In the final days of a year, we find ourselves looking both forward and back. Ahead is a fresh year, all promise and uncertainty; behind is that collection of things done and people met known as life.
Some of the people met have been encountered in these pages. But the encounters have been brief. Stories are told, lives are bared, souls are searched — and then it is time for another week’s stories.
The stories did not end when their newspaper stories did. So for everyone who has wondered what ever happened to the people and issues they have met in our pages, we offer these updates.
The issues:
– Yes, mamm
The major medical organizations are now in agreement that women in their 40s are best served by getting routine mammograms for breast cancer every year or two. The National Cancer Institute was the final holdout on advice previously endorsed by the American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association and other groups. The cancer institute changed a former “wait until 50” position after its advisory board convened for a special meeting in March 1997.
An individual woman in her 40s is still left to decide, with her doctor and weighing other factors, if the mammogram is necessary yearly or biennually.
There is continuing debate on just how many cases of breast cancer are caught by doing mammograms on women in their 40s. The most accepted statistic is that screening reduces deaths in this age category by 17 percent.
Althought most doctors minimize the added radiation exposure, there are concerns that false positives can lead to unnecessary biopsies. On the other hand, radiology researchers have developed a three-dimensional imaging technique that shows promise for further checking after suspicious mammograms. A pilot study of 44 women showed the new technology ruled out benign growths and calcifications without incorrectly advising to skip biopsies on women with cancer.
On the practical side, Illinois lawmakers passed a bill in 1997 that requires insurers to cover annual mammograms for women 40 and older. But there is the inevitable loophole: Many firms, including those with self-insured plans, are exempt from the state requirement.
– Boning up
Women will get one more alternative to osteoporosis and estrogen-replacement therapy treatments next month, but there are still plenty of questions about the best course of action during the post-menopausal stage of life.
The federal Food and Drug Administration has approved raloxifene (to be marketed by Eli Lilly & Co. under the brand name Evista) as an option for preventing osteoporosis. It has been called a “designer estrogen” because the synthetic drug is intended to maintain bone strength and density without increasing a woman’s risk for breast cancer, which is possible with conventional hormone-replacement therapy. In fact, limited studies show it may even reduce the chances of breast cancer in later years.
Raloxifene is also known as “estrogen light” by FDA advisers because it does not protect the bones as effectively as animal-based estrogen drugs such as Premarin. There are other pros and cons: Conventional estrogen can lead to uterine bleeding. Raloxifene doesn’t stop hot flashes. The animal-based estrogen is a better performer in lowering cholesterol, which is a significant concern for many post-menopausal women who become more at risk for heart disease.
The new estrogen drug is just the first of several similar medications expected to be approved in coming months. More research is anticipated to help women make a choice on which treatment is best for an individual.
– Pay puzzle
Is the wage gap narrowing or widening? The answer is yes, and that caused considerable confusion last fall as government calculations of pay disparities between men and women left many of us scratching our heads.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported women’s weekly pay fell from 76.4 percent of men’s wages in 1994 to 75 percent in 1996. The U.S. Census Bureau, reporting annual data, said women’s wages grew from 71.4 percent of men’s pay in 1995 to 73.8 percent in 1996. Why the difference? Experts really don’t know, though some blame changes in data collection and the increasing numbers of multiple job holders.
Regardless, women’s advocates say the important statistic isn’t in the gap at all. Rather, they say, it is that women’s real wages are stagnant. Part of the reason women are closing the gap is because men’s real wages are falling, said Susan Bianchi-Sand, executive director of the National Committee on Pay Equity.
“We’re still in a culture where we feel we have to pay men more,” she said. “And the undervaluing of women could be pulling down men’s wages as well.”
From the other side of the gender gap, economists from the Independent Women’s Forum toured the country in 1997 publicizing a study that found women between the ages of 27 and 33 who have never had children earn 98 cents to every dollar a man makes. The study blamed much of the wage gap counted by the government on women’s personal choices, including taking time away from their career to have children.
– They earned it
For workers in the securities industry, complaining about sexual harassment in the workplace has always meant not only getting up the resolve to complain, but also going straight to binding arbitration within the male-dominated industry’s own system.
