on PolicyMic
Cristina Maza Thanks for writing this Laura! This article really made me think, because something very similar happened to me last week! I had a horrible allergic reaction to an insect bite and ended up in the ER with half of my face swollen and one eye swelled closed! I was alone, in pain, and it was very frightening. I wonder if some kind of emergency network could be formed, either via twitter or through some type of phone app, that can connect city dwellers & expats to other people in their area willing to accompany them to the hospital in these types of situations? I would volunteer! People should never be alone in the hospital, even if their friends and family are miles away.
Cristina Maza As a (almost!) 28 year old, I hear you 100%. Even after having ticked off all of the items on my many to-do lists from ages 18, 23, and everywhere in between, plus a whole lot more, I am still no closer to feeling like I have it all figured out. With that in mind, neither do my friends who are 33! Nor my mother who is nearly 63. I guess every age has its share of challenges and uncertainties...
Cristina Maza If I could mic this article 30 times I would! This is like something out of a really bad nightmare! Unfortunately, the article is completely correct in pointing out that women are subjected to this type of "critique", albeit in a slightly subtler form, from the minute they walk out of their front door in the morning. This type of "entertainment" should be banned from television. How is it possible that Where's Waldo can be banned in the U.S because a female cartoon character is portrayed topless on the beach, but this type of sexist drivel is somehow permissible? & Yes, decrepit toad is exactly the right description!
Cristina Maza I am definitely going to apply for this! Sounds very fun! :)
Cristina Maza Umm...All I can say is WOW!
Cristina Maza Thanks, Susan! She is pretty awesome! I am sure we could write a whole book on all of the women doing amazing things around the world. Let's hope that the list keeps growing in 2013 :)
Cristina Maza I look forward to your article Remberto! However, whether or not you agree with Krugman's economics (and he has admitted to having been wrong in the past-as any mature professional is willing to do when they make mistakes), his opinions on the matter should not be barred from wikipedia. As my article suggests, this sets a bad precedents and hints at censorship. Both Krugman and the Austrians have been proven correct and incorrect after giving variety of economic forecasts, but that doesn't mean that either of them should be banned from commenting on the work of the other.
Cristina Maza Please take a look at this article on policy mic by an established sociologist. 'Women would rather divorce than be housewives' http://www.policymic.com/articles/24375/most-women-would-rather-divorce-than-be-a-housewife I am not assuming that women in the 21st century wish to return to work after childbirth at the same rate as men, I know they do. Maybe this has changed in the last generation or two, but it is more likely that women made the home a higher priority than work in the past because they felt that they had no other choice. Today there are more and more stay at home dads and these so called 'gender differences' are slowly disappearing. Now that is something we can be thankful for.
Cristina Maza Yes, it is speculative. So bosses shouldn't make the decision to pay someone less based on the 'speculation' that they may be less productive.
Cristina Maza I'm obviously not talking about all bosses. Just the ones who pay women less than men for the same work.
Cristina Maza Yes. All apples to apples testing shows women in the same jobs as men earning around 7% less. There is no reason to assume that a woman would be less productive than a man doing the same job. And even if she were, it is pretty irrelevant given that a salary is agreed upon before a worker's productivity can be measured.
Cristina Maza In what fantasy land does raising the minimum wage do nothing for unskilled, low paid workers? A few extra dollars an hour means making it to the end of the month for a lot of people. By claiming that the market determines value and that there is nothing we can do about the gender pay gap essentially means that you think women's labour is less value, which is blatantly sexist and insane. There is no reason for a woman's labour to value less, unless sexist individuals value it less because of their own personal beliefs. In this case, the market isn't determining anything. Discriminating bosses are making arbitrary decisions on who to pay more based on prejudices developed from false stereotypes, conscious or unconscious.
Cristina Maza I would very much like to see solid data that says the pay gap is utter nonsense. Data is data and unfortunately, the pay gap doesn't seem to be going away. Anyway, if the democrats have the pay gap so high up on their list of priorities that they fabricate data in order to support legislation, why haven't they been more aggressive in promoting this legislation? Here is an article (one among many) that gives reasons for why there aren't more women in the STEM careers. It is from Forbes magazine, not exactly a source of leftwing rhetoric.. http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2012/06/20/stem-fields-and-the-gender-gap-where-are-the-women/
Cristina Maza Imagining that "most women want to spend less time in the office when they have kids at home" is a pretty sexist assumption. If that were true, why wouldn't the same be true for men? Should we discourage anyone with children from working because they may not be committed enough to their job? While we are at it, maybe we can divide society into two races, the workers and the breeders.
