy, copywriting and advertising campaigns at the University of South Carolina. She previously taught advertising at the City College of New York and at Fashion Institute of Technology/State University of New York. Her New York agency career spanned two decades and numerous agencies, among them Ogilvy; Scali, McCabe, Sloves; TBWA/Chiat/Day; and a host of smaller shops. She worked on brands ranging from cars to cosmetics, Fiberglas to fragrance to financial services. She continues to do strategic and creative consulting.

7049: Flygirls Receive Congressional Gold Medals.

From The Miami Herald…

3 female pilots honored for service during World War II

By Vytenis Didziulis

The three former Women Airforce Service Pilots who retired to South Florida were among the more than 1,100 female pilots who logged 60 million miles in non-combat missions between 1942 and 1943. Their primary mission was to protect U.S. coasts, freeing up male pilots to fight combat missions abroad.

After decades of taking a back seat to their true legacy as skilled pilots and gender barrier pioneers, these female pilots finally received the recognition they deserved:

The Congressional Gold Medal.

“I’m just overwhelmed,” said Frances Rohrer Sargent, 90. “We didn’t do it to get that. We just liked to fly.”

Sargent was joined by Ruth Shafer Fleisher, 87, at Saturday’s ceremony at Wings Over Miami Air Museum in which U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen presented the three South Florida pilots with original copies of the bill honoring the WASPs signed by President Barack Obama this summer.

The third pilot, Helen Wyatt Snapp, 91, was recovering from an illness and did not attend the ceremony.

The women were part of the first group of female pilots ever to fly war planes. Although they flew non-combat missions, their service was deadly: 38 female pilots died while protecting U.S. coasts from enemy invasions.

Yet their patriotic contributions went largely unrecognized for decades. They weren’t eligible for U.S. veterans’ status until 1977 and they were never awarded full military status.

300 STILL ALIVE
Only about 300 original WASPs are alive today, most of them well into their 80s.

Ros-Lehtinen, who along with other female lawmakers pushed the legislation forward, said the WASPs now join the ranks of the Navajo Code Talkers and the Tuskegee Airmen, who at the time of their service were discriminated against because of their race.

“What’s most inspiring is knowing that they never did it to break any barriers or change histroy,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “They just loved to fly and wanted to do so in defense of our country.”

STARTED AT 13
Sargent and Fleisher didn’t just like to fly, they were born to fly.

Fleisher, the daughter of an airplane mechanic who later managed an airport in Rochester, N.Y., started logging flights as early as age 13. She said she flew “anything she could.”

During her service, Fleisher tested AT-6 warbirds. After the WASPs were disbanded in 1944, she got a commission to join the Air Force as second lieutenant and retired in the Air Force Reserve as a major. She later became one of the first women to work in a control tower at Philadelphia International Airport.

Sargent started piloting in her early 20s in her native Little Rock, Ark., but once she caught the flying bug she didn’t stop until well into her 70s.

During the war, Sargent flew along North Carolina’s shores, on the lookout for enemy ships, submarines and planes. She later joined the Air Force Reserves and spent 30 years teaching aviation at Miami Dade College.

One of her students, 68-year-old Judy Portnoy, called Sargent “the most amazing person I know.”

Both Fleisher and Sargent moved to South Florida about four decades ago.

Fleisher manages a three-acre avocado grove in Homestead and Sargent lives in a retirement home in Old Cutler Bay.

BOTH WIDOWED
They were both married and later widowed. Sargent has three children.

Growing up in a time when jobs for women were often limited to office jobs, nursing and teaching, Fleisher and Sargent are aware they were trailblazers.

“It was hard because people didn’t think about women flying,” said Sargent. “But we didn’t care, we did what we wanted to do.”

Fleisher agreed and said they proved all their doubters wrong.

“We, as some of the first women pilots, proved that we could fly military airplanes and do a good and decent job,” Fleisher said.

7007: Volts From Dolts.

