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	<title>IdeasCategory: Labor &#124; Ideas &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>IdeasCategory: Labor &#124; Ideas &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>What Graduation Speeches Should Say but Don&#8217;t</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/21/what-graduation-speeches-should-really-say/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/21/what-graduation-speeches-should-really-say/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2013 16:14:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken Robinson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life & Style]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[college]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[finding your element]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[graduation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[high school]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=32662</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The U.S. spends more on education than many other countries, yet it has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the world. The problems of education are complicated, and fixing them is a long-term task. But somewhere near the heart of that effort, there has to be a better understanding of what really motivates people to succeed in their lives and to engage with the world around them. There are simply too many adults who actively dislike what they do and lack any sense of purpose in it. There are, of course, many people who absolutely love their lives and feel they’re doing just what they were born to do. But the evidence of disengagement is the legions of people who are dull-eyed at work and do the minimum to get by. We pay a high price for this disaffection — in our schools, organizations and communities. Ironically, one of the root causes can be education itself. (MORE: The Best Celebrity Graduation Speeches) In my new book, I describe people who love what they do as being in their element. To begin with, they’re doing something for which they have a natural flair. It could be for business, the law, teaching, social work, music, carpentry, sport or working with animals. You name it. But being in your element is more than doing things you’re good at. To be in your element, you have to love the work too. As they say, “Find a job you love and you’ll never work another day in your life.” An essential step in finding your element is to understand your talents, and this is where education so often goes astray. Schools often overlook the diversity of students’ talents because they’re typically focused on a very narrow view of academic ability. Students sit at their desks all day writing, calculating or doing low-grade clerical work. So-called nonacademic courses — in the visual and performing arts, physical education and many practical and “vocational” subjects — have much lower status. Consequently, students who come to life in<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=32662&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Education</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/u-s/education/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/128221819.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">A graduation cap with tassles dangling</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">timecontributor</media:title>
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		<title>When &#8216;Flex Time&#8217; Means Ripping Off Workers</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/03/when-flex-time-means-ripping-off-workers/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/03/when-flex-time-means-ripping-off-workers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 May 2013 09:45:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Judith Warner</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life & Style]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carolyn Maloney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flex time]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[overtime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paid time off]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[work-life balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Working Families Flexibility Act]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=32020</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Flexibility is a slippery word. To advocates of family-friendly work policy, it means having the ability to have some choice in how you work, where you work and when you work — without putting your job or your career prospects in jeopardy. For the fortunate, generally white collar and well-educated workers who have access to this sort of flexibility, it means being able to work from home, take time off for parent-teacher conferences or perhaps temporarily cut back to a reduced workweek. For low-wage workers, however, flexibility all too often means being at the beck and call of employers. These workers can be — and often are — sent home on a moment’s notice (and without pay) when business is slow. They are told to cancel long-scheduled personal days if business picks up, and are sometimes threatened with immediate firing if they can’t stay late at work for last-minute overtime because they need to get home to their families. (MORE: Will Family Issues Finally Get Addressed?) This confusion of meaning was clearly what House Republicans were counting on when they chose the Working Families Flexibility Act as the name of legislation that aims to free businesses from the necessity of providing workers with overtime pay when they labor extra hours. The treacherously named bill, which was introduced early last month by Alabama Republican Congresswoman Martha Roby, with the enthusiastic support of House majority leader Eric Cantor, would allow private-sector employers to compensate workers with time off when they put in more than 40 hours a week instead of paying them the time-and-a-half overtime wages now required by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Cantor, eager to woo female voters who abandoned the party last fall, has hailed this new deal as a boon for American families — a way to allow mothers and fathers to “participate in the lives of their children,” as he put it, in a memorandum to House Republicans, early last month. “All too often working parents find there just isn’t enough time at home with their kids,” he wrote. “Too many parents<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=32020&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Labor</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/business-tech/labor/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/flextime.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Flex time</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">timecontributor</media:title>