Cristina Maza It is true that a big part of the pay gap is the result of different career choices i.e men will take jobs in IT and engineering while women become teachers etc. But this has a lot to do with ingrained sexism in our society and women being steered onto certain career paths due to gender bias. That said, even with the 'apples to apples' testing, it has been shown that women do earn between 10-7% less than men in identical positions as themselves. I highly doubt that women's groups & the White House are fabricating this kind of data for a laugh.
Cristina Maza Some obviously will, but the same goes for new fathers. A lot of women will also be just as committed to their jobs after having a baby. Either way, it should never be assumed that a person doesn't want to work because they have had a child. Should ambition and family values be mutually exclusive? I don't think so.
Cristina Maza A lot of employers (consciously or subconsciously) don't feel that a woman is as committed to her job after having a child and will discourage women from taking on more responsibility or taking more hours. This obviously affects career progression. I think this phenomenon varies from country to country, but even in some European countries employers are hesitant to employ young women they believe may get pregnant shortly after becoming employed. There is a stigma that women with children are not 'good employees'. Additionally, as the article I linked to mentioned, high child care costs sometimes discourage women from going back to work immediately after having a child.
Cristina Maza I wouldn't call being a eurosceptic 'fringe' when you have politicians like David Cameron supporting a U.K wide referendum on leaving the union. http://www.economist.com/blogs/bagehot/2011/11/britain-and-eu-0 Also, being anti-austerity is far from being nationalist. Many europeans would like to see austerity measures abandoned across the union, not just in own countries. At this stage, even the IMF is admitting that austerity is bad for the economy... http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/03/an-amazing-mea-culpa-from-the-imfs-chief-economist-on-austerity/
Cristina Maza I think it is absolutely crazy that being a 'feminist' is still a dirty word. Anyone who believes in equality, man or woman alike, should claim the word with pride. Thank you for calling Katy Perry out on her error in semantics!
Cristina Maza Sexual relations between members of the same sex and sexual acts that do not involve penetration by a penis into a vagina have existed since the history of man was first recored. This has nothing to do with sex being "deconstructed" or with post-modernism. Sex and sexual experimentation is as natural a part of human existence as eating and sleeping. Just because someone is a respected academic doesn't mean it is impossible for them to be insecure about their sexuality. People don't defend things they don't feel are threatened. Why does gay marriage threaten people's sense of security? The answer seems obvious. If they were secure with their own lifestyle and sexuality the practices of others wouldn't frighten or concern them.
Cristina Maza Also, "sex by nature violates the principle of equality by recognizing the fact that man and woman are biologically different". Since when is sexual intercourse defined solely as the penetration of a penis into a vagina? I can think of many different activities that could be defined as sexual intercourse that can also be done without having to take into consideration the biological difference of the couple involved. It seems that those who claim to be upholding "tradition" & "security" are only doing so because they are insecure with their own sexuality and are afraid that any exposure to something different from their own narrow conceptions of sex and marriage will easily influence them & make them change their ways.
Cristina Maza I hate to break it to you but the 'tyranny of emotion' rules most things in life from the economy to law enforcement, and anyone who tries to deny that is kidding themselves. Isn't it more important that a child grow up in a family full of love, regardless of the gender of the family members? Do you think it is healthier for a child to grow up with two dysfunctional straight parents that hate each other than with two gay parents? Or how about a little girl who grows up with a gay mother who is forcing herself into an unhappy straight marriage for the sake of tradition? I'm sure she will grow up to be a happy functioning adult! It is important for children to be set a good example by having parents who are confident with their identity.
Cristina Maza The point of the article was to demonstrate that not everyone fits the "nationalist -militarist" archetype that the western media likes to use to describe Serbs. Big steps forward are being made that will hopefully succeed in mainstreaming sexual diversity and making homophobia culturally unacceptable. If the parade has enough support to make open violence against it impossible, this will be a first step in making the country safer and more open for its LGTBQ population. .
Cristina Maza Wikileaks has done a real service to the world by opening up a dialogue about these issues. While many of us who study politics or IR up in the ivory towers are aware of these issues, many Americans have been, and probably still are, unaware of the role their country plays in global politics. Organizations like Wikileaks and other whistleblowers who eventually repent and share information from the inside are just beginning the process that is needed to promote real transparent government practices. The real issue we need to analyze now is how to protect these people so that persecutions and witch hunts of people like Julian Assange stop taking place.
Cristina Maza away Ecudaor´s right to grant political asylum. They would have to take the state of Ecuador to court in order to contest this right. C) As mentioned above, Assange gets diplomatic immunity while under the custody of Ecuador or in the embassy of Ecuador. G.B has no right to contest this. D) Can you think of a better reason why G.B wants to get involved to this extent when they are not technically implicated? The whole situation is caused by the fact that Assange wants to avoid extradition to Sweden due to his and his lawyers´belief that he will be later extradited to the U.S where he could face life in prison, solitary confinement or torture.
on PolicyMic
Cristina Maza Thanks for writing this Laura! This article really made me think, because something very similar happened to me last week! I had a horrible allergic reaction to an insect bite and ended up in the ER with half of my face swollen and one eye swelled closed! I was alone, in pain, and it was very frightening. I wonder if some kind of emergency network could be formed, either via twitter or through some type of phone app, that can connect city dwellers & expats to other people in their area willing to accompany them to the hospital in these types of situations? I would volunteer! People should never be alone in the hospital, even if their friends and family are miles away.
