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Posted by Lizzie on Sep-5-2008
There’s a lot of talk about women’s issues this election cycle. Thanks to Hillary Clinton, and now Sarah Palin, we’re back in the spotlight. In that vein, Congress is pressing for a revote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which failed to pass previously. McCain has come out again it:
“I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what’s being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems,” the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters. “This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system.”
I’ve recently engaged in a half-hearted IT job search - in anticipation of my eventual graduation from the Tech program. There seems to be a little available, but I’ve heard that women are not treated favorably in the IT industry. It would please me, and thousands of other women, tremendously if this actually became law. Would I know that my male counterparts were making more than me? Probably not. But this act would give me recourse should I find out about a pay discrepancy after the fact. As a woman hoping to work in a male-dominated field, I would feel just a little better knowing I had a safety net.
There was some talk that this law isn’t necessary. I beg to differ. I worked with a company (unrelated to the tech field) that cut me a mystery check. When I inquired to what the purpose of the check was, I was told that it was to make up for a pay difference between me and my male counterparts. I had no idea that the men were making that much more per hour than I was, but there was a lawsuit and the settlement agreement was that this company would pay the hourly difference to each female for whatever period of time they agreed to (I think it was 3 months, even though I’d been there for over a year at that point). I left that company not long afterward, but my eyes had been opened. The reasoning for the lower pay was that women are mothers and so are prone to miss work because of their sick children. Men, on the other hand, are more reliable and should be rewarded. Really?
At a time when a major political party has nominated a self-proclaimed “hockey mom” to be vice president, there should be no more “she should get less because she’s a mom”. This woman is seeking a job while parenting 5 children (and potentially helping parent a grandchild) so the reason listed above would apply to her and her pay should be cut significantly. Right? No. Wrong. Her husband will be able to tend to the children while she runs for office and he can tend to the children while she continues to govern Alaska (except that he’s got a full-time job plus an extra job on the side in the summer, but that’s not this issue). It’s only fair that the rest of American women enjoy the same equality in pay as the women who govern them.
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Archive for October, 2008
Oct
30
Posted by admin
I was looking for a box cutter in my junk drawer yesterday and found some really funny pictures of Pee Wee when she was little. She was such a little clown- always preening and trying to be cute. Of course, she was cute, but that’s not the point.
KJ is starting to show that same kind of personality. That’s really good (for now) because he’ll be smart and funny just like his mom. He’s getting around pretty good now (he’s 5½ months old now) and trying to talk. It’s so cute to see his little mouth move so hard to form words. He doesn’t actually form the words, but the effort is adorable. And he’s turning into a little clown like his mama. If we laugh at something he does he’ll make a real effort to do the same thing again.
Mags wasn’t like that when she was tiny. She was very shy and cautious. She didn’t like anyone make a huge effort over anything she did and would prefer to clown only when her father and I was around. She’s still really smart- but she’s not the clown that her sister was. She’d prefer it if people didn’t laugh at her or notice her in anyway that might be particularly embarrassing to her. That’s ok with me. One diva is all I can handle right now.
School is going well. I’m maintaining a “B” GPA. Not an “A”, of course, but I don’t care at this point. It’s so hard to keep my grades up that high and still do everything that I need to do around here. I’ve been trying to find some kind of seasonal employment, but there’s nothing hiring in my area. I guess that’s a good thing when I think of how much harder that would make school. I really want to continue in the honors college. I want so much to graduate with honors. Keep keeping your fingers crossed for me. I really need it right now.
My illness seems to be under control right now. A couple of times I wondered if I was going to slide down some kind of medical misery hill. I seem to be doing a lot better in that area right now. I’ve gone back to taking mega doses of vitamin D every day now. I think that’s really helping me. I’m still not sure why I’m not able to maintain healthy levels of that, but if I can take the vitamins which make me feel better- instead of the prescription pain meds- I’ll go with that too. Anything that helps without having horrible side effects or causing more damage down the road is fine with me.
Well, that’s the update.
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Oct
19
Posted by Lizzie
I am always looking for a great sale - especially if I can find it online. I’m a huge proponent of online shopping and a lot of times shopping at smaller sites. That, I think, is one of the best ways to support American small businesses (with a certain big box store moving into town a lot of small businesses closed their doors).
I mention this because my family, God love them, refuse to hear me when I about this kind of thing. I get coupons in the mail for stores, but only for buying online. I can find really great prices for things that are available here at a much higher price. But my family has decided that I’m slightly insane.
I don’t see what’s so insane in getting up to 75% off of an item because I’m buying it online. Sure I have to wait to get it in my hands, but that’s fine with me. And most places offer deals that include free shipping, so that isn’t an issue (and the price of gas kind of negates that argument, in my opinion). I’ll be getting packages from online retailers without the hassle of fighting the crowds and getting up at 3am on Black Friday. Why is that crazy? I think it’s a little crazy to go through the hassle when there are better ways to spend your time. But that’s just me.
Anyway, isn’t shopping online a lot like catalog shopping? I remember when I was young my grandparents would get the Sears catalog and other catalogs and they’d buy from them. I remember going through and picking out Christmas presents from them. That- to me- is basically the same thing as shopping online and no one thinks buying stuff from a big name retail catalog is crazy. Well, no one in my family.
Ha! We’ll see who gets to enjoy the day after Thanksgiving. Because I won’t be fighting the early birds who would just as soon rip your arm off as to allow you to get away with that fabulous sweater. 
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Oct
19
Posted by Lizzie
I was in the ER yesterday afternoon and noticed something really interesting. A lot of the nurse’s aides were wearing what looked like MP3 players. It’s bothersome to me because shouldn’t they be paying attention to patient care or something? I mean, the nurses seemed pretty busy and aren’t their aides supposed to be helping ease their loads?
At any rate, my health issues haven’t quite gone away yet. I’ve hit one more bump in my road. My infection was getting better but I developed a bad case of pleurisy. I’ve had that before, but this was a little more severe possibly because I’m already fighting some crap and my stress really hasn’t been lessened much in the last few days (I’m not really going to go into detail about what’s happened, but it’s pretty depressing). I thought I was developing pneumonia because I was having some serious difficulty breathing. But I was lucky. Pleurisy usually clears up on its own eventually. I just have to take a little more pain medication to deal with it and to keep the swelling down.
I’m starting to get really worried about losing my health insurance. I don’t even know what I’ll do about health care if, for some reason, I’m thrust into the masses of the uninsured. We don’t have any free clinics around here and my doctors don’t take patients without insurance. This last incident just made it all the worse.
Keep your fingers crossed for me.
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