Are you gals ready for a rumble tonight?

A year ago this week, the Supreme Court decision to strike down a class action gender bias suit against Walmart had a sweeping and symbolic impact on women’s rights.

That ruling, and a host of other actions including moves by religious employers to derail contraceptive coverage for workers, a recent legislation defeat of pay equity legislation for women, and the rise in the number of pregnancy discrimination claims have all culminated into what many women advocates call a “War on Women.”

On Thursday, it was time to rally the troops, maintained Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, during a luncheon with a focus on stopping the war with more advocacy and also legislation to turn back the high court’s Walmart ruling.

“Who would have thought that in 2012, we’d be arguing over providing contraception for women, or debating the idea of equal pay,” Ness told a 1,500 member audience of mainly women gathered in the Washington Hilton including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who gave the keynote address. “Yet here we are.” (more…)

This is my new standing desk. Yes, it looks like an ironing board, but it’s not. It’s my latest attempt at getting a standing desk without paying crazy standing-desk prices.

My husband saw this ironing board desk at his office being used by a colleague who’s health conscious and wanted to stand during the day.

He decided to buy me one from a local office supply store for about $30 because my makeshift standing desk was getting on his nerves. It was made of puzzle boxes and crates, but the worst part was I couldn’t rest my hands on anything and ended up giving myself tennis elbow. (more…)

Bill Maher on Real Time Friday did a great job summing up the insanity of no mandated paid vacation time for U.S. workers.

Yes, employees in our great nation don’t get paid vacations, unless their employers decide to provide it. And for those of us who get paid vacation, the offering is pretty pathetic. Among the world’s industrialized nations, the United States ranks 9th behind Korea for goodness sake. And we’re one of the only countries that does not mandate even one day off a year for vacation.

There have been attempts to get America on the vacation track, including the Paid Vacation Act of 2009 but the bill went no where. (more…)

There are two new women in the boardroom of Italian automaker Fiat — Joyce Victoria Bigio and Patience Wheatcroft.

It’s great news, but don’t get all warm and fuzzy over Fiat. The company was pretty much strong-armed into adding women to its all-male board because of a new law that requires Italian firms to have at least one-third women board members by 2015, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal today.

Other countries, including Norway, have imposed such quotas and many have reaped the benefits of having more women voices in the big chairs. But it’s not even something that’s seriously considered in the United States, even though less than 20 percent of board seats are held by women at U.S. firms.

In fact, some firms won’t even consider women board members when asked by their shareholders to just think about more gals for board positions. (more…)

I wrote a story this week for Today.com on how the pay gap between men and women widens as we age, and I was struck by something an economist that was part of the study told me during an interview:

“Men are selecting to go into higher paying jobs,” said Katie Bardaro, lead economist for PayScale. Women, she said, tend to gravitate to jobs in human resources and nursing, while men go for the big bucks in finance and technology.

Why should these jobs pay more, I asked her.

“A lot of people complain, that if these were male-dominated jobs, they’d be paid more,” she explained, but “I can’t put a lot of basis in that argument.” She pointed to the fact that many jobs men go into are dangerous, requiring a pay premium as a result.

I wouldn’t say being a banker is dangerous, and she agreed. But, she noted, that more men tend to become construction managers.

In the end what we have is nearly half of society not making as much as the other half of society, and the problem only gets worse as we grow older. And I don’t know about you, something’s got to give.

Did you know women are more likely to be poor as they age? (more…)