Cristina Maza As a (almost!) 28 year old, I hear you 100%. Even after having ticked off all of the items on my many to-do lists from ages 18, 23, and everywhere in between, plus a whole lot more, I am still no closer to feeling like I have it all figured out. With that in mind, neither do my friends who are 33! Nor my mother who is nearly 63. I guess every age has its share of challenges and uncertainties...
Cristina Maza If I could mic this article 30 times I would! This is like something out of a really bad nightmare! Unfortunately, the article is completely correct in pointing out that women are subjected to this type of "critique", albeit in a slightly subtler form, from the minute they walk out of their front door in the morning. This type of "entertainment" should be banned from television. How is it possible that Where's Waldo can be banned in the U.S because a female cartoon character is portrayed topless on the beach, but this type of sexist drivel is somehow permissible? & Yes, decrepit toad is exactly the right description!
Cristina Maza I am definitely going to apply for this! Sounds very fun! :)
Cristina Maza Umm...All I can say is WOW!
Cristina Maza Thanks, Susan! She is pretty awesome! I am sure we could write a whole book on all of the women doing amazing things around the world. Let's hope that the list keeps growing in 2013 :)
Cristina Maza I look forward to your article Remberto! However, whether or not you agree with Krugman's economics (and he has admitted to having been wrong in the past-as any mature professional is willing to do when they make mistakes), his opinions on the matter should not be barred from wikipedia. As my article suggests, this sets a bad precedents and hints at censorship. Both Krugman and the Austrians have been proven correct and incorrect after giving variety of economic forecasts, but that doesn't mean that either of them should be banned from commenting on the work of the other.
Cristina Maza Please take a look at this article on policy mic by an established sociologist. 'Women would rather divorce than be housewives' http://www.policymic.com/articles/24375/most-women-would-rather-divorce-than-be-a-housewife I am not assuming that women in the 21st century wish to return to work after childbirth at the same rate as men, I know they do. Maybe this has changed in the last generation or two, but it is more likely that women made the home a higher priority than work in the past because they felt that they had no other choice. Today there are more and more stay at home dads and these so called 'gender differences' are slowly disappearing. Now that is something we can be thankful for.
Cristina Maza Yes, it is speculative. So bosses shouldn't make the decision to pay someone less based on the 'speculation' that they may be less productive.
Cristina Maza I'm obviously not talking about all bosses. Just the ones who pay women less than men for the same work.
Cristina Maza Yes. All apples to apples testing shows women in the same jobs as men earning around 7% less. There is no reason to assume that a woman would be less productive than a man doing the same job. And even if she were, it is pretty irrelevant given that a salary is agreed upon before a worker's productivity can be measured.
Cristina Maza In what fantasy land does raising the minimum wage do nothing for unskilled, low paid workers? A few extra dollars an hour means making it to the end of the month for a lot of people. By claiming that the market determines value and that there is nothing we can do about the gender pay gap essentially means that you think women's labour is less value, which is blatantly sexist and insane. There is no reason for a woman's labour to value less, unless sexist individuals value it less because of their own personal beliefs. In this case, the market isn't determining anything. Discriminating bosses are making arbitrary decisions on who to pay more based on prejudices developed from false stereotypes, conscious or unconscious.
Cristina Maza I would very much like to see solid data that says the pay gap is utter nonsense. Data is data and unfortunately, the pay gap doesn't seem to be going away. Anyway, if the democrats have the pay gap so high up on their list of priorities that they fabricate data in order to support legislation, why haven't they been more aggressive in promoting this legislation? Here is an article (one among many) that gives reasons for why there aren't more women in the STEM careers. It is from Forbes magazine, not exactly a source of leftwing rhetoric.. http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2012/06/20/stem-fields-and-the-gender-gap-where-are-the-women/
Cristina Maza Imagining that "most women want to spend less time in the office when they have kids at home" is a pretty sexist assumption. If that were true, why wouldn't the same be true for men? Should we discourage anyone with children from working because they may not be committed enough to their job? While we are at it, maybe we can divide society into two races, the workers and the breeders.
