Yellen: Women made America’s economy great

Submitted by Mastodon on Sun, 2014-03-30 07:21

Article here. Excerpt:

'Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Tuesday that America’s economic progress over the past century has been fueled in large part by the advent of women in the workforce.

Yellen is the first female to lead the central bank in its 100-year history, and her speech marked one of the few times over her four-decade career that she has directly addressed the status of women in the workplace. She spoke at a celebration in honor of Women's History Month on Capitol Hill hosted by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. Guests included Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and California Rep. Maxine Waters.

“It is no coincidence that America’s great success in the past century came as women steadily increased their participation in every aspect of society,” Yellen said, according to prepared copy of her statement.

The growing number of women in the labor force, particularly after 1970, contributed to the growing wealth enjoyed by American households. Women accounted for about 47 percent of the labor force in 2012, but full-time working females still only make about 77 cents for every dollar men make. Yellen also acknowledged the glass ceiling many women face in government, business and academia -- even in her own field of economics.
...
A recent paper by Harvard professor Claudia Goldin, the first female to earn tenure in its economics department, found that the current gender wage gap is the result of inflexible workplaces. Goldin’s research found that pay differences could be considerably reduce, or even eliminated, if companies did not reward employees for worked longer hours or during certain times of the day -- practices that particularly harm working women with children.

“These are also positions for which considerable work hours leads to a higher chance of obtaining the reward, and it is often the case that hours alone get rewarded,” Goldin wrote in her paper. “Persistence in these positions and continuous time on the job probably matters far more to one’s success than a desire and ability to compete.”'

Like0 Dislike0

Comments

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes_%281968_film%29

Breakthrough for costumes, yes, but far more notable for its plot/message. Remember how the history of the human race was stamped out and the apes had invented an entirely new history with them as having been the ones who made everything happen, with the few humans left relegated to slavery.

What we're seeing now with this kind of propaganda and history re-writing coming from feminist women who get a chance at a microphone is not quite as bad as what was depicted in that movie, but the idea's the same. Sometimes history isn't written by the winners so much as it is re-written by those who can't admit it when they really didn't have much to do with "winning" the first time around. Given the chance, it does get "re-constructed". Call it propaganda. Call it lies. Call it ridiculous. No matter, it has an effect. You're seeing it in action before your very eyes.

I doubt the current Russia-Ukraine crisis will end in western military forces engaged in large-scale conflict with Russian troops. Special forces assisting the Ukrainians in mounting an insurgency post-occupation? I suppose it's possible. But WWIII, even if it is non-nuclear, over the Ukraine? I have my doubts about that. Nonetheless, if it happens, you can be 100% sure that all these toast-raising feminists at podiums and in cushy high-paying government jobs will not be demanding "equality for women" when it comes to the draft. I rather imagine they'd look at it as an opportunity for more women to fill more such posts.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by Matt on Sun, 2014-03-30 08:06

The last century was indeed great. Men walked on the moon, computers, artifical organs, limb reattachments, the internet, commercial aviation, the building of the interstate system, the mechatronics of Disneyland and so on. All leading up to America triumphing in the Cold War -- 1980 about.

And when did feminism begin? About 1980 or so (late 70's): hardly the entire century.

And when did America's decline begin? About 1980 or so (late 70's) (and, most amusing: after all the work was done).

Unitize time as centuries, and feminism was part of the rise of the US.

Unitize time as decades, and it pinpoits the fall.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by ThomasI on Sun, 2014-03-30 13:50

If women are to be credited with America's economic success, are women to be blamed for the recession?

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by el cid on Sun, 2014-03-30 14:19