@whileyouweresleeping / whileyouweresleeping.tumblr.com
“It makes me mad that people do not treat girls equally. Plus a lot of girls are better at sports than boys. So all I am saying is that I would like to do something about it. And I need your help.” —13-year-old Ayla in a letter to President Obama about the Women’s World Cup. Today, Ayla will introduce the President as he congratulates the World Cup Champion U.S. Women’s National Team. Watch it live at 11am ET.
It makes us mad, too, Ayla.
-- From NYC.
Tomorrow, Colombia’s government will most likely choose to suspend a U.S.-backed program that I’ve opposed for most of its 20 years of existence: the use of aircraft to spray herbicides over vast regions of Colombia where poor farmers grow coca bushes.
I’ve traveled several times to these far-off zones and talked to hundreds of people on the receiving end of the “fumigation” policy. The people I found weren’t drug lords: they were families living on the edge of poverty, in communities with almost no signs of a government. Coca didn’t make them rich, but fumigation–which, it turns out, may be carcinogenic–did make them hungry.
Most of the time, what came in the wake of the spray planes was… nothing. No land titles, no credit, no farm-to-market roads, no integration into the national economy. And of course no security or justice.
This has been a cruel policy, using chemicals to attack the weakest and most desperate people in the entire chain of illegal drug production, transshipment, and trafficking. Even worse, it has been a failure: for every acre of coca Colombia has reduced, it has had to spray more than 16–and even then, reductions have proved short-lived.
I’m very glad to see this program go. Here’s a 4-minute video where I talk about all this. (Y aquí hay una versión en español.) Also, see the statement just posted to WOLA’s website.
The suspension of fumigation, along with the possible signing of a peace accord, offers Colombia a unique opportunity to end this history of government neglect and the illicit crop cultivation that has accompanied it. We urge Colombia, with U.S. support, to employ the political will and resources to seize this opportunity.
This is brilliant news. -- From NYC.
All I can think is "no storage."
-- From NYC.
Luz and Inez are four months and a week. I've officially forgotten what it's like to be childless and I thought I'd list some of the things we’ve learnt:
We’re figuring it out. It’s liberating.
-- From NYC.
Look at this fucking hippie. -- From NYC.
Includes much too much information. There are descriptions of lady parts, mentions of bodily fluids, needles, hooks, and baby poop. Get over it, it's a twin birth story.
-- From NYC.
An interesting piece about a touchy topic.
When I became pregnant, I was astounded to realise how little I knew about my own body and reproductive health. Apparently, I am not the only one, and it’s hurting childbearing prospects for many of us.
Anyway, this is a must-read for every woman who is asking herself whether she wants children.
— From NYC.
GPOIW (Gratuitous picture of Inez Wednesday.) -- From NYC.
I know you all know by now, but here it is, officially: our girls arrived exactly a week ago, at 6:04 and 6:16 in the morning. Luz and Inez are in the process of upending our lives. They keep us up long hours, and we wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you, everybody, for all the love, support and gifts you've sent our way. This family is lucky to have you all. -- From NYC.
"Winston Churchill was never easily shocked. In his new biography of the wartime PM, Boris Johnson relates how, one February morning, Churchill was told that one of his ministers had been caught in a compromising position. 'Did I hear you correctly that so-and-so has been caught with a guardsman?' he asked his chief whip. 'In Hyde Park? On a park bench? At three o'clock in the morning?' The chief whip answered in the affirmative. Churchill took a puff of his cigar. 'In this weather?' he added. 'Good God man, it makes you proud to be British.'"
(Latest issue of The Week)
-- From London.
Happy Halloween from Jason and the twins! -- From NYC.
Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea are occasional (rather than typical) symptoms of the flu. Most flu patients never experience them, and of those who do, most are children.
The flu is not a stomach bug. There is not such thing as a "stomach flu." The flu is essentially a brutal cold on steroids. It gives you a sore throat, a stuffy nose, a cough, and on top of that, chills, fever, extreme fatigue, and incapacitating headaches.
