tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77176941570940858372024-03-13T05:52:32.505-06:00The Feminist Mentorship GapHoping to bridge the gap by discussing feminist mentorship Charlotte Woltershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01940131859930778594noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7717694157094085837.post-35338814181613168582018-08-07T08:16:00.000-06:002018-08-07T08:19:46.687-06:00Is It time to Disrupt Mentorship?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The question of whether mentorship models
work for women and other equity seeking groups has unexpectedly preoccupied me
for the last 10 years. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sifting through
my research for my book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Feminist
Mentorship Gap</i>, which is currently in progress, I am wondering whether
there is a need to completely disrupt mentorship in all its various modes. Is it time to disrupt mentorship?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mentorship has been around a long, long
time. The first use of the word and depiction of a “mentor” appears in <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.2.ii.html">Book II of Homer’s Odyssey</a></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i> Before leaving for the Trojan War,
Odysseus asks his friend Mentor to not simply look after Telemachus, his son,
but to prepare him to lead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Right now, you may be thinking, “that’s
nice, but besides being a completely boring cocktail party factoid or possible <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jeopardy</i> question, so what?” Which is a
totally reasonable response. But it does directly relate to mentorship today. </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In addition to spawning the word
mentorship, this passage framed the way mentorship and formal mentorship
programs are viewed and function.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mentor was not just a friend, but he was a
wise trusted advisor and teacher. The relationship dynamic between Mentor and
Telemachus was both top-down and paternal. Mentor was a counsellor whose role
was to train and prepare the young Telemachus to rule. He was the older
individual who gives his time, knowledge and energy to help a younger man grow his
potential. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Does this mentoring model sound
familiar?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While Homer didn’t invent mentorship, he
depicted a foundational form of human relations from which today’s mentorship models
flow. Across professions and cultures, contemporary mentorship continues to
embrace a top-down paternal power dynamic. Little has changed since ancient
Greece and that is the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over the past 7 years as mentorship program
and community builder, I have heard countless anecdotes and read research
papers on the failure of mentorship programs, and specifically the failire in meeting the
needs of women, LGBTQI2 persons and racialized persons. One common thread can
be traced back to this traditional top-down dynamic and model.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mentorship models are stuck.
They are stuck in a one-way paternal pattern. The mentee is forever a child in
the eyes of their mentor. Putting aside the Freudian and psychodynamic
overtones, the crux of the problem comes down a lopsided power dynamic. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For women, LGBTQI2, racialized persons and
other equity seeking groups, the power dynamics of mentorship are doubly fraught.
These mentees entering a traditional mentorship relationship already contend with
empowerment inequities and institutional barriers. </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Traditional mentorship models
echo and reinforce the same power imbalance through their structure. No matter how
diligent the mentor, the imbalance is there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Perhaps it’s time to disrupt mentorship
models. This means redefining or renaming mentorship. Specifically, how mentorship
is viewed as a top-down transmission of experience into something else. The coaching
or sponsorship trend may offer some insight and disruption. It’s too early to tell.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But perhaps it’s time to re-think the way formal
mentorship programs are designed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Charlotte Woltershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01940131859930778594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7717694157094085837.post-20829785422733063242016-02-02T08:47:00.000-07:002018-08-06T09:28:46.345-06:00What is the Feminist Mentorship Gap Project?<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like many
women, I found traditional mentorship wasn't working for me. When I began
working in PR/communications, there were no solid formal women's mentorship
programs. The few mentorship programs that existed were heavily
flawed. In one case, I landed in a mentor-mentee relationship that functioned
more like a scene out of the movie <i>Mean
Girls</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yet, when
I looked at how mentorship functioned among my male peers I saw a distinct
difference. Mentorship worked for them. Their mentors sponsored and championed
them. If they were caught in unproductive mentorship models, the male mentees
just left. They didn't spend time fretting over breaking off a professional
relationship that wasn't working.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the
years, I saw that mentorship was invaluable but women's mentorship was lacking
something. While I created my own mentorship network and personal
mentorship program, many of my female peers were having difficulties doing
this. Frankly, I thought this was an issue just in my profession. But it
wasn't. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I heard
anecdotes about female mentorship and how it failed women. I saw examples
mentorship gone wrong. In 2008, after
completing some graduate work, I determined that women required a new feminist
based mentorship model. I<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In
response, I conceptualized a new type of women's mentorship and coined the
phrase "feminist mentorship gap". The question was would I have a chance to
operationalize my thought experiment? This became the <b><i>Feminist Mentorship Gap Project.</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While
studying law in 2010 at the University of Ottawa, the opportunity to take my
thought experiment and make it real came along. I took my feminist mentorship
gap theory and framework and founded the Women's Legal Mentorship
Program (WLMP). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since
then the Women's Legal Mentorship Program (WLMP) has grown into a national
not-for-profit focused on working with Canadian law schools to
deliver women's legal mentorship programming and professional development.
