Women's issues encompass much more than presumed

Great article and I like your points. Allow me to add:

1.Decrease poverty-Education, education, education. We must educate our girls (and boys, too) and give them the tools they need to stay in school-mentors, jobs, opportunities for involvement. We must also give them access to birth control (there, I said it) and stress sex-obstination (see above). 2.Unlearn the Unrealistic Message-AMEN! Who is telling us women what we should look like? A man!? Every woman is beautiful in her own way and this needs to be stressed. Woman with roles in leadership, power and authority need to take initiative and show girls just what makes a woman beautiful-it's not big plastic boobs-it's a brain and how to use it. 3.The New S.O.B.-We need a law that insurance companies will cover the cost of mammograms for women from age 18-NOT age 40-for baseline tests. Insurance companies should pay for this test (over a minimal deductible or reasonable co-pay). We also need resources for women who cannot afford insurance. 4.Mind the Gap! (great-from the Tube, right?)-I have been in the work force for 30 years (I've given a hint as to my age)and I have seen firsthand how men are given opportunities over more qualified women-just because they can pee standing up. I was once passed over for a promotion because my male co-worker had one month (ONE MONTH!) more seniority than me, regardless that he had no experience for the new position and had a history of sexual harassment violitions within the department he was promoted to lead. Women need to speak up and demand equal compensation and men need to stop regarding a woman who does so as a bitch (also from personal experience). 5.Reform Education-Get rid of No Child Left Behind!!! I agree all children deserve an excellent education but to lump all children together regardless of learning capacity is idiotic. Keeping kids in school from kindergarten to graduation is ultimately the parents job but if parents don't or won't do this there must be alternatives to make sure kids know how to read, write and find their home state on a map before they enter the real world.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to comment. A great piece!

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• Posted by lenexamom on August 28, 2008 at 9:45 a.m.
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Women's issues encompass much more than presumed

Thanks for the article,I am interested in your comments on Sarah Palins nomination. a older alum

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• Posted by marty71 on September 3, 2008 at 12:28 p.m.
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Women's issues encompass much more than presumed

Back in the days when I was still a BizStudent, my emphasis at Summerfield Hall was in the quant side of the School; thus, statistics and their abuse is one of my favorite subjects. Ms. Thornburgh duly notes, as others have, that women make about 3/4 of what men do. Fine, to quote from the Women's Studies programs, is that entirely due to the misogynistic, patriarchal attitudes of our society at large? On the evidence, not hardly. Quoting Ms. Thornburgh: "two-thirds of those who are illiterate are women." Doesn't that mean part of this wage gap is merit based, and thus fair and just? If illiterate people could earn as much as the rest of us, most of you wouldn't be at KU reading this post. And this is before we talk about the biggest reason behind the pay gap: the average multi-year differential in experience for men and women due to the 'child-rearing break'. Like it or not, most women prefer to have the option of a career break to raise their kids, as opposed to having their husbands take the career break. When adjusted for these factors, the gender pay gap almost (but not quite) disappears. Misleading statistics, while prompting impassioned responses from the chorus (lenexamom), do little to truly help the cause. Having said that, I must compliment Ms. Thornburgh on a thoughtful, rational response to the Old School Divas of Feminism. Education, illteracy and poverty are joined at the hip. Fix education, you fix most of the other problems by default. One last comment, though, about lenexamom's post. "Who is telling us what we should look like? A man?" It's been my experience that the most vicious critics of Women's Looks are not men - they are other women. Seriously, when was the last time you heard a man say, "Oh puh-LEEEEZE....they're so obviously fake!!", or "omygod, that outfit is just Sooooo last year"?

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• Posted by KUBizGrad on September 4, 2008 at 1:02 p.m.
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