Running on empty with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Oh, now General Motors announces it has a car that gets 230 mpg? Right after everyone has taken advantage of the Cash for Clunkers incentive?

• A new study says managerial women are over three times as likely as their male counterparts to underrate their bosses’ opinions of their professional performance. A researcher behind the study remarked, “Women have imposed their own glass ceiling, and the question is why.” Um, because bosses treat them over three times worse than their male counterparts?

6953: The Case For Female Minority Lawyers.

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

Female minority lawyers don’t stay at U.S. firms

Report | 75% bail within 5 years due to barriers

By Francine Knowles

A study has found that more than 75 percent of female minority attorneys at U.S. law firms will leave their jobs within five years due to continuing barriers to advancement. The finding is by the women’s research group Catalyst, which notes the barriers bring with them big costs.

“Those who leave often report experiencing institutional discrimination and unwanted and or unfair critical attention, which combine to create an exclusionary and challenging workplace,” the report said.

When a lawyer leaves a firm, the cost to the employer is equal to or greater than that person’s annual salary and benefits, Catalyst said, citing a previous study it did.

The report looked at the workplace experiences of minority women, compared with those of men of color and white women and men. Challenges unique to women of color include limited growth opportunities and a greater sense of “outsider status,” racial and gender stereotyping and more feelings of sexism in the workplace compared with white women; lack of access to high-profile client assignments and important client engagements, and missed opportunities for candid feedback, the report said.

The findings come as firms focus on associate satisfaction and retention and address diversity issues while facing a client base and talent pool composed of more women and minorities, Catalyst said.

The report found stark differences between groups of minority women in their perceptions of workplace culture and diversity.

Black women were more likely to believe diversity programs don’t address workplace biases and feel that partners and other supervising attorneys get insufficient training on how to work effectively with diverse cultures. They also cited a lack of access to challenging work assignments.

The report, whose sponsors included Sidley & Austin, said that to attract and retain women of color firms need to:

• Include senior leaders as active players in building and establishing inclusive workplaces.

• Raise awareness on the varying needs of different minority groups.

• Create opportunities for dialogue between firm leadership and female minority attorneys.

• Educate all attorneys, especially partners and other supervising attorneys on how to recognize bias and stereotyping of women of color.

• Monitor and track the career development of minority women and hold leaders accountable for their advancement.

Image Source

6856: Beef And Bull.

Digesting the news with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Mickey D’s is primed to launch its Anus Angus Burger, the third-pound slab of beef on a bun. Um, isn’t the fast feeder a little slow to market with this product? At this point, even Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Starbucks are probably offering Angus burgers.

• Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, seeking to end the controversy ignited by Republicans, ended her membership with a women’s club. Let’s hope Sotomayor was never a Girl Scout. Regardless, the move should accelerate her admission into the Supreme Boy’s Club.

6844: Sotomayor Explains The Girl’s Club.

From The New York Times…

Sotomayor Defends Ties to Association

By Charlie Savage and David D. Kirkpatrick

WASHINGTON — Judge Sonia Sotomayor on Monday defended her membership in an all-female networking club, telling senators preparing for her Supreme Court confirmation hearing that the group did not discriminate in an inappropriate way.

Judge Sotomayor made the remarks in a cover letter for 10 documents the White House submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The papers supplement a trove of documents and videos, along with a response to a questionnaire, that she turned over earlier this month.

Her remarks indicate that some senators have taken an interest in her membership in the group, Belizean Grove, which she mentioned in the questionnaire response.

“I am a member of the Belizean Grove, a private organization of female professionals from the profit, nonprofit and social sectors,” Judge Sotomayor wrote. “The organization does not invidiously discriminate on the basis of sex. Men are involved in its activities — they participate in trips, host events and speak at functions — but to the best of my knowledge, a man has never asked to be considered for membership.”

She added: “It is also my understanding that all interested individuals are duly considered by the membership committee. For these reasons, I do not believe that my membership in the Belizean Grove violates the Code of Judicial Conduct.”

