Do You Talk About Gender Equality?

July 14, 2013 by 4 Comments
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your voice speak out

Storytelling.

“ Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it .” –Hannah Arendt

No one can pass up a good story. As neuroscience advances, we’ve learned there’s a good reason. Brain scans are revealing that stories stimulate the brain and even change how we act.

What stories have captured your imagination and transformed your thinking?

Interviewing women across America for The Flight Patterns of Superwomen was a spine-tingling, life-changing experience for me. Stories of pride and accomplishment, struggle and violence, connectedness and discontent poured forth.

As I write The Flight Patterns of Superwomen, my heart and mind are focused on sharing Main Street Women’s stories in a way that honors them and perhaps even changes how we act in America.

In particular, I loved hearing stories in response to my question, “What’s the boldest thing you’ve ever done that helped make you who you are today?”

Bold Story Appetizers

I back-packed around the world alone.

My husband strangled me in front of our children before he left for work that morning.

I told my high school adviser I’d only move 300 miles from my family.  Northwestern was 30 miles outside the circle so he convinced me to apply.

In protest against the Vietnam War, I threw my little body against police barricades.

I took off my high heels,  climbed out the restaurant bathroom window and ran.

I was the first girl to play boy’s baseball in my hometown.

Change-Making Stories

I love how activist groups like Miss Representation are part of changing the definition of masculinity in America. Changing the story about what it means to be a man is vital.

I’m curious about whether you tell stories too. Do you talk about gender equality with your children? Your work colleagues? Your partner? Your women friends? The female elders in your family?

Your Voice

Anonymous so please be brutally honest! Aggregate responses may be used in The Flight Patterns of Superwomen.

Thanks for sharing your voice! Have a burning question you want to ask? Feel free to tell me !

Stories Worth Telling, Why Men Should Care About Gender Equality

February 7, 2012 by Ilene H. Lang , Jeanine Prime, PhD

Seventy-four percent of the men we interviewed in our series, Engaging Men in Gender Initiatives , identified fear and apathy as barriers to supporting gender equality. In today’s Take 5 , we look at reasons why men should care. Men have a lot to gain, and nothing to fear from equality. Here’s why:

#1: Good business sense. Gender bias inhibits problem solving and hinders innovation . And study after study has linked increased female leadership to stronger, on average, financial results.

#2: Boost your net worth. Women in the US lose about $380,000 due to the gender pay gap over the course of their lives. If your partner is a woman, closing this gap makes good financial sense for you and your family.

#3: Increased personal freedom. Imagine a world where you do not need to hide family responsibilities from co-workers and you have the freedom to admit you don’t know something without calling your masculinity into question.

#4: Live longer. Sometimes being a man—especially if it means never asking for help—can compromise your health. Equality has shown to improve health and quality of life.

#5: Your children. Equality now ensures that the next generation will have all the opportunities to succeed on an equal playing field for all.

http://www.catalyst.org/blog/catalyzing/take-5-why-men-should-care

About Catalyst

Catalyst is the leading nonprofit organization with a mission to expand opportunities for women and business. As an organization, it acts as a catalyst through pioneering research, tools and services, events, and Awards. Catalyst invites women, men, and organizations to join with them in building the inclusion that will make business, society, and lives change for the better. http://www.catalyst.org/

Filed Under: Action , Change , Gender Equality , inCourage Reflections Blog , maintreet women , Women Leadership Tagged With: , , , , ,

Are Superheroine Role Models Important?

June 16, 2013 by 1 Comment
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your voice speak out Superlove

Americans love “Super.” We consider our nation a Superpower. We Supersize our meals. We flock to movies when Superheros with Superpowers take action. And, for 75 years we’ve loved Superman.

In his new book, Superman, the Unauthorized Biography , Glen Weldon explains the appeal:

“Superman changes as our culture changes. The only thing about him, in fact, that has remained untouched, inviolate, since Action Comics #1 hit the stands in April 1938 is his motivation. That motivation is at once the simplest of them all and the hardest to unpack:  he is a hero. Specifically:  (1) He puts the needs of others over those of himself. (2) He never gives up.”

Wonder Woman

No iconic female heroine quite like Superman exists in American culture — Wonder Woman comes closest. Appearing first in 1941, Wonder Woman possessed superhuman powers and fought for justice, peace and love. Her creator, William Moulten Marston, who also invented the polygraph, armed her with weapons like the Lasso of Truth.

A psychologist, Marston explained why he created this female icon of superheroism:

Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world.”

