Sexist Foot in the Mouth--Satya Nadella

Back in December 2001, Cathy Newman wrote this in the National Geographic. "Although Silicon Valley ranked high in interracial trust and diversity of friendships, it landed near the bottom in civic engagement, charitable giving, volunteering, and civic leadership—and in sense of community as well."  Since then philanthropy has been given a boost, but it seems civic engagement and leadership have continued to be well buried under all that instability and the dog-eat-dog, male-dominated world of the hi-tech industry.  Giants such as Microsoft employ only 29% women in their global workforce and 61% are white. Oops, looks like interracial trust has taken a dive as well. Silicon Valley encourages innovations but only technological ones.

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Arizona on Oct 9, 2014, blithely went on a collision course while speaking about gender pay gap. He said that women should not ask for a raise but rely on their "karma" to be rewarded in a system that pays women 78% as much as men. “It’s not really about asking for the raise but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along. And that, I think, might be one of the additional superpowers that, quite frankly, women who don’t ask for raises have. Because that’s good karma. It’ll come back. Because somebody’s going to know: ‘That’s the kind of person that I want to trust. That’s the kind of person that I want to really give more responsibility to.’ And in the long-term efficiency, things catch up.”

Nadella has since apologized for his remarks and is scheduled to go back to speak at the Hopper Conference next year. Why does he get a second chance?

Companies in Silicon Valley that can make a difference

What is extremely disturbing is the chauvinism of immigrants.  One would think that success in an adopted country comes with incredible personal sacrifices and an awareness of one's limitations which should foster humility rather than arrogance. Certainly, entitlement and sexism are not the right products of such struggles. Why cannot the CEO of Microsoft be more proactive about addressing gender gap issues in employment and pay? Why is he pretending that this issue is somehow beyond his control and is reserved for an Ultimate Reckoning at the pearly gates?

Newman in her article quotes George J. Leonard, a professor at San Francisco State University--"Confucius says, 'Of course you want to be rich and famous...It's natural. Wealth and fame are what every man desires.' But Confucius understood that there is a moral decision too, and sooner or later an accounting begins."

Now is a good time for the accounting to begin.

What Temples Teach

How does one protest against the rules of a temple? I visited a local Swaminarayan temple yesterday. We were just three people in a massive auditorium that temporarily houses the gods. They are building a huge (Italian) marble main temple next door.

There were two seating sections in this auditorium divided by a w  i  d  e aisle: one for the men and one for the women. My son Mukunda sat next to me because, what the hay, there was no one there. But, from God knows where (!), an eagle-eyed woman who saw through Mukunda’s disguise of beard and moustache came up to us and reminded us of the rules of the temple. Mukunda had to go to the other section. He was one among a thousand empty chairs on the left side of the auditorium. 

Women are not given tilak by the pandit. He hands it over to the male member of the family and he gives it to the women!! I believe the pandit keeps himself pure this way.
Purity is also maintained through separate chambers for men’s and women’s footwear so they have no way of pouncing on one another in lust.

I thought I should gloss over all this and just do what I came to do – pray. I pray that people treat each other with respect, consider all equal.

I knew this would be my last visit to that temple. The woman who made my son go over to the other section is only one of those thousands of women who will be taught to do the same. She will play an integral part in humiliating her own sex in the name of religion.

God is in my own home and I am very comfortable praying there.

Sexualization of Girls--The Outrageous Victoria's Secret

Victoria's Secret’s “Bright Young Things” line features lace-trimmed thongs for tweens (ages 9 to 14)  that have the words, “Call Me”, "I Dare You" and “Feeling Lucky” printed on the crotch. Chief Financial Officer Stuart Burgdoerfer of Limited Brands, a unit of Victoria's Secret, said these would appeal to the young girls because they would like, above all, to appear grown up.  Panties such as these are blatant objectification of women, and now young girls are made victims of sexualization.  Carrie Goldman explains that sexualization occurs when a person’s value is measured by his or her sexual appeal and is sexually objectified.  The process of socialization enforces gender based stereotypes--the idea that make-up and clothes are “cool” dominates the culture of the school girls.  Not only do the girls try to appear “cool”, but they are also socialized by media to attract men.  The “Call Me” panties seem like a lure to prostitution and profiteers like Victoria Secret are the pimps. They are not the least concerned about the childhood of these girls or about the degradation of women but perpetuate “the beauty myth”—a term coined by Naomi Wolf to indicate the entrapment of women into the never ending cycle of clothes, diets, make-up and exercise routines to achieve an elusive ideal of feminine beauty that men appreciate.  What is the message of “Call Me?” When it is on underwear, are these girls expected to strip and show their crotch? And “Feeling Lucky”?  These are sexually explicit messages and have no place in a girl or a woman’s life.  Unfortunately, these girls are too young to comprehend that such messages do not empower them.  

