Essential Estrogen

Ed Tibbetts of the Quad-City Times has a report on how the PURSE PAC, a women's political fundraising organization founded in the fall of 2008, hopes to draw more women to the Republican Party of Iowa.

Some of the group's leaders met with Quad-City-area Republicans Monday at a reception hosted at former state Sen. Maggie Tinsman's home.

"We are of the belief it's going to take a lot of people doing a lot of different things to change the results for Republicans in Iowa," said Diane Crookham-Johnson, chairwoman of the new group called PURSE PAC.

The group plans to seek out Republican women to work on and donate to political campaigns and to run for office themselves.

The idea is to focus on common interests, such as limited government and lower taxes and not on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. There are other groups that do that, leaders say.

"I view this as an add-on," said state Rep. Linda Miller, R-Bettendorf, a backer of the group who was a co-host of Monday's reception.

PURSE stands for "People United for Republican Sisters' Elections" and, as stated in the quoted text above, this PAC has presented itself as being more inclusive of pro-choice Republican women who wish to run for office. All-in-all, it sounds like a noble calling.

I will, however, have to agree with my writing cohort Renee when she takes offense to pink invitations decorated with lipsticks and high heeled shoes. (This is how The Des Moines Register described the invitations sent out prior to the first PURSE PAC meeting. I cannot link to that story because (unsurprisingly) The Reg no longer has it publicly available on their site. Tibbetts' report doesn't provide details of the latest event invitations.)

While I'm the type of person who loves a new shade of lipstick and will probably host a ceremonial burial when my favorite designer sweater finally sheds its last thread, there is a time and a place for everything. If political women -- Republican or Democrat -- want to be taken seriously by the women of Iowa, then they would be behooved to take the overall plight of women seriously. Want more women to join your political group? Then form a group that identifies with and acts upon the issues that concern and impact women. Once you do that, gimmicks won't be required.

Jael Silliman, a nationally and internationally known women's rights speaker, will be keynoting an event in Iowa City on Jan. 17. Her speech is titled: "The Global Women's Movement Today: Opportunities and Challenges - A View from the Field."

The event, which is slated for noon at the Congregational Church on Clinton St. and hosted by the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council, will be catered by Mama's Deli. Reservations -- $7.50 for members, $8.50 for non-members of the Council -- are due by noon on Jan. 14.

Silliman is the program officer for Women's Rights and Gender Equality, a part of the Human Rights Unit, Peace and Social Justice Program of the Ford Foundation. She has also served as the program officer for reproductive rights.

Prior to joining the Ford Foundation, she was a tenured associated professor in the Women's Studies Department at the University of Iowa. She is the recipient of the Iowa City Human Rights Commission International Human Rights Award and an Open Society Fellow. In addition, she is an accomplished author.

Waitress at Hooters couldn't work because wounds left her without required glamor

Iowa Administrative Law Judge Teresa Hillary has ruled that a 27-year-old Illinois woman is eligible for unemployment benefits from a Davenport Hooters restaurant. The woman, Sara Dye, was a victim of domestic violence and the judge found that bruises she received at the hands of her attacker (unidentified in court records) were not workplace misconduct.

Dye and her managers at the restaurant agreed that she should take time off this fall after she suffered a violent attack that left her bruised and in the hospital. After taking some time off, Dye said she was subsequently fired from employment because of the attack and subsequent bruises. Hooters managers, however, argued that she abandoned her job.

The bruises left on Dye's body would have been visible as the waitress donned the scanty Hooters uniform -- a violation of 50-page company policy that dictates how Hooters Girls should look while on the job.

"The handbook states that you have to have a glamorous appearance," said Gina Sheedy, a corporate manager, after admitting to the judge that Dye would not have been allowed to work because of the bruises.

If you're interested in reading more about the arcane requirements for being a Hooters Girl, there's a more in-depth story by Clark Kauffman at The Des Moines Register. Frankly, I'd rather clean toilets than parade around in Daisy Duke's and a tight t-shirt. Then again, the only time I want to dress up as if I'm going on a big Saturday night date is when I'm actually going on a big Saturday night date.

