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PARITY IN THE CABINET???

By Dr. Lynette Long on November 9, 2008 at 5:40 PM in Equal Pay, George Bush, Misogyny, Obama Administration, Obama's Cabinet, Sexism, Women, Women and Children, Women's Suffrage, Workers

Ed. Note: We are proud to announce that, starting this Monday night at 9:00 p.m. ET, Dr. Lynette Long will host a weekly call-in radio show, Sins of Omission. She wrote this description:

Join Dr. Lynette Long for her weekly call-in show, SINS OF OMISSION, where she unapologetically discusses sexism in our society. Dr. Long will use your examples to highlight both Sins of Commission (blatant sexist attacks) and Sins of Omission (the under-representation of women). In her direct no-holds-barred style, Dr. Long will offer listeners strategies to combat sexism in their lives and will solicit the help of the listening audience to eradicate sexism in our society. Get ready to roll up your sleeves and do some heavy lifting — something has got to give.


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PARITY IN THE CABINET??

_44197118_cabinetmeeting_getty.jpg

by Lynette Long

The current cabinet of the United States is attended by the President, fifteen Cabinet Members, and six cabinet level administrative offices that includes the Vice-President and the White House Chief of Staff for a total of 22 members. 

The Bush Cabinet has four women: Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State, Elaine Chao as Secretary of Labor, Mary Peters as Secretary of Transportation, and Margaret Spellings as Secretary of Education. 

In addition Susan Schwab has Cabinet level rank as United States Trade Secretary.   

Out of the 22 people that attend cabinet meetings, The President, the Vice-President, the Cabinet, and the Cabinet level administrative offices, five are currently women, which is 23%. 

Will President-Elect Obama appoint more women to his cabinet than President Bush?   I am starting a cabinet watch. 

Help me.  I would like to see 50% of the female cabinet women.  I am starting a cabinet watch.  As the cabinet members become appointed I will color the titles blue or pink. 

Please lobby the Obama campaign for more women in the cabinet.  Call his office at 202-224-2854. Thanks. 

·         The President

·         Secretary of State

·         Secretary of the Treasury

·         Secretary of Defense

·         Attorney General

·         Secretary of the Interior

·         Secretary of Agriculture

·         Secretary of Commerce

·         Secretary of Labor

·         Secretary of Health and Human Services

·         Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

·         Secretary of Transportation

·         Secretary of Energy

·         Secretary of Education

·         Secretary of Veterans Affairs

·         Secretary of Homeland Security

Cabinet-level administration offices

·         Vice President of the United States

·         White House Chief of Staff

·        Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

·         Director of the Office of Management and Budget

·         Director of the National Drug Control Policy

·         United States Trade Representative

·         

·         

  • Galt’s Pizza Parlor

    Dr. Long I admire you trying to make the best of this nightmare.

  • mountainaires

    Look, it’s not going to happen. There’s no purpose in trying to lobby him. The goal should be to wait him out and then highlight what he has not done. Because believe me; it will not be done. Obama doesn’t care what women think; he has complete contempt for anyone who he believes he has already defeated.

    So, wait. See what he does. And, then highlight it.

    If you want to know who Barack Obama is, read this, and read it closely and thoroughly:

    http://www.faithfreedom.org/obama.html

    • AF catfish

      Good read! And the top photo … chilling! (Though unsurprising.)

    • PamFlorida

      Wait him out? Are you kidding? We have been waiting for parity since the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 that secured our right to vote. Here we are, 99 years later, with a paltry 17% representation in the House and Senate combined.
      The US population is over 300 million. Over 52% of that number are female.
      We must learn to use Obama’s “community organizing” methods to achieve our goals. it worked for him.

      • mimi

        Sorry PamFlorida, but mountainaires is right.

        I’m going to wait him out too. I like the idea. I’m not groveling at this misogynist who won the female vote while basically telling women to kiss his ass.

        If young women like eating this much shit, then I say to them, knock yourselves out.

        I’m going wait and watch. Everything will come to a head.

        Patience is a virtue.

    • voterinexile

      mountainaires – just read and passed along. thank you! this is the most comprehensive essay on Obama’s NPD that i’ve read so far tho many many others have tried.
      it is afterall quite staggering how many things must mentioned when talking about this man – ergo, your average poster or blogger is bound to get lost in the details.

      this essay will be a lasting reminder for me of what we may face…

    • mimi

      I’m going to repeat what I said on the other thread.

      I’m not going to support women for awhile. Let them eat a bit more shit. Ditto AAs.

      I want 0bama to have enough room for his true colors to show.

      • Northwest rain

        This is wise counsel — I too am willing to sit back and wait.

        There is no way he can sustain the illusion he has created.

        Young women who voted for him will regret what they’ve done someday.

        Unfortunately the young women who didn’t vote Obama will suffer for the stupidity of their sisters.

        Obama is NOT MKL — Obama comes from the other wing — and there is violence and hatred in the Black Liberation Theology BS.

        If women lobby him — this will inflate his ego when he either appoint zero women or a token women in a symbolic, do nothing slot.

        When the impeachment hearings begin 2011 — That’s when I’d like to see WOMEN come together. But that won’t happen even then.

        America is one of most misogynistic countries on earth. That probably will never change.

        Facts are facts — 1920 – 2020 —

        From this point we will probably go backward in time. I’m basing this on the level of sex role stereotyping we see in our culture — and the election of O-zero who encouraged and used sexist language and symbolism in his campaign.

        Message is clear — women need not apply — because only those with “experience” (penis) are allowed.

        • mimi

          Northwest rain,

          I agree. It’s a sad state of affairs, but this is reality right now. We really do have to practise patience right now. I don’t want to create a situation where is adoring devotees circle the wagons around him.

          That would be the worst possible thing we could do. It would protect him.

          We can’t put unreasonable pressure on him or protest too vehemently right now.

          We have to keep reporting what’s going on and our response to it as well as making sure people remember all of the inconsistencies.

          It’s the only way to go.

  • mountainaires

    “It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.”

    ~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War

  • hi

    Stop the Obama Constitutional Crisis
    Sign the Petition : 85,723 Letters and Emails Sent So Far

    http://www.rallycongress.com/constitutional-qualification/1244/stop-obama-constitutional-crisis/

  • hedy

    I had hoped with all my heart that Hillary would be our next and first woman President but it did not happen. Obama and his thugs made sure of that. Dr. Lynette the thing that I cannot understand is that it’s not just men that are against women it’s the women themselves. People like the Maureen Dowds they couldn’t stand Hillary and they couldn’t stand Sarah so what is their problem?

    • oowawa

      People like the Maureen Dowds they couldn’t stand Hillary and they couldn’t stand Sarah so what is their problem?

      Perhaps: Race trumps gender, but jealous envy trumps them both.

      • oowawa

        Race trumps gender, but jealous envy trumps them both.

        Oowawa, you’re stupid. Blanket generalities like this sound great and look intelligent at first, but when you think about them at all, they break down. Get a life.

    • NoBamaNoWay

      they are Aunt Thomasinas, plain and simple. they choose to cast their lot with the group that they believe has the most power to benefit them.
      self-interest rather than self-respect.

  • AF catfish

    Good read. The top photo is absolutely frightening, yet very real and unsurprising.

  • Typewriterstreaming

    Thank you Dr. Long, your tireless efforts are greatly admired.

  • Tuppence411

    Do we have specific reccomendations yet. I prefer to call it a demand list to El Presidente Barky Oblahblah. I want Shelia Blair as Treasury Secretary. She is doing all the heavy lifting now on the financial crisis. Give her the title she deserves. He best not pick Larry “girls can’t do math” Summers!

    I think we will fair better if we have specific names attached to our demands.

  • heather

    Oh please oh please oh please, I don’t want to sound sexist, but I can’t stand seeing Jennifer Granholm constantly in the picture since the election. This woman has done nothing for the state of Michigan, and as Detroit swirls the drain, she’s grinning for the camera elsewhere. She is NOT someone he should be going to for advice on the economy — as our state lost thousands of jobs and inhabitants, she decided to fill the tax revenue gap by raising taxes. We’re back at the old slogan “Will the last person out of Michigan please turn out the lights?”

    • Tuppence411

      Oh no… screw Jennifer. That’s not what we need. We need competent, top of their field, blow the boys out of the water, women to take charge.

