Teresa Heinz OpEd in BGlobe 10/8/05

[TayTay]

Hey PA folks. Thanks for sharing THK! She really is wicked awesome!

THK OpEd 10/8

TERESA HEINZ
The retirement gap
By Teresa Heinz | October 8, 2005

A LIFETIME of hard work should bring economic security -- income sufficient to raise a family, and resources to enjoy a retirement earned over many working years. It is troubling that as far off as this goal seems to millions of American men, it is even further off for America's working women, especially in the area of retirement security.

Even as families become more dependent than ever on second incomes, and the number of women as sole providers grows, women still earn less money than men; women are less likely to have a pension than men; and women are less able to contribute to 401(k)s and similar self-funded plans than men

Women's status today as second-class economic citizens has deep roots. It wasn't until the early 1900s that the doors of opportunity began to open for American women. Pioneers like Mary Lyon, founder of Mt. Holyoke College, blazed pathways for girls in education. Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr, founders of Hull House, started the settlement house movement and enabled thousands of women to find permanent and fulfilling employment as social workers. Our circles of opportunity grew wider still as working-class women formed unions to protect their coworkers in textile mills and other factories.

As unions fought for more organized work places, as America's men marched to war to fight Hitler and Imperial Japan, and as the postwar economic boom transformed our society, more and more women entered the US labor force. The doors of many more professions, including industrial workplaces, were opened to women. Stories like that of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, whose Stanford law degree was viewed by the 1950s legal establishment as an expensive ticket to the typing pool, but who earned a place on the nation's highest bench, became common. Today, there is no question that working women are in a stronger position professionally and financially than ever before.

No wonder the Medford Ladies liked her so much! She is great. It's interesting that she publishes under the name Teresa Heinz. I think it's because she is using Heinz Foundation research and because that's the name she works as in the Foundation.

[TayTay]

1. Okay, now I'm wicked spoiled

Cam Kerry had an article in the BGlobe on 10/3. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/10/03/voting_made_easy/

Sen. Kerry had an article in the Lowell Sun on 10/6. Now Teresa Heinz has an article today in the BGlobe.

Geez, it's been a good week when you think about it.

[karynnj]

2. That is a great op-ed

It's both nice and strange that they don't even mention that she is Kerry's wife. Nice, because her work clearly stands on its own. It's also great that Kerry doesn't appear to have a problem with it. They really do make a nice team.

In the long thread of Kerry/THK pictures, the one thing that almost all of them had in common was that they were really looking at each other.

[ginnyinWI]

3. true--

and I think that is a natural habit, not put on for the cameras. I can't really think of any pictures of * and wife looking at each other--usually they are looking away from each other.

[FreedomAngel82]

9. Exactly

I've noticed that with George and Laura. They are either looking at a camera or past each other. :shrug: Teresa and John actually look AT each other. And I think her going by Heinz is fine with me. I could care less what she goes by. She's still great and still married.

[ginnyinWI]

10. most of us on the left have no problem with it

It's the ones in the middle and right that might care which name a wife goes by.
My married daughter has kept her own name, as have two of my sisters-in-law. It's those who have changed their names (in the younger generation especially) who have had to add explanations as to why!
A few reasons given: my husband's nephew's wife hated her father and couldn't wait to get rid of his name, and my daughter-in-law didn't feel connected to her name because her dad was adopted and the name had little meaning.

[jillan]

4. It just makes me sick when I think of how the media trashed her last year.

She is a beautiful woman, both inside and out.
And you don't find alot of women in politics like that.

The rw can't stand a woman that has a mind of her own.
Even Mancoulter asks like a giggly little blonde when on tv. That's okay to them.

But to have a woman stand up and speak her mind, and not play the flirty game, is way too difficult for them to comprehend. Look at what they did to Hillary.

It's okay for O'liely to scream and rant, but not okay for Randi Rhodes.

[Island Blue]

6. I totally agree

Somehow the media thinks that we will be ready for a woman president in 3 years (Hillary) but they (the media) couldn't even handle the idea of having a strong, outspoken First Lady (Hillary or Teresa). It makes no sense to me.

It's really too bad that more Americans didn't get to know Teresa. Sure some of the more traditional ones are never going to like her (hell, they like shrub* so their judgment is automatically suspect) but I think most Americans would have loved her if they had gotten to know her as more than just a wealthy cartoon character.

And you're right. The RW doesn't like the thought of a woman that has a mind of her own - I think that's why shruby* chose Harriet Miers. She obviously worships the ground he walks on rather than being of independent thought. It's really sad.

[wisteria]

5. Good op-ed. Women's issues have really been buried in

recent years. Equal pay should be a given.It shouldn't even have to be debated. It is absolutely necessary in this day and age. Women don't work simply because they want to buy a few luxuries, they work to provide the staples for their families, food, clothing and shelter. We deserve to make a fair wage and retire without having to worry about living in poverty, we earned that right just like any man who works hard to pay his bills and provide for his family.I am very happy to see that THK has spoken out supporting this issue.

Oh, and I wish she would use Heinz-Kerry when she does something publicly, when she doesn't she give the Repubs a reason to question their relationship and spread untruths. It's not the repubs I care about, just middle America who receive a distorted perception of their marriage from the media and Rebubs. I know it's wrong and it shouldn't matter, but it does to some people.

[kerrygoddess]

7. Thank you, Tay Tay

I never got a chance to read the Globe today!

[TayTay]

8. My pleasure KG!

And my thanks to you for the text of the speech today. It was great!

THK is wonderful. I love that women. I find her fiery, opinionated and passionate, some of my favorite qualities in a quality person. I love how she directs her energies to improving situations for ordinary Americans.

[ginnyinWI]

11. he could have picked just about anyone,

being a popular Senator, etc. But he didn't just want a trophy wife--he wanted a true soulmate, and I think he found one in Teresa. She has added so much to him--by being an independent voice with her own intelligence, passion for causes, and heart.
It's no wonder they went after her during the campaign, because she is so much more than Laura, whose main job seems to be to smile, and secondarily to come out and speak when * is in trouble.

[TayTay]

12. I think there really is a lot of yin/yang in there

I can see the genuine attraction, I really can. I think they each have some of the other's qualities, just in different places.