The code says judges should avoid giving the appearance of “impropriety” by holding “membership in any organization that practices invidious discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion or national origin.” An organization is said to “discriminate invidiously if it arbitrarily excludes from membership” on the basis of such factors “persons who would otherwise be admitted to membership,” it says.

According to the Belizean Grove’s Web site, the group is a “constellation of influential women” who are building “long-term, mutually beneficial relationships.” It was founded as a counterpart to the all-male Bohemian Grove, a legendary club of elite politicians, businessmen and other leaders.

The group’s roughly 115 “grovers,” as members call themselves, include ambassadors and top executives of Goldman Sachs, Victoria’s Secret and Harley-Davidson. They meet each year for an annual retreat in Belize or another Central American destination, as well as occasionally in New York and other cities for outings described as “a balance of fun, substantive programs and bonding.” The group’s Web site does not appear to mention any roles for men.

6596: Janet Jagan (1920-2009)

From The Chicago Tribune…

Janet Jagan, 1920-2009: Chicago native was 1st female and white president of Guyana

Tribune staff report, Associated Press

GEORGETOWN, Guyana —Janet Jagan, a Chicago native who became Guyana’s first white and first female president, died Saturday, a government official said. She was 88.

Ms. Jagan died at a state-run hospital of an abdominal aneurysm, Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy said.

Ms. Jagan, a Jewish woman and a naturalized Guyanese, was elected president of the English-speaking South American country in December 1997, succeeding her husband, Cheddi Jagan, who died earlier that year.

At 77, she was the first white president of a country whose politics are polarized between its majority Guyanese of Indian descent—the backbone of her ruling party—and Afro-Guyanese, supporters of the opposition People’s National Congress.

“My husband told me I should take over should anything happen to him,” she told The Associated Press while contemplating her presidential run.

Opposition leaders repeatedly accused Ms. Jagan’s government of racism and took to the streets in sometimes violent protest. Ms. Jagan, in turn, claimed the opposition was trying to destabilize her government.

Citing reduced energy and stamina after a mild heart attack, she stepped down in August 1999, less than two years after taking office.

Ms. Jagan had lived in the former British Guiana, situated on the Caribbean in northern South America, since 1943. She met her husband in Chicago, where he was a dentist studying for his doctorate at Northwestern University. She was his assistant.

After they moved to his native Guyana, the two hard-line communists became active in politics. British and American administrations blocked Cheddi Jagan from power for decades, alarmed by his ties to Cuba and Moscow. She endured three years of house arrest and five months in jail with her husband in the 1950s, when he first won an election.

Cheddi Jagan got to rule Guyana in 1992, but he died before serving a full term.

6573: Bracelets Against Belts

Um, anyone else think a better spokeswoman for this campaign would be Rihanna?

6212: Windy City Women Need Windex.

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

Glass ceiling endures at Chicago firms
Study | A third of biggest companies here have no female top execs

By Francine Knowles

While women make up 15 percent of directors at Chicago’s 50 largest publicly traded companies, the highest percentage ever in an annual report, one-third of companies still have no women executive officers.

That’s according to the 2008 Chicago Network Census, which tracks women’s progress in moving into the highest ranks of Chicago’s biggest corporations.

It found that women directors increased to 15 percent from 14.3 percent in 2007, but that was due primarily to shrinking board sizes. Meanwhile, the percentage of board members who are women of color slipped to 3.1 percent from 3.5 percent, while the number of executive officers edged up to 1.6 percent from 1.3 percent.

The report, based on fiscal 2007 proxy filings, also found:

• Six companies have no women directors, up from four.

• The percentage of women executive officers rose to 14.4 percent from 14 percent after falling for two straight years.

• The number of companies with no women executive officers grew by 4 to 16.

• The number of companies with no women among the top earners rose to 36 from 31.

Hewitt Associates Inc., Kraft Foods Inc. and Sara Lee Corp. were recognized as companies where women made up 25 percent or more of the board members.

