Women Still Falling Behind After 'Mancession'

When the recession began it took away many jobs, especially in construction and manufacturing, which has a mainly male workforce. Thus, the recession was named the "mancession." However, research is now showing that in our slowly moving economy men are finding more jobs than women. Women lost one in three jobs cuts between December 2007 and December 2009, but have gained back only 1 in 10 that were added in 2010. One reason for this may be the cuts in governmental jobs because women make up more than half of that sector of the work force. In the next year more cuts are expected to be made in governmental jobs, causing the problem to only continue to get worse. Although, in general women have a lower unemployment rate than men, but the gap is becoming smaller. As mens' unemployment decreases, womens' are increasing. Middle-aged women are especially feeling the pain. Once losing their job, it become only more and more difficult to find another one because when it comes between a 50-something year old women and a 30 year old male, in most cases the 30 year old male is chosen for the job, whether that be right or wrong. For women 16 and over it is taking an average of 24.3 weeks to find a new job, while for men its only 20.7 weeks. Then for 55-64 year old women it is taking an average of 39.1 weeks to find a job, while this time men the same age it's 29.6 weeks. Even though women lost fewer jobs in the recession, they have also had to suffer with other workplace problems such as low wages with few benefits. To put a number on it, women make 80 cents for every dollar a man earns. For both men and women, the recession has hit hard, but now the difference is that men are beginning to find work again and women are not having as much success.

Living in a small town, I haven't seen huge effects of the recession in my community. There have been some, but nothing drastic. I was surprised to read that originally more men were losing their jobs, and now while they are gaining them back women still are not. It's very strange to me how one gender can be doing better in the job market than another because that seems a bit backwards to me. Aren't women suppose to have just as many rights and priviledges as men in our world today? The fact that women make only 80 cents to every mans' dollar also upsets me. Why can't women make a dollar for every dollar a man makes? I am a young woman who will be entering the work force in a few years and I think that is extremely unjust. Obviously, there is still some instituition discrimination going on in our country in regards to not only different races, but different genders as well. For centuries women were thought of as less and their only role in life was to marry, have children, raise those children, cook, and clean. I agree that most often women are the primary caretakers of their children and have a more caring and "emotional" side, but that does not mean we can't do anything men can or that men can't do anything women can. Black or white, old or young, gay or straight, man or woman, I think an employer should look at a person's qualifications, experience, and achievements before anything else. The trivial things should not matter--at all. And as for women having a hard time finding jobs right now, I do think that makes sense. If men were the first to lose their jobs, then it's logical that they would be first to get them back. If women lost them a little later, then they will probably recover theirs a little later. I hope these predictions are true so that our economy can truely get "back on its feet" and I also hope that women can in the very near future be treated with the exact same rights as men--including equal pay for equal jobs.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41076700/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

L.A. School Shooting

At Gardena High School in L.A. on Tuesday a bullet discharged from a gun a 10th grade student was carrying inside his backpack injured two students. One of the victims was a fifteen year old girl who has had to go through emergency surgery and at the moment is in criticial condition. The other victim was a 15 year old boy who suffered a neck wound, but is now considered in stable condition. When the shot occured, the student said, "sorry," and made it seem like it had been an accident. He was taken to the police station as the school was put into lock down. A friend of the student said he brought the gun to school to protect himself from fights. Many law enforcement agencies responded right away to the scene and had originally said three people were shot and they did not know who the shooter was. The school has a security policy of checking bags and backpacks before entering the school, so it's a mystery as to how the student got inside with a gun. The best guess is that not every student is checked because the searches are at random. Kids and parents at the school say there is a lot of racial tension. One parent says, "there's usually fights everyday, you're going to see blacks against whites and whites against blacks every single day," and "spanish, whites, Samoans — they don't care what race. Every day there's a fight." Gardena is ranked as one of the district's lowest performing high schools. About 35% of its students drop out. The principal had made it his goal back in the fall to create a dicipline committee, as behavioral problems at the school are nothing new.

