Feminism: is it Real -- or is it Memo~Regina~x

NOW that we have your attention:

MooPig Introduces Personals: "Big Boned with a Healthy Appetite for Life needed immediately to make coffee and to type for editors of slowest growing blog on record."

Feminist Chronicles 1980
[Excerpt] "At the 1980 Democratic Convention, despite heavy Carter opposition and without official Ted Kennedy support, Ellie Smeal led a NOW delegation and like-minded feminist delegates in a fight to pass the strongest ERA and reproductive rights planks in political history. Women, for the first time at any party convention, were 50% (49.23% to be exact) of the voting delegates.

And the 50-50 representation made a difference on women's issues. When it came to women's rights, Carter and Kennedy delegates alike voted for the feminist positions, denying Democratic National Committee resources to candidates opposed to the ERA and supporting Medicaid funding of abortions for poor women. (08/11-14/80)

"In the spirit of total mobilization, the NOW National Conference, held in San Antonio, voted overwhelmingly (by a margin of 2 to 1) to extend the terms of the officers and board members one year so that the internal elections would not interrupt the momentum of the final days of the ERA ratification drive. (10/03-05/80)

"Ronald Reagan was elected President. However, for the first time since passage of the 19th Amendment, women voted differently than men in a Presidential election. And they did so mostly on the basis of women's issues. According to all of the exit polls, women voted for Reagan significantly less than men did.

The New York Times/CBS News Poll reported that 8% fewer women (46%) voted for Reagan than did men (54%). The December 1980 post-election issue of NOW Times, NOW's national newspaper, carried the story under a banner headline: "Women Vote Differently Than Men . . . Feminist Bloc Emerges in 1980 Elections" by Eleanor Smeal. This was the first article to note , define and name the "Gender Gap." (12/80)

Women in politics: The European Union and Hungary: Gabriella Ilonszki
[Excerpt] "The impact of the EU on equal opportunities for women may be approached from many angles, including general human rights, the specific labour market situation, legal harmonization processes, etc. (Pető, 2003; Gyulavári and Kardos, 2000); and, of course, from the viewpoint of politics and decision-making.

However, in general, little attention is paid to the issues of the role of women in politics.

1 One reason for this may be that Hungarian politics is dominated by inter-parties and personal conflicts and important public policy issues, as well as general matters of principle and ‘common good’ are pushed into the background."

taking action for women's equality since 1966 NOW

ERA
[Excerpt]The initial pace of state legislative ratifications was rapid during 1972 and 1973, but then slowed considerably with only three ratifications during 1974, just one in 1975, none at all in 1976, and only one in 1977. The 92nd Congress, in proposing the ERA, had set a seven-year time limit for the Amendment's ratification, and by the end of that deadline on March 22, 1979, a total of 35 of the required 38 states had ratified it. However, five of these 35 states withdrew their ratifications before the deadline arrived.

Top Ten Reasons Why American Women Suck [Excerpt]

"Charge of Puerility (Code Green) - The Peter Pan Charge
Discussion: The target is accused of being immature and/or irresponsible in some manner that reflects badly on his status as an adult male. Examples:

• "Grow up!"

• "You are so immature!"

• "Do you live with your mother?"

• "I'm not interested in boys. I'm interested in real men."

• "Men are shirking their God-given responsibility to marry and bear children."
  

Response: It should be remembered that one's sexual history, marital status, parental status, etc. are not reliable indicators of maturity and accountability. If they were, then we would not hear of white collar crime, divorce, teen sex, unplanned pregnancies, extramarital affairs, etc."

Ex-Panther talks on feminism's failures; Marilyn Mead
[Excerpt] "When you spoke at NYU, you mentioned that you weren't talking about the "Ms. Magazine, Vagina Monologues, Hillary Clinton type of feminism."

I work with women who are in prison for killing men that beat them for years. Those situations need help, they are real. We need to look at real issues."

School Success by Gender: A Catalyst for the Masculinist Discourse [Excerpt]
1. THE GLOBALIZATION CONTEXT"The implication of the discourse at this time is that women's issues are passé, equality has been achieved; and not only has it been achieved, but now the tables have apparently been turned.

In Canada, a line of argument has been advanced over the past decade to support the idea that men and boys are being discriminated against by the school system, the health care system, the legal system and the government.

In only 10 years (a very short time from a historical perspective), the women's movement has lost much of its legitimacy in pursuing its goals of equality. Over that period, what we call the "usurpation discourse" (Bouchard, 1994) has emerged.

It implies that women are not entitled to the positions they have earned because they have received historical and political preferential treatment in the form of programs, legislation, measures and financial resources as a result of the feminist movement.

This discourse is being spread by the media, relying on the arguments of masculinities groups formed and organized during the same period."