Also cited were firms where more than 25 percent of the executive officers were women: Baxter International Inc., Corn Products International Inc., Discover Financial Services, Hewitt, Kraft, NiSource Inc., Northern Trust Corp. and UAL Corp.

The worst-performing companies were U.S Cellular Corp., Metal Management Inc. and CNA Financial Corp., which had no women directors, executive officers or top earners. Also making that list was Unitrin Inc. and Old Republic International Corp., which each had only one women director, comprising 8.3 percent of each of their boards.

Studies have shown that companies with the highest levels of diversity are the strongest financial performers, said Eva Losacco, census chair and president of Tecsolv, a Lake Forest-based technology consulting company.

6148: G.I. Jane Wins A Nomination.

From CNN.com…

First female four-star U.S. Army general nominated

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- America’s first female four-star general has been nominated, the Pentagon announced Monday.

President Bush nominated Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to serve as head of the Army’s supply arm.

By law women are excluded from combat jobs, the typical path to four-star rank in the military.

“This is an historic occasion for the Department of Defense and I am proud to nominate Lt. Gen. Ann Dunwoody for a fourth star,” said Defense Secretary Robert Gates. “Her 33 years of service, highlighted by extraordinary leadership and devotion to duty, make her exceptionally qualified for this senior position.”

The Senate must approve the nomination.

Dunwoody, a native of New York, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1975 after her graduation from the State University of New York in Cortland. She also holds graduate degrees in national resource strategy and logistics management.

She became the Army’s top-ranking woman in 2005 when she received her third star and became deputy chief of staff for Army logistics.

“I am very honored but also very humbled today with this announcement,” said Dunwoody. “I grew up in a family that didn’t know what glass ceilings were. This nomination only reaffirms what I have known to be true about the military throughout my career ... that the doors continue to open for men and women in uniform.”

The Army Materiel Command handles all material readiness for the Army. During her career, Dunwoody has been assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, 10th Mountain Division and the Defense Logistics Agency. She served with the 82nd Airborne in Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

She has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, Master Parachutist Badge and the Army Staff Identification Badge.

The first woman to become a general officer in the U.S. armed services was Brig. Gen. Anna Mae Hays, chief of the Army Nurse Corps, who achieved the rank in 1970 and retired the following year.

Elizabeth Hoisington, the director of the Women’s Army Corps, was promoted to brigadier general immediately after Hays. She also retired the following year.

Maj. Gen. Jeanne M. Holm, the first director of Women in the Air Force, was the first woman to wear two stars, attaining the rank in 1973 and retiring two years later. In 1996, Marine Lt. Gen. Carol A. Mutter became the first woman to wear three stars. Mutter retired in 1999.

Currently, there are 57 active-duty women serving as generals or admirals, five of whom are lieutenant generals or vice admirals, the Navy’s three-star rank, according to the Pentagon.

5901: VP=Very Pretty…?

From The Chicago Tribune…

Palin faces a cultural crucible
As VP hopeful prepares to take center stage, Tribune cultural critic Julia Keller weighs the role of sexism in the national conversation

By Julia Keller, Cultural Critic

She’s hunted moose at midnight without batting an eyelash, but Sarah Palin now finds herself up against the biggest beast of all: cultural expectations for women.

The Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential hopeful is expected to address her party’s national convention Wednesday night. But that’s not her toughest challenge.

Unlike a previous generation of female politicians—such as Nancy Pelosi, 68, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, or even Sen. Hillary Clinton, 60, runner-up to Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination—the 44-year-old Palin is beset by questions, apprehensions, opinions, assumptions and accusations that her older countrywomen rarely faced.

Palin has won a beauty pageant and caught salmon. She runs and she hunts and she races snowmobiles. She’s at home on a rifle range—and in front of a kitchen range. She and her husband, Todd Palin, are raising five children, including one with Down syndrome. She’s part Annie Oakley, part Anita Bryant.