The following video is an excerpt from the feminist, author and film maker Jean Kilbourne's "Killing Us Softly" in which she explains media's participation in the sexualization of women.  

   

While on the subject of sexualization in the media, who ever decided pink was for girls and blue for boys?  A few months ago Honda released a new model named “She’s” made exclusively for women.  It is pink and apparently “adorable”, and comes equipped with a windshield that protects her delicate skin against the mean UV rays (pout, pout).  And oh, it has a lipstick holder.  Isn’t that absolutely peachy fun!! (Blink-blink with large Maybelline mascara-ed eyelashes).  As Alyssa Rosenberg quips, “To be fair, Honda is providing a UV-blocking windshield to stave off every girl's first face lift. But really, if you're not going to make the glove compartment heart-shaped and give me a makeup mirror in the driver's-side visor, how can you claim to be meeting my needs?” Women need to battle this ridiculous stereotyping.  In the same article Rosenberg writes, “..color coordination isn't the only thing I want out of a car. Where's the emergency kit in the trunk that comes fully equipped with an extra set of birth control pills, spare Spanx, and replacement heels in case I break one of mine running to whatever meeting I'm late to this time? What about an onboard GPS system that won't let me make hormonal navigation decisions? Or an OnStar system that summons only the cute AAA guy? And I'd really love a specialized Breathalyzer that can detect if I have too few Skinnygirl Margaritas in my system to go home with that guy.”

Remember women, that capitalism likes the fact that you are now independent and are able to spend money on products it can fool you into buying and still keep you degraded and dehumanized.  Women should concern themselves with developing a healthy self-image.

What Is He Thinking? Or Is He? Mitt Romney on Women's Health

Women's health care has become a hot subject of political debate.  It seems that Republicans are not just taking a moral high ground here wagging their finger at some supposed promiscuity, but they are threatening to eliminate every safety net available to women.  Romney shows his concern for the middle class tax payers claiming they should not be burdened with more taxes...but here's a solution.  The rich could be taxed.  Affordable health care, I would presume, would be popular with citizens? In any case-- a poor, unwed, single mother is a bigger burden on the taxpayer.  The taxpayer not only feeds her but her uncared-for children as well, for their lifetime. 
Romney in a speech at Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois launched his "off with their heads" tirade against Planned Parenthood (PP)  and Obamacare. Dressed casually in denims and rolled up sleeves, obviously to represent the common working man and disguise his millionaire status, he very grandly directed women to go elsewhere for their health care--"Well they can go wherever they’d like to go. This is a free society.” Just not PP it seems.  Free society?  Apparently not. 
What's more, Romney wants to free the nation from debt by making its people go broke.





In the local community college where I work, young women and not so young women struggle with their student loans and the high cost of healthcare. Their part-time jobs do not provide them enough income to buy healthcare.  PP is very important to them. Republicans have to deal with problems realistically--if women get pregnant, usually there is a man behind it. Why are women being specially targeted? Republicans have become little Oliver Cromwells.  They are even squeamish about sex education.

The Tennessee Senate  passed SB 3310, a bill to update the state’s abstinence-based sex education curriculum to define holding hands and kissing as “gateway sexual activities.” Just one senator voted against the legislation; 28 voted in favor. Since the bill specifically bans teachers from “demonstrating gateway sexual activity”, educators would be prohibited from even demonstrating what hand-holding is.                                      (thinkprogress.org)

Maybe they should support the gay marriage cause, no contraceptives or abortions needed. 
Who is to reason with people who believe all women are Jezebels, guns don't kill people or that when you fall and hurt yourself, the ground came up and attacked you.

