Star Tribune Calls for Action on Women's Issues

Article here. The Minneapolis Star Tribune never fails when it comes to parroting issues brought forward by women's lobbying groups. No exception here. Missing of course are any issues faced by men in the workplace, such as the fact that 90% of workplace fatalities are males, or a decent explanation of the so-called "wage gap." Excerpt:

'After nearly three dark years, the lights are back on at the Office on the Economic Status of Women in the Minnesota State Office Building. It’s co-convening the first Minnesota Women’s Economic Security Summit in a long while Thursday in St. Paul, and several hundred participants are expected.

Among the presenters will be House Speaker Paul Thissen, armed with an ambitious package of 17 bills comprising the Minnesota Women’s Economic Security Act of 2014. The speaker’s personal stamp on a set of initiatives is rare, and should serve to raise the package’s visibility and chances for enactment.

These are hopeful signs for working Minnesotans — of both genders — and for the children and elders who depend on them. Economic fairness and opportunity for the female half of the population should be a priority in every legislative session. When women climb economically, unimpeded by outdated thinking about roles and responsibilities, the whole state benefits.

But state leaders’ willingness to address Minnesota’s persistent gender gap in wages, educational attainment, housing, poverty and more has waxed and waned through the years. The 38-year-old Office on the Economic Status of Women — a terrific source of data, research and nonpartisan guidance to legislators — was left in limbo from mid-2011 until a few weeks ago, when former lobbyist and public policy specialist Barbara Battiste took the office’s solo staff job.'