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		<title>What Bangladesh Can Learn from New York&#8217;s Triangle Factory Fire</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/02/what-bangladesh-can-learn-from-new-yorks-triangle-factory-fire/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/02/what-bangladesh-can-learn-from-new-yorks-triangle-factory-fire/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 May 2013 17:13:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>David Von Drehle</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bangladesh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dhaka]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[factory collapse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[manufacturing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[May Day]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new york]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tammany Hall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Triangle fire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[workplace safety]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=31998</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A little more than a century ago, in the rapidly developing United States of America, nearly 1,000 workers died on the job every week, on average. Collapsed mines buried them alive. Bursting steam engines scalded them to death. Pots of molten steel poured over their heads. Whirling saw blades worked loose in lumber mills and turned to shrapnel. Railroad engines crashed. Merchant ships and fishing boats sank in trackless seas. In the years since then, the number of workplace fatalities has been cut by more than 90%, even as the population of the country has more than tripled. The risk of death on the job today is but a tiny fraction — less than 1/30th — what it was on the warm spring day in 1911 when 146 garment workers died in New York’s notorious Triangle fire. (MORE: Viewpoint on the Bangladesh Disaster: It&#8217;s Not All About the West) Bangladesh now rages and mourns at the latest in an appalling string of garment factory disasters. A shoddy building, illegally constructed on swampy ground, collapsed on April 24. After a week of searching the rubble, the death toll had climbed past 400. This, just five months after a fire killed 112 workers in another factory in the capital of Dhaka, spurred thousands of workers to join a May Day protest, which was echoed by marches throughout Asia. Can these ghastly events become the sort of catalyst for change that the Triangle fire proved to be in the history of American workplace safety? That depends on what lessons are drawn from history. There is a sentimental version of the Triangle fire aftermath. And there is the true version. (PHOTOS: Remembering the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire) When I set out to write a book about the Triangle fire, I often heard the first version: That the deaths of so many workers, most of them young women and girls, in a high-rise fire witnessed by thousands of helpless bystanders so shocked the conscience of New Yorkers that they could not help but push for safer<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=31998&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Labor</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/business-tech/labor/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/trianglefactory.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Firefighters work to douse the flames at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in the Asch building at the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place in New York City, on March 25, 1911.</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">timecontributor</media:title>
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		<title>Viewpoint on Bangladesh Disaster: It&#8217;s Not All About the West</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/02/viewpoint-on-bangladesh-disaster-its-not-all-about-the-west/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/05/02/viewpoint-on-bangladesh-disaster-its-not-all-about-the-west/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 May 2013 09:45:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Pietra Rivoli</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Retail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bangladesh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[factory collapse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fashion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gap]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[globalization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[manufacturing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rana Plaza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[retailers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Walmart]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=31955</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On April 24, more than 400 people died when an eight-story building on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed like a house of cards. The building, Rana Plaza, contained a bank, shops and several garment factories that, as news reports stressed, produced apparel for large Western brands like Benetton, Children&#8217;s Place and Primark. Sadly, without the Western-brands angle, the collapse might not have even made news in the Western world. But now, because of this connection, the disaster has become fodder for the perennial debate over globalization. Many North American and European human-rights groups and labor activists claim that the Western companies who send their production overseas should be held responsible for this disaster, as their relentless demand for cheaper and faster fashion squeezes powerless Asian suppliers. In this scenario, Western consumers also bear some responsibility by buying the garments that support these poor labor conditions. (MORE: Bangladesh Factory Collapse Will Force Companies to Rethink Outsourced Manufacturing) But Western sourcing practices are not the main factor here. While Western activists protested outside the Gap headquarters in San Francisco last week (Gap&#8217;s spokesperson says the company did not have ties to the collapsed factories), in Bangladesh thousands of garment workers also took to the streets and were met by police spraying rubber bullets and teargas. These Bangladeshi protesters were not directing their outrage at the Western brands or cost-conscious consumers, but at their own failed network of governance. (PHOTOS: Hundreds Dead as Garment Factory in Bangladesh Collapses) The apparel industry may be global, but the blame for this disaster should be primarily local, focused on the bribes, corruption and ineptitude that allowed the Rana complex to be illegally built and occupied in the first place. The building&#8217;s owner was a crooked mobster. The building permit was granted by an office that wasn’t authorized to issue such permits. The construction was subpar, and the factory bosses knowingly sent workers back into the building, assuring them that it was safe. The collapse and resulting deaths were caused by these local failures, not by the business practices of Western firms. Yes, without<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=31955&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Retail</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/business-tech/retail/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/5193870441.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Bangladeshi activists at a procession to mark May Day or International Workers Day in Dhaka on May 1, 2013.</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">timecontributor</media:title>
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		<title>The Hypocrisy of Foodies: Restaurant Worker Abuse</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/26/the-hypocrisy-of-foodies-restaurant-worker-abuse/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/26/the-hypocrisy-of-foodies-restaurant-worker-abuse/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:45:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Anya Sacharow</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health & Science]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fair pay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[food workers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[foodborne illness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[minimum wage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[restaurant workers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[restaurants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[servers]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=31766</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Our growing, conscientious food culture has put a priority on eating all things sustainable, local, organic and free-range. Though most foodies would never step foot in a McDonald&#8217;s, they would happily eat at a farm-to-table restaurant where food is sourced according to the highest standards. And yet, here&#8217;s the unspoken hypocrisy. We give more thought to how the chickens and cows on our plate have been treated than we do about the people who cook and serve our food. Restaurant workers hold six of the 10 lowest-paying occupations in the U.S., earning less, on average, than farm workers and domestic workers. Just 20% of restaurant jobs pay a living wage, and women, people of color and immigrants are often barred from getting these living-wage positions. It is &#8220;the chasm between American food values and business practices,&#8221; writes Saru Jayaraman, founder of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United and author of the new book Behind the Kitchen Door. (MORE: Can We Drink Soda Responsibly?) The restaurant industry can&#8217;t blame the recession: it&#8217;s one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors of the U.S. economy, with annual job-growth rate of 3.4% in 2012, double the growth rate of overall U.S. employment. At the same time, the federal minimum wage for tipped workers has remained at $2.13 an hour for more than 20 years. In 2010, the median wage for restaurant workers was $9.02 an hour, including tips, which amounts to a wage below the federal poverty line for a family of four. Jayaraman cites examples of rampant exploitation and discrimination. Light-skinned employees are regularly hired and promoted above darker-skinned employees, even when the latter may have more experience and knowledge of the menu and serving customers. Abusive labor practices also prevent restaurant workers from benefits such as sick days, which subsequently poses a serious public-health threat. In 2011, the CDC reported that almost 12% of restaurant workers said that they worked while suffering from flu symptoms, vomiting, or diarrhea on two or more shifts in the last year. Not surprisingly, the CDC also cited restaurants as the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=31766&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Society</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/life-style/society/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/picture-1.png?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Waitress</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">timecontributor</media:title>
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	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Four Myths About Millennials</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/12/four-myths-about-millennials/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/12/four-myths-about-millennials/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Apr 2013 09:45:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chelsea Clinton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health & Science]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cell phones]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[derrius quarles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Drew Heckman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[emily santos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[henry osman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[krupa desai]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[millennials]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moussa Hassoung]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[myths]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[patrick oathout]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=30665</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Millennials are often portrayed as apathetic, disinterested, tuned out and selfish. None of those adjectives describe the Millennials I’ve been privileged to meet and work with. Fresh from Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) 2013, my father and I just spent the weekend with more than 1,000 college and university students — Millennials — from around the world at Washington University in St. Louis. Every student who attended made what we at CGI U call ‘commitments’ — specific pledges to tackle a specific challenge, whether on their campus or a continent away. Attendees came from more than 300 colleges and universities, all 50 states and over 75 countries and their commitments ranged across equally diverse areas, including education, climate change, gender inequality, poverty alleviation and public health. CGI U left me both exhilarated and exhausted, but above all, inspired. I left St. Louis incredibly optimistic about our future. (MORE: How Minority Millennials Are Driving Politics) It&#8217;s not that the young people I met aren&#8217;t aware of the negative stereotypes of them out there. Some of the critiques against them do contain insight. But Millennials are actually remixing their generation&#8217;s vices into virtues that are informing their ambitions, their work and helping make the world a better place. Here&#8217;s how: 1. They&#8217;re All about the Money It&#8217;s a widely-held belief that Millennials are obsessed with money. And it’s also wildly true. Just don’t mistake it for a fixation with getting rich. After all, a survey of university graduates by consulting firm PwC shows that flexible hours and job development trump cash in their ideal workplace. The young people I met and listened to at CGI U were focused on money in the sense of getting back to real growth in the developed world, ensuring that prosperity is more widely shared in the developed and developing world, and for the United States, fixing our long-term fiscal challenges (there was even a fierce competition to see which students led the best campaigns to raise Millennials&#8217; awareness of the soaring national debt). Take CGI<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=30665&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Society</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/life-style/society/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/millennials.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Millennials volunteering</media:title>
