Feminism in News and Popular Media

[Kobi]

STOCKPORT, England (Reuters) - The Church of England appointed its first female bishop on Wednesday, overturning centuries of tradition in a Church that has been deeply divided over the issue.

It named Reverend Libby Lane, a 48-year-old married mother of two, as the new Bishop of Stockport in northern England.

After long and heated debate, the Church of England governing Synod voted in July to allow women to become bishops and formally adopted legislation last month.

Women have served as priests in the Church since 1994, a decision that prompted some 470 male priests to leave in protest, many for the Roman Catholic Church.

“It is an unexpected joy for me to be here today," Lane said in her acceptance speech. "It is a remarkable day for me and I realise an historic day for the church."

She added: “I am conscious this morning of countless women and men who for decades have looked forward to the time when the Church of England would announce its first woman bishop.”

The issue of women bishops has caused internal division ever since the Synod first approved female priests.

It has pitted reformers, keen to project a more modern image of the Church as it struggles with falling congregations in many increasingly secular countries, against a conservative minority which says the change contradicts the Bible.

Two years ago, opposition from traditionalist lay members led to the defeat of a vote in the Synod to allow women bishops, to the dismay of modernisers and the Church hierarchy.

Women serve as bishops in the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand but Anglican churches in many developing countries do not ordain them as priests.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/church-eng...101027972.html

[Kobi]

[Kobi]

Tens of thousands of women participated in the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963. But none of the female civil rights leaders marched in the procession with Dr. King, nor were any of them invited to speak to the enormous crowd.

Instead, these women were asked to march on an adjacent street with the wives of the male leaders and to stay in the background.

The small role allowed female civil rights leaders in the activities of that day was the exact opposite of the central role these women played in planning the strategies, tactics and actions of the movement — including the march itself!

In fact, many of the most iconic campaigns of the civil rights movement were coordinated by women, including nonviolent sit-ins at segregated lunch counters, forced integration of Central High School by the Little Rock Nine, and the voter registration drives of 1964's Freedom Summer.

Let's celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King by learning about and remembering the overlooked women leading the struggle for equal rights right by his side.

Daisy Bates (1914 – 1999) was the force behind the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. She recruited, organized and supported the nine teenagers — six girls and three boys — and their families who were chosen to desegregate the school under court order.

White mobs rallied at the school in the early days, hurling insults and threatening violence. Ultimately, it took the U.S. Army to escort the black students to school and keep them safe, which showed the nation that the federal government was serious about enforcing integration.

It was Daisy Bates and the local NAACP who planned, coordinated and executed the Little Rock Nine strategy. Bates was rewarded for her efforts with rocks thrown through her windows, a cross burned on her roof and the financial demise of the newspaper she and her husband owned.

Pauli Murray (1910 – 1985) was a groundbreaking legal scholar, lifelong activist for civil rights and women's rights and, in her later years, the first African-American woman ordained as an Episcopal priest.

In 1950, Murray published a legal study of the segregation laws in the states. In it, she argued that civil rights lawyers should stop taking a gradual approach to changing segregation and should instead argue straightforwardly that segregation itself violated the U.S. Constitution. Thurgood Marshall, lead counsel in Brown v. Board of Education and later, a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, called this book the "bible" of the Civil Rights movement.

Murray also turned her sharp legal mind to gender discrimination. In 1961, as a member of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, she wrote a memo arguing that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution outlawed gender discrimination as well as race discrimination. In 1963, she became one of the first to criticize the leaders of the civil rights movement for its overt sexism.

In 1966, she became a co-founder of the National Organization for Women.

Fannie Lou Hamer (1917 – 1977) was one of the founders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and deeply committed to helping African-Americans gain their voting rights. In the deep south at that time such activity was often met with violence. She was well known for singing hymns to keep up the spirits of the people who were putting themselves in danger to register themselves or others to vote.

In July 1963, she and a group of activists were returning by bus from a workshop when they were stopped, arrested and then savagely beaten. Despite this ordeal, Hamer continued her advocacy work, including organizing the Freedom Summer campaign in the summer of 1964.

Also in the summer of 1964, Hamer attended the Democratic National Convention as the vice chair of the Mississippi "Freedom Democrats." Their goal was to challenge the all-white, anti-civil-rights Mississippi delegation to the convention as not representative of Mississippi Democrats. Their challenge drew national attention, and a speech given by Hamer was seen on national television. Her eloquence and passion changed the tenor of the debate at the convention.

Dorothy Height (1912 – 2010) was a social worker, educator and activist for civil rights and women's rights. Among Height's achievements was coordinating the integration of the facilities of the YMCA in 1946. She also co-founded the Center for Racial Justice in 1965. She served as president of the National Council of Negro Women from 1957 to 1997. During the 1960s, she organized "Wednesdays in Mississippi" to bring together white and black women for conversation and to increase understanding. She has been described as one of the "Big Six" in the civil rights movement.

Height described her experience of the sexism of the March on Washington as an "eye-opening experience." She turned at least some of her attention to women's rights, and in 1971 she helped found the National Women's Political Caucus with Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan and Shirley Chisholm.

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/s...ights-movement

[Kobi]

[Cin]

This article by Emer O’Toole made me smile, a sad smile, but definitely a smile.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandst...ism-has-ruined

[*Anya*]

POSTED ON FEBRUARY 24, 2015 BY HEATHER

Performance Reviews: The Hurdle that Keeps Getting Higher

A NEW study by the linguist and tech entrepreneur Kieran Snyder, done for Fortune.com, found two differences between workplace performance reviews given to men and women. Across 248 reviews from 28 companies, managers, whether male or female, gave female employees more negative feedback than they gave male employees. Second, 76 percent of the negative feedback given to women included a personality criticism, such as comments that the woman was “abrasive,” “judgmental” or “strident.” Only 2 percent of men’s critical reviews included negative personality comments.

Why?

Why is this the case in 2015? Why are women getting more negative feedback than men on personality traits and finding gender bias in performance reviews? I refuse to believe that women are truly under performing as a gender. In 2013, Women in STEM careers consistently reported feeling like females have to perform better than men to be judged equally competent (Knobloch-Westerwick, Glynn, & Huge). So women feel as if they have to go above and beyond yet still get more negative feedback.

Women report that their mistakes are noticed more, and remembered longer (Bauer & Baltes, 2002). So, women are faced with the pressure of being perfect. A female can’t make a mistake or have a bad day because it will linger longer than their male contemporaries. There is simply no room for error if you are a female.

Why are women given more negative managerial feedback about their personality?

Behavior and emotional intelligence are playing a larger role in performance evaluations these days. I would think this would be where women would win the day. After all, many women are instinctively nurturing, yet instead of being a big, gold star it is a source of criticism.

What to do?

How can women fight back against this injustice? Here are a few ideas.

Keep records of what you do.

This can be something as low tech as keeping a notebook at your desk. Before you leave at the end of the day, write the date at the top, and then list everything you accomplished. An electronic calendar is another good way to document what you do daily. Put anything outstanding in bold so that you can be sure to include it in your discussion with your manager.

Develop your network.

Having a group of cheerleaders that get out the positive word about your performance and reputation will offset any negative statements in your annual review. Just remember to do the same for them, and they will totally appreciate the gesture. My rule of thumb is to always “talk up” my team. You would think my team is the best and brightest of the entire company based on what I say about them.

Pay it forward by supporting other women.

Mentor those below you, and sell the sponsor above you. Yes, I said sell your sponsor. Ensure you always speak of the positive aspects of your sponsor. Remember, he or she is giving feedback to the succession planning of the company. If you want a slot to open for you, the best way is to help someone above you get a promotion. If you can, try to find ways to help other women find success. Over time, women will rise to the top of the pile and truly be an equal part of the workplace!

If you know of any other strategies to help women get past the gender bias issues inherent in performance reviews, let us know!

We’d love to hear from you and keep the discussion ongoing!


Heather graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with an Electrical Engineering degree, and later received her MBA. She first worked as an engineer designing sub-stations for a regional power company.
She is now an engineering project manager for an international company specializing in smart grid technology.

http://leanedon.com/gender-bias-in-performance-reviews/

[DapperButch]

I didn't know where to post this, I just knew I wanted to post this somewhere.


http://www.alternet.org/gender/what-...ed-man-twitter