It functions as a plug and play model but with a very specific theoretical
underpinning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Currently,
I am completing a book: <b><i>The Feminist Mentorship Gap</i></b>
explaining what it is and how disrupting traditional mentorship models may help fill the gap.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of
my thoughts, challenges and views on both feminism and mentorship are
chronicled her in the </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Feminist Mentorship
Gap blog</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span>Charlotte Woltershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01940131859930778594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7717694157094085837.post-87910537087149168762015-01-11T18:02:00.001-07:002015-01-11T18:05:12.967-07:00Pardon Me Margaret for "Femming Up" on Man Spreading<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Margaret Wente has it wrong. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Her Saturday, January 10, 2015 </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Globe and Mail</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> column entitled:
</span><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/article22383707.ece" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">"Advice to younger women: Practice manning up" </a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">is an example of
picking a trending topic to meet a deadline and appear current instead of
examining the topic in an effort to understand a social concern. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">However, "man spreading" is a social concern.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyone who takes public transit or wants to sit on a public
bench only to be denied by a "man spreader" understands this concern. Yes,
"man spreading" is easily dismissed by the less self aware, but
that's the social concern. People are increasingly more entitled and less self
aware. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Man spreading" is not new and not all men are "man
spreaders". Yet, routinely some men spread their legs wide airing their testicles.
They occupy a space feeling that they are entitled to occupy <u>all </u>the space
without any regard for others. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've witnessed "man
spreaders" refusing to yield their space in a packed subway car during
rush hour in many major cities. I've seen "man spreaders" berate people for
asking them to move over or close their legs. What characterizes
a "man spreader" is not that he occupies space, but it's <u>how </u>he occupies space.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some "man spreaders" thrust their pelvis up suggestively.
Others fling their legs and also arms wide; marking their territory not only
with their bodies, but by spreading whatever other packages they're carrying.
Some glare, daring someone to ask him to close his legs. Most exhibit zero self awareness seemingly
ignorant of their surroundings. What's common to all is the unmistakeably air
of entitlement and hostility that emanates from the "man spreader". The hostility
flows from their disregard for others. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Putting aside the ageist and apologist tone of her column,
what baffles me is Ms. Wente's inability to understand why women are calling men out on "man spreading". She seems egregiously unaware of the potential for harm when a woman asks a "man spreader" to close up shop. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To suggest, as Ms. Wente does, that women need not actively advocate
for their equal space because they "are not weaker vessels" is ludicrous.
She trivializes women taking on this
issue by suggesting they are "monsterizing men". She then suggests society
is to blame for creating as she writes: "an entire class of highly privileged,
mostly affluent young women who feel unsafe on campus, microagressed at every
turn, utterly unable to cope with the garden variety- misdemeanours of boys and
men…". She is truly missing the point.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ms. Wente's stretches her reductive "boys will be boys" view from "man spreading" to the recent Dalhousie dentistry scandal. Thankfully her
inability to distinguish between offensive misogyny and boys having Facebook fun is not
shared by the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario ("RCDSO"),
the governing body for Ontario dentists. True, the RCDSO is a hot bed of radical
feminism; after all they graduated <a href="http://history.rcdso.org/CarolineLouiseJosephineWells">Caroline Louise Wells</a>, the first female
Canadian dentist, in 1893. However, the RCDSO's <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/dalhousie-won-t-release-names-of-dentistry-facebook-scandal-participants-1.2890938">request for the male dental students' names</a> is not a reaction to being pressured by feminists, but the
actions of a responsible regulator. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a society where a <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/usanow/2014/04/25/connecticut-prom-invitation-slash/8147003/">women is stabbed for turning down a prom date</a> or <a href="http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/woman-s-story-about-spat-over-toronto-bus-seat-goes-viral-1.2024511">verbally and physically assaulted for asking a man to move his bag</a> so she
can sit down, women calling "man spreaders" on their behaviour is "manning
up". Actually, it's "femming up". </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since Ms. Wente feels free to lecture young women and give
them advice, let me add to it. Women of all ages, continue to practice
"femming up". </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Continue to advocate for equality on issues as small as
a subway seat or as large as a country. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Claim your space. Whether it's claiming
your place at the table or exclaiming your right to learn and work in a misogynist
free environment. Demand an end to violence against all women and men. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just
keep "femming up" and ignore those who diminish your efforts by trivializing
the impact of incivility with their "boys will be boys" mentality.
You already know the world is cruel and there are jerks, you just have to look
over at the "man spreader". </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Charlotte Woltershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01940131859930778594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7717694157094085837.post-4775664654862109932014-12-28T11:20:00.000-07:002014-12-28T11:20:48.946-07:00Yes, Rex I am femsplaining.<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
This weekend over breakfast, my life partner said to me: "I am looking forward to your reaction to Rex Murphy's column on feminism." He knew it would make me furrow my brow. Now...I rarely make a deep furrow of my brow...with the bangs it goes unnoticed how rare I furrow. But I furrow now...deeply.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Putting aside the obvious Baby Boomer white male privilege issues raised by Mr. Murphy's analysis, I am struck by the continual expectation of many men that feminists pick the "right" issues to focus on.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Just so us "gals" know, appropriate issues are lecturing to women in developing countries on what is best for them, education of girls and women in developing nations, rape and sexual assault issues of women and girls in developing nations. Oh and feminism should never deviate from its expected representations of the angry, unstlyish and unsexual feminist. How dare women dress provocatively and profess a feminist view point. Hmmm is there a pattern?</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Forget issues such as challenging toy makers on gender bias marketing, equal pay for women at home, family leave policies, domestic violence and sexual assault. But keep in mind "ladies" we can talk about sexual assault as long as we stay within our hashtag parameters.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Regarding sexual assault, I found Mr. Murphy's placement of quote marks around "rape" in reference to Lena Dunham's essay on being sexual assaulted insulting. I read Ms. Dunham's book and it was clear she was sexually assaulted. Too many women can relate to that essay in her book. There is no need to place rape in quotes. Unless you are suggesting a blame the victim approach in a sly way. Which I think Mr. Murphy tacitly engages in and it is frankly abhorrent.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
As for his "femsplaining", I think that women should appropriate and create a "femsplaining" hashtag. I interpret femsplaining not as a little populist play on Rebecca Solnit's work on "mansplaining" as an attempt to appear relevant by an increasingly irrelevant crotchety columnist, but as an opportunity.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Femsplaining, if we choose to claim such a term and I think we should, is about feminists (of all genders) explaining to the Mr. Murphys of the world what feminism is about.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
This is a real opportunity to explain to those who read only the headlines that feminism is not just one view or one definition. The ambit of feminism is as diverse and the range of feminist issues runs the gamut of gender bias marketing to genocidal rape of women globally.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
So yes, Mr. Murphy I welcome your <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/femsplaining?source=feed_text&story_id=710706829036692" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl" style="color: #6d84b4;">#</span><span class="_58cm">femsplaining</span></a> and since the<a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/mansplainers?source=feed_text&story_id=710706829036692" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl" style="color: #6d84b4;">#</span><span class="_58cm">mansplainers</span></a> of the world only pay attention to feminist issues when their hashtags are trending. I think it's time to <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/femsplain?source=feed_text&story_id=710706829036692" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl" style="color: #6d84b4;">#</span><span class="_58cm">femsplain</span></a> a few things in the only way you like your "women folk" to talk...in 140 characters or less.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4444446563721px; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 21.466667175293px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>This blog post is in response to Rex Murphy's National Post column "the year in activist feminism" which appeared on December 27, 2014. </i></span></div>
Charlotte Woltershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01940131859930778594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7717694157094085837.post-4029694968976653202011-06-27T14:25:00.000-06:002018-08-06T09:29:17.259-06:00Shoes for June...Dress for Corporate Succcess but Expect a Wage Gap<br />
<br />
<br />
These three inch high heels black leather pumps are designed to go with any woman's corporate ladder needs.<br />
<br />
Often seen in HR cartoon drawings of what is appropriate office footwear. Or on covers of old 1980s and 1990s corporate "dress for success" manuals. Every woman embarking on a corporate career is expected to have a pair of these. <br />
<br />
However, versatile in taking you from business to after business hours affairs I am not sure they've fulfilled their 1980s and 1990s goal for the women pictured climbing the ladder of success. Especially when according to the Conference Board of Canada, "gap in income between men and women in Canada is 21 per cent."<br />
<br />
The Conference Board of Canada goes on to note, "women aged 25 to 29 employed on a full-time, full-year basis earned 85 cents for each dollar received by their male counterparts in 2005. Among women aged 50 to 54, the ratio amounted to just 72 cents."<br />
<br />
More women are going to university and college but still earning less than the most mediocre male. Perhaps it's time to re-think the shoes!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/society/gender-income-gap.aspx#context">Conference Board of Canada Gender Income Gap Information</a>Charlotte Woltershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01940131859930778594noreply@blogger.com