Blog - Page 64 of 93 - Maureen F. Fitzgerald

Marissa will survive because of child care and flex time

Marrisa Mayer the new CEO of Yahoo has the very thing that all women have been requesting for centuries: child care and flexible work hours. These just happen to be two of the big keys to women’s freedom and equality. If every woman had these, I am sure we would see many more women

Marissa Mayer can clear a new path or not

I hope you have been following the maternity debate sparked by the appointment of Marissa Mayer as the new CEO of Yahoo. The bottom line is this. Marissa Mayer told the Yahoo Board she was pregnant and they did the right thing by hiring her anyway. After all it’s illegal to not hire a

Women must stop fighting amoung themselves

Professor Gina Barreca of the University of Connecticut recently wrote a great column suggesting it is time for women to stop fighting among themselves. I cannot agree more. She mentions an article by Elizabeth Wurtzel in The Altantic titled “Stay-at-Home-Moms are Wrecking Women’s Economic Platforms Forever” and how it attracted 17 million blog responses!

I love Melinda Gates

The Gates Foundation recently announced that Melinda Gates intends to put birth control back on the international agenda by making it her signature issue and significantly boosting funding. This is very brave considering Melinda is a Catholic and has been accused of attacking Catholic sexual morality. Still she holds firm knowing that too many

Must watch the Invisible War

I just heard about the new documentary “Invisible War” about sexual assault and rape of women in the military. They found that since WWII an estimated 500,000 US military personnel have been sexually assaulted or raped. A female soldier in a combat zone is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than

New law misses the opportunity to deal with RCMP harassment

Have you heard of window dressing? As you may know the RCMP are being sued by about 100 female officers for systemic discrimination. So what did the federal governmentt just do? It introduced a new law that gives senior RCMP managers even MORE power to discipline officers. Increase the power at the top. As an expert in

The V-Word still taboo in doctors offices

Recent research shows that Canadian women are reluctant to speak to their doctors about vaginal pain. Dr Rossella Nappi (Italy) found that women in Sweden and Finland are much more likely to speak openly to their doctors. On average women in Canada wait three years before mentioning their suffering. This is a terrible shame and

Couples don’t say sorry enough even though it works

Recent research shows that couples who say sorry more often tend to stick together. No surprise. Those couples that are willing to admit they did something wrong and apologized had stronger relationships. But Stanford researchers also discovered that forgiveness only followed the apology when the coupls were “highly satisfied” (eg in a trusting relationship). Sadly, appologies were

Kids are not so selfish afterall

I love it when research overturns a fundamental belief. it makes us question so much or what we do. Recent UBC research shows not only that adults feel good when doing good but so do infants under age two. Small children smiled bigger when giving than receiving. So why do we still think that the main motivator in life

Workers can now claim insurance for harassment and bullying

As lawyer, I was brought it to tackle situations of harrassment and bullying. All were painful. Now, rather than counting on a corporate anti-bully policy and a complex process, a new law in British Columbia allows workers who are harassed or bullied to seek Workers Compensation. In the past, this workers insurance only covered mental stress arising from