It's always scary to hear of a school shooting, or any shooting for that fact. The nation continues to mourn over the tragic shooting in Tuscon only a little over a week ago, and now here's another story of the misuse of a gun. It almost seems like a day cannot go by without hearing another similair news report. Obviously, something needs to be done with gun control because what we have now is not working. I understand there are very practical uses for a gun--hunting, the military, policemen for protection. However, overall I think they are an evil weapon. I personally would never want to own one, in fact, I never want to touch one. Too many people who are not fit to carry a gun seem to be able to get ahold of one way too easily. The mentally ill, for one, are especially scary. With a gun they may kill themselves, or countless other people as well. The way gun laws are now make our country very unsafe. My suggestion would be that in order to get a gun a person would need to have a throughall background check and also pass a gun safety course. I think this could greatly help cut down the number of shootings that occur today. As for a solution for the high school mentioned in the article, I think they should mandate that every student be checked before entering the school. This may take extra time and extra money to hire more security people, but in the end I think the safety of the school would be greatly inhanced. I also think that an escourt service should be set up for the kids who have a dangerous travel home with gangs roaming the streets. If they had a police office walking with them, I think it would cause any gang member to think twice before attacking. Gun control has been debated and talked about for years and years and years, and little seems to be done about it. I really hope that this time something will.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41138365/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Congresswoman Shot

The United States Congress respresentative Gabrielle Giffords was shoot today outside a grocery store in Tuscon, AZ while she was in a meeting with supporters. The shooter who opened fire is said to have killed at least five people and injured several others and is now in custody. His name is Jared Loughner and is 22 years old. He used a pistol to carry out the shootings. Among those killed was a 9 year old child and a federal judge. Although Giffords is in critical condition, her outlook is "optimistic." This attack has shocked the nation and caused an outpouring of sympathy from politicians and people around the country. President Obama said the shooting was, "an unspeakable tragedy" and that "a senseless and terrible act of violence has no place in a free society." All Gabrielle Giffords was doing was listening to the hopes and concerns of her neighbors, and that is what we pride our nation to be--a democracy. Loughner, the gunman, used both MySpace and Youtube to describe his wish to invent a new currency and complain about the illiteracy rate in Gillford's district of Arizona. In Gifford's office on Capital Hill, many other congressmen and women walked into her office almost in shock. Some cried and flowers were placed outside her door. Giffords is 40 years old was was re-elected for her third term in November. She was also a member of Arizona's house and senate before become on the the country's represenatives. Right before the shooting she had tweeted, "My 1st Congress on Your Corner starts now. Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later." She is married to the astronaut Mark E. Kelly who is training to be the next commander of a space shuttle mission scheduled for April. Gifford's easily won her election in 2006, but with the new Tea Party movement she only narrowly won in 2010. This shooting then occured amid a "highly charged political environment" and numerous threats have been made, but nothing until now was ever carried through. Giffords was in support of the health care bill, which has been the reason behind all the recent threats. Her office was vandalized hours after the House approved the bill. Her house seat was named by Sarah Palin as a "target" in the recent midterm elections. Then in an interview with Fox News Channel only last week Gifford said, "You know, actually as a former Republican, you know, I consider myself someone who is pretty in the middle, I'm a blue dog Democrat, and one that is interested in making sure that our country maintains our prosperity and frankly, our superiority over other countries and that's where we look at these threat, obviously our defense budget, our level of education." Now after today, Capital Police are urging other members of the House to take precautions.

I first heard this story today as I was watching TV at lunch. It was listed as "breaking news" and so right away I though, "Oh no! What's happened?" I was quite shocked when I found out. I think to have one of our members of Congress shot shakes our country to the core. We pride ourselves and also rely on the fact that we are one of the most powerful countries in the world, if not the most powerful. That is largely in thanks to our strong commitment to democracy since the beginning of our nation. Then when someone kills someone because they may not agree with them, it's just awful! Democracy is a government of the people, for the people, and by the people, and it's vital that we are able to discuss issues and differences with respect and civility. It's the horrific countries that have had or currently have dictators that shooting like this are thought to occur because it's the only way to get a point across or silence opposition. But we as the United States of America are NOT that way! The man who shot him was crazy, in my opinion. Sure, he may not agree politically with Gillford, but to resort to attempted murder is no way to push your agenda! I think as punishment he should be put in prison for life with no parol. Not only did he almost kill her, and maybe still will as we don't know yet if she's ok or not, but he also damaged how democracy in this country works. I can only hope the Gillford will be ok and that she can continue doing her work. She seems to me to a be a very kind and open-minded person who has and hopefully will continue to do a lot of good for our country.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40978517/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/