And Palin is young and pretty, in what some commentators have referred to as a “sexy librarian” sort of way. But does pointing that out constitute sexism?

“How do you talk about women candidates without mentioning that they’re—well, women?” muses Nancy Pearl, Seattle-based librarian and author of “Book Lust” (2003) who writes often about images of professional women.

“And then,” she adds, “how can you not talk about how sexy they are or aren’t?”

Once Sen. John McCain’s pick was confirmed Friday, blogs began to twitch and burble with descriptions such as “smokin’ hot” and “easy on the eyes.” Then came the backlash: How dare Palin seek such a demanding office while being responsible for five children? When news broke this week that Bristol, Palin’s unmarried 17-year-old daughter, is five months pregnant, the cyber-scythes began to swing higher and wider.

Never mind that many male politicians have large families and are rarely challenged about their ability to balance work and family. Or that many American families have dealt with the pregnancies of teenage daughters.

‘Role reversal’
With the Palin pick, the nation is entering unknown territory—and not just because she hails from Alaska.

Carol Felsenthal, Chicago-based author of this year’s “Clinton in Exile,” points out that Palin is turning traditional ideological stances upside down—another measure of the unprecedented nature of what the aspiring vice president represents.

“There’s such a role reversa” Felsenthal says. “You have this conservative, pro-life Republican woman—but it’s the liberal Democrats who are saying, ‘But who’s going to take care of the children?’”

Felsenthal also notes that both Sen. Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, and Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, a Republican said to have been on McCain’s short list for the VP spot, have mentioned their wives’ physical attractiveness in public, along with chuckling references to their own homeliness.

How comfortable would we be with a female candidate who referred to a hunky husband and her own dowdiness?

To be or not to be pretty
Physical beauty has been a significant issue in political campaigns since the advent of television. As many historians note, a skinny, unkempt, horse-faced fellow named Abraham Lincoln probably would not fare very well in electoral politics in this age of “Larry King Live” and the endless open faucet known as YouTube. In previous centuries, few people knew what a public figure actually looked like. Today, however, it’s hard to escape the constant images of candidates.

And that cuts both ways for female politicians. Being attractive is generally better than being unattractive, but women often find their appearance listed ahead of their ambitions or accomplishments.

“When a woman’s looks are mentioned, some people say, ‘Well, that’s just life,’” says Leonard Kniffel, editor in chief of American Libraries, the magazine of the Chicago-based American Library Association. “But women, many times, are judged first on their looks.” Indeed, bloggers elbowed each other out of the way to be the first to note Palin’s resemblance to actor and writer Tina Fey—another smart, accomplished woman who wears glasses.

Kniffel said he wasn’t bothered by those who cited Palin’s “sexy librarian” look. “I was delighted and I laughed.”

New and different roles for women can induce discomfort and anxiety in some people—just as does, sadly, the prospect of an African-American president. But this is, by most accounts, an election year in which the hunger for change is a crucial factor. And with the Palin pick, both political parties are now offering a vigorous variation of the same old thing.

What if Palin proves to be a great vice president—but a lousy mother? It sounds like a reasonable question — until you realize that it would rarely, if ever, be asked about a man.

5376: You Go, Girl.

Ladies’ Night in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The New York Daily News ran a story about five actresses, including Gabrielle Union and singer Jill Scott, who posed nude for the latest issue of Allure magazine. The piece plays nicely against all the coverage on the pope’s visit. Plus, it allows MultiCultClassics to post a nude photo of Gabrielle Union.

• Danica Patrick recorded her first Indy victory, becoming the first female winner in IndyCar history. Allure will probably seek to commemorate the event by asking her to pose naked.

5246: For The Ladies…

Celebrating National Women’s History Month by revising the standard diversity messages.

5235: Oh, Man.

From The Chicago Tribune…

Don’t drag your wife into your mess. Be. A. Man.

