Nervy Girl!

by Michelle House
The disparity in earnings between women and men is not limited to the private sector, according to a recent report by GuideStar, a national nonprofit database. Despite a heavy concentration of women in the nonprofit world, the gender gap appears to be alive and well. The Nonprofit Compensation Report, released June 1, 2001, reveals the average salary for female CEO's was $170,180/year, compared with $264,602/year for their male colleagues.

In addition, the study indicates women hold 54.3 percent of the CEO positions at smaller charities with budgets of $500,000 or less. Their male counterparts, on the other hand, account for 63.7 percent of CEO positions at organizations with budgets greater than $500,000 and 76 percent of those with budgets greater than $5 million.

Overall, women were found to earn less across several job categories in the nonprofit sector, including administration, programs, public relations/marketing, technology, finance, and law.

GuideStar's first annual compensation report is based on the IRS records of 75,000 public charities for the 1998 and 1999 fiscal years.

by J.S.
Around the world, women are joining forces to build peace in conflicted areas. Women Waging Peace is a highly ambitious program that unites women of the arts and sciences, as well as women activists, from war-torn areas around the globe to share their peace-building experiences with each other, with policy-makers, and with the world.

The coordinated efforts of Women Waging Peace are designed to raise awareness, funds, and political backing necessary to elevate areas of conflict from the quagmire of violence. The elegantly simple solutions executed by Waging delegates are indeed changing the world.

For example: Mobilized Mothers in Sudan adopt desert-roaming war orphans despite objections by village and national officials. In South Africa, mothers publicly forgive white police officers who murdered their sons in a televised ambush. In Russia, the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers provide general and medical assistance to young draftees mistreated by superior officers.

At the May 2001 summit in Kigali, Rwanda, African delegates convened to discuss successful conflict resolution strategies, and to invite international attention to Sudan's 34-year civil war as well as the African AIDS epidemic. Women attendees expressed the unanimous desire to end the suffering and return to their lives.

Delegates network primarily over the Internet, but also at regional conferences and at Harvard University. Researchers at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School are involved in the program by studying the role of women peacekeepers and peacemakers. Students are encouraged to become activists themselves.

The website www.womenwagingpeace.net describes the history of the program, details delegate selection criteria, and houses an extensive video library of delegate interviews.

"Women Waging Peace breaks new ground by recognizing the essential role and contribution of women in preventing violent conflict, stopping war, reconstructing ravaged societies, and sustaining peace in fragile areas around the world," reads the site's homepage.

Former U.S. Austrian Ambassador to Austria Swanee Hunt from the Kennedy School directs the program. The delegation has doubled in size since it began in the last quarter of 1999.

by J.S.
Eight years after Katie Roiphe's The Morning After: Sex, Fear, and Feminism on Campus, the Independent Women's Forum is reviving accusations of student brainwashing via their "Take Back the Campus" ad campaign. Like Roiphe, the Forum, a group of Republican women, believe campus feminists are scaring coeds with "Ms. Information." Placing full-page ads in end-of-semester student newspapers at Dartmouth, UCLA, and Yale, the Forum hopes to dispel "ten most common feminist myths."

The first myth tackled by the Forum is, "One in four women in college has been the victim of rape or attempted rape." According to the Forum's campus website www.shethinks.com, this myth originated from Mary Koss's 1985 landmark study, which the Forum contends is a "fallacious" survey commissioned by the Ms. Foundation.

Although the Ms. Foundation did sponsor Koss, the National Institute of Mental Health financed the survey. No mention is made of subsequent research supporting Koss's findings, such as the federally funded 1992 nationwide random phone survey conducted by the National Victims Center or the 1994 National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS) by the National Opinion Research Center. To dispute the figures, the website notes critic Neil Gilbert, vocal opponent of the Violence Against Women Act, who has not conducted any rape research.

The sole evidence cited to debunk the myth, "Women earn 75 cents for every dollar a man earns," is a study published by the Independent Women's Forum.

The www.shethinks.org homepage reveals that feminist-bashing is of equal importance as dating and romance on campus. Amanda Kutz's article "Campus Feminists: A Year in Review" berates "radical feminist" campus activities such as CuntFest and The Vagina Monologues, and bemoans, "Is it any wonder why it's harder than ever for a girl to get a date at college?"

