Skip to main content

A Ray of Light


 

I caught a glimpse yesterday of some local men (fellas? guys? bros?) casting aspersions on the League of Women Voters and International Women’s Day because…you guessed it: it wasn’t for them. They felt left out. And solely for that reason, they deemed both of these entities worthless and unfair.

Oh my.

It isn’t always about you, guys.

On the national scene announcements that hygiene products for those who menstruate will be provided without cost by local governments are often followed by remarks like, “What are we gonna get?”

Well…

That brings me to the ongoing discussion on Twitter about greater transparency around wages and what that would mean for women and other marginalized groups. As long as everyone is convinced that they must keep silent on salary issues, disparities persist in the attendant darkness. I highly recommend this thread from Erin Overbey. Ms. Overbey is the Archive Editor of the New Yorker Magazine, and the New Yorker Classics newsletter editor.



It begins like this:

I’ve been following the pay discourse on this site for a while & think it’s important for the movement toward salary transparency (particularly vis a vis gender & race) to continue to grow, so here’s my account. Most ppl like to describe my job as “glamorous” & there are many elements of my job at @NewYorker that I like. Equal pay is not one of them. 

What are you gonna get, guys? Apparently higher salaries. NBD.

And how was your International Women’s Day?

The antidote to all this dreariness was an evening spent (virtually) in the company of some amazing women, celebrating the Twentieth Anniversary of the Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County. Their mission?

The Women’s Giving Circle is building a community of philanthropists and creating a permanent legacy to address the needs of women and girls in Howard County.​

In the twenty years since their founding they have given over one million dollars to their nonprofit partners and have established a 1.3 million dollar endowment from over 1,600 donors to make sure that there will be funds to support women and girls in our community in the future.

One of the statements made last night that I’ll carry with me for a long time is that, “When we lift up women and girls, we lift up entire communities.”

More about that tomorrow. 

To learn more about the Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County, visit their website. And, just for good measure, let’s link you up with the League of Women Voters and International Women’s Day, too.







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more