      • heather

        Have you noticed how close she is in proximity to him? I saw a picture this morning of BO and she was just to the left behind him. Then I saw the advisors sitting with him around a table and there she was grinning two or so seats away. THE WORLD IS INSANE! What could she possibly add to the conversation — “Well, here in Michigan, when things get tough, we make them just a bit tougher, to really weed out the weak ones” or “Who the heck cares if everyone leaves, there’ll just be more left for all of us!”
        GAH!

  • Just_Saying

    Obama can show real partianship by appointing women and people who didn’t donate/contribute to his campaign…
    .

  • HARP

    Next on the DNC`s to do ( screw ) list. Make Hillary lose her Senate seat. Good judgment there Hillary.

    • Margaret

      And what could Hillary have done differently that would have changed how she is now being treated? Nothing, unless of course, she had never run for President in the first place.

  • Maria3

    Even now, plans under way for Obama national holiday
    ‘I thought it was required that a person be dead before they are memorialized’

    http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=80584

    • HARP

      The whole DNC are dead to me now and forever.

    • Josephine the Plumber

      I doubt this “national day” will get any traction. However, if election eve Mondays and election Tuesdays were made official (legal) holidays, then we could all have a four-day weekend. Yeah… I could go for that! :mrgreen:

    • lorac

      Blacks already have MLK day.

      There’s not even one single day yet for any woman, let alone women in general.

      Oh, silly me – there’s secretaries’ day.

      We should push back with a Hillary day, or a day for one of the women who pushed through our right to vote. We should push hard, and accentuate that there’s not a single day for recognizing women’s contributions and heroism.

      We need to “get in his face”, as he told his followers to do to us.

      • JozefAL

        Um, lorac, there IS a day for women. It takes place the second Sunday of May every single year. Okay, so you have to be a certain TYPE of woman to really celebrate it, but it does exist. It’s called MOTHER’S DAY.
        And I defy you to claim that mothers are not recognized for their contributions and most of the tributes that newspapers print for Mother’s Day note many accounts of the women’s heroism.

  • Just_Saying

    Dr. Long, I agree it’d be nice to see more women in the cabinet. (I hope they’re not forced to wear burkas!).
    .
    .

  • Black Woman who supports Palin

    I bet he will appoint Reverend Jeremiah Wright to Secretary of the Interior. Ayers will be Secretary of Homeland Security.

    • http://rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

      Oh, see, I thought Ayers would be the Sec. of Education. You know, to “radicalize the youth.” But you have a point – maybe Bill Ayers is a Two-fer: Education AND Homeland Security!

      • Black Woman who supports Palin

        Obama is not interested in educating the masses. The dumber they are, the higher the chance he will be reelected.

    • NoBamaNoWay

      heh. i was thinking that Ayres would be Secretary of Re-education.

  • obama_never

    Isn’t it a good thing that both Tom Brokaw and Charlie Rose decided a few days before the election that neither of them KNEW WHO BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA was? Thanks MSM!!! Isn’t that what been screaming about for 19 months???

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBC1Tp_aTUo&e

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/tristkiss trist

    It’s apparently worse than we thought. I think most here know Pelosi was instrumental in the tragedy of this “election” of Obama. And so she isn’t to be trusted changing a light-bulb let alone third in line for the Presidency.

    And apparently she’s not. I saw one of the anchors on FOX last week saying that though she’s the Speaker of the House someone else was third in line, another Dem House member, a man. Can’t for the life of me remember his name but the FOX guy said he had worked out a deal to make himself 3rd in line.

    Is this normal that the Speaker of the house isn’t 3rd in line? Has it ever happened before that it fell to someone else? What does THAT say about this country’s determination to make sure no woman has a chance to govern it?

  • AAA+

    D’oh.

    You want 0bama to choose cabinet based on sex, not merit, right?

    And dey sed Affirmative Action was over.

    • he whose middle name must NOT be named

      gender-based affirmative action is the new black – if that helps you get your limited mind around this…

      since a far more qualified woman was bypassed for a less qualified male — who told you affirmative was dead anyway?

  • lorac

    Affirmative action can’t be dead. We have an affirmative action president. Promoted even though he has no qualifications. Voted for simply because of his skin color.

    Qualifications is so 90′s.