Cristina Maza It is true that a big part of the pay gap is the result of different career choices i.e men will take jobs in IT and engineering while women become teachers etc. But this has a lot to do with ingrained sexism in our society and women being steered onto certain career paths due to gender bias. That said, even with the 'apples to apples' testing, it has been shown that women do earn between 10-7% less than men in identical positions as themselves. I highly doubt that women's groups & the White House are fabricating this kind of data for a laugh.
Cristina Maza Some obviously will, but the same goes for new fathers. A lot of women will also be just as committed to their jobs after having a baby. Either way, it should never be assumed that a person doesn't want to work because they have had a child. Should ambition and family values be mutually exclusive? I don't think so.
Cristina Maza A lot of employers (consciously or subconsciously) don't feel that a woman is as committed to her job after having a child and will discourage women from taking on more responsibility or taking more hours. This obviously affects career progression. I think this phenomenon varies from country to country, but even in some European countries employers are hesitant to employ young women they believe may get pregnant shortly after becoming employed. There is a stigma that women with children are not 'good employees'. Additionally, as the article I linked to mentioned, high child care costs sometimes discourage women from going back to work immediately after having a child.
Cristina Maza I wouldn't call being a eurosceptic 'fringe' when you have politicians like David Cameron supporting a U.K wide referendum on leaving the union. http://www.economist.com/blogs/bagehot/2011/11/britain-and-eu-0 Also, being anti-austerity is far from being nationalist. Many europeans would like to see austerity measures abandoned across the union, not just in own countries. At this stage, even the IMF is admitting that austerity is bad for the economy... http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/03/an-amazing-mea-culpa-from-the-imfs-chief-economist-on-austerity/
Cristina Maza I think it is absolutely crazy that being a 'feminist' is still a dirty word. Anyone who believes in equality, man or woman alike, should claim the word with pride. Thank you for calling Katy Perry out on her error in semantics!
Cristina Maza Sexual relations between members of the same sex and sexual acts that do not involve penetration by a penis into a vagina have existed since the history of man was first recored. This has nothing to do with sex being "deconstructed" or with post-modernism. Sex and sexual experimentation is as natural a part of human existence as eating and sleeping. Just because someone is a respected academic doesn't mean it is impossible for them to be insecure about their sexuality. People don't defend things they don't feel are threatened. Why does gay marriage threaten people's sense of security? The answer seems obvious. If they were secure with their own lifestyle and sexuality the practices of others wouldn't frighten or concern them.
Cristina Maza Also, "sex by nature violates the principle of equality by recognizing the fact that man and woman are biologically different". Since when is sexual intercourse defined solely as the penetration of a penis into a vagina? I can think of many different activities that could be defined as sexual intercourse that can also be done without having to take into consideration the biological difference of the couple involved. It seems that those who claim to be upholding "tradition" & "security" are only doing so because they are insecure with their own sexuality and are afraid that any exposure to something different from their own narrow conceptions of sex and marriage will easily influence them & make them change their ways.
Cristina Maza I hate to break it to you but the 'tyranny of emotion' rules most things in life from the economy to law enforcement, and anyone who tries to deny that is kidding themselves. Isn't it more important that a child grow up in a family full of love, regardless of the gender of the family members? Do you think it is healthier for a child to grow up with two dysfunctional straight parents that hate each other than with two gay parents? Or how about a little girl who grows up with a gay mother who is forcing herself into an unhappy straight marriage for the sake of tradition? I'm sure she will grow up to be a happy functioning adult! It is important for children to be set a good example by having parents who are confident with their identity.
Cristina Maza The point of the article was to demonstrate that not everyone fits the "nationalist -militarist" archetype that the western media likes to use to describe Serbs. Big steps forward are being made that will hopefully succeed in mainstreaming sexual diversity and making homophobia culturally unacceptable. If the parade has enough support to make open violence against it impossible, this will be a first step in making the country safer and more open for its LGTBQ population. .
Cristina Maza Wikileaks has done a real service to the world by opening up a dialogue about these issues. While many of us who study politics or IR up in the ivory towers are aware of these issues, many Americans have been, and probably still are, unaware of the role their country plays in global politics. Organizations like Wikileaks and other whistleblowers who eventually repent and share information from the inside are just beginning the process that is needed to promote real transparent government practices. The real issue we need to analyze now is how to protect these people so that persecutions and witch hunts of people like Julian Assange stop taking place.
Cristina Maza away Ecudaor´s right to grant political asylum. They would have to take the state of Ecuador to court in order to contest this right. C) As mentioned above, Assange gets diplomatic immunity while under the custody of Ecuador or in the embassy of Ecuador. G.B has no right to contest this. D) Can you think of a better reason why G.B wants to get involved to this extent when they are not technically implicated? The whole situation is caused by the fact that Assange wants to avoid extradition to Sweden due to his and his lawyers´belief that he will be later extradited to the U.S where he could face life in prison, solitary confinement or torture.