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		<title>Banning the Term &#8216;Illegal Immigrant&#8217; Won&#8217;t Change the Stigma</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/09/viewpoint-banning-the-term-illegal-immigrant-wont-change-the-stigma/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/09/viewpoint-banning-the-term-illegal-immigrant-wont-change-the-stigma/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:45:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John McWhorter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[American Cities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Immigration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Journalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life & Style]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama Administration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[affirmative action]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[associated press]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[feminism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[illegal immigrant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[racial preferences]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[special education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[undocumented immigrant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[women's lib]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=30577</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week the Associated Press announced that it would ban the term illegal immigrant from its stylebook. They are among many organizations and immigration advocates of late who argue that the term is uncivil, or even defamatory. (MORE: Immigration Debate: The Problem with the Word &#8220;Illegal&#8221;) Whether there is a point in that or not – and quite a few, including immigrants, think there isn’t – the main problem here is a matter of how language works. The idea is that banning “illegal immigrant” will change how people think, that using the term undocumented immigrant will improve the public opinion of the people in question. But it won&#8217;t. The problem is that language dances much more lightly on thought than we often suppose, and in a battle between thought and language, thought has a way of winning out. Words’ meanings, even when crafted to bend away from opinion, drift back to where we didn’t want them to be, like a fly keeps landing on you after you swat it away. This has happened to previous attempts to expunge a term of its negative meaning. Consider affirmative action, now so conventional we rarely stop to parse what the actual words comprising it mean. “Affirming” what? What kind of “action”? The term was a magnificently artful and gracious construction of the 1960s, giving a constructive, positive air to an always controversial policy. Note, however, that political opponents soon came to associate the term with the same negative feelings they had about the policy it referred to, such that today it is uttered with scorn by many. Racial preferences was the chosen replacement – but now it is now as loaded as affirmative action was. (MORE: How Affirmative Action Backfires At Universities) Words cannot escape reality. A similar thing happened with welfare, a constructive euphemism compared to once common terms of disparagement such as the dole. Once again, though, surly associations long ago settled back down on the term. By now we have to think a bit to process that the original meaning of welfare, in<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=30577&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Society</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/life-style/society/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/146397543.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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		<title>Secrets of the Most Successful College Students</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/13/secrets-of-the-most-successful-college-students/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/13/secrets-of-the-most-successful-college-students/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Mar 2013 09:45:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Annie Murphy Paul</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life & Style]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[college]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[college education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[college students]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grades]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[higher education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[university]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=29179</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[College-admission letters go out this month, and most recipients (and their parents) will place great importance on which universities said yes and which said no. A growing body of evidence, however, suggests that the most significant thing about college is not where you go, but what you do once you get there. Historian and educator Ken Bain has written a book on this subject, What the Best College Students Do, that draws a road map for how students can get the most out of college, no matter where they go. (MORE: Does College Put Kids on a Party Pathway?) As Bain details, there are three types of learners: surface, who do as little as possible to get by; strategic, who aim for top grades rather than true understanding; and deep learners, who leave college with a real, rich education. Bain then introduces us to a host of real-life deep learners: young and old, scientific and artistic, famous or still getting there. Although they each have their own insights, Bain identifies common patterns in their stories: (MORE: Can Tough Competition Hinder Academic Performance?) Pursue passion, not A&#8217;s. When he was in college, says the eminent astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, he was &#8220;moved by curiosity, interest and fascination, not by making the highest scores on a test.&#8221; As an adult, he points out, &#8220;no one ever asks you what your grades were. Grades become irrelevant.&#8221; In his experience as a student and a professor, says Tyson, &#8220;ambition and innovation trump grades every time.&#8221; Get comfortable with failure. When he was still a college student, comedian Stephen Colbert began working with an improvisational theater in Chicago. &#8220;That really opened me up in ways I hadn&#8217;t expected,&#8221; he tells Bain. &#8220;You must be O.K. with bombing. You have to love it.&#8221; Colbert adds, &#8220;Improvisation is a great educator when it comes to failing. There&#8217;s no way you are going to get it right every time.&#8221; Make a personal connection to your studies. In her sophomore year in college, Eliza Noh, now a professor of Asian-American studies at California State<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=29179&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Education</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/u-s/education/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/college.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">college students</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">timeideasbrilliant</media:title>
