In many ways this New York City book club is just like any other. Members discuss the books they are reading, but also sidetrack into their personal lives, talking about work, love and hobbies. They nosh on snacks and sip their drinks. During the summer, they meet outdoors in New York City’s public parks.
Fox News’ resident “doctor” Keith Ablow blames co-ed sports and the gender equality movement for perpetuating a culture that tells people like Florida State University quarterback De’Andre Johnson that it’s okay to hit women. Just this week, a bar surveillance video surfaced showing the quarterback punching a female student in the face after she “provoked” him.
Bill de Blasio has long seemed to have his working definition of intersectional feminism down. For some time, the New York City mayor’s talking points have been on-message, with promises that recognize the interplay of gender equality and reproductive rights, the minimum wage, family leave, educational opportunity and immigration. To grapple with the entanglement of progressive issues is messy enough work on its own, but in de Blasio’s New York it has been framed as a necessity to achieving not only parity for women and men, but equality for all. It’s a nice, lofty idea traveling slowly on a very long road.
Aziz Ansari is a feminist. You might recall the hubbub of a few months ago over this fact, when he became the latest in a line of celebrities to claim the label, telling David Letterman that being a feminist means “someone who believes men and women have equal rights.” The example he gave to explain his stance — involving the gender pay gap as it relates, hypothetically, to Beyoncé and Jay Z — and the other issues he brought up (equal pay, the right to vote, shared domestic responsibilities) were certainly in line with mainstream feminist thinking. Ansari put on a good show.
Women make up less than 5 percent of S&P 500 CEOs. Aside from being a sad reflection of institutionalized sexism, that could also be a huge, huge mistake as far as making money is concerned. According to “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary, whose portfolio currently contains more than two dozen companies, each of the most successful ventures he’s funded of late has been run by a woman — and that’s about the only thing the companies have in common.
Nothing will test everything you thought you believed — and everything you practiced — about gender roles quite like the arrival of a child in your life. In a new story for Newsweek, Ohio State University human sciences and sociology associate professor Claire Kamp Dush reports on a phenomenon plenty of male-female families have experienced firsthand — “Dual-earner couples share the housework equally—until the first baby comes.”
Bernie Sanders wants America to look a lot more like Scandinavia, the land of lingonberries, herring, tasteful minimalism, paid family leave and living wages for fast food workers. The newly declared presidential contender told George Stephanopoulos over the weekend that he wants to lead a “political revolution” and make the United States more like Sweden or Denmark when it comes to healthcare, education and the social safety net.
One Wednesday, Minecraft will officially introduce Alex, a new and female character to be offered along with the longstanding default figure Steve. Writing on parent company Mojang’s blog Monday, Minecraft’s Owen Hill announced, “When most players begin their Minecraft adventure there aren’t many looks to choose from. In fact, you only get to play as our blue-shirted friend. Now, everyone loves Steve – he’s probably the most famous minecrafter in the world, and has excellent stubble. But jolly old Steve doesn’t really represent the diversity of our playerbase. For that reason, we’re giving all players opportunity to play with an Alex skin instead. She brings thinner arms, redder hair, and a ponytail.” Oh, and a male name, but why quibble, right?
According to a new poll from Vox, an overwhelming number of respondents said they believed in equality — but when it came to identifying as feminists, one might never guess that was the case. Eighty-five percent of people favored “equality for women,” and 78 percent agreed that they believe in the “social, political, legal, and economic equality of the sexes.” But when asked if they considered themselves to be feminists, not even a fifth of Americans polled said yes.
There have been a lot of ridiculous claims made about apps and what is loosely called “the sharing economy.” And, to be fair, not all of them have been made by tech boosters. But the email that went around last week from ride-for-hire app company Uber about its new and exciting partnership with UN Women to “Step it Up for Gender Equality” by hiring 1,000,000 women might have been the most laughable yet. Or it would be laughable, if the UN didn’t appear to actually have put its stamp on Uber’s latest branding ploy.