Flush the Rush

Sandra Fluke testimony

Even conservative women must have wrinkled their nose in disgust at Rush Limbaugh's harsh, inappropriate and perverse invective against 
Ms. Sandra Fluke on March 1, 2012. Sandra Fluke is a law student at Georgetown University. She spoke to an unofficial hearing called by the Democratic party about her college's lack of health insurance coverage for contraceptive pills. Not only did Limbaugh reveal his ignorance of the uses of the birth control pill, he revealed his ignorance of health insurance system and to top it all, he let the entire country know that he has a sick yearning to see sex videos.  (Maybe Dharun Ravi could help here).  Although Limbaugh apologized for the words he used--he had called Ms. Sandra Fluke a 'slut' and a 'prostitute'--he maintains that contraceptives should not be covered under health insurance.  Maybe he prefers to pay welfare for women and children and their food stamps instead.  He is so busy condemning women for not taking responsibility for their actions and indulging in sexual promiscuity, he is so busy talking, that he is not putting on his "listening ears" as Judge Judy would say, and recognize that taking contraceptives is a way of assuming responsibility.  Besides, birth control is not the only use for the pill... 

Likes to be a voyeur

34  sponsors of his radio show decided the words he used mattered more than his views and withdrew support.

No one was more horrified than musician Peter Gabriel  whose song "Sledgehammer' was playing during Limbaugh's rant. "Peter was appalled to learn that his music was linked to Rush Limbaugh's extraordinary attack on Sandra Fluke. It is obvious from anyone that knows Peter's work that he would never approve such a use. He has asked his representatives to make sure his music is withdrawn and especially from these unfair aggressive and ignorant comments."

I wonder if he thinks when 'slutty' women prostitute themselves for sex, they share intimacy with parrots instead of men like him.  He has been married four times, he can't think babies are brought by storks.  Men don't need to be accountable?  I have an idea.  Maybe the women can save money (and the country too), conducting their lives Lorena Bobbitt style.

"No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show," Carbonite CEO David Friend said in a statement. "We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse."

President Obama called Ms. Fluke personally and said Fluke’s parents should be proud of her.

Stinky Limbaugh-ger!!

Bolsa Família -- A Success Story in Brazil

Launched in 2003, as part of the Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) program by the  Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Bolsa Família (Family Stipend) is seen as the world's leading wealth redistribution system.  It is a conditional cash transfer program that has benefited about 46 million poor people in Brazil, almost a quarter of its population.

The program provided income supplements to poor families subject to certain conditions such as 85% school attendance for children ages 6-15 and mandatory participation in socio-educational activities after school, 75% attendance for teenagers ages 16-17, vaccinations for children, nutritional monitoring and health education for women.

plastic id card for members

Besides reducing the income inequality, the program provides tremendous support to women.  93% of the program's beneficiaries are women and 27% of those are single mothers.  It strengthens their position in their households and communities, gives them more respect and increased influence within their family and has reduced domestic violence.  It has also initiated policies for development of labor skills.  The Ministry of Labor and Social Development works together with the local governments to link employment and social protection policies to ensure poverty reduction.  Bolsa Família gives poor families their first experience with banks, debit cards and credit cards thereby offering them "financial inclusion".  These people have access to small business initiatives and financing.

Bolsa Família gives children freedom from bonded labor and works in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.  It targets households with monthly per capita income lower than US $52.  The program offers US $13 per child/pregnant woman and US $19 per teenager (16-17 yrs. old).  Extremely poor families receive upto US $79 dollars a month.  The government does not put conditions on how the money is to be spent.

Enrollment is conducted at the municipal level and families are registered into a unified central database called the Cadastro Único.

Of course, the program has its glitches.  This blogger quotes a UNDP report,

Bolsa Família uses unverified means-testing conducted at the municipal level to select its beneficiaries. Given the programme’s large size, it would be very costly to use verified means-testing or proxy means-testing to identify eligible households. The programme’s unverified selection method has been criticized on the grounds that its highly decentralized process could lead to selection distortions, such as patronage and leakage.

And so, sometimes absurd things happen.  According to the blog SEMANCOL:  NOTÍCIAS ABSURDAS e PENSAMENTOS (Absurd news and thoughts)

Mother of ex-BBB Grazi gets Family Allowance

The seamstress Cleusa Massafera Smith is a 3204 recipient of the Bolsa Familia in Jacarezinho, in northern Paraná. The federal program of income transfer is aimed at families in poverty and extreme poverty. The problem is that Cleusa is the mother of actress and model Grazielli Massafera, known to participate in the program Big Brother Brazil.