By Katha Pollitt, a columnist for The Nation magazine

Just once I’d like to see a male politician caught in a sex scandal stand up there at the news conference all by himself. You want to be an alpha male with extra helpings of testosterone and appetites that cannot be denied? Fine, but if you get caught, Be. A. Man. Don’t drag your wife in front of the cameras to prove how strong your marriage is. Practice saying these words: “No, darling, I could never live with myself if I let you humiliate yourself in public to help my career. I know people always want to blame the wife, but this is all my fault. Besides, I don’t want our children to think marriage means wives have to put up with their husband’s crap – that’s what prostitutes are for! No, wait…”

Silda Wall Spitzer looked so sad and stricken standing next to her husband, then-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, as he issued a brief statement apologizing to his “family” and “the public” -- in effect acknowledging the truth of revelations that he was Client 9, who had paid a prostitution ring called the Emperors Club VIP for (very expensive) sex. Has nothing changed since 1969, when poor Joan Kennedy faced reporters with Ted after Chappaquiddick? In just the last decade we’ve had, among others, Suzanne Craig, Wendy Vitter, Dina McGreevey -- and, of course, Hillary Clinton. I’m not saying the wife has to divorce her ethically challenged spouse. But just once I’d like to see her skip the news conference and fly off to Paris instead.

People may use words like “stoic” and “dignified” to describe the stand-by-your-man act, but really what they’re thinking is either “doormat” or “enabler.” (Dr. Laura Schlessinger, on the “Today” show, to a startled co-host Meredith Vieira: “When the wife does not focus in on the needs and the feelings sexually, personally, to make him feel like a man, to make him feel like a success, to make him feel like her hero, he’s very susceptible to the charm of some other woman making him feel what he needs. And these days, women don’t spend a lot of time thinking about how they can give their men what they need.” This of Silda Spitzer, who gave up her career to facilitate her husband’s political ambitions! If the New York Post is correct that his use of prostitutes goes back 10 years, he started when his wife was raising three small children -- nice.)

With Silda’s ashen face still vividly in the public mind, this might not be the best moment for male bon vivants like Alan Dershowitz and Bill Maher to pooh-pooh prostitution as a trivial private matter that no one really cares about – it’s just how men are. And probably I would be more sympathetic another time to the notion, expressed by some young feminists and professional sex workers, that the real victim of this scandal is “Kristen.”

Some have described Spitzer’s fall as Shakespearean, but the character he most resembles is not a tragic hero like Lear or Macbeth; it’s the puritanical zealot Angelo from “Measure for Measure,” who sets out to enforce Vienna’s long-disused death penalty for extramarital sex:

You may not so extenuate his offence,

For I have had such faults; but rather tell me,

When I, that censure him, do so offend,

Let mine own judgment pattern out my death,

And nothing come in partial. Sir, he must die.

Angelo is a lustful hypocrite, far worse than the trollops and roisterers and young lovers he condemns, and he’s eventually caught in a sting. Since the play is a comedy, his only punishment is loss of office, and marriage to the woman he jilted and who loves him despite all.

Spitzer could do a lot worse.

Meanwhile, his downfall means joy on Wall Street and, no doubt, satisfaction in the White House too -- another Democratic pol brought low, whether or not through Republican skulduggery, as some suspect. Hillary Clinton loses a superdelegate but perhaps picks up some votes from women fed up with male politicians. And there’s a promotion for Lt. Gov. David Paterson, a well-liked liberal Democrat who’s not only black but legally blind. Only in America!

5224: Freedom’s Sisters.

From The Associated Press…

Exhibit honors women’s contributions to civil rights

CINCINNATI — A veteran civil rights leader says the Democratic presidential field this year represents what she and others who have worked for equal rights have long anticipated.

Myrlie Evers-Williams was in Cincinnati on Friday to preview a new Smithsonian traveling exhibit called “Freedom’s Sisters” that showcases the pivotal roles she and 19 other black women played in the struggle for civil rights.

Referring to the strong candidacies of a woman and a black man, Evers-Williams said, “I knew this day would come; it was a matter of when.”

