The feminist lion speaks

The L.A. Times has a great Q&A with Gloria Steinem:

"Are the biases against women more nuanced now?
No, they're not nuanced at all. They're unequal pay, pink-collar ghettos -- 70% of women are still employed in primarily female occupations that are less well paid. A parking lot attendant who's a guy makes a lot more money than a child-care attendant who's a woman. We have moved forward from 59 cents to 70-some cents on the [male] dollar. By the fact that we value our children more than our cars, it does not make sense that a parking lot attendant who's a guy makes a lot more money than a child-care attendant who's a woman.

What about the greater numbers of women in college, in some professions?
I'm glad about that, but part of the reason that's true is because [some] male blue-collar professions pay better than female white-collar professions. You can still graduate from college with a BA degree and make less than a man with a high school education.One place that [advances] are very important is sports and physical strength and fitness. Rich cultures, patriarchal cultures, value thin women, like ours; poor ones value fat women. But all patriarchal cultures value weak women. So for women to become physically strong is very profound. Title IX helped enormously, and sports and fitness have helped a great deal."

Reading this, I was reminded of my reaction when I got to see Steinem speak a few years ago... It's fascinating to me how many people think they know who Steinem is and what she's about, but have never actually read or listened to her. For instance, you may have heard (many, many times) about how feminists hate men, hate mothers, hate families and want mandatory abortion because we're all just so full of hate. And since Steinem is frequently cast as the official spokesperson for all of feminism (which she also addresses in this interview), I kind of want to print this part on little cards and hand them out to people:

"Women tend to need the healthcare system more because we bear children. Insurance companies -- not all of them, but many of them -- "gender-rate." Women may pay 40% more for their health insurance than men do. [Companies] are not allowed to [discriminate] racially anymore, but they still do it on gender. They say the reason they get to charge more is we have children. I would say having children is a socially useful act. Being female is not a preexisting condition."

(Note: one of the things the health insurance reform bill signed into law yesterday does is prohibit insurance companies from charging women higher rates.)

As she did in the talk I attended, Steinem also brings up the concept of tax deductions for caregiver costs, which would be a massive benefit to families. If you're not familiar with Steinem's work, this Q&A is a great starting point.