Working Women

With the exception of Eleanor Roosevelt, no wife of a president or presidential candidate has been the target of the kind of political attacks the Republican Party is now aiming at Hillary Clinton. But then, no candidate's wife has compiled the high-visibility resume that distinguishes Ms. Clinton's career as a corporate lawyer and a national advocate for children and their ,, welfare.In Houston last week, the GOP devoted an unprecedented amount of prime time exposure to the wives of their candidates.

If Maryland's resident pit bull, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, has demonstrated anything in her several decades in Congress and as dean of Senate women, it's a willingness to stand up for the less powerful in society, and she was at it again this week advocating for the Paycheck Fairness Act and the rights of women to secure equal pay for equal work. To the surprise of no one, Senate Republicans were unmoved by the cause and blocked the much-needed legislation from floor debate as it fell eight votes short of the 60 required.

A nationwide survey of working women reveals that, in a reversal of a decades-old trend, the majority of women said they did not prefer male bosses.The Working Woman magazine survey, "What Women Think of Women Bosses," appears in the June issue."

Hampden has become center stage — again — for debate about the image of Baltimore. In 2009 we had "flamingo-gate," and now, in the waning days of 2010, everyone is talking about the Hon trademark controversy. Denise Whiting, owner of Café Hon and the HonBar and creator of Hampden's annual HonFest, has decided to trademark the word "Hon," to limit and control its public, commercial use. Many people are angry, feeling that Ms. Whiting is laying claim to something that she has no right to own. (Others argue that while "hon" is a popular term in Baltimore, it's hardly unique to Charm City.

Sharon Prost is a high-powered, type-A, Washington lawyer who's got herself a big-time job as Sen. Orrin Hatch's legalcounsel.She thought she had it all, as having it all gets defined these days for women. She had a husband, two kids and a career.Now, she has a career.Well, technically she still has kids, but she just lost custody of them in a divorce case. She didn't beat her kids. She didn't abuse them. She lost them because . . . she works too hard.The judge wrote, as reported in the New York Times, that Prost was "more devoted to and absorbed by her work and her career than anything else in her life, including her health, her children and her family."

As Shirley L. Bigley worked her way up from law school graduate to Citibank Maryland vice president during the 1980s, she never felt like a pioneer among working women.It was more like being part of a movement, she says. Sure enough, newly released 1990 census figures show Ms. Bigley had plenty of female company as she climbed the job ladder.Tens of thousands of Maryland women -- and millions across the United States -- moved into professional and managerial jobs during the 1980s, the data show.

Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and the U.S. Department of Labor kicked off a project yesterday that honors local employers for taking steps to help working women.A dozen companies and institutions -- ranging from a recycling firm to a hotel -- now are part of the Labor Department's "Working Women Count Honor Roll." The companies pledged to aid working women by offering flexible working schedules, extended maternity leave, improved health benefits or job training and advancement."I would like to formally challenge Baltimore companies to follow the lead of these companies," said Mayor Schmoke before about 50 working women at City Hall.

Dearborn, Mich.Back in 1980 Jackie McLure adopted a 3-month-old daughter and took a leave of absence from her job as an administrative assistant at a hospital. But, she soon grew restless for something else to do.So Ms. McLure accepted some projects from her former employer. And several months later, the computer novice decided to start a desktop publishing business in her home."I had to look in a dictionary and see what RAM meant," said the 45-year-old Ms. McLure, founder and owner of Jacque Consulting, in Dearborn.

There are lists of the best- and worst-dressed women, the most respected women, the sexiest women, top companies to work for and the most "family-friendly" businesses.But an important list is missing: The top non-profit agencies that help women succeed -- and survive -- on the job.They do exist and are concerned about equal rights, flexible hours, pay equity, job sharing, pension rights, older women's employment and career guidance and training.Though there are hundreds of local organizations throughout the country, the following list is of national organizations only:Equal Rights Advocates: Provides legal advice and representation on employment issues such as sexual harassment and pay discrimination.

Last weekend, the Baltimore Playwrights Festival premiered plays by two of its veteran writers. The Whispers of Saints is Mark Scharf's 10th festival production, Amanda's Line is Kathleen Barber's eighth. Neither play is its author's best work. Both, however, display flashes of talent and are well cast. And, coincidentally, both concern relationships between women. Scharf focuses on the troubled bond between a mother and her grown daughter. Each of these women is dealing with a crisis stemming from a relationship with a man. Reeling from the unexpected news that her husband wants a divorce, Laura (the daughter)

Even when Claudia Morrell's three daughters were small, she logged 60-hour workweeks, nights and weekends included, as a technology executive. Not feeling "perpetually guilty" was her biggest challenge. But never once did she consider herself an unfit mother. "My kids always knew I loved them, what I was doing was important and would help their futures and that mothers need to have lives, too," says Morrell, who lives in Perry Hall. "My kids turned out OK, and I think I'm a role model for them."

