Real Women's Work

Laura Flanders in The Nation:

So it's “the year of the women" in the media again. But again, it's only some.

All about money media are all about the women of the GOP. It's news, right, when Republican women are running for office and winning primaries, it seems, because, well it's supposed to irk feminists and progressives, and it's new.

Except novelty can't be the only argument, because there's another year of the women underway and that's getting almost no play. Seen any banner headlines about the Year of Women in Labor? I thought not.

Seen any banner headlines about the Year of Women in Labor? I thought not.

Not only did women become the majority of the workforce in the US in the past year, they also became the majority of the unionized workforce. The head of SEIU stepped down, and the election to replace him was between two women—and the one who won, Mary Kay Henry, was a leader of the LGBT "Lavender Caucus."

The new AFL-CIO leader has as his second-in-command recent GRITtv guest Liz Shuler, not only the first woman secretary-treasurer of the largest labor federation in the country, but its youngest in history as well. And with the formation of the National Nurses Union, tough healthcare advocates like Rose Ann DeMoro have moved to expand their presence on the national stage—after leading the fight for healthcare reform and keeping up the pressure for single-payer.

With unions pouring support into primary challenges for centrist Democrats, you'd think the media would've noticed this storyline as well. If Nikki Haley is a new face for the Republican Party, certainly Mary Kay Henry is a new face for organized labor. So if novelty's not the reason for the love for the new generation of Bushwomen, what is?