By NeW Intern Nicole

In the first section of this reading, I couldn’t help but think how excited I am to be a working adult in a few years. Our economy is growing slowly, the unemployment rate is sky high, and our debt increases every day. As I sit at my desk right now, I share $53,000 of the national debt. And so do you. And your mom, dad, brother, sister, friend, professor… the list goes on. I mean, what young person wouldn’t want to enter a work force with those delightful statistics?!And all of this is a result of big government.

Yet, the current government continues to grow… and grow… and grow… and the next thing you know, you’re being audited for reading this blog.

Lukas and Schaffer point out how the Paycheck Fairness Act, government mandated employment benefits, and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) stifle not only business success, but women’s success too.

The US has had equal pay for equal work laws under both the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. So, why do we need more laws and regulations from the Paycheck Fairness Act to muddle sex discrimination lawsuits?

I have noticed that those on the left often like to confuse the uninformed public by falsely titling legislation. One example is the Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare, which is actually not so affordable. Another example is the Paycheck Fairness Act. Lukas and Schaeffer also show how the Paycheck Fairness Act does not actually equalize pay between men and women.

The result of the Paycheck Fairness Act primarily causes two things. It

increases litigation and profits for trial lawyers (37)

and as the Washington Post stated, allows

employees and courts to intrude too far into core business decisions. (39)

In class action lawsuits under the Paycheck Fairness Act,

employees are automatically included in the class unless they specifically opt out (39)

instead of first having to agree to be apart of the lawsuit against an employer. This increase in litigation economically hurts businesses, which in returns hurts women’s pay, because businesses have to

rebalance the budgets to find new ways to reduce their exposure to potentially bankrupting litigation. (39)

Every women employee is now considered more of a threat to legal exposure of the business. Government oversight of employee benefits and their pay forces companies to be

 focused on an arbitrary statistic goal causing them to be less efficient, as well as less fair to employees(41).

It also assumes that the bureaucrats in Washington, DC have a better understanding of how much your workers should be paid.

In addition, the outdated Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) complicates pay procedures today. With the rise of the ability to work from home, companies face a

difficult challenge in deciding exactly what constitutes ‘work.’ (48)

If employees work from home, the FLSA requires companies to be liable for paying over-time. The FLSA especially hurts women because they make up the majority of telecommuters.

What are your thoughts on our expanding government and outdated legislation? Next week we will touch on Obamacare and how that is drastically hurting women economically and professionally. Have a nice week!

The Eighth Annual National Conference will be held on Thursday, June 27 and Friday, June 28 in Washington, DC. Have you registered yet?

On Thursday evening we will kick off the conference with a networking event for young professionals. The event will be held from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at the Heritage Foundation.

The National Conference continues on Friday, June 28 from 10am to 4pm at the Heritage Foundation. The keynote address will be given by Dr. Christina Hoff Sommers, author of Who Stole Feminism? and The War Against Boys. The event will include student speakers, an alumnae panel and a professional development training.

Register today! Fill out this form to register for one or both events by Thursday, June 20, 2013. For more information and pictures from the events last year, visit the NeW National Conference page. If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Davis at sarah@enlightenedwomen.org. Please feel free to invite friends and colleagues who would be interested in learning more about NeW.

We look forward to seeing you at this exciting and educational event!

Happy Father’s Day! While many celebrate their fathers and the active role he plays in their lives, it’s interesting to think about the decline of male presence in relationships and families. I wrote about this phenomenon today in American Thinker. From the article:

Why the tilted ratio? Smith points out ways in which our education system has changed into one that favors girls at the expense of boys, citing the work of Dr. Christina Hoff Sommers, author of The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism is Harming our Young Men. For example, competition, like games of dodgeball, is out, and as a result, boys are often less engaged in their school experience. This lack of engagement can lead to less success at school early on, having consequences for the future education of these boys and even an impact on their earning potential. It is no surprise that more men are opting out of an education system in which they are less engaged. Instead of outrage at a system in which men are falling behind, we celebrate women’s achievements and lament those few areas (like math and the hard sciences) where they haven’t yet dominated men.

Smith’s book is a reminder that life should not be a zero-sum game between men and women. She writes, “Our society has forgotten the wonder of men in its quest for retribution against men and boys who often weren’t even alive when women were being discriminated against.”

You can read more here.

The College Republican National Committee released a report this month on how the GOP can better reach young people. It is a good step forward. I have a piece out on it on the Huffington Post:

From a Republican perspective, there seems to be a disconnect between the impact of Democratic policies on the lives of young people and which political party young people favor. Looking forward, the question is can Republicans make that connection? If so, how?

Many pundits dismiss young voters as a lost cause for Republicans — they presume, for example, that a message supporting the value of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and free enterprise won’t resonate with young voters. The College Republican National Committee isn’t buying into that story line. Instead, the CRNC is taking steps to figure out how Republican candidates can better reach young voters, publishing a report this month,The Grand Old Party for a Brand New Generation, detailing its research and offering suggestions.

Read the rest of my piece here.

I was looking for a couple good books to read over the summer that might pertain to women’s issues today, and I came across a new book by Donna Freitas titled The End of Sex: How Hookup Culture is Leaving a Generation Unhappy, Sexually Unfulfilled, and Confused About Intimacy. After reading a summary, this book struck me as especially important. Hookup culture is definitely dominant among people my age, and I hoped to hear a fresh take on the role of women in this culture.

Prior to reading about a third of this book (which is where I’m at right now) I had heard several feminist arguments that noncommittal sex was a benefit to women. In fact, Freitas quotes Hannah Rosin, a journalist and proponent of hookup culture, who represents the dominant feminist perspective:

To put it crudely, feminist progress right now largely depends on the existence of the hookup culture. And to a surprising degree, it is women– not men– who are perpetuating the culture, especially in school, cannily manipulating it to make space for their success, always keeping their own ends in mind. For college girls these days, an overly serious suitor fills the same role an accidental pregnancy did in the 19th century: a danger to be avoided at all costs, lest it get in the way of a promising future (Freitas 8).

Freitas’s research, however, suggests that this argument is misleading and may be the mask behind which today’s youth hides the despair and emptiness that accompanies hookup culture. She writes that this culture is detrimental to women and men and cannot be classified as only a woman’s issue. The more I read, the more I formed the opinion that the hookup culture was perpetuated by the left as a way for women to free themselves from past restrictions on behavior. I commented on an earlier blog that I believe women in our modern culture have moved forward in a particular sense. But simply being allowed to do whatever we please is not making any of us (men or women) happier or healthier. Perhaps feminists are partially perpetuating hookup culture as a way of getting revenge on men for past injustices. Women can now also have meaningless sex while

cunningly manipulating it to make space for their success, always keeping their own ends in mind. (16)

But was the real crime that men enacted this behavior on women, or was it that this behavior was occurring in the first place? I don’t think the solution to creating a better society for women includes women behaving in the same despicable ways men did. I am excited to continue moving through this book, and I hope Freitas provides some solutions for steering our culture in a different direction.

by NeW intern Catie

This Monday, June 10th, marked the 50^th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act instituted by John F. Kennedy in 1963. I got together with a group from the Independent Women’s Forum to pass out donuts and information on the gender wage gap at the Union Station Metro Stop.

We certainly attracted many people for the donuts (and had several returning customers!), but we also attracted left-leaning individuals in favor of increasing women’s “rights” through government legislation. People heard us say

We are celebrating 50 years of achievement and progress for American women. Please take some literature regarding current facts on the wage gap.

I am sure many of the people passing by thought we were a liberal, feminist organization. However, IWF, like NeW, believes that more government intervention on the question of equal pay raises many problems. The left pushes on the public false information on the wage gap as a means to expanding government and increasing regulation. I felt great satisfaction in distributing information that doesn’t victimize women based on their sex, but encourages women to pursue their goals because they are not held back by anything. I enjoyed being part of this inspiring message to women in memory of the Equal Pay Act, rather than a message that tells women they are unfairly treated and cannot achieve success.

