Is America's current obsession with sex a plus or minus for working women and men? That was the question posed Sept. 23, during the initial program in the New Paradigm Symposia series sponsored by the Ford Foundation and Cornells Institute for Women and Work, a division of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR).
Symposium panelists included renowned womens rights spokesperson Betty Friedan, currently a distinguished visiting professor at the ILR School and director of the New Paradigm Project; Julianne Malveaux, author, economist and contributor to USA Today and Black Issues in Higher Education; Eleanor Clift, contributing editor at Newsweek magazine; Steven Slon, editor in chief of Success magazine; Karen Nussbaum, director of the AFL-CIOs Working Womens Department; Susan Bianchi-Sands, executive director of the National Committee on Pay Equity; and Francine Moccio, director of the Institute for Women and Work, who was moderator.
An audience of more than 170 filled the conference room of the Carnegie Endowment Center for International Peace in Washington, D.C. which also is the home of the ILR Schools offices in the nations capital. Ann Martin, acting associate dean of the ILR School, welcomed the participants on behalf of the school.
Each panelist addressed the question from a slightly different angle. Friedan began by talking about how she felt the current obsession with sex and the tremendous focus on the Clinton-Lewinsky affair was diverting attention from such real issues as the need for a national child-care system, achieving pay equity and gaining equal representation for women and minorities at top levels of government and corporations.
Malveaux criticized the Clinton-Lewinsky issue as a political shilly-shally through reality and said it would be far more important to focus attention and media coverage on topics that affect working men and women. She went on to say that a bigger problem than the allegations in the Starr report was that government was using its power wrongly and hurting the American public in the process.
Bianchi-Sands echoed Malveaux, saying all Americans should be concerned about whats happening to our democracy in Congress zeal to undo a president. Americans hold dear their judicial system, where the punishment fits the crime, she said, and many are astonished that the ultimate punishment of impeachment is being used for this crime of passion.
Clift described the current obsession as boiling down to politics and economics. First politics, in that Republicans have their eyes on gaining seats in the House and Senate, and economics because, she said, the media realized that coverage of the scandal brings a boon in ratings. It is, Clift said, a soap opera the press will not give up easily.
Ironically, the obsession with sex is having somewhat of a liberating effect on the workplace, began Slon. He continued his slightly different approach saying the past decade of sexual harassment cases has caused many businesses to attempt to eliminate any traces of sexuality from the office, out of fear of lawsuits. Slon suggested Clintons job-approval rating has stayed high because working Americans are tired of the problems inherent in checking sex at the door and, thus, are not as upset with the president.
Nussbaum said she was concerned that the obsession with, and heightened focus on, the issue would negatively affect voter turnout in the upcoming elections. The biggest casualty in all this would be the drop-off voter, mainly composed of women, who are turned off, she suggested, because there has been no talk or coverage of the issues working people care about, including education, health care and retirement.
So, does Americas obsession with sex hurt or help working womens issues? What counts to the working women we speak with every day at the institute is their representatives responsiveness to womens critical needs, like quality child care and an increased minimum wage, rather than their behavior in their private lives, said Moccio.
The next symposium will be held Oct. 28, also at the Carnegie Endowment Center for International Peace, and is titled The Changing Nature of Work and Family Life: A Focus on Men.
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