Monday, December 15, 2008

Final Post

For my final post I decided to go over everything that I have learned through the course of this class and the research I have done through my blog. I have thoroughly enjoyed this course and the many discussions we have had but beyond that I have learned a lot by keeping this blog. This was a new experience for me, I have never been a blogger before this but I have taken a liking to it and I have found it a very useful place to get information about many different topics particularly different opinions.
Through my blog I learned so much about women and the different struggles they have to go through in the workforce. I enjoyed taking a look at the different aspects of the workplace and not just focusing on the typical office setting. I was able to expand my research to areas that I had never thought of before this assignment. I did research on the WNBA, NASCAR, the Olympics, the military, and many different women icons/ role models. Some of the most shocking information I found had to do with the military because I view that as a government run agency that should be free of corruption and crime although it seems to be laced with it. The many different stories I read of different kinds of abuse against women that happen frequently and just the unfairness that goes on was appalling. The particular story about PVC Brown was incredibly disheartening and leads me to believe there are many more cases just like hers out there. I hope that the media will catch on to this problem and somehow the military will be cracked open and the corruption will cease.
Overall, I have really enjoyed my time in the class and my time researching and writing my blog. This has heightened my awareness of women’s issues in the workforce and I will keep my eye out for more research and news in the media.

Women in the Olympics

I chose to focus this blog on women in the Olympics. This history of women becoming involved in the Olympic Games is very interesting and I found a very informative website giving a timeline of important dates leading up to women in the Olympics. Through my research I found that women were not allowed to participate in the Olympic Games until 1900 in Paris. 19 women participated in these games and are marked as the first women Olympic competitors. These women were only given the option to compete in two categories, tennis and golf. The very first American woman Olympic medalist is Margaret Abbot in golf, this was the only year golf was played at the Olympics. Margaret’s award for winning was a bowl of Old Saxon porcelain mounted in chiseled gold. In 1904 archery had been added to the list that women could participate in so Lida Scott Howell took part in the games and won two gold medals taking the title of the first American woman Olympic gold medalist. Carrying on to more firsts for women in the Olympics takes us to 1924 Paris games where Helen Willis won a gold medal for singles and doubles in tennis and was the first woman to do so.
I find all of these women completely extraordinary and remarkable leaders of their time. They are the pioneers of women sport and competition and they were the first women to take leisure sport to the competitive level. It was these women that set the path for all other women athletes to come, particularly Olympic women athletes. I do find it amazing that women continually have to overcome obstacles in every line of work they do whether it is sports or in the office. The one thing that shocked me the most about this post was that women were participating in 1900, considering how long it took to a professional women’s basketball league to be created I would have assumed Olympics were out of the question until much more recently but I was pleased to find these dates. I loved reading about this topic and I learned a lot.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Women's Rights Blog

http://www.womensrightsblog.net/

I decided to focus once again on a blog surrounding women’s rights but this time focusing on the military aspect. This particular blog I found very interesting because it speaks to many different issues women face today. One of the most recent postings discusses the story of PFC. Monica Brown who is 18 years old. Monica is a medic and while serving her country over in Afghanistan she ran through a hail of gunfire to help her fellow soldiers in a disabled and burning vehicle. These wounded soldiers happened to also be male, when she returned from Afghanistan she was praised for her duties. Vice President Dick Cheney pinned Monica with the Silver Star (which is the third highest award in our country for combat) for her bravery. Soon after this happened Monica was told she probably shouldn’t have been there to begin with, yet she gets to keep the Silver Star. Monica is only the second woman to receive this award since WWII. Just a few days after her heroic mission the Army pulled Brown out of her cavalry unit and said because she was a woman she was barred from these missions. I find it very interesting that right after she saves countless male lives, while risking her own several times, she is sent home because she can’t handle these missions due to the fact she is a woman. What happens if there is another incident like before and those men need saving? I wonder if they thought through this or if they were just too concerned with their egos and made a quick decision. They said the reasoning for her being on the last mission in which she saved so many lives was because they had to because they didn’t have any other medics. I find this ridiculous and clearly such rules as these need to be further looked at and changed because clearly women are more than capable of fighting and saving lives.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Oprah Winfrey