It's a common side effect of many antidepressants: decreased sexual function. For years, doctors have known that men with the problem can get help from Viagra. Now a study confirms that the little blue pill may also help women. The research, which appears in today's Journal of the American Medical Association, found that women who took Viagra reported increased levels of sexual functioning, compared with those who took a placebo. "It worked well for this group, not quite as strong as the men, but better than any other medicine [for sexual dysfunction]

As chairwoman of the Harford County Commission for Women, Lisa Tittle is brimming with ideas on how to improve the lives of women. Why not start a halfway house with training programs for women leaving prison, she asked. How about opening a school for young mothers, who want to return to class but cannot overcome hurdles like child care and transportation? Maybe the commission should lend its support to the Homecoming Project, an association that helps women recovering from substance abuse.

The Howard County Commission for Women and Howard Community College will co-sponsor a workshop, "Getting the Pay You Deserve: Women Negotiating Better Salaries," on Oct. 27 at the college. Evelyn Murphy, founder and president of the Wage Project and author of Getting Even: Why Women Don't Get Paid Like Men and What To Do About It, will speak. Breakfast will be served from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Two workshops - "Start Smart" for women in college and "Get What You're Worth, Get What You Want" for women in or returning to the workplace - will be held from 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Registration is required.

"The horrors of the material are such that I have to go slow or I shall go mad!" wrote artist Judy Chicago soon after beginning the research for the emotionally wrenching series of mixed-media artworks titled Holocaust Project: From Darkness Into Light, which she embarked on in the mid-1980s. By then, the Chicago native, who was born Judith Sylvia Cohen in 1939, had already won worldwide renown as a pioneering feminist artist and creator of The Dinner Party (1979), a monumental installation honoring great women throughout history that has since become an icon of the women's movement.

Liz Claiborne, who was one of the first designers to dress the American working woman and built a vast business using her name as a recognizable brand, died Tuesday at New York Presbyterian Hospital from cancer. She was 78. Her personal assistant, Gwen Satterfield, reported her death yesterday. Ms. Claiborne, who began her career in New York in 1950, was one of the most recognizable names in fashion in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly among women who wanted quality, career-appropriate clothing and style, too. Ms. Claiborne and her husband, Arthur Ortenberg, founded Liz Claiborne Inc. in 1976.

Even when Claudia Morrell's three daughters were small, she logged 60-hour workweeks, nights and weekends included, as a technology executive. Not feeling "perpetually guilty" was her biggest challenge. But never once did she consider herself an unfit mother. "My kids always knew I loved them, what I was doing was important and would help their futures and that mothers need to have lives, too," says Morrell, who lives in Perry Hall. "My kids turned out OK, and I think I'm a role model for them."

When women decided to go to work en masse in the 1970s and had nothing to wear, Ellen Tracy came to the rescue. Ellen Tracy is no super-feminist, symbol of women's rights - or even a real person. It's the label of a fashion house that was savvy enough to realize that being a career woman didn't necessarily have to mean dressing like a man. To many, Tracy became their best friend - albeit a pricey one. And if they looked behind the labels of those well-cut jackets and skirts, they'd find a fellow working woman named Linda Allard.

9 TO 5 / / 20th Century Fox / $19.98 Certainly you will remember the clothes. The hemlines, the shoes, the poofy shoulders, the poofy hair. The year, 1980, will come rushing back at you in the fashions worn by stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton, who clearly had a rollicking good time making this working-girl movie 25 years ago. 9 to 5 is the story of three women trapped in "the pink-collar ghetto" of a corporation. They form a reluctant alliance to get their "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical, bigoted" boss, played by Dabney Coleman.

YOU'D THINK, with all the pink ribbons flying, that breast cancer was the No. 1 killer of women. Certainly it is the disease women are most aware of, and most afraid of, I think. Women are hugely informed about self-examination, the pros and cons of annual mammograms and the concerns about hormone therapy. But the one thing most women do not know about breast cancer is this: They are more likely to die of a heart disease. "Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women," said Dr. Robert Eckel, president-elect of the American Heart Association last week.