Dear Subscribers and Readers, Although I am not yet back from my summer hiatus, I am compelled to post the notice below from Bonnie Low-Kramen. No doubt you are familiar with Bonnie, who is the author of Be the Ultimate Assistant: A Celebrity Assistant's Secrets to Success and ultimate trainer of everything to do with executive … Continue reading Readers, Please Take Note
President John F. Kennedy and personal secretary Evelyn Lincoln
In her book, Be the Ultimate Assistant, Bonnie Low-Kramen writes, "Here's a fast-paced profession which is highly demanding -- requiring intelligence, resourcefulness, discretion, initiative, computer skills, and last, but not least, consummate people skills. Oh yes, it's also helpful to be clairvoyant!" (p. 32)
Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as an assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel. ~ Bella Abzug, 1977
"Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily this is not difficult," said Charlotte Whitton in Canada Month, 1963.
I agree with Charlotte Whitton's famous statement except for the part that it is not difficult! And to phrase the late, great Congresswoman Abzug's statement more delicately, ordinary women should be able to compete with ordinary men for the same jobs without having to outperform at Einstein's level. Women have always been and continue to be held to a different standard than men when vying for the same opportunities. That's not only a lack of equality, it's a lack of fairness.
"...certainly in the next 50 years we shall see a woman President
--maybe sooner than you think.
~ Excerpt of Remarks by President Richard M. Nixon on April 17, 1969
at a Reception Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the
League of Women Voters of the United States.
This entry concludes my series on women
in honor of National Women's History Month
and International Women's Day
In 2016 it will be 240 years since our nation's Declaration of Independence. And in the nearly two and a half centuries that have passed we have yet to see a woman in the White House. Despite the fact that women have comprised roughly half the population from the beginning of our nation to the present and have contributed equally to its founding and growth, there has never been a woman elected to the highest office in the land. I find that bewildering, foolish and, frankly, galling.
Queen Guinevere by dashinvaine
umbandaimagens.blogspot.com
Bing Images
"I lament that women are systematically degraded
by receiving the trivial attentions
which men think it manly to pay to the sex,
when, in fact, men are insultingly supporting their own superiority.
~ Mary Wollstonecraft,
from her 1792 book,
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects
Those are strong words from British author and philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, who launched feminism in the 19th Century. Back then she and other women were bristling over the practice of on the one hand men bowing to women, picking up their dropped handkerchiefs and opening doors for them while on the other hand denying them independence, education, careers and even the right to own their own property or control their own finances. Women did not even have legal custody of their own children and were considered property of their fathers and later their husbands. While the former treatment of women was viewed by some as "chivalry," the latter was considered by many to be a denial of rights.
Bing Images
Women should be tough, tender, laugh as much as possible,
and live long lives. The struggle for equality continues unabated,
and the woman warrior who is armed with wit and courage
will be among the first to celebrate victory. ~ Maya Angelou
Definitions
Feminism: noun
The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. ~ Merriam-Webster.com
Feminist: noun
A person who supports feminism, adjective - of, relating to, or supporting feminism; "feminist literature" - Google
Mary Sidney Herbert Amelia Bassano Lanier
“So far as anybody actually knows and can prove,
Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon never wrote a play in his life.”
~ Mark Twain
Last week I began my series on women to honor National Women's History Month during March and International Women's Day on Sunday, March 8. In that entry I wrote about what women expect on a first date. This week I'm addressing a different kind of date - history dates that turn a spotlight on unsung heroines throughout history whose ideas and inventions either were or might have been credited to men.
Oh, this is the night, it's a beautiful night
And we call it bella notte
Look at the skies, they have stars in their eyes
On this lovely bella notte. ~ Bella Notte
From "Lady and the Tramp"
Composed by Sonny Burke and Peggy Lee
This is the first in a series of entries devoted to observing Women's National History Month during March in the U.S.
Traditional dating still exists for most people, with the possible exception of younger Millennials -- and I encourage them to try it! Thus, it's helpful when men understand what women expect leading up to, during and after that important first date.
"The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) forbids discrimination
based on pregnancy when it comes to any aspect of employment...
~ EEOC
In the early 1950s, Betty Friedan was fired from her job because she was pregnant. A decade later her book, The Feminine Mystique, launched the second wave of feminism and the Women’s Movement of the 1960s and ‘70s, which resulted in many advances for women on the home front and in the workplace, including the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) of 1978. (The first wave of feminism culminated in the 1920 landmark passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted women the right to vote.)
But despite women's advancements in the workplace over the past half-century discrimination persists, especially against pregnant women.
Andy: She hates me, Nigel.
Nigel: And that's my problem because... Oh, wait. No, it's not my problem
Nigel: But we're not expected until Tuesday. Did she say why?
Andy: Yes. She explained every detail of her decision-making.
And then we brushed each others' hair and gabbed about American Idol.
Nigel: I see your point.
~ The Devil Wears Prada
The key to a positive work experience is forging a great – or at least good -- relationship with your boss. That might be a challenge with some bosses (think Miranda in Devil); but when you're hired, this becomes your No. 1 Priority. For the time that you report to a particular manager, that person holds your career with the company in his or her hands. There are exceptions; but generally speaking, that’s the rule.
Jeanne Nelson 