Oprah Winfrey is one of the most influential women in the world. Oprah was a breakthrough for women in the television/broadcasting industry and most importantly for African-American women. Oprah came from a poor background and with her parent’s divorce she found herself moving a couple times growing up. Oprah knows what it is like to be very unfortunate and clearly she knows what it is like to be extremely fortunate but she definitely had to work her way up to where she is today. Oprah had a very difficult time breaking into the broadcasting business, she first started on the radio but even that wasn’t very common for women. Eventually she became a news reporter but even with that she was criticized for being too emotional on the air and crying when she was reporting someone’s house burning down. This is when Oprah found her niche on what is now emerged into one of the most successful and most watched Talk Shows of today, The Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah started her show with the typical format of an issue and bringing on guests and having a lot of audience involvement and questions. The Oprah show today is now more of an interview show and she has a lot of celebrities come on to promote their new movie or authors for their new book. Oprah has used her fame to do great things; she gives more than any other celebrity and has invested multiple shows all surrounding the idea of giving. She is extremely generous and looked up to yet she is still able to relate to the common woman/mother because of her roots. She is admirable because she has worked so incredibly hard and defied the odds when it seemed it was nearly impossible. Oprah is looked up to by all women and is a symbol of what many women working today strive to be.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Women in the military



http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-10-28-military-women-sexual-trauma_n.htm

The military is a field that has been predominately men for as long as it has existed. It is one of the more controversial fields of work for women to be a part of for many reasons. The physical strength and endurance alone is a main reason as to why many Americans, both men and some women, believe there is no place for a woman in the military. Just like many areas of work for women there are many obstacles and barriers they have to go through in order to be successful. Unfortunately, sexual harassment and abuse towards women is reported by 15% of female veterans. The fact that there are not that many women in the military the few that are don’t have the odds in their favor to be free from torment or harassment. One out of every seven female veterans reported being sexually abused or assaulted during their time in Afghanistan or Iraq. More than half of these women also suffer from PTSD which is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. These numbers are incredibly high considering less than 100 men reported to be sexually assaulted. This is the first study that has screened this many people regarding sexual abuse or harassment after their deployments.
I feel that this is just another obstacle for women to have to deal with and another fear they will have when deciding if they will enlist in the military. Women have done a lot for our country through the armed forces and could do even more without the kind of threats such as sexual abuse and harassment. For a country that stands so harshly against these crimes you would think that the military would agree with our morals and laws as a country and hold strong against such violations. This is a terrible report to hear and something needs to be done about it immediately before it escalates any further.

Women in Politics


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz5uGQZWeiM&feature=related

This video clip is when John McCain announces his running mate, Sarah Palin. If they would have won she would be the first woman vice president our nation would ever see. Historically, politics has not made much room for women. Senator Hillary Clinton is the closest any woman has ever come to being president of the United States. As we have seen with Obama, politics not only excludes women but the majority of politicians are white males. Very slowly the process has begun that has included more races and more women in the political arena. I found it interesting that during the campaign Sarah Palin was made fun of many times for having womanly characteristics or talking about her motherhood and how that has changed her life. As many have seen on shows such as SNL, Sarah Palin was depicted as a small town hockey mom that had no experience and no business running for vice president. As much as it is quite possible that she doesn't have enough experience I feel that many people assumed this even more so because she is a woman. It is rare to hear that a man has no business running for office or going to Washington. Women are viewed as incapable of holding power and being leaders, mostly in a world where men typically take power.
I think it is going to happen soon that we actually have a woman run and win the office of either vice president or president. Our country is going through a big change when it comes to gender roles, and politics is one field yet to be completely changed. I think it is even possible to have a woman run for president in the next election but whether or not she wins is something only time will tell!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