By NeW Intern Nicole

Women in America need to realize how blessed they are to live in this great country. As Lukas and Schaeffer believe,

American women are truly the most fortunate women on Earth, and have tremendous opportunity to pursue happiness on their own terms (30).

Critics like to point out that women are still struggling because women can’t necessarily “have it all”. But, men can’t have it all either. Simply put, Lukas and Schaeffer know that

life is about choices (30).

Both men and women make different choices because they care about different characteristics of life: happiness, work hours, pay, etc.

Companies are placing more value on their female employees because of the increasingly educated female population. Many colleges today, as my friends and I have discovered when looking at the enrollment percentage of boys to girls, have more girls on campus than boys. This is part of the reason why women are increasingly outpacing men in terms of academic achievement.

This is possibly good news for men, if their minds are set on finding college girlfriends. They see themselves as being the minority sex a good thing because, hey, now they have less competition for a greater number of girls to date.

But, Lukas and Schaeffer bring up a more serious point that if men are earning less money and becoming less educated as a result of tug-of-war between the sexes, it is not beneficial for American women. The narrowing of the wage gap, if it means men’s wages are declining, is not a good thing for society as a whole. We want our male counterparts to continue to succeed as well.

Women today also face a life expectancy advantage over men. This is common knowledge. Both men and women’s life expectancies have increased throughout the years. With advanced medicine there are fewer female deaths during pregnancy and childbirth. Our access to preventative health care has also increased both men and women’s life expectancies, as well.

Our lives in this day and age are great, and they will continue to progress and get better. But, with today’s increasing government, Lukas and Schaeffer believe that this administration will decrease and hinder our liberties as women. What exactly will be the cause of this? What current policy today is already diminishing out liberties as women?

Part 2 is up next, and our authors make some great points on how the ever-growing federal government under the Obama Administration is threatening both men and women’s progress. Happy reading!

We are pleased to announce that NeW Founder and President Karin Agness was named to the inaugural “Maverick PAC 40 Under 40” list. The list is sponsored by Maverick PAC (or MavPAC), which is “an organization whose primary goal is to engage with conservative, young professionals in order to create a solid foundation and following for the future of the Republican Party.”  The awards “celebrate a list of professionals deemed by their peers from across the country as up-and-coming leaders for the next-generation of Republicans.” This list includes people in politics, business, law and entrepreneurship.

Karin was chosen from a list of hundreds of nominees for her work with NeW and engaging women in politics, and will be awarded at the MavPAC conference in Florida on July 12-14. You can view the full list here.

We are excited that Karin has been recognized for her hard work and are proud of her many accomplishments. Congratulations Karin!

Many amazing women are involved with NeW.  We like to take the time to highlight the young women who are doing interesting things around the world. Today we focus on Jordan-Marie Smith, who recently finished up an internship for the Andrea Tantaros Show.

Where did you intern?

I interned at Talk Radio Network Entertainment’s “The Andrea Tantaros Show”

What did you do for your internship?

I interned as an associate producer for the show. In my capacity I booked guests, researched contact information, cut audio for the show, researched stories, and filmed interviews with the co-host.

What was your favorite part of your internship?

I really enjoyed booking guests for the show. There was one time where my producer wanted me to book a former senator who was being interviewed by Fox a few floors down. This was both intimidating and exciting. I didn’t know how to casually bring up booking the guest, so I did my best to act coy. I went down to Fox’s floor, waited for the elevator, and pushed the elevator button when the senator came out. I booked him by asking if he knew if the former senator of X state was on the show that day. He clarified that he was the guest and gave me his personal contact information so I could book him later. It was a great experience to get out of my comfort zone and reach an intimidating goal. My second favorite part of the internship was sitting in on a senate committee hearing.