But this month, a multimillion dollar settlement in the Smith Barney Inc. class-action lawsuit received preliminary approval, setting the stage for substantial changes in the financial work world. The deal, to be delivered to about 20,000 current and former women workers at the company, allows harassment complaints to go forward in non-binding mediation with a neutral mediator and sets up a $15 million diversity program at Smith Barney. The deal sets no cap on potential damages resulting from mediation and gives Smith Barney a public lesson in the consequences of doing business the old-fashioned way.
– Situation Normal
For three years, since Dec. 15, 1994, car maker Mitsubishi has been on notice about sexual harassment complaints at its Normal, Ill., manufacturing plant.
Some observers say that despite enormous negative publicity and some legitimate attempts at changing the system, daily life at the plant is still an uncomfortable experience for many women workers.
Given access to the plant and to former Labor Secretary Lynn Martin’s task force on cleaning up the problems, Newsweek magazine recently concluded that while the company had fired offenders and adopted stringent new policies, harassment has now been “driven into the shadows, where some men continue to deliver their insults in a one-on-one fashion that many women find even more menacing.”
On a brighter note, the company did settle the 1994 lawsuit brought by about 30 women for $9.5 million and has begun implementing 34 recommendations Martin made for preventing future harassment and for improving conditions for working women. But a separate case filed in 1996 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of 300 others remains unresolved.
– Yes, MAMM
This year marked the launch of a number of special interest women’s and girls’ magazines, including Jump, Jane, MAMM, MODE, More and Conde Nast Sports for Women. Many appear to have found an enthusiastic market. Sports Illustrated Women/Sport, which produced two test issues to a “passionate response,” according to Robin Shallow, director of publicity, will announce its plans for the magazine in January.
Jump, the bimonthly magazine “for girls who dare to be real,” is a welcome alternative to dopey teen publications whose primary focus is beauty and boys. “We are absolutely thrilled. Response to the magazine has far exceeded our expectations. We received thousands and thousands of letters and e-mails from girls,” said Kathy Nenneker, associate publisher/creative director. With 300,000 subscriptions (after three issues) plus strong newstand sales, advertising is healthy and growing.
MODE, a slick, beautifully photographed bimonthly fashion magazine for Rubenesque women, was embraced by 335,000 subscribers or a total of 1.5 million readers, according to Julie Lewit-Nirenberg and Nancy Nadler LeWinter, co-owners and publication directors. “We heard `It’s about time’ from literally everyone,” said LeWinter. MODE has been so successful it will become a monthly a year ahead of schedule in February.
The most narrowly focused of all the new magazines, MAMM is targeted to women with breast or reproductive cancer. “We were astounded by the success. . . . Without even starting a subscription campaign, we had 5,000 after the first issue,” said Megan Whiting, publisher. “It’s clear that it’s filling a niche out there,” said Gwen Darien, editor-in-chief. MAMM, which will publish six issues next year, offers free bulk copies to cancer centers and support groups.
– Best hope to date
A new program designed to help teenagers recognize the warning signs of dating violence will soon debut in classrooms across the country.
Created by Red Flag Green Flag Resources, a non-profit publisher of materials for survivors of physical and sexual abuse, “Staying Between the Yellow and the White” uses the theme of an out-of-bounds driver to show high school students the difference between healthy and potentially dangerous dating relationships.
During the interactive program, teens explore the subtle and overt signs of abuse, from frequently phoning a love interest to check up on her, to stalking, hitting and date rape.
Role-playing scenarios are modeled after real-life cases at the Rape and Abuse Crisis Center in Fargo, N.D., over the past 20 years.
Teenagers “think the whole harassment thing is just part of the `I’m a guy, you’re a girl’ culture, that it’s just the way life is,” said Greg Diehl, marketing and sales director for Red Flag Green Flag. “A lot of times, when you talk about abuse or violence, kids think of a boyfriend hitting his girlfriend, if he hits her really bad and there’s blood. Otherwise, it’s no big deal to smack somebody once. But abuse could be emotional, like saying, `If you ever left me, I’d kill myself.’ A lot of times kids don’t even think there’s anything wrong with that. Or they don’t feel good about it, but they don’t know why, because nobody’s ever told them that’s not a healthy attitude to have in a relationship.”
