California NOW

Interview: Webmomz and Work Life Balance

We interviewed Kristie Rimmele and Michelle Floyd, the entrepreneurs behind Webmomz and the creators of Doing Business in Your Bathrobe Day on issues of women and work/life balance.

How did you meet, and what was your goal in starting webmomz.com?

Kristie: About a year after starting my own business I felt God calling me to write a book to help other women do the same.  So I took a year and wrote, "I Love My Life: A Mom's Guide to Working from Home."  Once that was published, I wanted to create an online community to really empower moms and guide them through the journey of starting and succeeding with their own home based business.  I had lunch with my childhood friend Michelle and after speaking to her realized she was the business partner I was looking for to help me with this.  In August of 2002 we launched Webmomz.  Today it's a resource that serves thousands of mom entrepreneurs worldwide. 

Our goal was to empower moms in work, family, and life.  We believe that you have to balance all three of those things as a work at home mom to truly be happy and have it all.

Even as it becomes obvious that more and more work can be done on a flexible schedule, and by telecommuting, employers are cutting back on workplace flexibility in many areas. Why do you think there’s this disconnect for many employers when it comes to creating flexible work environments?

I believe that some employers have the feeling that unless employees are directly supervised they won't be as productive.  But to the contrary, some at home telecommuters are MORE productive then their office based counterparts.  That is because there are less interruptions from business phone calls and friendly chats with co-workers.

However, working from home is not for everyone.  It does require discipline.  For the right worker, it's heaven.  They can be super focused.  Organize their day in the way they can be more happy and productive.  But for some, with a little freedom it becomes hard for them to work.  It's really about knowing yourself and how disciplined you can be. 

Another benefit to telecommuting for employers is that they can save money on office space and furniture. 

Talking About Women's Issues with the Menfolks

I read PZ Meyers' blog Pharyngula, largely because while I don't have a science degree, I am a science nerd who thinks biology is neat, even if I don't necessarily want to get it on my hands.  I usually don't bother with the comment threads, because as a skeptical, agnostic pagan, I find the absolutism of some of his regulars a little cranky making.  But it's their house, so I don't poke them about it.  However, after an incident of sexism at the American Atheists' Southeast Regional Atheist Meet (SERAM), PZ created a couple of threads for discussion.  In the first post, he specifically requested that men "shut up and listen" to women.

I think all of us who identify as women know how that went.

The threads turned into thousand comment monsters, full of men telling women that they're just hysterical, over-sensitive, petty, childish, irrational, man-hating, (blah, blah, dogwhistle, blah) and women fighting back, and getting increasingly cranky as they did so.

This is the thing that drives me nuts about having these discussions on the internet.  You  post about Feminism, rape, abortion, or any issue relevant to women.  The post generates HUGE comment threads, frequently populated by men telling you how you're wrong and have no idea what life is like for women (even though you are one), but they do because they have a friend/sister/girlfriend.  That you're over-reacting, if all you little gals would just calm down and talk sweet-like maybe they'd throw you a bone (some of them mean this in all it's innuendo-ish glory, some are blind to the pun).

The women nearly always start out patiently and calmly explaining why they're upset, but round about comment 400, they start to lose their tempers as guy after guy jumps in and can't be assed to read the rest of the thread, and so echoes the same nonsense almost every guy ahead of him has already said, all of which have already been answered by the women.  AND each time one of the new guys brings up the debunked bullshit arguments again, or asks just why we have to be bothered by X, the guys they've already "discussed" this with chime in anew, or demand to know why the women are being "so mean to this poor guy who's just asking a question."

It's maddening, really.

Of Triggers and the Media

This post is cross-posted at the new site which is NOT quite ready for company yet, but it's coming along, and at my soon to be former blog Polimicks at Livejournal.

 Some of you may have heard of the latest kerfuffle surrounding the Penny Arcade webcomic.  I've already blogged about it here at Geek Girls Rule! and you can read the whole mess over there, if you are so motivated. There are links to the comic, the reaction, and the (bad) comic apology, as well as my reaction. Essentially there's a whole group of people saying that the comic could be triggering, and is a rape joke. I disagree, and you can go to GGR to read about that. But what I'd like to talk about here is something I don't really get into until the end of my GGR rant. I'm talking about the expectation that sexual assault survivors are somehow constructed of spun glass and will completely disintegrate upon being "triggered."

This expectation is, for the most part, not true, and more than a little patronizing. The majority of survivors are more than capable of confronting a trigger, dealing with the reaction, dusting themselves off and soldiering on. Is it particularly pleasant? No. It isn't. But neither is it world ending. And the more you do it, the better you get at it. Trust me, I know. 

And while a "trigger free" existence would be nice, I myself am not a fan of panic attacks, regardless of how quickly I've learned to shut them down, it just isn't possible.

Interview: Girl 360 Online Webzine for Tween Girls

We interviewed Anne Ream and Randi Shafton of Girl360, a webzine dedicated to showing tween girls (9-12) role models of women and girls, historical and modern, to inspire them to excel.

What is the goal or goals of Girl360? Why is it needed?

 Anne Ream: We created Girl360 to bring the stories of history's and today's most amazing women to the attention of a new generation of girls. Randi and I are very aware of the power of role models, because female role models have been so important to us in our own lives.

Discovering the story of an amazing woman or girl -- and seeing a glimpse of ourselves in that story -- can be the first step towards tapping into our own power. Tweens spend an average of 8 hours a day exposed to beauty and celebrity-driven media messages that are too often unhealthy and unattainable. Even positive role models are often "packaged" or "marketed." Randi and I thought that the real story would be a lot more interesting (and inspiring). Some of the world's most amazing women started out just like us: sometimes shy, often unsure and almost always challenged with figuring out who they wanted to be in a world that was busy telling them who they should be. We wanted to find their stories, and tell them in a way that really resonates for girls.

Why focus on tweens rather than older or younger girls?

 Randi Shafton: I'm a Mom of tween girls and I am very aware of how receptive they can be to certain media and marketing messages. Anne and I both felt that tween girls, who are becoming more engaged in the media but have often not yet been fully exposed to its most negative messages, were really an ideal audience. In a sense, we hope that exposure to Girl360.net serves to inoculate girls from the problematic imagery that they will encounter a few years down the road. If we can seed pro-girl, pro-power messages now, it can make a real difference.

Feminist Round-up

There are so many stories that we just don't have time to cover, but here are a few that we'd like to share with our readers.

Angelina Jolie on Haiti and trafficking of children:

And a horrible revelation that the adviser for the Americans arrested in Haiti for possible trafficking was suspected of child trafficking in El Salvador. 

Why Afghan War Is About Women – and One in Particular 

A mom's look at the America I Am exhibit in Los Angeles on African-American history (which, let's remember, is part of your history if you are American, regardless of race.) 

Pregnancy-related deaths are up in CA 

Women and POC at California tech companies are losing ground in the recession. 

Both California Senators have signed on to the public option letter.  

Have you read those articles blaming feminism for the study showing women aren't as happy as men? Well here's some analysis that actually looks at the study directly, and concludes something very different.