you go girl!

[->Soon]

http://www.charlotte.com/112/story/53232.html

u go girl!

[LegalMatters]

Quick note but has everyone on the thread taken a look at female enrollment at the schools they've applied to or are going to? I don't think there's a one where women aren't the minority gender.

[->Soon]

Quick note but has everyone on the thread taken a look at female enrollment at the schools they've applied to or are going to? I don't think there's a one where women aren't the minority gender.

well, i believe its one of the few areas where men are still in the majority.

but dont worry, it wont last much longer....

[LegalMatters]

Does that mean we have to publicly admit we've already been running the world for hundreds of years?

[->Soon]

well, I havent (yet), so no...

[->Soon]

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/NEWS01/703240372/1006/NEWS01


ummm, this one is more for me   

[LegalMatters]

At the risk of sounding catty, I still haven't heard a valid argument for beauty pageants to continue. But I've heard a new term emerge recently for organizers to legitimize them: Scholarship contests.

And will someone please explain to me how strutting around a stage in a bathing suit is the better way to judge physical fitness than say, making the entrants run a 50 meter race?

The contests are basically public purity tests - if you're pretty and pure, you get money and fame. Whoa to you if you had an indiscretion somewhere in your past. I guess I can sort of see some sort of positive effects if it boosts a woman's low self-esteem, the poise part I agree with, but overall it's a joke.

[->Soon]

Female state lawmakers are moving into leadership roles in unprecedented numbers, overseeing their legislatures' daily business, shaping states' political agendas and, advocates say, laying the groundwork to get more women elected.
ADVERTISEMENT

This year, 58 women lawmakers were chosen as legislative leaders — senate presidents, house speakers, presidents pro tem — a 20 percent gain over last year's 48 and more than double the female leaders in 2000, according to a count by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

At just 17 percent of all state legislative leaders, that's still barely one out of six, and far from reflecting the general population; women make up slightly more than half of all Americans.

Still, the gains come at a pivotal moment for female politicians, with
Hillary Rodham Clinton running for president and Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) the first female speaker of the U.S. House.

Having female legislative leaders will influence the public and fellow lawmakers, they hope, changing attitudes so more women seek public office and more voters choose to support them.

"If you're not at the table, you don't get heard," said Massachusetts Sen. Therese Murray, a Democrat who made history in March when she was chosen by fellow lawmakers to serve as Senate president — the first woman in her state ever to do so. She holds one of the three most powerful positions in state government.

Women legislative leaders numbered only four in the nearly all-male political world of the late 1970s. That figure rose in the 1990s to between 20 and 28 — still 8 percent or less of all legislative leaders.

But after 2000, the numbers began to climb: to 30 in 2001; 42 in 2003; 48 in 2006, and now 58.

Credit goes to the women who broke ground and paid their dues, winning chairmanships and building coalitions, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at New Jersey's Rutgers University. "Part of it is they've been in there and they've earned their spots," she said.

But that's only part of the equation, she and others say.

"It isn't just about individuals," said Marie Wilson, president of the White House Project, a nonprofit group that aims to encourage women to lead in business and politics. "There has been a change in the country and the culture. The culture matters. ... You start to see women as leaders. You get comfortable with women, whether you like their policies or not."

Women still have a long way to go to achieve parity.

They still make up only 16.3 percent of Congress overall. And Clinton's is the first high-profile female candidacy aiming for the top of the ticket since Geraldine Ferraro served as Walter Mondale's vice presidential running mate in 1984. The Democrats lost to President Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

In state legislatures, women made big gains from the 1970s, when they were an anomaly, through the late 1990s, when growth plateaued at between 20 percent and 22 percent of statehouses. That sparked a nationwide effort to help encourage and train women to give politics a try.

The 2006 election saw the number edge up slightly — now women make up 23.5 percent of state lawmakers. Leadership in state capitals, however, has undergone much more significant changes, especially this decade.

Taking on such responsibilities helps erase the outdated, misguided perception that there are "women's issues," said Kentucky Senate President Pro Tem Katie Stine, a Republican. She not only wields the gavel, but oversees debate and decides what gets heard and when.

"I didn't get the impression that my gender was even an issue" when she was elected, Stine said. "When you're in the forest you don't notice the trees."

But she has noticed that other women lawmakers in Kentucky are still few and far between — only about one out of eight. Just over a third of legislators are women in Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Vermont, the five states with the most female representation.

Women have made gains running for governor, where the current total — nine — is tied with an earlier record.

For Murray in Massachusetts, her rise was a mix of tradition and defying it.

When she first won election, she was only the 16th woman ever elected to the Massachusetts Legislature. Despite her engineering background, she was assigned to the human services committee.

But she wound up as chairwoman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, one of the most powerful because it decides on the budget, making her a go-to player. That role, along with traditional horse-trading of promises and appointments, helped her win support for the Senate presidency.

Men have a "farm team" — a network of like-minded colleagues that work on campaigns, help people make connections and encourage a bid for office. "Women have never had that farm team," she said.

Slowly, she said, that's starting to change.

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Click-2-Listen
'Ugly Betty' star says body image doesn't weigh heavily on her mind

Associated Press
Published on: 04/13/07

New York —- She may drop a few pounds here and there, but "Ugly Betty" star America Ferrera says she'll never become a Hollywood waif.

