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Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: Why Women's Lives Aren't Getting Any Easier--And How We Can Make Real Progress For Ourselves and Our Daughters
     

Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: Why Women's Lives Aren't Getting Any Easier--And How We Can Make Real Progress For Ourselves and Our Daughters

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by Carolyn Maloney
 

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As a young woman, Democratic congresswoman Carolyn Maloney asked her grandmother for career advice. She was shocked by the reply: "Get married."

Though much has changed for women since then, more has remained the same. On a January night in 2008, Maloney and her daughter attended a Hillary Clinton rally in New Hampshire. Men in the audience held "Iron My

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Overview

As a young woman, Democratic congresswoman Carolyn Maloney asked her grandmother for career advice. She was shocked by the reply: "Get married."

Though much has changed for women since then, more has remained the same. On a January night in 2008, Maloney and her daughter attended a Hillary Clinton rally in New Hampshire. Men in the audience held "Iron My Shirt" posters aloft. This small incident provoked outrage, but it provided an important peephole onto larger problems that women face today.

In her groundbreaking book, Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated, Congresswoman Maloney shatters the myths about how far we've come, highlighting how women's issues permeate every realm of society, and how political change has provided only a fraction of a solution.

The former co-chair of the Women's Caucus, Maloney has access to a wealth of cutting-edge research that helps her illuminate how far behind we still fall on gender equality in issues from healthcare to educational opportunities, from poverty to reproductive freedom. It's a fact that women are working harder than ever, but they're still paid only three-quarters the salary of their male counterparts. She weaves this vital information with gripping stories of real women, making clear that she's not taking some abstract political position. She's talking about real people, real lives.

Maloney also points the way forward, sharing inspiring tales of female activists who have managed to make a difference and presenting readers with "take action" guides that show all women practical ways they can help bring about change in their lives and the lives of others.

Editorial Reviews

If you think that the glass ceiling has been shattered, that violence against women is under control, and that gender equality has been nearly achieved...think again. United States congresswoman Carolyn Maloney marshals impressive documentation to demonstrate that American women have not achieved the gains that they most covet. Indeed, she argues that progress for progress have been stalled, even reversed, by "family values" advocates who yearn for the days of stay-at-home moms and compliant wives. A searing look at a lost revolution.
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review.

Rep. Maloney, a U.S. congresswoman from New York since 1992, has spent her career fighting for women's rights. Though women are now an accepted and unremarkable part of the workforce, Maloney documents some surprisingly grim realities, among them: the gap between men and women's wages is still widening, working mothers are still penalized for dealing with family obligations, and affordable quality child care is in short supply nationwide. Health care issues, life-work balance issues and equality issues, Maloney reports, are only getting more difficult for women, with real quality-of-life results: studies show a "growing 'happiness gap,'" as "women have become less satisfied with their lives over the past 30 years." "Take Action Guides" punctuate the (largely) bad news, offering concrete steps to create "A Workplace that Works for Families" ("Demand what you're worth," "Urge your congresspeople to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act"), and help push back against community and domestic violence ("Educate yourself and others about how to prevent rape," support activist and treatment organizations like RAINN and H-E-A-R-T). Though she admits that "documenting the stark reality... is much easier than abolishing it," this comprehensive look at the contemporary American woman is an important and impassioned report, especially eye-opening for those who insist the fight for women's equality is already won.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

ISBN-13:
9781605299716
Publisher:
Rodale
Publication date:
05/13/2008
Sold by:
Barnes & Noble
Format:
NOOK Book
Sales rank:
1,109,619
File size:
4 MB

Meet the Author

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney was elected to New York's 14th congressional district (parts of Manhattan and Queens) in the House of Representatives in 1992, the so-called Year of the Woman. Chair of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, vice chair of the Joint Economic Committee, and former cochair of the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues, she passed numerous bills to improve the lives of women and families. Her work on antirape legislation was the basis of a Lifetime movie A Life Interrupted, in which one of the major characters was Carolyn B. Maloney. Among her achievements are passage of legislation to end trafficking of women, improve women's health and reproductive rights, expand affordable child care, create a human rights commission in Afghanistan, and provide funding for women's programs to combat the Taliban's oppression.

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Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: Why Life Isn't Getting Any Easier, and How You Can Make Real Progress for Yourself and Other Wom 5 out of 5 based on 0 ratings. 1 reviews.
Guest More than 1 year ago
With Hillary's campaign for the Presidency ending, now more than ever, America needs this book. After reading this, I was astonished at the lack of progress that women have had in the 20th and now 21st century. One fact that saddened me the most was that, '7 of 10 industries that employ more than 70 percent of women workers and managers, the wage gap between men and women managers actually GREW between 1995 and 2000! Women managers made 79.7 cents to a man's dollar in 2000, .7 percent less than they made in 1983!' As a man who believes in equal rights for everyone, I urge you to read this eye-opening book.