A New Wave

Sadder than sad

Actress Natasha Richardson, 45, died Wednesday after suffering a severe head injury earlier in the week at Mont Tremblant ski resort in Montreal, Quebec.

While most of the media identify her more "popular" film roles ("Parent Trap", "Maid in Manhattan"), I remember her for the character of Offred in Margaret Atwood's novel-turned-film (Harold Pinter wrote the 1990 screenplay), "The Handmaid's Tale".  I'm sure others will remember her from their favorite stage and screen roles -- at the young age of 45, she was prolific, as have been all her family members.

She wasn't here nearly long enough, but I'm glad she was here as long as she was. She brought immense talent, grace, intelligence, wit and style to the roles I remember. I can only imagine what she might have been at the age her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, is now.

Cheers to a fine and talented woman and the work she left for us to enjoy. Tears for the family, friends and fans she leaves behind.

Doing Right By Women and Girls

The president's signing of an Executive Order creating a White House Council on Women and Girls is a small victory with great possibility for ensuring women's equality in myriad ways, from employment to health care, from education to work and family balance.

President Obama understands that this council doesn't exist in a vacuum separate and apart from the policies and programs developed and implemented throughout the federal government and that if women are ever to be on the same footing with their male peers a coordinated and interconnected effort is required at all levels of government.

The White House Council on Women and Girls will ensure that agencies across the federal government, not just a few offices, take into account the particular needs and concerns of women and girls. The Council will begin its work by asking each agency to analyze their current status and ensure that they are focused internally and externally on women.

Were the Department of Labor, for example, to develop guidelines on, say, new "green economy" jobs, there is a real possibility that women won't be forced to put up with discriminatory patterns of hiring, training, promotion and wages -- especially as they existed and became embedded into blue-collar occupations.

Or health care: imagine if HHS, Labor and Commerce were to be fully cognizant of the gender bias that exists in rates for health and other forms of insurance and finally generated changes that made such bias illegal.

Oh, the possibilities.

It's too soon to know how successful the Council will be, but Obama has the right vision: the concerns of women and girls must be integrated into every level of public policy and not treated as something separate and apart from the welfare of the country and the world.

1920-2008: Women's Rights Then and Now

Imagine the thrill and the deep sense of satisfaction among women on August 26, 1920 when Congress ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the legal right to vote and thus extending voting rights guaranteed to all "men" in the 15th Amendment.

By way of perspective, my maternal grandmother was 15 years old; my paternal grandmother was 30 years old; and my mother was 1-year old. My maternal grandmother, no doubt, danced in the streets or something equally exhilarating, since she was a feminist in every way that counted. She was my introduction to feminism and created a powerful image for me of what was possible: an independent woman who did what made her happy rather than what made her husband happy; a woman who frequently spoke truth to power, in spite of her 5-foot, 4-inch frame, and for whom nothing seemed impossible.

 

 

The non-vetting of Hillary Clinton

I'll have more to say about Obama's VP pick in my blog after I have a chance to review some of the voluminous information on Sen. Biden. 

For now I want to tease out the vetting of VP contenders from the actual discussion about the VP pick. 

Setting aside the harsh feelings and attitudes expressed about Hillary Clinton during the primaries, I think it was a mistake for Obama not to have vetted her for VP, which we are now learning he didn't do.

Tim Kaine on Obama's Short List! Really?

Let me preface my comments with this note: I'm not one to really follow the "veepstakes". I consider it a waste of time and energy, especially when, where I live, summer is really short.

However, after several days of online murmers that Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine is at the top of Obama's short list for VP, I have to weigh in.

Happy 4th of July! - Part I

In keeping with the spirit of the holiday, Sen. Patty Murray has introduced legislation to provide an array of health care services at VA hospitals/clinics, for female veterans:

The legislation, the Women Veterans Health Improvement Act of 2008, seeks to prepare the VA for the unprecedented influx of female veterans who will access care there in the coming years. The legislation addresses many of the unique needs of female veterans by authorizing programs to improve care for Military Sexual Trauma (MST), increase research on the current barriers to care, and expand women veterans staff positions at the VA.

The bill was passed as part of S. 2969 – The Veterans' Health Care Authorization Act of 2008 -- a larger "omnibus" bill that incorporated a number of different veterans' health care measures.

Enough With The Roe v. Wade Arguments

Since Hillary Clinton conceded the Democratic nomination on June 7, I have read at least two articles a day by progressive bloggers telling Democratic women why it is in women's best interests to vote for Barack Obama. Of the numerous articles, these six are the most representative arguments.

In every case these purveyors of wisdom alternately chide us, berate us for being angry at the media, the Democratic Party system, and its leaders, and lecture us about throwing away our Freedom of Choice if we do not do the right thing and vote for Barack Obama.

First, let me get something out of the way: I'm a proponent and advocate of ensuring women's reproductive rights.