Like Superman, Wonder Woman has changed along with American culture. By the late 1960s, Wonder Woman comics showed her giving up her powers and returning her costume and title to her mother so that she could continue staying in “Man’s World.”

She made a brief comeback from 1975 to 1979, hitting her peak of popularity with the television series starring Lynda Carter.

In her 2012 documentary Wonder Woman:  The Untold Story of American Superheroines , Kristy Guevara-Flanagan asked people about superheros, Superman and Batman were the quick responses. Wonder Woman, it seems, has faded.

Females & Video Games

Last week, the biggest video game conference of the year was held:  the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). While 45% of all gamers are female, female protagonists in the games are rare. When Microsoft unveiled a number of new games for their Xbox One video game console, here’s what happened according to CBS News:

During a demonstration of “Killer Instinct” a male producer of the game was matched up against a woman, who appeared to be bad at playing video games. The Atlantic Wire described that the woman is “playing a video game like a girl” — suggesting that the scenario was set up to perpetuate a stereotype that women are not serious gamers.

“I can’t even block correctly, and you’re too fast,” she says.

“Here we go. Just let it happen. It’ll be over soon,” he says.

The audience laughs at the remark that many have been interpreted as a rape joke. The banter continues between the two, further adding fuel to the allegations that the joke mimicked a sexual assault scenario.

“You have a fight stick,” she says.

“Wow, you like those,” he says.

“No, I don’t like this,” she says.

In response to the Twitter outcry about the rape joke, Microsoft corporate vice president Phil Spencer issued the megacorp’s apology:

“Yesterday, during the Xbox E3 briefing, one of our employees made an off the cuff and inappropriate comment while demoing ‘Killer Instinct’ with another employee. This comment was offensive and we apologize. At Microsoft, being open and respectful with others is central to our code of conduct and our values. Bullying and harassment of any kind is not condoned and is taken very seriously. We remain committed to make gaming fun for everyone, and in that effort, we must lead by example.”

Your Voice

Anonymous so please be brutally honest! Aggregate responses may be used in The Flight Patterns of Superwomen.

Thanks for sharing your voice!

Have a burning question you want to ask? Feel free to tell me!

Access NPR’s book review of Superman, the Unauthorized Biography at: http://www.npr.org/2013/04/18/176783341/with-mullet-or-with-monkey-everyone-knows-superman

Learn more about Wonder Woman:  The Untold Story of American Superheroines at: http://wonderwomendoc.com/

Full story on Microsft’s apology may be found at CBS News http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57588725/e3-audience-offended-by-rape-joke-at-microsoft-xbox-one-event/ .

Filed Under: Action , Change , Gender Equality , inCourage Reflections Blog , Women Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Are Women Own Worst Enemies?

June 2, 2013 by 2 Comments
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your voice speak out There’s buzz worldwide about women.

From the Davos Economic Summit to Warren Buffett, it seems everyone is talking with optimism about the future of our economies – because of women. In the U.S., there’s already buzz about the potential for electing the first female U.S. President in 2016.

There’s equal buzz, however, about we women holding ourselves back or holding one another back.

In a recent Business Matters magazine post (UK’s leading business magazine), Therese Kinal, a Norwegian born and raised business woman writes, “For every woman fighting for gender equality, there is another one doing us a disservice.” Kinal goes on to detail what she calls the 9 Sins of Gender Equality.

We Are Our Own Worst Enemies

Kinal writes: “Many women act bitchy, catty, jealous and are sometimes outright bullies toward other women. As women today the pressure is on. We have to be beautiful, successful, intelligent, good wives, good mothers … the list goes on.

We might have wanted female liberation, but I don’t think we really thought this one through. The pressure has never been more intense (and often self -inflicted!) and yet here we are tearing each other down, putting sticks in each other’s wheels. Why? It’s not like there are too many women at the top… and the only thing you end up doing is looking insecure and pathetic.”

Your Voice

Anonymous so please be brutally honest! Aggregate responses may be used in The Flight Patterns of Superwomen book.

Thanks for sharing your voice!

Have a burning question you want to ask? Feel free to tell me !

To read Kinal’s piece, entitled “The ‘Problem’ with Women: http://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/columns/opinion/18253/the-problem-with-women/?goback=%2Egde_3716029_member_243489684

Filed Under: Action , Change , Gender Equality , inCourage Reflections Blog , maintreet women , Women Leadership Tagged With: , , , ,