Still, it's not an excuse not to get vaccinated. The flu will kill many, many, many more people than Ebola in Europe and the U.S. this year, as it does every year. It probably won't be you, if you're strong and healthy. But if you catch it, you'll help spread it to people who may not be so lucky. So stop freaking out about ebola and get your flu shot.
-- From NYC.
Absolute must-read. Cbowns writes:
Maternity (and paternity) leave policies in the United States are well-documented as the worst among first-world nations. You’re not guaranteed a single week of paid leave. If your company is more than 50 employees, you’re legally allowed up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave.
Some companies have made some novel changes to their maternity leave policies that just begin to modernize them, providing three to six months of full-time paid leave, with a few providing flexible options to extend full-time paid leave by working part-time for longer. More novel still, a handful of companies have started closing the maternity-paternity leave gap and apply the exact same maternity leave policy to fathers. If you’re just lucky enough to work at one of these companies, a dual-income household can work two-part time jobs, stagger childcare across both parents, and continue to pay their bills without having to make the brutal choice between their careers and their child.
Apple and Facebook made the headlines this week with an announcement to finance female employees who decide to freeze their eggs. (Their current leave policies are noted below: 1.) Egg freezing is an experimental technique that combines with in vitro fertilization to allows women to have a child from their own eggs past the normal fertility cliff of their late 30s and 40s.
The breathless praise in the tech media was abundant. What a novel, interesting, high-tech way to address the structural inequalities women face at these companies! Samantha Allen, writing for The Daily Beast deconstructed the illusion brick and brick, and shows how this isn’t the huge win that everyone would love to think it is. (Go read, this can wait.)
She quotes a survey by Forbes of 716 women who have left the tech sector. (Speaking of articles to read: add that one to your list, and take notes.) 68% left for motherhood specifically. Only 9% of those who left had already planned to become full-time mothers, while the remainder…
… noted that factors like insufficient maternity leave, inflexible work arrangements, or a bad work environment made their career in tech incongruous with parenting. Of all the women Snyder surveyed, nearly 90 percent of them said they did not plan on returning to the tech industry in the future. The incompatibility between motherhood and tech, it seems, runs far deeper than the timing of pregnancy alone. And the problem is so severe that the women who leave almost never want to come back.
Egg freezing is a splashy, headline-grabbing complement to the pernicious failings by companies to support employees who want a family. Companies in the US have used a variety of techniques to send a message to women who consider starting a family. With stingy maternity leave policies, a complete lack of on-site childcare (a housing complex under consideration by Facebook is designed to provide daycare for dogs but not humans), and a work environment not imaginative enough to consider transitioning employees to be permanently part-time to support their families, the message is simple:
“You cannot work here if you have children.”
Against this background, egg freezing is not a perk, it’s an abuser’s reward. It’s another way to avoid making a decision which they’ve already ensured you’ll regret. It’s another way to entice women to not have children.
My partner had a long conversation about it this morning. Here’s some of what was said. (Quotes here are intentionally paraphrased and unattributed.)
“Before, [the situation was], you had kids, now what! You already made that choice, and we’re not going to help.” Egg freezing provides a new option: “Look at how bad it is for you [to have children while working here]. Here’s a way to just… not.” “It’s a flashy way of reinforcing a message that companies have for women considering a family. Here’s another way in which you can not have kids right now. Look at how hard it’s going to be to have kids. Here’s a way not to.”
"Before, it was subtle: we’re not going to invest in an amazing experience for you once you reproduce. Our goal is to get you back to the office as quickly as possible. We’re going to make zero concessions to make this easier. This is the first time where it’s ‘actually, just don’t [have kids] at all.’ "
"It’s very distinctly and clearly encouraging. It’s what they’ve always believed all along, but they’re putting their money where their beliefs are. It’s disgusting."
Mallory Ortberg, Dirtbag Zeus.
Still laughing.
-- From NYC, thanks to Jamelle Bouie.
I just want you to know, friends and family, your "I got my vaccines so I can meet the twins!" messages feel like the very best gifts these parents-to-be could ever hope for. We love you dearly.
-- From NYC.
"If not me, who? And if not now, when?" — Emma Watson kills it at the U.N.
-- From NYC.