Although the Independent Women's Forum purports to be "a women's group dedicated to restoring reason, common sense, and open discussion to the campus," on-site editorials all express similar opinions, perpetuating stereotypes of feminists as man-hating lesbians. The Forum plans to place ads in college papers next school year to continue their assault on the feminist campus "cult."

by Erin McNerney
Whether they approve or not, fans must admit that an historic event in the world of boxing took place on June 8: the daughters of famed heavyweight champions and still bitter rivals, Muhammad Ali (the "Butterfly") and "Smokin'" Joe Frazier, squared off in the ring. Twenty-three-year-old Laila Ali won a majority decision over 39-year-old Jacqui Frazier-Lyde, but the fight was clearly a tough bout for both of them. Some critics regard the fight as a sensationalized, money-making gimmick, since neither of the women are incredibly experienced boxers and since the numerous viewers were clearly tuning in for a continuation of the historical feud rather than for a show of skill. Nevertheless, other commentators propose that this event might bring women's boxing more of the attention it needs.

by Molly Freedenberg
The hour when children are most likely to watch TV provides the least diverse programming on the six U.S. television networks' current season, according to a recent study. Children Now, a child policy and advocacy organization, found that although strides have been made to increase diversity in the 10 p.m. slot, only one in eight of the programs broadcast during the "family hour" (8-9 o'clock EST) have diverse opening credits.

Lois Salisbury, president of Children Now, asserts that television has a huge impact on children's identities and views of society. "Our research and the research of social scientists tell us kids come away with three clear messages from television," she says. "It tells them who is important, it tells them whether people like them or respect them, and it tells them who they can become."

What children see during this hour is a world that is 60 percent male and 75 percent white. Of the non-white characters, African Americans are the second largest group represented, accounting for 17 percent. Asian-Pacific Islander Americans account for three percent. And though 12 percent of the U.S. population is Latino, there are only five Latino characters cast during the family hour., and Salisbury notes that most Latino characters are cast in service roles.

In response to the report, Meryl Marshall-Daniels, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, points out that there have been positive changes in recent television programming, citing examples like "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" and "Moesha." She also admits that there is room for improvement.

"There has been an evolution, and hopefully we will see even more changes in the fall schedule," said Marshall-Daniels. "But I think the advocates [for diversity] have been helpful in holding up a mirror and requiring the industry to make changes."

by B.B.
The Portland branch of Women In Black (WIB), an international peace group, marked the 34th year of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory by dedicating its weekly Pioneer Square vigil June 6, to call for peace in the Middle East. It was one of 150 worldwide, WIB-related gatherings demonstrating solidarity with the Israeli and Palestinian WIB supporters who came together on June 8 in West Jerusalem.

WIB is an international network of women, dressed in black, who conduct non-violent vigils. WIB has been active in Israel since 1988, protesting the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and supporting a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Past WIB vigils have included calls for the end of violence in Serbia and the end of bombing of Iraq.

As many as 30 black-clothed individuals, including a handful of men, showed up for the two-hour Portland vigil. "It was very active, and passersby were asking questions and taking handouts," says Pat Hollingsworth, one of the organizers. According to Hollingsworth, a frequent question was, "Whose side are you on?" Her answer: "We're on the side of peace."

Another unidentified Woman in Black estimated that about half the supporters were Jewish. Lake Oswego's Americans United for Palestinians & Human Rights also participated.

Dozens of other WIB vigils were held in cities across the U.S., including Eugene, Ore. and Seattle, Wash.

WIB-style vigils originated in 1915 with efforts by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) to stop World War I.

WIB is a member of the Coalition of Women for a Just Peace, along with groups including WILPF, Women For Coexistence, Movement of Democratic Women for Israel, and Bat-Shalom, an Israeli feminist peace group that joined with the Palestinian peace organization Jerusalem Center for Women to form The Jerusalem Link.

For information on upcoming Portland WIB vigils, email [email protected] or check out www.geocities.com/endtheoccupation.

by M.F.
Women's health issues were at the forefront when more than 1,500 representatives of non governmental organizations worldwide met recently in Washington D.C.

Issues ranged from poverty and iodine deficiency to maternal mortality and malnutrition, but focused especially on the global HIV/AIDS crisis. According to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, half of those newly infected with HIV are women. In Africa, 55 percent of HIV-positive adults are women. AIDS has created 13 million orphans in Africa, the number of children in Texas and California combined.

Annan linked the status of women's health to the health of communities and countries. "When women are fully involved, the benefits can be seen immediately: Families are healthier, they are better fed, their income, savings and reinvestment go up," he said. "Conversely, when women suffer ill health, the whole of society pays a higher price."

The conference was co-chaired by Graca Machel, chancellor of the University of Cape Town and wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela. Machel urged members to respond to the crisis in women's health as if the lives of their own child, their own sister, or their own mother were at stake. She called for a series of "simple actions" such as providing all women with health information and birth control, and providing better health services to young girls. "We must each say, 'this is my responsibility-my actions can make a difference," Machel declared.

One of the actions proposed called for a Global AIDS and Health Fund, a $10 billion fund that would help poor nations fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The United States has pledged $200 million to become the first donor nation.