Archive for the 'Women!' Category
Posted May 6, 2007 at 1:48 PM | Tagged as: Current Events, Places I Love, Politics, Women! | Comments Off
Despite the fact that all recent evidence pointed to this outcome, I’m still sad to see that Ségolène Royal was not elected as the new French president. I was glad to hear that about 85% of the French people voted, though — that’s huge!
I didn’t follow the election all that closely — though I probably paid more attention than the average American. My French isn’t all that great anymore, but from what I was reading about Mme. Royal’s position and what I thought I understood, I thought she had some great ideas in her 100-point plan.
I wonder what will happen to France as a country with Nicolas Sarkozy at its helm. His plans for changing France have been called “American” and “racist” by some — and for France, that really scares me. I don’t mind him fighting for things like over 35-hour work weeks (because I never could quite understand how anything ever got done in France when there were so few work hours), but it seems to me that he does come across in much the same way that Dubya does — hard-headed and unwilling to change his views in the face of opposition. He’s known for his bad temper. I think he’s kinda scary.
I also can’t help but wonder how this may affect Hillary Clinton as she contends for the Democratic presidential nomination. I’m not yet sure who I’m for in that run-off, but I certainly have a keen eye watching what goes on with her, just to see how she’s treated by the media and how she handles herself. I heard that, in the last French presidential debate, Royal was on the offensive — which Sarkozy called out as being un-presidential. A thinly veiled sexist attack that we’re to see more of in the U.S.? We’ll see soon enough…
Posted May 3, 2007 at 1:14 AM | Tagged as: GHC, Technology, Web Stuff, Women! | Comments Off
The new Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology site went live earlier today. Please check it out and let me know what you think!
The production of this site has been one of my labors of love over the past year and I’m so honored that the Institute, whose mission is near and dear to my heart, chose KimmieCorp to create their new Web presence. But I didn’t work alone:
- Phoebe Espiritu did all of the UI and Visual Design work, and without her efforts, this site wouldn’t look anywhere near as elegant and engaging as it does.
- Erica Rios, ABI’s Internet Project Manager, deserves huge kudos for persuading ABI to undergo this redesign, and for working so diligently to see it through.
- Eric Mason and Deborah Alexander, the ABI Communications team, were also key in giving design direction and in posting content.
Thanks to everyone above for their great work, plus to everyone else at ABI (including their volunteers) for their trust and cooperation!
Folks, here’s a public service reminder: There are plenty of other non-profit and volunteer organizations out there that need help and advice when it comes to creating a functional, usable, accessible and stylish Web site… so find one that you’re committed to and get to work! The organization will have a site that communicates their message in a compelling manner, and you’ll have work that you can be proud of. It’s great when doing good is a win-win.
Posted April 24, 2007 at 11:07 PM | Tagged as: Politics, Pro-Choice, Women! | Comments Off
There’s so much that’s been brewing, but between work, volunteer commitments, and being sick, I haven’t had time to write. But certain urgent issues must receive attention!
Today is Equal Pay Day — the day each year that female workers’ earnings finally catch up with men’s earnings for all of last year. Why do women earn less, and why do we stand for it? I don’t want to hear that it’s about education or the fact that women take time off to have kids — even knowing that I’m an exception, I still know women that have more technical and more advanced degrees than their male counterparts that take a back seat in pay. And in my career so far, I’ve known men to take far more paternity leave (up to 9 months!) than the women who’ve taken maternity leave. It’s time for equality — which still needs to be written into the Constitution — and the Paycheck Fairness Act can help.
Now that the Supreme Court is out to take over my husband’s job and prescribe medical treatment for people in this country (or is it just women in this country?) EVERYONE ought to be scared. If you want safe and effective options available to you when your life is in danger, when you want a choice in what happens to you, support the Freedom of Choice Act. Even if you don’t support abortion-rights, think about the fact that the Federal Abortion Ban makes women into second-class citizens, unable to make decisions about their lives and bodies, even in times of crisis or mortal danger — now aren’t you appalled?
PLEASE, encourage your senators and representatives to support both of these important bills! Haven’t we had enough of this administration’s “Daddy knows best” misogyny and must we institute it into law?!
Posted March 29, 2007 at 12:00 PM | Tagged as: Just Sayin, Politics, Women! | Comments Off
Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
It’s amazing how many people believe that the above is already U.S. law. It isn’t — it’s Section 1 of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which was not, in fact, ratified in 1982. It’s now known as the Women’s Equality Amendment and is being reintroduced in Congress. Isn’t it time, already?!?
Posted March 11, 2007 at 2:40 PM | Tagged as: Just Sayin, SxSW, Technology, Women! | 4 Comments
I’ll have more to say about other aspects of SXSW later, but I wanted to say that the Non-Developers to Open Source Acolytes: Tell Me Why I Care panel was the best panel I’ve ever been to at SXSW. The audience was diverse (about 50/50!) and engaged, and we had a discussion that even enlightened me about something I thought I knew quite a bit about.
Thank you, Elisa Camahort, for organizing such an interesting and engaging panel. Now I really want to attend BlogHer because I’m sure you organize a kick-ass conference.
It was also really wonderful to hear from Annalee Newitz (co-editor of the very awesome She’s Such a Geek), Dawn Foster, and my friend Erica Rios. Erica made poignant references to women’s involvement in creating technology and to the opportunities available to women via open source, which received a round of applause. Needless to say, that discussion needs to be continued.
Note to Hugh Forrest: Bring back Elisa as a moderator — or maybe as a keynote?! — and bring back these panelists to continue a discussion that brought everyone to the table!
« Previous Entries Next Entries »