Proceeds from the sale of all Red Flag Green Flag workbooks, videos, board games and other materials are used to provide free counseling and advocacy services for victims at the Rape and Abuse Crisis Center. For more information, call 1-800-627-3675 or visit the Web site at www.redflaggreenflag.com. WomaNews featured Red Flag Green Flag’s “I Wish the Hitting Would Stop” program Jan. 5, 1997.
– Keeping a cool head
Caroline Woolfson, a British woman who campaigned to have hospitals in England equipped with a system that reduces hair loss from chemotherapy, has teamed up with a refrigerator manufacturer to produce a more effective and cheaper model than existing devices.
Woolfson, who lost her hair during cancer treatment a few years ago and found it “one of the hardest things to cope with,” established the non-profit Headlines last year to raise funds to help hospitals buy scalp-cooling machines, as featured in a WomaNews News Brief Feb. 16, 1997. At the time, the only device Woolfson had identified, besides ice packs and crushed ice in plastic bags, was the Scalp Cooling System II developed in Israel and costing about $30,000.
Woolfson’s campaign attracted the attention of Glenn Paxman, a refrigerator manufacturer whose wife had also suffered from cancer. He developed the Paxman Hypothermic Scalp Cooler, a mobile and easy to use system that maintains the scalp at a constant low temperature, thus reducing the risk of hair loss during chemotherapy. The prototypes, which cost $6,000 a unit, are undergoing clinical trials at the Christie Hospital in Manchester.
– Wildly successful
The Great Old Broads for Wilderness, a grassroot environmental organization, experienced an upsurge in interest and members since WomaNews featured the group April 13.
“We received 400 inquires and 170 new members since the article appeared in the Chicago Tribune,” said Liz Thomas, director of Great Old Broads. Sixty of the new members came from the Chicago area.
In recent months, the Great Old Broads for Wilderness has been active in getting the American Redrock Wilderness Act before Congress. The bill would designate 5.7 million acres of public land in Utah as wilderness.
The Senate bill was introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.). A vote on the bill is not expected until the new session of Congress. The Great Old Broads is conducting a letter-writing campaign to urge passage of the bill.
– No monkeying around
On May 18, WomaNews reported on a tangled love triangle that had captured widespread public attention in Thailand and divided public opinion along the traditional lines of male vs. female.
The 1996 marriage between Mike and Susu was carried live on national television. Without dispute, the orangutan marriage was the media/society event of the year.
The few voices that were raised in protest at the alleged blasphemy of parading apes through the sacred human ceremony of marriage were silenced by a media machine eager to report something other than a falling stock market and impending economic crisis. The public cheered the happy couple.
Despite a worsening political and economic situation, Thailand was ecstatic when it was announced that Susu was pregnant. With a typical lack of restraint, the media went into tasteless overdrive to cover the birth.
Then the problems started.
Mike and Susu had a falling out. In the human world this would be a tragic development. For orangutangs, however, it is a natural and unremarkable occurrence after a baby arrives. Unfortunately, the distinction between human and ape had become blurred.
Susu was perceived as suffering from a quite unreasonable post-natal depression, while poor Mike was left to pace his cage in sexual frustration. Mike resented the attention Susu was lavishing on the baby. In keeping with local tradition, the solution to Mike’s reluctant celibacy was obvious. He needed a mia noi, or minor wife.
Enter Malee. A drop-dead gorgeous orangutan from southern Thailand. Her owner thought she would be the perfect substitute mate for Mike. A deal was struck and a convoy of TV outside-broadcast vehicles and Mike supporters was all set to escort Malee to her new home in Lopburi, just north of Bangkok.
Wait just a minute, cried several women’s groups. This is a farce, they said, the male-dominated media are making a mockery of marriage. The issue dominated editorials and triggered a flood of letters to the popular press. The lines were clearly drawn. Men thought Mike deserved a bit of fun while he was waiting for Susu to come to her senses and the kid left home. Women, meanwhile, were outraged that Susu was being discarded in such a disgraceful and public way.
Malee’s owner had been hoping for his 15-minutes of fame, but it was not turning out exactly as planned. He began to have second thoughts about the whole thing. If there was to be a mating, he demanded, it had to be private. No publicity. Without the publicity there was no story; no story meant no sponsorship.
At the time of writing, Mike is still pacing his cage. Susu and the baby are reported to be doing well. There has been no official word on divorce procedings, and typically, the “other woman” is being studiously ignored.
