Gender

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that American women still lag behind their counterparts in several other Western democracies in closing the salary gap with men.The Evening Sun wants to know if you believe a gender pay gap exists where you work. Call SUNDIAL, the Baltimore Sun's telephone information system, on a Touch-Tone phone. The call is local, and answers will be registered between 10 a.m. and midnight. The SUNDIAL phone number is 783-1800 or, in Anne Arundel County, 268-7736.

The all-out battle for women's votes has begun in earnest, with the respective presidential campaigns each seeking to take advantage of real (and perceived) mistakes by the opposition and its acolytes. The verbal volleyball match has been interesting to watch, as each camp seeks to prove how its candidate is the only true protector of women's rights. A brief review: The Obama administration commences a frontal assault on the conscience clause, that heretofore universally accepted exemption for religious institutions that prevented them from being forced to perform procedures and therapies contrary to their religious tenets.

BOSTON -- When Pat Schroeder first ran for Congress, a pack of skeptical voters and reporters repeatedly asked her the same question: "Are you running as a woman?" Eventually, the frustrated Colorado Democrat came up with a rejoinder: "Do I have any choice?"Fast-forward now to Republican Elizabeth Dole's campaign for president, may it rest in peace. Her quest for the Oval Office was dogged by comments about symbol and substance. Once the woman routinely described as "the first credible female candidate" bowed out, the focus changed -- from whether she was running "as a woman" to whether she lost "as a woman."

Women make considerably less money than men in Maryland: 83 cents to the dollar, according to a study released last week. Windsor Mill resident Alison Assanah-Carroll was not surprised by the finding from the National Partnership for Women & Families, which showed that nearly a half-century after the federal Equal Pay Act was enacted, women are still paid less than men, not only in Maryland but nationwide. "It's not just a grave disparity, it's a travesty," said Assanah-Carroll, a former assistant regional census manager, who said that she earned less than her male counterparts even though she had better educational credentials and, in some cases, more experience.

I totally agree with letter-writer Freda Garelick's statement that divorce or separation can have devastating effects on the children of heterosexual marriages ("Even if you don't approve of gay marriage, don't denigrate gay parents," Feb. 9). While I have no statistical information on the frequency of "divorce or separation" of same-sex partners, I'm sure they do occur, resulting in similar impacts on the children of such unions. The point I was trying to make is that men and women each have unique attributes ("Same-sex marriage: Harmful to kids," Feb. 6)

"They're going to be doing some peeking and poking," said Lynn Cannon, chairman of the women's track and field committee of The Athletics Congress. That about sums up track and field's new approach to determining an athlete's gender. The International Amateur Athletics Federation has adopted a visual inspection instead of conducting the standard chromosome test. Gender tests were first introduced in 1966 to prevent men from seeking an advantage by competing as women. At least no one has to study for that chromosome tes anymore.

IN recently ruling out gender as a factor in jury selection, the United States Supreme Court delighted women's groups across America. And yet what is most interesting about this case is not what the court said, but what it did not say.Once again the court had an opportunity to extend the full protection of the 14th Amendment to women, but once again it chose not to do so. Curiously, on its face, the decision looks as if the court had made gender discrimination coequal...

"Ground Zero: The Gender Wars in the Military," by Linda Bird Francke. Simon & Schuster. 288 pages. $25.An idealistic young woman joins the Army only to discover it's herself, not her country, she has to defend. At a Maryland base, the men make her life miserable: a trainer fondles her on an obstacle course, and the platoon leader forces her to have sex with him.By now, it's a depressingly familiar tale. But this isn't one of the recruits at the center of the recent scandal at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin knows what it is like to be a woman, a mother, a daughter, a sister - things the two men on the Democratic ticket can never fully understand. She knows what it is like to grow up invisible in an incredibly sexist society, to be stared at, groped and sexually harassed. She knows what it's like to worry that you are pregnant when you don't want to be or that you are not pregnant when you want to be. Sarah Palin knows what it is to experience the joys and sorrows of motherhood, to nurse a baby while holding down a job, to leave for work in the morning with a toddler tugging at your pant leg, and to have your children calling you at work to defuse squabbles or ask for help with homework.

Laura Wolkowitz broke the computer hacker's stereotype when she began taking an advanced programming class at Wilde Lake High School this year. It happened naturally."

After years navigating the office politics of both big business and government, Trent Kittleman had seen her share of women sidelined for promotions in favor of their male counterparts. It niggled at her, because by 2002, while she was working as minority counsel for U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, she knew that women had come a very long way in achieving professional recognition. Still, there were pitifully few in senior executive positions. “I didn't like seeing women unhappy at work,” says Kittleman.

An unidentified body was found in the Middle River area Tuesday evening, Baltimore County police responded about 7:30 p.m. to a reported sighting of a body in a wooded area near the 1200 block of Bengies Road west of Eastern Boulevard. Police have yet to reveal the age or gender of the person and will likely wait for a cause of death determination from the Medical Examiner before proceeding with the case, police said. Mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Tuesday night, the Baltimore County Council has a chance to send a powerful message about equality and fairness to all Marylanders when it votes on a bill to extend the county's anti-discrimination laws to cover transgender people. In the county where transgender woman Chrissy Lee Polis was savagely beaten in a McDonald's because of her gender identity, this should be a no-brainer. But it has instead become embroiled in an emotionally driven but largely irrelevant debate over access to public restrooms.

I totally agree with letter-writer Freda Garelick's statement that divorce or separation can have devastating effects on the children of heterosexual marriages ("Even if you don't approve of gay marriage, don't denigrate gay parents," Feb. 9). While I have no statistical information on the frequency of "divorce or separation" of same-sex partners, I'm sure they do occur, resulting in similar impacts on the children of such unions. The point I was trying to make is that men and women each have unique attributes ("Same-sex marriage: Harmful to kids," Feb. 6)

Neither team is flashy. They won't break any scoring records. But a focus on tight defense and a disciplined approach to the game has carried the Century boys and girls basketball programs to a solid record of success during the last 10 years, and the current season looks like it might be the best ever on Ronsdale Road. Following a 45-36 win over the Winters Mill Falcons on Jan. 24, the Century girls have a comfortable two-game lead in the Carroll County standings. The Knights' 14-1 start is easily the best in program history, and Century has never won eight of its first nine county games before this year.

The new anti-discrimination law to protect transgendered individuals caused me to reflect upon the new pro-discrimination policies at the Columbia swim center and how we will decide who makes us "feel uncomfortable. " For example, how do we plan to define "female" for our new women-only swim times? If we define "woman" as "absence of a Y chromosome," we will discriminate against transgendered men who identify as women. If we define "woman" as "someone who does not identify as a man," we will discriminate against transgendered women, though they are genetically female.

My 22-year old son, a liberated sort of guy who's been cooking since the age of 8, called from Japan the other day with an urgent request: "Mom, I'm having people over for dinner and I need your recipe for barbecued chicken." He paused. "And Aunt Pat's recipe for eggnog."He was rustling up this slightly weird combination of food and drink, he told me, for Japanese friends who had expressed an interest in these two "all-American" dishes. It wasn't an unusual request. Last month I sent him my recipe for apple pie.Later that week I received a phone call from my other son, a student in Colorado.

Howard County has joined Montgomery County and Baltimore City as the third jurisdiction in the state to adopt a law prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and expression. The Howard County Council's four Democrats voted in favor of legislation Monday night that bars discrimination in housing, employment, law enforcement, public accommodations and financing. The council began crafting the bill after a Baltimore County transgender woman was attacked at a Rosedale McDonald's last spring and the failure of the General Assembly to adopt a statewide anti-discrimination law. Several members of a local group, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, sought the law "This is an important bill," said Councilwoman Courtney Watson, an Ellicott City Democrat, before casting her vote in favor of the bill.

Gender identity will likely fall under discrimination protections in Howard County, joining race, religion and sexual orientation, after a vote by the County Council on Monday. Four of the five council members introduced the measure last month, which would bar discrimination in housing, employment, law enforcement, public accommodations and financing practices. Its passage would make Howard the third jurisdiction in the state to include gender identity in anti-discrimination laws.