women

For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, Saudi women are being allowed by their ultra-conservative government to compete. As the Saudi athletes marched in the opening ceremonies in London, the women’s faces and open arms showed a joyful sense of emancipation from the yoke of political, religious, and traditional marginalization. By the standards of free and advanced societies, the advance is small, but by Saudi standards, it is a gigantic step forward, with far-reaching implications for Saudi Arabia and the international community.

Breaking news from the New York Times (emphasis mine):

President Obama earlier today held a conference call to promote the latest Democratic initiative--the so-called Paycheck Fairness Act. "If Congress passes the Paycheck Fairness Act, women are going to have access to more tools to claim equal pay for equal work," Obama promised. "If they don't, if Congress doesn’t act, then women are still going to have difficulty enforcing and pressing for this basic principle."

In this video, obtained by the Middle East Media Research Institute, a Saudi women blasts religious police for harassing her in a public mall for wearing nail polish:

After the Lilly Ledbetter Act passed in Congress and was signed into law, President Obama and Senate Democrats were self-congratulatory.

An essay in the latest issue of Foreign Policy by Egyptian-born activist and journalist Mona Eltahawy, “Why Do They Hate Us? The real war on women is in the Middle East,” couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time.

Senator John McCain will take to the Senate floor this morning to blast the Democrats’ “War on Women.” He will call it divisive, saying that “[declaring] phony wars is intended to avoid those hard choices and to escape paying a political price for doing so.” And the former Republican presidential candidate will call the so-called war on women “ludicrous, partisan posturing that has conjured up this imaginary war.”

Evidently, neither of the all or nothing alternatives so furiously argued yesterday in a major battle between the stay-at-homes vs. the working moms. According to the most recent polling data I could find, most women would, unsurprisingly, prefer something of a compromise:

Matt Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon:  

President Obama told the Women's Economic Forum that he had waited for the women in the room, who he had been told were "creating havoc," to settle down before addressing the group: 

Bill Kristol, with Susan Milligan and Charles Krauthammer, last night on Fox News: