A Woman's Nation

Last week, Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress released The Shriver Report, also known as A Woman's Nation. Maria Shriver herself calls the report "an accurate and detailed portrait of American women and families at this transformational moment in our history." I read through the report and watched a few of the segments that The Today Show did about it during the week.

I have spent the past week thinking about all I've heard and all I've read and I am not sure if I have more clarity about my thoughts about a woman's nation at this point, or not. The report found that "women say they feel increasingly isolated, invisible, stressed, and misunderstood." The report notes that women do not feel like the news media accurately reflects their lives and that the government is out of touch with today's woman and does not know what they need to survive. Additionally, the report states that women are exasperated by pollsters and pundits who want to put them in convenient boxes with labels like "soccer moms."

The questions that were explored in an effort to learn some new information about today's woman are good questions. In my opinion, some of the questions do not have easy answers. Who is today's woman? How does she live, what does she think, what does she earn? How does she define power, how does she define success, and how does she want to live her life going forward?

One of the segments on The Today Show that I heard bits and pieces of as I was dashing around the house with my very hectic morning routine, was whether women take on too much and whether we are making ourselves sick and tired. I went back and rewatched the segment online so that I could actually pay attention to what was being said. Dr. Nancy Snyderman was speaking about how women today have so much on their plates and that leaves them feeling very stressed. That in turn has a big impact on our sleep and we do not get proper rest. That has a big impact on how we eat which has a big impact on our weight gain, which of course has a negative impact on our blood pressure, etc. A question was taken from a viewer about how to let go of some of the things that cause her so much stress and the answer Dr. Nancy gave is worth noting. She said to take 10 minutes out of your day and make two columns on a piece of paper. One for "things I love about my life" and one for "things I hate about my life." Once you have filled in the columns you can identify things that have crept on to your plate that have no value for you and then you can actively begin to remove those things. Sounds so simple, and is brilliant, but it's one of those things I think we all need to be reminded to do every now and again.

Interestingly enough, one viewer asked a question about IVF and insurance coverage and why some plans do not cover it, and Dr. Nancy commented that this is one of the great reproductive injustices in the insurance world. She commented that Viagra and the like are covered by insurance but birth control pills are not. She further stated that sexism is alive and well and that some people feel that just being a woman is a pre-existing condition. She says that these are hot button issues on Capitol Hill right now and she thinks we will see them addressed.

With each passing day, I found myself thinking about so many different issues facing women today. I found myself thinking about my answers to the questions I listed above that were asked about today's woman. I found answers to some of the things I thought about, but some led me to more questions. I am going to keep wrestling with my thoughts and will try to figure out where I fall in A Woman's Nation, and I wanted to ask you all to share your thoughts about this topic with the rest of us. One of the things the report mentioned is that women are looking for places to connect. Let's take advantage of this place to do just that.

Here's a link to the website for A Woman's Nation: http://awomansnation.com/awn.php