Women News June 9, 2009

Sunday Tony Awards: Best Play: Good News! Winner: "God of Carnage" - Author: Yasmina Reza

Jane: She was the only only female nominated for best play .In general women were missing this season from ten of the Tony categories. Dolly Parton was nominated for best original score for translating the feminist anthem 9 to 5 into a musical, and Jeanine Tesori was nominated for music in Shrek The Musical. Neither one of them won the award

Joan: The Tony Awards are theater's most prestigious and coveted prize. It is ironical that so few women receive it since the Tony’s, were named for Antoinette Perry whose nickname was. Toni She was a Denver actress who later turned successfully to producing and directing in an era when women in the business were usually relegated to acting, costume design or choreography. Sounds a bit like today, but her career started in the early 1900s. She's still one of the most revered women in theatre. Amazingly, and sadly, well into the 1970s, Perry was the only woman director with a track record of Broadway hits.  
Jane: According to Silverstien, the fact that Nottage's play is not on Broadway reflects an uncomfortable trend throughout the American theatrical landscape: the lack of women's voices. According to a count last fall, in 2008-09, the 13 NYC non-profit theaters that featured plays by living playwrights produced nine plays by women out of a total of 50. That's 18 percent. This is a 5 percent increase in the women’s share since the 1908-09 Broadway season when women were feature at 13 percent. Additionally, of all the Pulitzer winning plays over the last decade, four were won by women but none of these began their lives on Broadway and only one, Suzan Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog, eventually got transferred to Broadway.

Paid Parental Leave for Federal Workers

Joan: On Friday, the House approved a bill that would offer federal employees four weeks of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. If it clears the Senate, President Obama is expected to sign it into law. Currently, under the Family and Medical Leave Act, most U.S. workers can take up to 12 weeks off for the birth or adoption of a child, but employers don't have to pay them during any of that period. Since the federal government is the United States' largest employer,  supporters of the bill are hopeful that it's just the first step toward future legislation that would extend the leave to employees in private companies, too. I am trying to be patient and learn that we have to take these important matters step by step and be happy for each step we make. It feels a bit like a stealth attack. In the military, mothers already get six weeks paid time off to care for a new child, and fathers get 10 days. Still,  according to Moms Rising, the United States is one of only four countries that does not offer paid leave more broadly to new mothers, the others being Papua. New Guinea, Swaziland and Lesotho (pronounced li-so-to--kind of rhymes with DeSoto)

Good news for Sarasota:

Jane: Last Monday the city commission lead by Dick Clapp approved a resolution to support the Department of Peace House Bill HR808 which asks the American public and their representatives to support non violence as an American value. It seeks to establish a Department of Peace as a cabinet position functioning along side the Department of Defense. By passing this resolution Sarasota joins other cities across the nation in recognizing the responsibilities both locally and nationally to address the problems of violence within our communities.

This resolution was promoted by the local Peace Alliance chapter under the leadership of Joyce Raby, a Sarasota County school teacher engaged in the community and area peace, diversity and non violence efforts. She is assisted by Alexandra Coe, anthropologist and creative director of Gentle Storm Productions, a media company that guides Not-for-Profits and international NGOs in creating media driven campaigns for social change.

Joan: The bill, known as HR 808, intended  to create a cabinet level department of peace and non-violence was introduced in Congress  by Dennis Kucinich initially in 2005, again in 2007 and again this past February. So far each time it was sent to committee and died there. Once again it is in committee, and it is hard to say whether it will get out of committee, so it is especially good that communities like Sarasota are working this from the ground up instead of from the Congress down

Jane: President Obama appointed Alexia Kelley, founder of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, as director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. I like many people would like to know why this post was given to someone who believes that the Catholic church is right to prohibit birth control, to oversee the department's faith-based grant-making in family planning, HIV and AIDS  The HHS grants more than $20 million for family-planning services to faith-based and community groups. "Can pro-family-planning religious groups expect a fair deal from a director who believes that birth control, even for married couples, is immoral?" asks Frances Kissling of Salon.com.

Liddy Sexism Towards Sotomayor

Joan: Such sexism is evident in the agenda of many of Judge Sotomayor’s opponents. According to Erica Gonzalez, the opinion page editor for El Diario/La Prensa, "The language used to describe Sotomayor ... reflects a stale, conservative script with two aims: deflating the power of a woman poised to advance our nation and using her gender against her for political means. And it fuels a Jurassic and patriarchal notion that leadership and greatness are the domain of only men."

In an attempt to discredit Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor, prominent conservatives have called her a "racist.” Former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich "tweeted" his followers that the Hispanic appeals court judge was a "Latina woman racist" who should withdraw. Commentator Pat Buchanan called Sotomayor an "affirmative action pick" and "an anti-white judge." Radio host Rush Limbaugh called her a "reverse racist" and compared her to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. And so on. Hard to believe. Of course they know their audience and are trying to appeal to them, which is even more alarming.

A June 3 Media Matters for America report recorded some of the gender-racial stereotypes used to characterized Sotomayor's temperament and intellect. They cite as examples calling her "a terror on the bench"; " very outspoken"; "difficult."; "temperamental and excitable". "angry." "overly aggressive". She behaves in "an out of control" manner." She "dominates" oral argument. "She can be "very aggressive" in her questioning." "She can "get harsh" in oral argument."  Comment (Jane): For Sotomayor, being an intelligent, aggressive attorney, traits are not negative in most men, are subject to such biasness.

Comment (Joan): That’s how oral argument works. Lawyers expect it, but when they lose, they prefer to blame it on the judge.

Jane:  Despite all this misogynous language, fifty-four percent of U.S. residents would like to see Sotomayor confirmed as a Supreme Court justice, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday. The poll shows that 28% of those surveyed opposed the confirmation and 19% had no opinion. The poll was conducted between Friday and Sunday, questioning 1,015 adults (Silva, Los Angeles Times, 6/2).

Joan: this from CAIRO, Egypt (CNN):  President Obama spoke Thursday about the debate of women’s rights: he said he  rejects  the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but he does believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality. And, he said, “ it is no coincidence that countries where women are well-educated are far more likely to be prosperous.” He added, “Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons, and our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity “ men and women “ to reach their full potential.

Florida denies rights to young women

Jane: On April 27, 2009, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) board of directors voted to impose state-sanctioned gender discrimination by cutting regular-season athletic schedules by 20 percent for varsity contests and 40 percent for junior varsity contests, while exempting football and competitive cheerleading. The FHSAA’s proposed cuts discriminate against women in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §1681 “ 1688 (Title IX), and the Florida Educational Equity Act

Comment Joan: This is in a violation of the Florida ERA and a national ERA, if we had such.

Joan: I have a particularly hard time with the comparisons between football for males and cheerleading for females. Granted cheer leading can require some skilled gymnastic, and I guess there are a few male cheerleaders but for the most part it is the women  always cheering on the men, and I don’t like the message it sends unless the cheering goes both ways, and I haven’t seen that.