ACLU Blog- Women's Rights




I found a blog on the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) website about women's rights. The main idea of this website is all about freedom and different rights in America, the site is divided up into sections regarding different topics such as women's rights. There are blogging sites for all topics but I have focused on the women's rights area and the blog that I read had to do with domestic violence. The woman and author of the blog, Jessica Lenahan, is a survivor of domestic violence and has quite the story to tell. She is from Castle Rock, Colorado and was once happily married to her husband and had three daughters. She and her husband got a divorce and due to domestic violence she had a restraining order put against him, in objection to the restraining order he abducted the three daughters. Jessica went to the police repeatedly and they proved to be of no help at all. Later that night her ex-husband showed up at the police station and opened fire, he was killed and the bodies of her three daughters were found murdered in the back of his truck. Jessica then sued the town for not enforcing the restraining order and not assisting her with her case. Jessica went through many different legal cases and hearings with no outcome, when she thought all was lost she heard of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and filed a petition with them. Through this commission she was able to speak her piece in a legal hearing and is hopefully going to see results.
This story, although very sad, speaks to how many domestic violence cases are handled and looked at in the United States. This is one of the biggest fears for women today and because there are more exciting news headlines it is not getting the attention needed to make a difference. I hope that Jessica is able to make a difference with her case and that this allows the American government to see that they dropped the ball and should have done more to help. Domestic violence should be so preventable and with the right programs and resources for women we can make it that way.
http://blog.aclu.org/category/womens-rights/

Monday, October 20, 2008

WNBA


Another area of work for women is sports, like many other things there have been obstacle after obstacle to be able to fairly participate in sporting events. In 1996 the idea was passed to create the WNBA for women to play basketball professionally. The WNBA began play in June of 1997 with Sheryl Swoopes as the first signed player to the league.
There were many steps in forming the WNBA to be successful such as finding networks to sponsor and air the games. Once this was established with NBC, ESPN, and Lifetime then the main concern was forming the teams and signing players. The first inaugural season was played with eight teams; it continued to expand to sixteen teams. Nearly 200 players take part in the WNBA and they are all pioneers for the organization.
The next task at hand was creating logos and uniforms. The WNBA logo was decided on after narrowing it down from about 50 choices and then the team names and uniforms needed to be finalized. Based on numerous factors such as a link to the NBA team, a link to a key characteristic of the city/state or creating a name fitting the city/state landscape. Finally after this was all sorted out designs were unveiled for team uniforms on May 21, 1997.
Once the league was up and running fans started to get connected and things soared from there. A website was created and made user friendly so that it was easy for fans to keep up to date with their favorite teams and players. In 1999 there was an inaugural All Star Game at Madison Square Garden where the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 79-61.
The WNBA is a prime example of how far women have come not only in the office workforce but in areas such as sports. This league is very important to many women and proves that women are just as capable as men to play sports successfully and that people actually want to watch!


Monday, October 13, 2008

Women in NASCAR

This article talks about women in NASCAR. This is not a familiar sight to see a woman driver in this masculine world of race car driving. This takes place in South Boston, VA where race car driver Kristin Bumbera who is a 21 year old girl from Sealy, Texas is making heads turn as she claims title after title and brings home countless trophies. She has sponsors following her because she drives like a professional and someone that is the makeup exactly of what they look for, except the part that she is a woman. Although many think of this as a fully male world there are actually a surprising number or woman drivers in NASCAR. In this race she was participating in there were 16 female drivers and only 9 male drivers. They were all competing for a fully funded ride for 2009 but only 14 spots were available so there were going to be many cuts. This Drive for Diversity program has opened doors for many drivers and students. There have been major leaps in driving class after participating in this kind of event and the publicity alone is something to be cherished.
For many girls this is their lifelong dream because they have either grown up watching a family member participate or it has just been a family pastime to watch the races. Just because they are woman they have had a much harder time breaking into this business although it has been done successfully and people are definitely starting to take notice. It is becoming more and more common for women to be participating in major NASCAR events that were historically all male. Certain sponsors are even looking to just sponsor woman drivers. This is a major leap agreed many of the female drivers in South Boston but they also agree there is still a lot of work to be done and they will help that.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/motorsports/3010ap_car_nascar_diversity.html