How did NeW help you find your internship?

I got my internship through an email from one of the NeW coordinators about a radio internship. The next day I had an internship!

What advice would you offer those looking for an internship in DC?

Don’t let your networking contacts be the last to know that you want an internship. Let them know ahead of time so the gears are working in their mind and you are the first person who seems able for the job. Also, always be persistent.

If you are looking for an internship, let us know how we can help! Email sarah@enlightenedwomen.org for more information.

By NeW Intern Catie

Lena Dunham, writer and producer of Girls, a popular TV series on HBO, gained a lot of notoriety during the 2012 elections when she was featured in Obama’s campaign ad saying, “Your first time shouldn’t be with just anybody. You want to do it with a great guy… Someone who really cares about and understands women. A guy who cares whether you get health insurance and specifically whether you get birth control…”

Dunham’s quote reflects the feminism of today. What was once a movement aiding women in achieving success and deserved rights, became a movement pushing for more benefits from the government. While the left believes in bigger government aid all around, special grants given to women based on their sex is, in actuality, distinctly antifeminist.

This form of feminism permeates our popular culture, and is especially echoed in Girls. The show follows four young post graduates, Hannah, Marnie, Jessa, and Shoshanna, living in Brooklyn. I enjoy the show because there is no sugar-coating or glamour, just blatant honesty. It portrays relatable characters who struggle with money, friends, boyfriends, insecurities, and employment.

The series has aired for two seasons and although I enjoy some aspects of it, the finale of the second season left me disappointed. If you haven’t watched the show at all, here’s a bit of background: Earlier in the show Marnie breaks up with Charlie, her boyfriend, because she is no longer attracted to him. After the break up, Charlie meets new women and starts a successful business. Marnie’s life, on the other hand, begins falling apart. She gets fired from her job, changes her career path, and sleeps with her best friend’s ex boyfriend.

Hannah also broke up with her boyfriend, Adam, and then engages in a few brief relationships and hook-ups. She begins having problems with work, her friends, her finances, and reverts to the mental condition she struggled with in high school. Eventually Hannah becomes desperate, unhappy, and mentally unstable.

The season finale concluded with both couples getting back together. Marnie realizes that Charlie made her happy, gave her stability, and a sense of identity. Hannah similarly felt lost and insane and called Adam to her rescue.

While the finale is meant to seem hopeful of true love and romance, I believe it achieved more success in revealing how much the feminist movement has failed to move women in the right direction. These girls, at likely their weakest and most confused points in life, do not have the strength to fix themselves up or search for what they want out of life independently. Not only does this finale entice women with a distorted perception of love, it doubts a woman’s strength to discover who she is without using a man as an emotional crutch.

Girls certainly reflects, however, how the feminist movement has moved our culture forward in terms of what we consider morally permissible. Jessa sleeps with a married man, Shoshanna cheats on her boyfriend, Marnie sets up an abortion for Jessa, and Hannah hooks up with several men. However scandalous this might appear on TV, it’s reality for many young women today. We can get away with the types of behavior that men can get away with and in this sense, women have moved forward. But is this really what is important? Does this ultimately benefit women?

Feminists should not purpose their actions towards getting special government grants or towards accepting all types of behavior in the name of women’s rights. Rather, feminists should focus on promoting a woman’s ability to pull herself up from mistakes, heartbreak, job loss, financial troubles, and the like.

However much we might criticize Lena Dunham’s political views, she certainly has a knack for exposing the flaws of the leftist feminist movement without ever intending to do so.

By NeW Intern Nicole Johnson

American women today have amazing opportunities to succeed. These successful, professional women in our lives are our sisters, mothers, grandmothers, and fellow girlfriends. Women’s education levels and professional status continue to progress.

Lukas and Schaeffer begin with a 2010 quote from President Obama saying,

I ran for President to put the same rights, the same dreams, and the same opportunities within the reach of our daughters and our sons alike (15).

Well, Mr. President, I think you have forgotten what year it is.

