Article here. Excerpt:

'(AP) Women working in the federal government still earn less than their male counterparts, but the pay gap is shrinking.

The difference between average annual salary for men and women in the federal work force declined from 19 cents to 11 cents on the dollar between 1998 and 2007, according to a draft report from the Government Accountability Office.
...
All but 7 cents of the gap can be accounted for by differences in measurable factors, such as differences in education levels and the type of jobs men and women had, the report said. The gap narrowed the more men and women shared characteristics, including the jobs held, levels of experience and education.'

Justin Trottier was kind enough to interview yours truly for his on-line Equalism web site, http://www.equalismactivism.com/. Justin is also the exec. director of the Center for Inquiry, Toronto chapter. The interview can be found here.

Regarding the introduction on the podcast page though, I just want to point out that I didn't help organize the 2007 Boys and the Boy Crisis Conference, since by then I had relocated from the area, but I was involved in organizing the previous two MR conferences. MANN's own Tom G. was the organizer of the 2007 conference and he was one heck of a one-man band at it, too.

I also want to encourage people to listen to the archived interviews as well, as there is a lot of good commentary and insight available in all of them.

As for my interview, well, I'll be signing mp3's in the lobby. ;)

A remarkable short story in the Ottawa Citizen. Notice the lack of gender designation in the headline.

'OTTAWA — Gatineau police are looking for an 18-year-old woman after an altercation between two women in Buckingham Monday night sent one woman to the hospital with non-life threatening stab wounds.

At around 7 p.m., an altercation broke out between two 18-year-old women at the corner of Rue Jean-XXIII and Rue des Pins.

One of the women sustained multiple stab wounds to her face, chest, hand and leg. She tried to escape, police said, and ran into a house on Rue des Pins, before going to the hospital with a friend.

Police were informed of the stabbing at about 10:25 p.m., said Const. Isabelle Poirier.

The suspect, also an 18-year-old Gatineau woman, is known to the victim. No arrest has yet been made.

The investigation continues.'

Blog entry here. Excerpt:

'Nothing makes me happier than seeing a man thoroughly enjoying himself. So I was very happy last night, watching Richard Grazi having a ball, talking with a room full of young women at our most recent Manicures & Martinis event in Brooklyn. His take home message? Men lie.

Did you know that? I had my suspicions, but still….Dr. Grazi confirmed it last night. Yup. Men lie. Why did that little tidbit come up at an infertility prevention event? Hmmmm. Have you ever heard of STD’s?

Oh yeah. One of the key points of the Manicures & Martinis events is a simple one – if you are not currently trying to get pregnant, use a condom. You would be surprised how many women don’t. And the reasons why they don’t got knocked out of the water by Dr. G. over and over again last night. He told them straight – married men lie too. And no man really likes to wear a condom, he said. It feels like wearing surgical gloves when you’re playing the piano.'

A friend pointed this out to me. A woman who got where she went all without trumpeting her victimhood/femaleness at every turn as either a pro or con to all her efforts! She did it all without the help of feminists' whining and bullying, and without doing that herself, too! Imagine that!

If a woman needs hero to look up to, an example of an independent woman who doesn't let her sex be a factor in all her decisions, let her look to Dr. Apgar. Excerpt:

'In 1953, she introduced the first test, called the Apgar score, to assess the health of newborn babies. It is administered one minute and five minutes after birth, and sometimes also at 10 minutes.

While Apgar was frequently the "first woman" or "only woman" in a department, to serve in a position, or win an accolade, she avoided the organized women's movement, proclaiming that "women are liberated from the time they leave the womb".

Apgar never married, and died on August 7, 1974, at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.'

Last week, NOW responded to comments made by Rush Limbaugh on domestic violence. Limbaugh stated:

"Remember when the NOW gang and all these other social interest groups started asking women if they'd ever been a victim of domestic violence? They didn't like the numbers they got initially. The numbers weren't high enough for the NOW gang. So they expanded the definition to include a man shouting at them. A man shouting at them equaled domestic violence. It didn't matter if the women shouted first."

Melody Drnach, Action Vice President of NOW, responded:

"It shows that NOW and other advocacy groups are on the right track spreading the message of domestic violence when even Rush Limbaugh agreed that domestic violence comes in all forms -- physical abuse, mental abuse and verbal abuse ... When Rush Limbaugh understands that shouting is a form of domestic violence, then we are on the right track. Then we did something right."

Story here.

'An education expert is being roped in to help boys shine as brightly as girls in the classroom.

Last week the Post revealed how primary schools in Neath, Port Talbot and the Swansea Valley had some of the lowest results in Wales.

The good news was that secondary education was among the best in the Principality. But at both levels there was a clear "must do better" message for boys, who were lagging way behind girls.

Now Professor David Egan, of the Cardiff School of Education, who acts as advisor to the Assembly on issues such as teacher education and the reform of 14-19 education policy, is being brought in to advise the county's education chiefs and put forward recommendations to engage boys more at primary and secondary level.