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Women in Hollywood

Women that work in show business have an interesting part in the workforce. Compared to low income women they have a much “better” life but this is all depending on the definition of what the ideal life is for women in the workforce. Although movie stars, singers, etc. have a lot of money and get to go to classy premiere events they also have every aspect of their lives put in the spotlight. This includes when they go grocery shopping, take their kids to school, or even just go for a walk with their dog. This is a very hard life to lead for anyone but when you are woman in this situation all the sudden there is so much attention put on your physical appearance. Tabloids are covered every week with pictures of celebrities that have gained weight or are anorexic, or what dress looked better on who at the awards ceremony, etc. There is more attention drawn to what the women look like as opposed to the actual work they are doing. Even if a woman has a stunning role in a movie there can never be a review covering just her pure talent and work on the film, there is always side comments about how she looks very tired after the film was over or she might be battling a drug addiction because she seems to look a little out of sorts. There have been more awards given to men regarding their role in movies or distinction for their record albums than there have been for women over the years and it is about time for a change. There should be much more focus on the actual talent of these women and not just how they look. Women are more than just sex idols, they have brains and have real talent and it is time this is recognized.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Low Income Women

I have found that when it comes to discrimination in the workforce for women although it is a problem everywhere, low income women get the majority of it. As we have talked about in class, women that work at places such as Wal-Mart have a terrible time getting equal rights. The amount of pay given to a woman is nothing near what they pay their male workers and it is so much harder for a woman to work her way up in the company. Wal-Mart will choose to promote a male worker with less experience and qualifications over a woman with more experience and qualifications that is a problem. The pay that women receive is significantly lower than the men and when attention is brought to this issue women are forced to write down and keep track of their budget and everything they buy or spend money on. The reason given for why men get such a higher pay and continue to get promotions are because they are supporting a family, ironically the majority of women working these low paying jobs are single mothers trying to take care of their kids. Another trick that many companies including Wal-Mart have used is having their employees work long hours that are overtime and not recording this or paying them for overtime, and they also have them work the most possible hours in a week without qualifying for benefits. No benefits for these families means no health care which can lead to very significant problems for these women, they can't afford to take their child to the doctor for something simple they are forced to wait until it reaches emergency level to receive any care. The worst part about this whole situation is that this is a vicious cycle for these women, once they are stuck in the rut of these high hours, low pay jobs they really have no way out because they are desperate for the money. If their job is threatened at work because of new rules or new hours they most likely have to comply because they have no other option if they want to keep food on the table. The sexism that takes place is ridiculous and something needs to be done about it.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Introduction

I chose to pick the topic of women in the workforce because it is an issue than I have read a lot about and soon I will be faced with personally. This topic originated once women really became a significant role in the workforce and they had to start competing with men for different positions and salaries. This is a hot topic to many women out there whether they are employed or not because it shows how women are viewed and respected (or not respected) in our country. Discrimination against women in the workforce has happened ever since the first woman got a job, and women have had to fight their way to the top the whole time. People still argue that some jobs are best left for a man to do. Women have had to prove themselves ten times more than men for the same job and one mistake on a women's part is equal to about five for a man. Not to mention something that is shocking to me is the idea of the "second shift" that women have to take on after their full day or work. It is expected or very common that women come home from a day of working and they have to clean the house, cook dinner, take care of the kids, etc. Studies have shown that most men don't feel this need to help out or be involved they expect to come home from a long day and relax. Not only is this a problem for the women that work, but this also takes a toll on the kids and the whole family dynamics in the home. There are so many issues in the workplace for women that it is astounding and hopefully people will be able to open their eyes and notice this problem very soon so we can make a change.