Maria Shriver and the American Center for Progress have released their report on Women.  Time Magazine has released it’s cover story, “The State of the American Woman – A new poll shows why they are more powerful – but less happy.”  NBC-TV is reporting on the current state of half of America’s population.  Women are in the news everywhere.   And, the bottom line is – our society is changing, not just in numbers and percentages, but also in attitudes, expectations, and gender roles.

Some interesting history

Women in American have had the right to vote for less than 100 years (1920).  Just imagine what we can accomplish in the next 100 years!

In 1961, President Kennedy created the first Commission on the Status of Women and named Eleanor Roosevelt to chair the effort.

In 1963, the Equal Pay Act was passed – though we don’t seeem to be enforcing that law very well.  The Time report found in 2008 “Women make 77cents for every $1 men earn.”  Where are the Equal Pay Police?

So what’s the story today?

Today, men and women are equally represented in the workplace, with the expectation that women may comprise “more than half the workforce for the first time in history” by the end of this year.  The shift is occuring as traditionally male industries, such as construction and manufacturing, face heavy job losses and those career paths more associated with women – healthcare, service, retail – are adding jobs.  Women represented 32% of all lawyers in 2008 and 28% of doctors in 2006.  And, a reflection of the future, women outnumber men in college today representing 57% of the student body compared to 43% in 1972.

When it comes to “Motherhood,” an area that is truly a unique birthright of women, 39% of all births are to unmarried mothers, compared to 12% in 1972, and 23% of children lived with a single mother in 2008 compared to 13% in 1972.

The numbers are voluminous and telling of the shift taking place in homes and workplaces everywhere.  As one woman interviewed in this study notes “It used to be that a man would be ashamed to be found in the kitchen…  Those old stereotypes have been buried forever.  I think it’s good that we got rid of most of them.  I can’t think of any that we’d want to hold on to.”

As communicators …

in this evolving social realm, we know to be sensitive to positioning, messaging, and image portrayal – not only as we reach out to women but also to men who are living in a new, and tottering social balance.  The Time article concludes:  “It’s no longer a man’s world.  Nor is it a woman’s nation.  It’s a cooperative, with bylaws under constant negotiation and expectations that profits be equally shared.”

Check out www.time.com/women for more data and for video profiles of three women interviewed by Time in 1972 and recently revisited for this study.

Also go to www.californiawomen.org to follow Shriver’s annual women’s forum on October 27 with 25,000 participants expected to be in the audience, plus thousands more following the event’s webcast as well as the Twitter posts www.twitter.com/thewomensconf or #womansnation.

Come back to the JSH&A blog www.jsha.com/blog for my posts as info continues to be released.