Glass Escalator: For Men Only

The glass escalator is a new phenomenon similar to the glass ceiling, except that instead of hitting their heads as they try to rise to the top, men entering largely female dominated professions are carried past their women co-workers in winged chariots known as glass escalators.

Not surprisingly, as the job market shrinks, men are entering traditionally female-dominated professions—nursing, teaching, etc.  This is great news for the professions, as far as I am concerned, and also great news for men who are willing to enter or retrain for these positions.  The bad news for women is that they have to watch the men swiftly move past them for promotions and pay raises. ... Read more.

Living on PLANET WHITE

Diahnn Carroll as Julia

Friends, can it really be true that we’ve had no tv series with a single African-American female lead since 1974???  The article below mentions Teresa Graves’s as an undercover detective in the 1974 made-for-TV flick Get Christie Love!, which I do not remember, but I DO remember watching the beautiful Diahnn Carroll as Julia when I was a kid back in the late ’60s.

So, um, let’s see.  Diahnn Carroll broke that glass ceiling, Teresa Graves followed her, and um, we’ve had a mere 40 year absence of series led by a single black woman?? ... Read more.

Mina Harker: An Uncooperative Protagonist

From the first time that I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula in my teens, though I revered the work, I just knew that the character Mina Harker, Dracula’s obsession, was not satisfied with the role Mr. Stoker gave her—the quintessentially compliant Victorian virgin.  I knew that there had to be more to her than that.  (I knew that there had to be more to any woman than that.)

Anyone who has read my books knows that I am all about restoring grrrrl power to the historical record.  In Dracula in Love, I decided to tackle a work of fiction, reexamining an iconic female character that had not been given her due.  In a nutshell, my plan was to rescue Mina from Stoker’s sexist fantasy of the nice, cooperative girl, and empower her. ... Read more.

New Roles for Libyan women

Libyan women have demonstrated bold and courageous acts during the revolution.  Will they go the way of Rosie the Riveter once peace is restored?  In Egypt, women were on the front lines of the revolution but NOT A SINGLE female is on the committee to rewrite the Egyptian constitution.  Will this document represent women’s rights?  Probably not.

Historically, once a revolution or war effort has used female talent, intelligence, energy, and drive, it sends those very women back into traditional roles, denying their evolution as active members of civic life.  What a shame it would be if the Arab Spring repeats that mistake.  I am hoping that the brave women of Tripoli are neither silenced not sent back into the kitchens. ... Read more.