She urged people to look at the campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton as the result of years of work by many people -- including those represented in the exhibit -- who have struggled for equal rights, regardless of race or gender.

“It’s more than time for this to happen,” Evers-Williams said.

Fellow civil rights activists and honorees Dorothy Height, Sonia Sanchez and Charlayne Hunter-Gault also attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Cincinnati Museum Center, where the exhibit opens to the public Saturday. The four, along with activist and professor Kathleen Cleaver, are the only living women among the 20 whose lives are chronicled in the exhibit.

Evers-Williams’ husband, NAACP leader Medgar Evers, was assassinated in their driveway in Mississippi in 1963, and she continued her activism after his death. She served as chairwoman of the board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and became the first black female commissioner of public works in Los Angeles.

Height, who was elected president of the National Council of Negro Women in 1957, was often the only woman in attendance at top civil rights meetings in the 1950s and 1960s. Poet and playwright Sanchez was a leading voice in the Black Power movement of the 1960s, while journalist Hunter-Gault and another student won a court case enabling them in 1961 to become the first black students at the University of Georgia.

Height, 95, said she also was thrilled to live to see the strong candidacies of a black man and a woman, as well as an exhibit honoring some of the many black women who contributed to the growth of civil rights -- women she said have not always received enough recognition for their efforts.

“When I look back and see all these women who always had a positive outlook and knew what could happen, it makes me so grateful to be part of this,” Height said. “I hope the young people seeing these stories will realize that we have come a long way, but we also have a long way to go.”

The exhibit was created by the Cincinnati Museum Center in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service and funded by a grant from Ford Motor Co. It includes large-scale photos of the women, accompanied by information about their contributions and several interactive displays.

Among the honorees is Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955 led to the end of segregation in public transportation and helped spark the civil rights movement. But also honored are lesser-known women such as Septima Poinsette Clark.

Clark, fired in 1956 after 40 years as a South Carolina teacher because of her NAACP membership, later started the Citizenship Schools that taught adults reading and writing skills required to pass voter literacy tests.

Clark’s granddaughter traveled from her home in Atlanta to see the exhibit. She said it would have made her grandmother proud, but humble.

“She didn’t think anyone should think big things of her,” said Yvonne Clark, who cried when she saw the exhibit. “She just did what she felt was the right thing to do.”

5044: You’ve Come A Long Way, Maybe.

Adweek published a column by McCann Erickson Chairman Nina DiSesa, which is actually closer to being hype for her soon-to-be-released book, Seducing the Boys Club. Regarding the progress of women in advertising, DiSesa wonders:

It’s 2008. How are we doing?

How many women are creative directors in the large New York agencies?

How many women are running advertising agencies that don’t have their name on the door?

How many women have P&L responsibilities that indicate real control and authority?

Um, you’re doing significantly better than minorities, girlfriend.

Read the column here.

5015: McDisrespect and McMisogyny?

Female problems in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Mickey D’s is catching heat over its online banner ads that have been placed alongside scantily-clad Black women on a BET site. Activist blogger Gina McCauley is asking, “Why are McDonald’s, Nissan, the Army, and the Navy Whoring Out Our Daughters?” McCauley argues, “They’re running an ad for McDonald’s dollar menus next to these Black women sporting G-strings, and they would not be running these ads on … men’s sites featuring white women. … Any company that is running an ad on that site is helping to fund the dissemination of those images. I know that if these were white women, McDonald’s would not be running ads on this page.” Mickey D’s, however, doesn’t see a problem. A spokesperson said, “Different demographics and different audiences want to be communicated to in different ways, and we believe the content reaches the young adult audience that it is intended to reach.” Guess we can look for Ronald McDonald to make an appearance in the next Girls Gone Wild video.

• An online poll from Women’s Day magazine and AOL Body showed if given the choice between having Jennifer Aniston’s body or being a millionaire, three out of four American women would grab the loot. Mickey D’s probably hopes the majority of American women are fat-assed Dollar Menunaires.