Martha Burk

Money Editor, Ms. magazine; director, Corporate Accountability Project, National Council of Women’s Organizations

Women’s health has been under attack to an unprecedented degree for the past year — until Thursday. In upholding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Roberts Court threw a hand grenade at those who are waging an unrelenting “war on women” using access to health care as the main battering ram. The decision may not stop the war, but it surely feels good to win such a decisive battle.

While preserving the law will benefit virtually all Americans, women will gain the most. Big wins:

Birth control will be covered as a preventative measure, without co-pays. Yes, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will continue their assault on this basic service, but they’re now less likely to prevail. Other very important but less visible preventative services like pap smears, mammograms, and domestic violence screenings will…

Hello everyone, today I want to write about my point of views on spending alone time with yourself, and I believe it is very good for you. I spend a lot of alone time whether its in the car driving, or just walking around, going to the mall, and just relaxing and thinking about life and everyone in it. I believe that when I spend alone time with myself, I discover new things about myself, I create new recipes from the top of my head to cook dinner for my family, I think about life decisions, and how things progress in life. I remember when I went out and got some food to eat, and I was just alone and reflecting on my life and where I have got to so far. Yes its great to surround yourself with people all the time, but someday you need to just unwind…

By Michelle Castillo

(CBS News) What’s the recipe for a stress-filled life? According to new research, being young, a woman, having a low education level and/or having low income represent the most stressed individuals in the United States.

A new study, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology in the June 2012 issue, marks the first time scientists have been able to track the level of stress across the U.S. over time. Self-reported stress levels increased between 10 and 30 percent over all demographic categories between 1983 and 2009.

“We know that stress contributes to poorer health practices, increased risk for disease, accelerated disease progression and increased mortality,” study author Dr. Sheldon Cohen, the Robert E. Doherty Professor of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., said in the press release. “Differences in stress between demographics may be important markers of populations under increased risk for…

First Posted: 05/09/2012 3:30 pm

Investors Less Likely to Back Women-Led Ventures

Businesses trying to raise money by going public may have a tough time finding investors if a woman is at the helm, a new study shows.

Researchers at the University of Utah found that despite identical personal qualifications and firm financials, female founders and CEOs were perceived as less capable than their male counterparts. In turn, the initial public offerings for companies led by those women were considered less attractive investments.

“Bias against top-level female executives seems entrenched despite strides women have made in filling management positions within firms making their initial public offerings,” said Lyda Bigelow, assistant professor at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business.

The study surveyed more than 200 second-year MBAstudents on their opinions of fictitious companies, some of which were led by men and some by women.  The results point…

I guess I ride a bike now.

It’s not really something I like to talk about because bikes, like magnets and former governors of Alaska, have polarizing effects. Maybe it’s different in other towns, but here they’re a pretty divisive issue. Of course, neither side presents itself very appealingly.

On the one hand, you have the people who are decidedly anti-bike. Some of their points make perfect sense- I also drive a car. I know how annoying bicyclists on the road are. When I’m riding my bike and a car comes up behind me, I want to nod sympathetically and yell, “I KNOW! I HATE ME TOO!” The problem is, the anti-bike types are surprisingly aggressive. There’s no quicker way to get someone to call you a dirty hippy than to show up somewhere on a bike, and three bicycle-riding friends have been hit by cars in the last year…