the decade for women: forward, backward, or sideways?

[niyad]

The Decade for Women: Forward, Backward, Sideways? Subject to Debate
By Katha Pollitt

How have American women fared in what seems to be everyone's least favorite decade since the Fall of Rome, which at least was fun for the Vandals? (Well, to be fair, today's investment bankers have plenty to chortle over.) Herewith some feminist highs and lows of the era that began with the Supreme Court choosing the president and ended with hope hangovers and tempests in teabags.


. . . . . . .


Reproductive Health and Rights. Mifepristone, the abortion pill, was OK'd by the FDA in 2000 but did not, as some predicted, make abortion a private matter, because states moved quickly to bring it under the same restrictions as surgical abortion. Abortion rights continued to be whittled away, with more and more state restrictions and Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's shockingly patronizing 2007 majority opinion in Gonzales v. Carhart upholding a "partial birth" abortion ban without an exception for the health of the mother--an outright violation of Roe--on the grounds that the woman might regret her decision later.

On the bright side: the South Dakota abortion ban was defeated at the polls--twice. After a furious struggle, in 2006 the FDA OK'd emergency contraception, aka Plan B, without a prescription for women 18 and older. Insurance coverage of contraception went from rare to routine. Young prochoice activists founded groups like Med Students for Choice. The 2004 March for Women's Lives was one of the largest protest marches in US history--not that the media noticed. The decade closed on a sour note as antichoice Democrats united with Republicans to remove abortion coverage from the healthcare bill.

Family Life. Perhaps thanks to massive doses of abstinence-only sex ed, teen pregnancy rose in 2007 for the first time in fourteen years. By 2005 the majority of US women were not living with a husband. Single motherhood, lesbian motherhood, single motherhood by choice and births to women cohabiting with a partner all became more common. Gay marriage was legalized in five states. Despite oceans of wedding porn, women's age at first marriage rose over the decade from 25.1 to 26. Maybe those marriage-shy young ladies read the 2008 University of Michigan study showing that after marriage women with no children do seven more hours of housework; men do one hour less.

Violence Against Women. Not much to crow about here. Rates of domestic violence, murder by intimates, rape, sexual abuse or harassment barely budged, with victims no more likely to get justice. Meanwhile, the number of women in prison increased from 93,234 to 114,852, mostly because of harsher drug laws.

. . . .

Not bad, not great. On to the 2010s!

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100125/pollitt

[beyurslf]

1. The 20-teens is when we elect our first woman President!

[niyad]

2. I am reminded of an old story--the ultimate feminist nightmare (for those of us old enough to

remember) was that there would be a woman president and vice president--only it would be phyllis schlafly and anita bryant.

may this NOT be one of our worst nightmares.

[beyurslf]

7. I think we have a great pool of potentials in our party.

I do agree they have some nightmares in theirs!

[Liquorice]

12. I've been worried about a republican woman being the first woman US president for

some time now. Republicans will get behind any nominee because they are more "lock-step" in their thinking and approach to politics. If republicans run a woman, they will fall in line. Democrats are not like that. With the level of sexism within the democratic party, and with that sexism not being addressed, a democratic woman nominee becomes unlikely. Sexism within the democratic party is usually denied, and if anyone says anything about it, they are attacked and ridiculed. I get the impression that it will be difficult for a woman to get democratic party support for a run for POTUS in the foreseeable future.

[PizzaDriver]

3. i'd say backwards or sideways, at best. too many younger women have accepted the pop culture mantra

that looking/acting like a Playboy bunny and having a bad-boy boyfriend who slaps you around occaissionally is the mark of success for a woman.

[Berry Cool]

4. I'm afraid you may be right.

Welcome to DU.

[WT Fuheck]

5. backward

We've moved backwards on most rights fronts.

[seabeyond]

6. backward. and we do it willingly. nt

[seabeyond]

8. look at fuckin progressive du. howard stern thread about shittin on palin, her lickin a shitty ass

took 9 hours for that steaming pile of shit to get off the board.

fake picture from drudge to get a naked woman

german lingerie of naked woman for male entertainment

wifebeater tshirts.... suggest for charilie sheen since he is pulled from regular tshirts

what is this fuckin crap

[ismnotwasm]

9. A little of all I think

I remain completely appalled---horrified really, at the constant attacks on reproductive rights, and the continuing rate of violence against women.

As far as academics, While I love the trend of more and more women reaching college level, I like to see what happens after graduation. Women statistically are still not getting as many leadership positions, but this particular report on adedemic medicine is better than I expected.

Here's 2008-9009 Final Summary on women in Academic Medicine. (It's statistic and graphic heavy)

Although the total number of applicants to medical school increased this year, the number of women applicants decreased for the
first time in six years. The number of women in residency programs increased three percent from the previous year. Less than half
of the women residents in 2008 (47 percent) selected specialties with a greater than 50 percent representation of women (including
Obstetrics & Gynecology, Pediatrics, Medical Genetics, Dermatology, Allergy and Immunology, Psychiatry, Family Medicine, and
Pathology). Overall, women have gained greater representation in leadership positions compared to academic year 2007–08. Since
last year, the proportion of women residents, accepted applicants, and division chief/section chiefs, has not changed.
Some concerns remain, including the slow rate at which women are being promoted to full professor and the small number of
women who hold the position of department chair, as compared to men. Currently only 18 percent of full professors are women
and only 13 percent of department chairs are women. In 2008, fourteen schools reported no women with a direct reporting
relationship to the dean, up 40 percent from last year
http://www.aamc.org/members/facultydev/wimstatisticsreport2009.pdf

[niyad]

10. . . .

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. It's no longer a milestone to elect a woman senator, gov, mayor or to see

women appointed to national positions.