“InStyle”

International Women’s Day 2018: By The Numbers

International Women's Day 2018 (Code Pink)

International Women’s Day 2018 (Code Pink)

Today is International Women’s Day! Here are some fun facts appropriate for the day (and for the purposes of this blog) to dazzle your friends, with sources hyperlinked:

  • “Women love sex just as much as men. In a recent survey, three quarters of the females polled said they wanted to romp at least three times a week.”
  • Women now make up over half of college graduates at 58%. And it’s had an effect: “This increased percentage of educated women has been directly tied to economic growth worldwide — and faster economic growth at that.”
  • Curious about how the wage gap‘s looking? “In 2016, women working full time in the United States typically were paid just 80 percent of what men were paid.”
  • 80% of women directors made only 1 film between 2007 to 2016.
  • Only 17% of start-ups had a female founder in 2017.
  • This year’s theme is “#pressforprogress — a push for gender parity nationwide.”

And these are just the tip of the iceberg. There are lots more interesting facts out there. Now go out and spread the word that change needs to happen!!

How Many Husbands Take Their Wives’ Last Names?

Zoe and Marco Saldana (KCCI)

Zoe and Marco Saldana (KCCI)

Happy Friday! Earlier this week, actress Zoe Saldana told “InStyle” that her husband Marco Perego wanted to take her last name, instead of having her take his. Saldana was initially hesitant:

I tried to talk him out of it. I told him, ‘If you use my name, you’re going to be emasculated by your community of artists, by your Latin community of men, by the world.’ But Marco looks up at me and says [in his Italian accent], ‘Ah, Zoe, I don’t give a sheet.’

Now, that’s a true man right there. Husbands taking their wife’s last name isn’t too common, at least anecdotally. But what about the data? Has it been tracked?

No, it hasn’t, at least not yet. I found several articles profiling couples who did it, but each article mentioned in some way that statistics weren’t tracked. Oh well. On the other hand, it’s a topic ripe for picking for a Ph.D. thesis. Any takers?

But Mr. Saldana (né Perego) made a huge impact. Meghan Blalock of “Who What Wear” puts his decision in context:

The storied history of women taking men’s last names in marriage is not just a trend or a matter of practicality—it’s a long-existing symptom of the patriarchal society in which we live, in which a marriage means that a woman is little more than a man’s property.

So his decision shows that he’s not just a traditionally masculine man, but that he has a sensitive side towards women and feminism, and isn’t afraid to show it. Pretty badass, right? Maybe we’ll see more men follow suit!