Cabinet member for education councillor John Roger said: "We are determined to help bridge the gender divide and look forward to working with Professor Egan to put a number of recommendations in place."'

This is the tragedy of a messed up mom who couldn't parent, a stable dad who wanted to but was overlooked and a troubled child who's been raised by the state. Our favorite misandrist columnist Mindelle (Mindy) Jacobs of the The Sun Media Group actually delivers a non misandrist column (albeit with a few backhanded swipes) of fathers.

I have sent an email to Ms. Jacobs to acknowledge the fact that she wrote a positive column on men (for once) but to also let her know we are still monitoring her scribblings. You can send e-mail to Ms. Jacobs mindy.jacobs-at-sunmedia.ca. Excerpt:

'This is the tragedy of a messed up mom who couldn't parent, a stable dad who wanted to but was overlooked and a troubled child who's been raised by the state.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Researchers found that women and men in countries like Britain tended to have the same number of children with the same number of partners.

The study of more than 10,000 people in 18 countries seems to throw on its head the generally accepted expectations that men tend naturally towards promiscuity and women are more particular when it comes to choosing a mate.

It also seemed to disprove the belief that some men are incredibly successful at mating while others fail altogether.
...
Dr Gillian Brown, of the University of St Andrews, said: "The study shows that women are just as likely to seek out just as many partners as men.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- For the poor who live in developing nations, repairing a cleft lip, cataracts, or severe burns is not an option. Most are forced to live with their condition and are shunned by their own communities. But some are finally getting the help they need at the hands of a tireless group of American women.

If you find this difficult to look at, imagine how hard it must be to live with. This is the reality for those in countries without the medical expertise or money for surgery. It's no surprise then that local clinics are swamped when Denise Cucurny and Amy Wandel, M.D., come to town. The anthropologist and plastic surgeon, with a team of female doctors and nurses, travel the world fixing cleft lips, cataracts, burns and cavities
...
Their gender, they say, opens doors and builds trust.

"We're accepted places where men might not be accepted because we tend to come as non-threatening, non-violent, nurturing, giving people," Dr. Wandel explained.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A walk around the Quad is normally a piece of cake, unless you were one of the several men that participated in “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” on Sunday afternoon.

The walk was in accordance with Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
...
The men donned the high heel footwear and walked one lap around the Quad. They were then assisted by the women in the crowd for another half lap. The walk was followed by a short speech by Ross Wantland, coordinator of sexual assault education for the Women’s Resources Center.'

Relatedly, Men in heels. Excerpt:

'CLARINGTON -- Councillor Willie Woo looked quite dapper in his black suit, white shirt, ruby tie and ... red stilettos?

Yes, the Clarington politician's footwear did, indeed, consist of a pair of size 13 red pumps as he helped promote the upcoming Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event being organized by Bowmanville's Bethesda house, a women's shelter and outreach centre.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Women on campus will be able to buy cookies, brownies and other bakery items for 75 cents, while men will have to pay $1 if they want a bite at a campus bake sale, a member of the TCU Women's Network said.

Megan O'Brien, president of the TCU Women's Network and senior art history major, said the Women's Network and Women's Studies Program will be hosting a bake sale to illustrate the gap between women's and men's wages on Thursday.
...
O'Brien said women on average get paid 77 cents to every dollar earned by men. The bake sale will sell cookies, brownies, cake and vegan options, she said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'All over the world, more men than women report a history of attempted suicide, with a gender ratio of 3:1, as revealed by many survey reports.

There is a lack of advocacy for men's rights and there are more social programs for women than for men indicating a gender bias favouring women.

Special government agencies for women's affairs have been set up recently in many nations with no corresponding agencies for men's affairs.

There is a general assumption of female innocence in sexual assault cases or sympathy for women, invariably there is a dismissal of female-on-male rape cases.'

Letter here. Excerpt:

'I personally believe that the Family Court system consistently and institutionally violates the Constitution’s Fifth and Fourteenth amendments, regarding due process and equal treatment under the law.

My reasoning: When petitioners come to Family Court and file for a protection from abuse order, but cannot afford their own legal representation, they are immediately referred to the Delaware Legal Aid Society where they can receive a highly skilled and impassioned attorney. The petitioner will also be granted one and sometimes two court advocates.

The respondent, whom I will refer to as the accused (remember innocent until proven guilty), has no such recourse. In fact if a respondent contacts the Delaware Legal Aid Society, he will be told point-blank that the organization only represents the petitioner.

So when the day of the hearing arrives, the petitioner’s legal machine is ready to conquer.

Article here.

'COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—A former marshal with the Colorado Springs police department has filed a lawsuit against the city claiming he was discriminated against because he is a man.

Attorney Hollie Wieland said Friday that her client Philip McDonald received good evaluations but started having problems under a male supervisor who allegedly treated women better than men.

She says McDonald faced retaliation when he voiced concerns about what he thought were racist comments that a white female co-worker made to a black female co-worker, then was fired in 2007 over unfounded allegations that he left a courtroom unattended while court was in session.

Lori Miskel, a senior city attorney, says the city believes it acted appropriately. '