(translated from Portugese by Google)

The main criticism about Bolsa Família is that while it ensures children go to school it has not improved the quality of education and it will not provide higher education.  One comment on BrazzilMag reads:

First, this money doesn't change miserable people into real citizens! If they were just poor, now they are the ones who receive "alms" from the government.
Second, the main criterion to receiving the money is something ridiculous: you just have to send your children to school. if they have attendance, it's ok. They don't need to really learn, just pass. what is not difficult, since teachers can't fail them.
What seems to be good is actually malefic, because when these students are aged to get to University, they won't. First, because there won't be Bolsa Familia when they are to enter High School, second because they won't have learned the basics of the subjects.

Another criticism is that the program has a rural bias; the urban areas demand a higher cost of living and the stipend is just not adequate to alleviate poverty.
No one, however, can dispute that poverty has fallen from 22% of the population to 7% of the population which is a remarkable feat. It costs only about 0.5% of Brazilian GDP and about 2.5% of total government expenditure.

Most people use that extra income to buy their children clothes and shoes. That is how it should be.

A similar program called Opportunity NYC was a privately funded $63 million initiative, the first of its kind in the United States.  The pilot program, however, closed on August 2010. I believe that these ventures must have the backing of the government and must involve several social, educational and economic reforms which are outside the reach of private enterprise.

Burkhas, Barbies & Boobquake

"Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes," Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, a senior Iran cleric was quoted as saying by the Iranian media.

How he has suffered! Same as the other Iranian cleric who was caught on tape doing “nasnas” with a woman who entered his home chador-clad. No immodesty there, so why did he stray?

What occurs to me is, if we are to believe this cleric person (who is our connection to God), Pamela Anderson could annihilate the earth by just being herself. You go, girl!!

However, before we condemn these ridiculous clerics outright, we should approach this problem as a scientist would. Jennifer McCreight, of Purdue University, Indiana put this cleric’s theory to test. She gathered a huge crowd of women dressed immodestly (lots of cleavage) on the grounds of this University. Nothing happened there, but... there was a huge earthquake (6.6 on the Richter scale) in Taiwan. Wow!! Can that be a coincidence?

All kidding aside, we should have a role model for our women in Iran. Who better than Burka Barbie, or Chador Barbie.

The company director of Laird Assessors from The Wirral, Cheshire, said:

'Bring it on Burkha Barbie, I think this is a great idea. I think this is really important for girls, wherever they are from they should have the opportunity to play with a Barbie that they feel represents them.

Angela Ellis, a great fan of Barbie dolls, with more than 250 Barbies in her collection proudly remarked,
“I know Barbie was something seen as bad before as an image for girls, but in actual fact the message with Barbie for women is you can be whatever you want to be.”

What? Little girls have to aspire to be burkha/chador clad? What kind of message is this?

Rosie Shannon, from Save the Children, said all the proceeds from the auction will go to the charity. She said:
'We are delighted Sotheby's and the designer chose to auction the burka Barbie dolls for our charity.'

We need more such women like a hole in the head. We fight the feminist cause in the USA and abandon women in other countries so we can make a profit?

Read more in the Mail Online

Not to worry…

Televangelist Pat Robertson, who leads his own independent Neo-Dark Ages movement here, has other explanations for such natural disasters. He claims that Haiti’s earthquake was caused by the country’s pact with the devil to drive the French away from their land.

At least, he has more respect for women.

Belgium has taken the first bold step to alter the life of the muslim woman.  The home affairs committee of Belgium voted unanimously for the ban of partial or full covering of the face in public.

The Guardian  reports:
Daniel Bacquelaine, the liberal MP who proposed the bill, said: "We cannot allow someone to claim the right to look at others without being seen.

"It is necessary that the law forbids the wearing of clothes that totally mask and enclose an individual. Wearing the burqa in public is not compatible with an open, liberal, tolerant society."

Violators of this ban could go to prison.

Egypt's Pride: Doctor Peseshet

The first woman doctor ever belonged to Egypt. Her name was  Peseshet; she was not only a swnwt (woman doctor) but also a imyt-r hm(wt)-ka (woman director of the soul-priestesses) and lived around 2500 B.C.  Nothing much is known about her except that she was the mother of Akhethetep in whose tomb her stela (carved or inscribed stone slab) was found.

Women of Ancient Egypt could enter any profession they liked, unlike in modern times.

The picture on the left shows some of the instruments she may have used.  Most of these tools were used for embalming as well.

 
http://www.crystalinks.com/egyptianwomen.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_medicine