The invite described the discussion with the following blurb:
"The current economic crisis will forever change the way in which New Yorkers and Americans view our economic security. How will this crisis impact New York?s working women and their families and what can women's leaders do to make a difference? Please join us and a distinguished group of panelists from the media, labor, business and the policy arena for this important public policy debate on the economy and gender equality. The forum features a special guest, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney on her new book entitled, "Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: Why Women's Lives Aren't Getting Any Easier--And How We Can Make Real Progress For Ourselves and Our Daughters."
U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-14th Dist.) opened the her portion of the panel by quipping that "In this period of economic downturn there's one area where we have achieved equality; job loss." This set the tone for the evening. One of smart, witty and frank discussion of the situation that women are in within the greater context of American economics; now and since the women's suffrage movement.
Representative Maloney was part of an illustrious panel of eleven people including experts from government, organized labor, academia, the media and finance.
Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, the union that represents more than 20,000 faculty and staff at the City University of New York, added that "It's not a race-, gender- and class-free crisis. It is constructed on the same lines of the existing divides within society."
The panelists pointed out that women are particularly vulnerable during this economic downturn because of their disadvantaged economic status, citing studies that revealed that women still earn on average 79 cents to every dollar earned by a man, and they are less likely to hold leadership positions in business and government. Furthermore, Rep. Maloney reported that women were more likely to be hurt by the subprime mortgage crisis, having received a disproportionate share of the risky loans as compared with prime mortgages, and single-parent households, the vast majority headed by single mothers, are at risk of falling below the poverty level during economic downturns.
The panel also included Kathleen A. Frankovic, a member of the President's Council of Cornell Women, and director of surveys at CBS News who brought the results of the latest New York Times/CBS News polls on the economy which revealed some discrepancies in the way that men and women perceive the economic downturn: 58 percent of women surveyed thought the economy was very bad compared with 41 percent of men, and 72 percent of women thought the economy would worsen compared with 61 percent of their male counterparts. However, women were also more hopeful that the U.S. government's bailout plan would work, she said.
Also on the panel, N.Y. Assemblywomen Catherine Nolan (D-37th Dist.) and Barbara Lifton (D-125th Dist.), joined Rep. Maloney in describing the disturbing systematic rolling back of women's rights in the federal government. I was surprised and upset to learn that the United States never ratified the equal rights amendment for women, which came before Congress in the late 1970s and that the United States (along with Sudan, Iran and Somalia) is not one of the 185 nations to adopt the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
It was an engaging and inspiring event that I was extremely please to participate in. One of the things I really miss about Cornell and academia in general is the interchange of ideas by smart, articulate, insightful adults and this event really lived up to those expectations. I was disturbed to discover that women still have lots of hurdles to overcome, albeit more insidious ones, but inspired to be an informed and active voter to live up to the legacy of women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony - who incidentally, were finally honored in 1996 by having their statue moved to the rotunda after 75 years being disgraceful stashed in the basement (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E3DF153CF934A1575AC0A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all).
Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, the union that represents more than 20,000 faculty and staff at the City University of New York, added that "It's not a race-, gender- and class-free crisis. It is constructed on the same lines of the existing divides within society."
The panelists pointed out that women are particularly vulnerable during this economic downturn because of their disadvantaged economic status, citing studies that revealed that women still earn on average 79 cents to every dollar earned by a man, and they are less likely to hold leadership positions in business and government. Furthermore, Rep. Maloney reported that women were more likely to be hurt by the subprime mortgage crisis, having received a disproportionate share of the risky loans as compared with prime mortgages, and single-parent households, the vast majority headed by single mothers, are at risk of falling below the poverty level during economic downturns.
The panel also included Kathleen A. Frankovic, a member of the President's Council of Cornell Women, and director of surveys at CBS News who brought the results of the latest New York Times/CBS News polls on the economy which revealed some discrepancies in the way that men and women perceive the economic downturn: 58 percent of women surveyed thought the economy was very bad compared with 41 percent of men, and 72 percent of women thought the economy would worsen compared with 61 percent of their male counterparts. However, women were also more hopeful that the U.S. government's bailout plan would work, she said.
Also on the panel, N.Y. Assemblywomen Catherine Nolan (D-37th Dist.) and Barbara Lifton (D-125th Dist.), joined Rep. Maloney in describing the disturbing systematic rolling back of women's rights in the federal government. I was surprised and upset to learn that the United States never ratified the equal rights amendment for women, which came before Congress in the late 1970s and that the United States (along with Sudan, Iran and Somalia) is not one of the 185 nations to adopt the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
It was an engaging and inspiring event that I was extremely please to participate in. One of the things I really miss about Cornell and academia in general is the interchange of ideas by smart, articulate, insightful adults and this event really lived up to those expectations. I was disturbed to discover that women still have lots of hurdles to overcome, albeit more insidious ones, but inspired to be an informed and active voter to live up to the legacy of women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Susan B. Anthony - who incidentally, were finally honored in 1996 by having their statue moved to the rotunda after 75 years being disgraceful stashed in the basement (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E3DF153CF934A1575AC0A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all).
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