The Lipstick LobbyList 1.25.2011

The New Yorker on the "bomb" of the Feminist Mystique.

Last week's styleboston "Power Player" was Sheriff Andrea Cabral.

From earlier in the month, Sec of State Hillary Clinton is continuing to push rights for same sex couples: Parent One, Parent Two to replace references to mother, father on passport forms

Five Reasons Why Elizabeth Warren should challenge Scott Brown

Fascinating look at Gov. Brewer in Arizona, when the political becomes personal as she faces budget cutting decisions.

Barbara Lee's latest Huff Post piece:  Girl Power: What Women's Leadership Means for America.

Another fantastic Rebecca Traister piece on Rep. Giffords and why the Wild West is better for women candidates.

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm's next plans - teaching at Berkeley, being a guest commentator on Meet the Press and coauthoring a book with her husband, Dan Mulhern, about "the experience of governing what has been the toughest state in the country."

The Lipstick LobbyList 1.19.11

A fantastic Weekend Edition on NPR this weekend on women in agriculture.  Women are the fastest growing group of US farmers, numbering more than 300,000.  The women interviewed brought back some of my heartland pride, discussing the strong historical presence of women on family farms, which is now turning into a real force in the industry.

State Treasurer Steve Grossman was sworn into office today, which means that his chief of staff Kathryn Burton starts her new job today, as well.  Welcome to the hallowed halls of the State House, where more click of heels and pant suits are always needed, especially in such high profile and influential positions!

I love it when a strong woman candidate is bold enough to be the first in a race: Democrat Susan Bysiewicz to Run for Joe Lieberman's Senate Seat

Bummed that I missed Prof. Melissa Harris-Perry on MLK day in Boston, urging us to heed Dr. King's words of wisdom to "choose community over chaos."

 An interesting NYT piece on gay parenting (and gay friendly churches) on the rise in Jacksonville, FL.

Hillary is proving that you can have a feminist foreign policy:

From the start Clinton left no one in any doubt where she stood: women's rights are "the signature issue" of this administration's foreign policy, she said. She mentioned women 450 times in speeches in the first five months in office. "Transformation of the role of women is the last great impediment to universal progress," she declared, and began to develop what is her standard line: women's issues are integral to the achievement of every goal of US foreign policy.

The Lipstick LobbyList 1.12.11

Rebecca Traister on Rep. Gabby Giffords:  "...it would be irresponsible to fail to note that a young, highly educated, ambitious Jewish woman like Gabrielle Giffords, despite her centrism, represents much that is revolutionary and hopeful about the changing face of American politics, as well as about the new and varied paths and possibilities available to women."  Keep fighting, Gabby!

Last week, Sen. Barbara Mikulski became the longest serving female senator.  Her video interview on CNN is fantastic, including a bit about how Senator Byrd had to check the Senate rules before allowing her to wear pants on the Senate floor.  In 1988.  She said when she walked on the floor of the Senate: "You would have thought I was walking on the moon."

In another sign of how slow things change in the Old Boy's Club, this week I joined my spouse for an evening event at the New York Stock Exchange, where one speaker proudly announced the opening of official women's restrooms at the Stock Exchange (see photo left).  Yes, in 2011.  When we were at the event last year, we noticed that the women's restroom had been a poorly designed repurposing of old telephone booths. 

A tribute to some fabulous "trouble making" women of 2011.

My favorite edition of the NYT magazine is always the issue of "The Lives They Lived".  This year featured the "biting critic of cockocracy” Mary Daly.

And finally - an explanation about what happened to Broadsheet, my go to source for feminist political news commentary.  Come back, come back!

The Lipstick LobbyList 1.6.11

A New Year.  A new state legislative session.  A new Congress.  A new Lipstick LobbyList.

On the state side:

A shout out to State Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz for being picked for the Rodel Fellowship at the Aspen Institute.

Today, the newly re-elected State Senate President Therese Murray becomes the first woman in Massachusetts history to swear in the governor.  Baby steps....

Longtime Herald sports columnist Steve Buckley came out today in his column: 

I’ve put this off long enough. I haven’t been fair to my family, my friends or my co-workers. And I certainly haven’t been fair to myself: For too many years I’ve been on the sidelines of Boston’s gay community but not in the game...

Onto national news:

Congress has a new Speaker of the House.  As yet another sign of her admirable - and in this case, humble - leadership style, I loved Nancy Pelosi's tweet on Tuesday:

@Nancy Pelosi I'm now @NancyPelosi - 2 characters shorter than @SpeakerPelosi. RTers rejoice!

An interesting article in today's NYT about Speaker Boehner's wife, Debbie Boehner. I have to admit, I found myself really liking her.  She's 62.  She's planning to keep her career in Ohio as a real estate agent, versus moving to DC to simply support her husband's career.  And I particularly related to her working part time at a Garden Center to get the discount for her daughter's wedding flowers.  I do miss the Midwestern creative thriftiness and work ethic.

Lisa Belkin in the Motherlode blog analyzes New Jersey's governor Chris Christie's emergency snow response, who was absent from the state for a planned family vacation.   

His reasoning: that he had “made a promise to my children that at the end of my first year of governor that I was going to take them to Disney World. My first and most important responsibility, in my view, is as a husband and a father.”

[W]hat if Christopher had been Christine? Lost in the debate over whether or not the state could function with the governor out of town is the striking fact that a woman would never have used the words that this man did. Women in the workplace still go out of their way to hide their families — still fibbing and saying that they themselves are sick when their child has the flu — for fear of being dismissed as “mere moms.”

I can not imagine a woman announcing that her role of “wife and mother” comes before her role as governor. Can you? And is Christie’s embracing of his “paternal side” a kind of progress for parents or just a reminder that the rules are still different for men?