  • pcbedamned

    Man, Woman, WHO CARES?!? As long as they are the best at their position that should be ALL that matters. (FYI – this comment is coming from a woman)

    • NoBamaNoWay

      i agree, but can there really be so few qualified women out there that 230+ years since this country’s founding, we still haven’t had a woman president and are nowhere near 50% of top jobs in government? i think there might be something going on other than impartial consideration of qualifications.

  • J.J. (The PUMA)

    I’m not interested in parity in Obama’s cabinet. I just want to live in a world sometime where the best candidate for president wins, even if that person is a woman.

  • lorac

    I AM interested in parity. There are plenty of qualified women around, but they are passed by, just as Hillary was.

    Unless we push for parity, a world where the best candidate wins regardless of gender is just a saying. Women will keep being passed up, if we don’t STAND up.

  • Mystika

    Ole’ Blue Eyes,himself, Frank Sinatra sang a famous song called *That’s Life*. In it he croons these fateful words, “I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a King…I’ve been up and down and over and out and I know one thing…Each time I find myself flat on my face I pick myself up and get back in the race. Pay attention to his voice, listen to the lyrics with wisdom, and you’ll feel much better…I promise!!

    tube.com/watch?v=pc1fu4RHDi0

  • Mystika

    I’m trying to attach ole’ Blue Eye song, *That’s Life*, for a second time. Still, it’s worth it to Google IT and just listen! Certain songs have a way of clarifying our senses and helping us to think outside the ‘square box’. If we stand strong in ourself and stay focused within our hearts we project a more powerful persona. Politics is much more flexible than we imagine!

    “All the world’s a stage…and one man or one woman, in their time, plays many parts”. This is from Shakespeare’s *As you Like It* and we must remember that we are the actor, the producer, the director, the writer, the audience, etc. Nothing is ever written in stone that can’t be changed. Truly, the pen is mightier than the sword! Each of are changing the reality of this election with our extraordinay selves! God Bless America…our Home Sweet Home!!

    I hope ole’ Blue Eyes ‘YouTube’ works on this 2nd try. Frank Sinatra’s baritone voice is magical, for young and “not so young”.

    tube.com/watch?v=pc1fu4RHDi0

  • http://home.comcast.net/~vincep312 VinceP1974

    THe New York Times is suggesting that Obama might propose Jamie Gorelick for Attorney General..

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    This woman is a curse wherever she goes. She’s a menace and needs to be in jail not at the DoJ.

    Back in the 90s, she cemented the wall between Law Enforcement and Intelligence and made it almost impossible for the separate Agencies to share information.

    At Fannie Mae, i think she was one of the head consuls. She got MILLIONS of Dollars in bonuses because of phony bookkeeping. As far as I know she has got to keep the money and there’s been investigation of her.

    I hope and pray this is one woman who never works for the government again.

  • M.J.

    While I agree women should have access to opportunities to serve in the Cabinet and as any other government official, I don’t believe our goal is to have a 50/50 men-women ratio. What if more women are more qualified? What if more men are better qualified? Shouldn’t our Cabinet appointees, senior government officials be chosen based on their experience, talents, aptitude, etc? Perhaps we should consider merit rather than gender. If women truly want equality or equal opportunity, we should stop expecting special treatment and go for equal treatment. Women should compete with men for jobs in the same way whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, or anyone competes! Employment is supposed to be non-discriminatory by sex, gender, creed, ethnicity, etc. Why would we expect 50% women? Should we then expect a ratio reflecting the country’s values and say x% of the cabinet should be Christian, x% Muslim, x% atheist, x% non-denominational, x% Catholic, x% Jewish? It’s absurd, but no different from this expectation.

  • Strawberrybitch

    Damn, get a life, get laid, go for a walk…your obsession with Larry is rather unhealthy. Your therapist warned you about this.

  • Galt’s Pizza Parlor

    Plus the demand they make is meshuga. Yeah, he will reveal confidential sources meaning no one will ever confide in him again.

  • Galt’s Pizza Parlor

    Not a “you people” troll. :shock:

  • Tuppence411

    Lawrence- shut up and go away already. Oh wait….maybe you are “the” Lawrence, Lawrence Summers. Tell why you think
    1.) girls can’t do math, and
    2.)it’s morally acceptable to pollute Africa?

    Why should you be Treasury Secretary will all your baggage when equally intelligent, proven competent Shelia Blair is available?