the digital giraffe

All About Women

Our Woman of the Month Award for July, 2025, goes to Hildreth Meiere, brilliant designer of many famous American art deco buildings. See article on mural history below for her accomplishments.

The University of Hawaii at Manoa proudly boasted of a program that supported dozens of career activities for women in geosciences and community outreach. The program was suddenly shut down when its federal funding from the National Science Foundation was terminated. Dropped were grants that allowed female students, post-doctoral researchers, staff and faculty to go to professional meetings, career or technical development workshops, or take part in research or field work. Eliminated also were training for middle school teachers in ocean engineering, and presentations to students and other faculty members focused on deep-sea ecology and volcanoes.

The subject of "mankeeping" is coming under increased scrutiny. The term refers to unreciprocated jobs that women do to take charge of the social and emotional needs of the men in the women's lives. Examples include organizing a man's social calendar, buying gifts or cards, or giving emotional support without getting the same in return. Efforts are being made to "give women language and a sense of empowerment" in these unbalanced demands. The areas studied include doctor's offices, highschool classrooms, and online social media sites like Instagram.

Studies of mural history tend to be poorly valued, especially for great American women like Hildreth Meiere. Meiere was a pioneering muralist in New York City, designing buildings like New York City's Radio City Music Hall and One Wall Street. Murals are an art deco tradition that embellished 1930's architecture with designs on walls, domes, ceilings and floors. Meiere was responsible for these decorations in more than 100 buildings across America, using her style of Byzantine imagery, flattened forms, and almond-shaped mandorlas. A recent article in the Atlantic magazine called her "the best art deco designer who almost no one remembers", or, as the New York Times wrote in 2014, "forgotten in plain sight".

Iran's "Morality Police" appear to be using AI algorithms like facial recognition to track women who wear the hijab improperly or take off their veils inside vehicles. Over 1 million SMS messages have been sent to women drivers, threatening to confiscate their cars; tens of thousands of cars have already been seized. Also being used is the Biometric National Identity card, begun in 2015, which gives personal data like iris scans and facial images. Since December of 2024, a "hijab and chastity bill" legalized stringent fines of up to 10 years in prison and huge financial penalties. Due to international uproar, the bill was postponed but the danger to women marches on unabated.

The United Nations reminds us that gender equality is a fundamental human right but unlikely to be achieved by 2030. On average, working women are paid 23% less than their male counterparts, while they spend 3 times as many hours in the fields of unpaid care and domestic work. Other inequalities include sexual violence and discrimination in public office. Unless there is improvement, child marriage will continue for 300 years; 286 years will be needed to close gaps in legal rights; 140 years for women to stand equally in leadership and power positions; and 47 years for females to be equally represented in national parliaments. The UN suggests steps that can be taken to achieve equality.

Skateboarding is not often ascribed to women, but a new online resource steps in to promote the field. Called Womxn Skateboard History, it offers an archive by decades with links to relevant sites. Mentioned are comments on women's skateboarding, "Smash the Skatriarchy", "A History of Badass Women Skateboarders", and a book called, "Recollections of my Nonexistence".

The Nurses' Health Study was begun in 1976 and made significant breakthroughs in cancer research, diet studies, and the effect of hormones on women's health. A collaboration in 2010 with Bbrigham Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School expanded the depth of reasearch and discoveries. Biological samples from the research were stored in high-powered freezers filled with liquid nitrogen in a biorepository. All of these ground-breaking efforts are now jeopardized by cuts in federal research funding. One researcher writes, "This is a unique, irreplaceable resource, in many regards. There are other biobanks, but this one is unique in scale and associated data."

A university in Nigeria has sparked outrage with its "No-bra, no-exam" rule. A video shows students being touched to be sure they are wearing bras before taking exams. A student explains that the process is part of the university's dress code meant to maintain "a distraction-free environment". The policy has been criticized as being "archaic, sexist and likened to sexual assault". Some students added that their clothing was being checked as well. The President of the Student's Union claims that the dress code is designed to eliminate any clothes "capable of making the same or opposite sex to lust after the student in an indecent manner."

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Last updated July 1, 2025 - 31 years of monthly Web publication

Corinne Whitaker - Artist, Editor, Author, Poet, Sculptor, Publisher, Composer, Betaphysician, Chief of the Newanderthal Tribe

Best of Foster City 2016
Best of Palo Alto 2013

Golden Web Award, 2001 and 2000

Artist of the Month, Artisan Bazaar, 2000

Best in Cyberart Award, 1999

winner of BATech's "Catch of the Day"

winner of Fractal Design's "Artist of the Month"and "Image of the Day"

Featured Master Artist, Shadowart Galleries, 1997 and 1998

Guest Artist of the Month, Hampton Click Salon Online
Exhibit below from Virtual Gallery online