Don’t women already have the same rights, the same dreams, and the same opportunities as men. Doesn’t the Constitution apply to the sexes equally? Haven’t women had the right to vote since 1920? Women go to school, women work alongside and even in positions above their male counterparts. Challenges that women face today are not as extreme as President Obama would like his constituents to believe.

As Lukas and Schaeffer astutely note,

sexism lingers in some corridors; female public figures often face insults and attacks based on their sex; and, we have a culture that sexualizes girls and women, threatening their well-being(15).

But, women should not let these facets affect them. They should not use these examples to argue that their gender limits their opportunities for success.

The decisions that you make, as well as how hard you work and your natural talents, will drive the course you take during life (16).

Lukas and Schaeffer dive into statistics galore of how successful women have become in the workforce. The percentage of women making up the workforce today has increased by 13% since 1950. Even better,

women today hold more than half of all managerial and professional positions (16).

Women are increasingly becoming the driving force of our national economy, too. Economic sectors that are female dominated, such as health care and education, are growing. In the contrary, male dominated economic sectors, such as manufacturing and construction, are suffering.

The authors note that the Left will

suggest that women are coerced into lower-paying job sectors (19).

The Left will equate that to be the reason why women still earn, on average, less than men. What these left-wing earnest believers do not factor into the equation is that,

women spend an average of 5 percent less time on the job each day than men do (18).

So when the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates the wage gap between men and women, they are not accounting for the difference in time worked between two full-time workers. If two employees have the same pay rate and one works 5 percent more hours than the other, of course there will be a discrepancy between the two incomes.

Another important factor is that

female students often consider ‘non-pecuniary’ issues like parental approval and enjoyment of future work when choosing a major, while their male colleagues are more concerned with salaries and status (19).

Women inherently have different wants and job characteristics they take into consideration when contemplating different professions. The choices

women tend to make about how much to work and what kind of work to perform [drives] differences in earnings—not discrimination (20).

Telecommuting has also been a break through for women in the workforce. It allows for a family and work balance. Women are afforded

more flexibility to take care of other responsibilities” when they work from home (23).

The hour flexibility is crucial for women who want to be involved in their children’s daily lives, which is why

an increasing number of employers are allowing for telecommuting as a way to attract talented employees (24).

Employers are aware of the positive impact many women have in their workforce, which is why workplace hours are increasingly becoming more flexible.

Lukas and Schaeffer’s evidence shows us that women do have the same opportunity in America as men and a great number of them are making the most of it. Men and women are different and have different aspirations in life. The opportunities both sexes hold are the same; it’s what we choose to do with our opportunity that positions us down a certain path.

What are your thoughts thus far?

Discussion Questions:

• Why do some groups in society struggle to accept that men and women have different desires and goals?
• Could you see yourself as a telecommuter? Why or why not? Are there any other pros or cons that Lukas and Schaeffer did not discuss that would play a role in women’s lives?
• How can we further incentivize conservative women to become public figures with the aggressive, insulting character of today’s media?
• How should conservatives fight today’s “culture that sexualizes girls and women”?

The Network of enlightened Women (NeW) is excited to announce that the Eighth Annual National Conference will be held on Thursday, June 27 and Friday, June 28 in Washington, DC. On Thursday evening we will kick off the conference with a networking event for young professionals. The event will be held from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at the Heritage Foundation.

The National Conference continues on Friday, June 28 from 10am to 4pm at the Heritage Foundation. The keynote address will be given by Dr. Christina Hoff Sommers, author of Who Stole Feminism? and The War Against Boys. The event will include student speakers, an alumnae panel and a professional development training.

Register today! Fill out this form to register for one or both events by Thursday, June 20, 2013. For more information and pictures from the events last year, visit the NeW website. If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Davis at sarah@enlightenedwomen.org. Please feel free to invite friends and colleagues who would be interested in learning more about NeW.

We look forward to seeing you at this exciting and educational event!