If you are a victim of domestic violence -- male or female -- there is help. If you are on a safe computer (i.e., one at a public library or one that your attacker does not have access to) please visit the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence. If you need immediate help, please call the 24-hour statewide hotline at 1-800-942-0333.

People have a right to get angry at one another. People have a right to to disagree. No one, regardless of anything you've done, has a right to injure you. Conversely, no employer has a right to fire you because someone else has abused you -- even if such abuse shows outside your uniform.

Several blogs do this end of the year question-and-answer post (Creative Dubuque, This Woman's Work, Reassigned Time and others) and this year I've decided to join in. (Because this is more personal and doesn't really fit with what is typically posted on Essential Estrogen, I've placed the bulk after the link.)

Although the Republican State Central Committee won't be casting votes until next weekend, the six candidates interested in being the next chairman (no women are under consideration) of the Republican Party of Iowa spoke in a candidate forum at the organization's Des Moines headquarters today.

Those interested in the job are:

• Andy Cable, Eldora, current chairman of the Hardin County Republicans
• Danny Carroll, Grinnell, former 12-year state representative
• Paul Pate, Cedar Rapids, former CR Mayor, former Iowa Senator, former Iowa Secretary of State
• Matt Randall, Ames, founder of Young Professionals of Iowa
• Christopher Reed, Marion, the 2008 U.S. Senate candidate who ran against Tom Harkin
• Matt Strawn, Ankeny, one of the Iowa Barnstormers owners and a former congressional aide

Since the meeting was in Des Moines -- which is a whole other sore spot for those of us in Iowa's second largest county -- I didn't attend. There is an excellent eye-witness/reporter's notebook report available from O. Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa. There is also a series of Tweets (postings to Twitter) available from the blog Iowa Defense Alliance.

There is nothing yet available at the Hawkeye GOP blog, authored by Republican State Central Committeeman David Chung. Of course, since meetings in Des Moines often lead to lunches and/or dinners with friends afterward, this shouldn't be taken as a sign that he won't be posting his thoughts if he was able to attend.

For what it is worth, if I were sitting on the Republican SCC, I would be casting my vote for Pate. He's proven himself and is seasoned. When it comes to fund-raising, he can get the job done. Also, he seems to have a plan -- something the RPI seems to be lacking these days. Most importantly, however, Pate would not necessarily be seen as a win or loss between the embattled social and fiscal conservatives. He's someone who could reach to both and, perhaps, actually strike some sort of compromise or truce.

What the RPI is missing -- indeed, what it always seems to be missing -- is a strong female voice. The Republicans select three people from each of Iowa's five congressional districts as members of the State Central Committee. Of those 15 individuals only one -- a person from the 2nd District -- is female. (And, yes, they did name her as their secretary.) Of course there is also the one nationally-mandated female representative to the Republican National Committee.

If the Iowa Republicans want to make some waves, they should consider dropping the appearance of the good ole boy network in favor of something a bit more representative of the state.

I've been remiss in reading any non-urgent-looking e-mail over the past few weeks of crazy holiday happenings and, in our household, my oldest daughter's New Year's Eve birthday celebration.

As I sifted through the Christmas greetings, hopes for a brighter New Year and, of course, last minute money requests, I found an incredible gem sent by the Iowa Women's Foundation.



"How lovely to think that no one
     need to wait a moment,
            we can start now,
                 start slowly changing the world!"
                                              ~Anne Frank

The photograph is circa 1943 by Gordon Parks. It is part of the collection at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Photography Center.

There are two things that really appeal to me about this message and photograph. First, I love the sentiment. It doesn't matter what we've done or haven't done over the past day, week, year or decade... we can start something new and real right now. As the saying goes, we are the ones we've been waiting for.

I'm not sure how many times as a young girl I sat out with bits of fresh bacon and string in search of crawdads by a creek. More often than not I had my good friend Barbara at my side. I imagine that once we returned home after sliding down the creek banks and stomping in the clear water that we looked a lot like the two girls in this photograph.

Maybe, now that I really think about it, there aren't two things like about this message, but the complete harmonizing of a single message: "Our past has shaped us, but has yet to define us."