Martha Burk

Mary Robinson was the first woman ever elected to the presidency of Ireland, serving from 1990 to 1997. She came up in Irish politics via the Dublin city council, and the Irish senate, where she championed the rights of women, gay rights, and the cause of the poor.

After leaving...

As with every Mother's Day, millions of moms will get flowers and candy this Sunday, along with sticky pancakes or burnt toast lovingly prepared by husbands and kids turned cooks-for-a-day.

As individuals, we're pretty fond of our mothers. But as a nation we don't value motherhood all that much....

April is the month every year when the paychecks of women working full-time, year-round catch up with what men earned by the previous December 31. This year it's April 17.

There are a number of causes for the pay gap, including job segregation (so-called "men's jobs" pay more than...

Now that the NCAA finals are over, the sports world can give its undivided attention to the Masters Golf Tournament starting later this week. Tiger Woods is back. And so is the controversy over the Augusta National Golf Club's all-male no-girls-allowed bunker mentality.

But unlike 2003 when the

"It's the economy, stupid!"  That was the rallying cry for the Clinton campaign in the 1992 presidential election.  It's even more true today. With the U.S. suffering from the effects of a long and painful recession (I know, I know -- it's technically over) -- the economy is the number one...

Nancy Pelosi is a woman who makes history. Celebrating 25 years in Congress this year, she served as first female Speaker of the House from 2007 to 2011. The Christian Science Monitor wrote: "...make no mistake: Nancy Pelosi is the most powerful woman in American politics and the...

Do a quick Google search on "women and financial advice" and you get 133 million hits. "Women and investment advice" yields 64 million. Wow. That's a lot of advice. Do we really need that much?

After the first three paid ads, the top of the investment list is something...

Zainab Salbi grew up in Iraq. She was only 11 years old when her father was chosen to serve as Saddam Hussein's personal pilot. At 20, she was sent to the U.S. for an arranged marriage. Stranded by the Gulf war, she escaped the marriage and started her life over....

In January we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, and now the country has moved into February -- Black History Month. We'll no doubt hear much more about Dr. King as celebrations and ceremonies unfold around the country. He was without question a great man, and left an enduring mark...

Co-written by Robin Gerber, author of Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way

We were glad to read that the historically misleading quote on the new Martin Luther King Jr. memorial will be replaced. Now it's time to trot over to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, a short walk away....

January 22 marks the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States. That decision has been called the most significant of the 20th century. Certainly it was the most significant for women.

The case was argued by a 27-year-old female...

The Food Network's popular reality series Chopped departed from its standard lineup of contestants this past week to feature an unusual group of chefs: lunch ladies. The show is getting rave reviews. For those not addicted to watching other people cook on TV, Chopped usually highlights four professional chefs from...

The 1000th Republican debate happens Wednesday Nov. 9. I'm washing my hair that night and can't make it. If you are similarly engaged but want to know the essence, here it is. It's in abbreviated format, based on extensive research and highly scientific projections of the candidates' own words.

Herman...

Remember Dukes v. Walmart, the case that the Roberts Supreme Corporate Court threw out last summer (after 11 years of slogging through lower courts) because the company claimed it was too big to be sued for sex discrimination?

Well, like Freddy Krueger every Halloween, it's ba-a-a-ck. And it ought to...

It's the scary season at the movies, and I don't mean the usual spate of Halloween films that bombard us every October.

Now playing in theaters nationwide is Contagion, the fictitious account of a mysterious and fast-spreading virus that's killing millions around the world. There's no vaccine in sight...

"Walmart Launches Global Women's Economic Empowerment Initiative; Effort Includes Goal to Source $20 Billion from Women-Owned Businesses in the U.S." read the headline on Walmart's press release announcing a new "gender washing" initiative.

Well, ok, they didn't mention "gender washing." I made up the term to convey the same meaning...

August 26 is Women's Equality Day. Most Americans don't even know what it is. Aside from commemorations by a few female leaders on Capitol Hill, the day is hardly noticed. But it marks one of the most important accomplishments of the last century for women -- the date the final...

Seven years ago a judge in California ruled that women suing Wal-Mart for sex discrimination could move forward as a class. That meant the women with various claims wouldn't have to go it alone, each with a separate lawyer and separate expenses. Essentially what the judge said is that the...

This week marks the five-month countdown to the 39th anniversary of Title IX, the law prohibiting discrimination in educational programs receiving federal tax dollars, including sports.

Every year the secretary of education and countless women's organizations commemorate the anniversary with praise for the program's success, citing many impressive statistics. Since...

I've been agonizing for some time over how as a country we've catapulted so far beyond George Orwell's 1984, which taught us that rhetoric could be constructed to match a reality exactly opposite of the slogans uttered. We're now to the point that up is truly down, at least in...