"There are times when I go to the gym and really try, and there are times when I just don't," the actress, who turns 23 on Wednesday, tells W magazine in its May issue. "I gain a pound; I lose a pound. But I think I've developed a really good sense of when I'm doing something for myself as opposed to when I'm doing something because of other people's expectations of me.

"And honestly, even if I wanted to be anorexic, I just don't have what it takes," she continues. "After four hours of being anorexic, I'd be like, 'It's been four whole hours! Feed me!' "

Ferrera is on the rise: She won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards this year for her role as awkward assistant Betty Suarez on "Ugly Betty" and has appeared on a host of magazine covers.

Salma Hayek, an executive producer of the ABC comedy, charmed Ferrara into accepting the part.

"Honestly, I never saw myself doing TV, but Salma was so convincing," says Ferrera, who's starred in the movies "Real Women Have Curves" and "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."

"Salma is the kind of person who could sell you, like, a used stereo. She promised me that it would be done in the right way, and I just trusted her."

[dcollins]

I just came acroos this great thread.  I'll add some kudos to female athletes making "mile"stones in high profile sports.  These women are tough & are getting tougher, stronger, faster, and - similar to "Betty" - portray untraditional femininity.  Great role models for girls of all backgrounds.  And more & more women are competing at the highest levels.  Road racing is just one example.  (Where would we be without Title IX?)

The winner of today's race did it in 2 1/2 hours...egads


"26 Miles Empowered Women Around the World

Two miles into the 1967 Boston Marathon, an official tried to eject me from the race simply because I was a woman. That event changed my life and, as a consequence, the lives of millions of women around the world.

The marathon was a man’s race in those days; women were considered too fragile to run it. But I had trained hard and was confident of my strength. Still, it took a body block from my boyfriend to knock the official off the course and allow me to complete the 26 miles 385 yards.

In 1967, few would have believed that marathon running would someday attract millions of women, become a glamour event in the Olympics and on the streets of major cities, help transform views of women’s physical ability and help redefine their economic roles in traditional cultures.

It happened because on a basic level, running empowers women and raises their self-esteem while promoting physical fitness easily and inexpensively.

In the final 24 miles of my first Boston Marathon, I knew that women needed only opportunities. I have since devoted my life to opening doors, primarily by creating a series of women’s races in 27 countries. That helped pave the way to the inclusion of the women’s marathon as an official Olympic event in 1984. Joan Benoit Samuelson of Maine crossed the finish line first in that race, an important moment for women watching around the world.

We learned that women are not deficient in endurance and stamina, and that running requires no fancy facilities or equipment. Women’s marathoning has created a global legacy.

I have seen women in Brazil and the Philippines race without shoes but with their hearts full of pride. These runners have helped change much of the social and cultural fabric in their countries.

In Kenya, successful female runners are breaking the cycle of second-class status. They go back to their villages and use their prize money to build schools, purify water and start training camps for other women.

In Japan, companies aim to gain prestige by recruiting female marathoners to run at the highest level. In Britain, many thousands line the streets to see Paula Radcliffe race. In Russia, Mexico and Ethiopia, a few thousand American dollars go a long way to making a better life. The winsome Jelena Prokopcuka has injected spirit into Latvia.

In tomorrow’s Boston Marathon, women will make up 40 percent of the field. The percentage is higher in many other marathons. According to Runners World magazine, women account for an average of 51 percent of the fields in all road races in the United States.

At the same time, the quality of women’s performances has soared. When Radcliffe set the women’s world record, 2 hours 15 minutes 25 seconds, in the 2003 London Marathon, she was also the first British finisher, male or female. The depth of talent has increased to the point that women will be the headliners tomorrow in Boston.

With all due respect to the outstanding international men’s field, including Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya, who won the Boston and Chicago Marathons last year, the real buzz is about the competition among Deena Kastor of the United States, Rita Jeptoo of Kenya and Prokopcuka.

An American woman has not won the Boston race since 1985, so Kastor is under pressure. She has the right stuff. Kastor was the first American woman to break the 2:20 barrier when she won the London Marathon last year in 2:19:36. In 2004, she ran a thrilling come-from-behind race to take the bronze medal in the Athens Olympics.

You can be sure that many lining the route tomorrow from Hopkinton, Mass., to Boston will be screaming encouragement to Kastor to win for the United States, which has struggled to regain dominance in the marathon.

Kastor, who has never run the Boston Marathon, finished sixth in the New York City Marathon last year; Prokopcuka won that race and is making her third Boston appearance. Jeptoo won in Boston last year, even though she arrived only hours before the start because of passport problems. Another contender is Madai Pérez of Mexico, an up-and-comer who may be ready for a breakthrough.

The women’s race should be riveting, and it will be front and center. The Boston race, like several other major marathons, now starts the elite women before the men. The women’s races have become so popular and intriguing that the public and the news media wish to see the race unfold without male runners obstructing the view.

The drama is considerable because the marathon is a long and unpredictable race. Women won the right to run it, and they do so powerfully, inspiring others.

In 40 years, female marathoners have gone from being labeled as intruders to being hailed as stars of the sport."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/sports/15switzer.html