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		<title>At Book Launch, Sheryl Sandberg Takes Center Stage</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/11/sheryl-sandberg-takes-center-stage/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/11/sheryl-sandberg-takes-center-stage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2013 01:43:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ruth Davis Konigsberg</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Arts & Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life & Style]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lean In]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nancy Gibbs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sheryl Sandberg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Time Warner Center]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=29566</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In the mother of all book launches, Sheryl Sandberg — the COO of Facebook and a first-time author, though you would hardly know it — was interviewed by TIME&#8217;s deputy managing editor Nancy Gibbs at the Time Warner Center in New York City. Sandberg, the cover subject of this week&#8217;s TIME magazine, is on a mission to empower women in the workplace. &#8220;I believe that if more women lean in, we can change the power structure of our world and expand opportunities,&#8221; she writes in TIME&#8217;s exclusive excerpt of Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, a book that has gotten a tremendous amount prepublication attention. (MORE: Read TIME&#8217;s cover story &#8220;Don&#8217;t Hate Me Because I&#8217;m Successful&#8220;) &#8220;Thank you for joining us around the bonfire that Sheryl has lit,&#8221; Gibbs said in front of a crowd of about 200 that included Katie Holmes, Suze Orman and Lesley Stahl, before launching into her first question for Sandberg: &#8220;What has surprised you most about these last few days?&#8221; &#8220;I&#8217;m surprised by how much attention and how early it has been,&#8221; said Sandberg, noting that the book had only officially come out that very morning. &#8220;That hasn&#8217;t stopped anyone from having an opinion of it,&#8221; Gibbs pointed out. &#8220;What I&#8217;m concerned about is stagnation and apathy, and if a heated debate around a book is what it takes to spark a conversation, then that&#8217;s great,&#8221; replied Sandberg. (MORE: Why Sandberg Matters for Real Women) The conversation quickly turned to stereotypes that continue to hold women back and the Catch-22 of what Sandberg calls women&#8217;s success-likability penalty. &#8220;As women get more powerful, they get less likable,&#8221; said Sandberg. &#8220;I see women holding themselves back because of this, but if we start talking about the success-likability penalty women face, then we can do something about it.&#8221; Sandberg returned often to the theme that women face a double standard — if they turn down an assignment, they&#8217;re seen as difficult, if they ask for a promotion, they&#8217;re seen as too aggressive. Until there&#8217;s greater awareness of this bias,<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=29566&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Business &amp; Tech</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/business-tech/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/162868095_lb_8127_7cd9de1a4812fcd5fcc3bf53bc945da92-copy.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">TIME WARNER&#039;S CONVERSATIONS ON THE CIRCLE: A Conversation With Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook And Moderated By Nancy Gibbs, Deputy Managing Editor, TIME</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">ruthdaviskonigsberg</media:title>
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		<title>Just How Bad Off Are Law School Graduates?</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/11/just-how-bad-off-are-law-school-graduates/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/11/just-how-bad-off-are-law-school-graduates/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:30:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Cohen</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Case Study]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[$25 an hour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jobs for law school graduates]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[law school]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legal profession]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=29481</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Arizona State University’s law school is attacking head on the growing problem of law school graduates — who are in the fifth year of a near-depression-level job market — not being able to find work. It plans to open its own nonprofit law firm, as the New York Times recently reported, with the goal of keeping 30 recent graduates off the unemployment rolls. Law schools have also been offering public interest fellowships to help recent graduates get a foothold in the legal market — and creating incubators to train solo practitioners. But all of this law-school work-making is raising some fundamental questions about whether there are broader forces at work that are permanently altering the legal profession. It may seem far off today, but it was not long ago that the good times were rolling for lawyers. In 2007, 91.2% of law school graduates got jobs and salaries were soaring. After the 2008 meltdown, the employment rate was far lower — and the quality of jobs a lot worse. In 2009, just 65.4% of law school graduates got jobs for which they needed to pass the bar. (MORE: Sonia Sotomayor Debate: Should Unhappy Lawyers Blame Themselves?) A grim sport has emerged of exchanging stories about just how bad things are. Many lawyers are stuck doing tedious, document-intensive contract work for as little as $25 an hour — not the worst job in the world, certainly, but not what many of them envisioned when they spent three years of their lives and $150,000 to get a law degree. And there are plenty of worse jobs.  “Above the Law,” a website that follows the grim legal market closely, reported one listing on Boston College Law School’s job site that offered an annual salary of just $10,000 which “Above the Law” insisted the firm “had to have known” was “below minimum wage.” And it gets worse still. There are a surprising number of job postings for lawyers that offer no salary at all, including government law jobs. That raises the question — as one headline put it — “Would<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=29481&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Case Study</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/u-s/case-study/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/wp126314316.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Law School Column</media:title>
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		<title>Women at Work: 7 Ways to Negotiate</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/08/women-at-work-seven-ways-to-negotiate/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/08/women-at-work-seven-ways-to-negotiate/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Mar 2013 19:16:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Erin Skarda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Knowing Your Value]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lean In]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mika Brzezinski]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Morning Joe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiating]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiating skills]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sheryl Sandberg]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=29429</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg has ignited a discussion about whether women are bad at negotiating for better assignments, raises and promotions in the workplace. TIME spoke with Mika Brzezinski, co-host of Morning Joe and author of Knowing Your Value: Women, Money and Getting What You’re Worth, who offers seven fail-safe tips for women to take into their next career negotiation: Don&#8217;t act like a man. “When Morning Joe first started, I noticed that Joe [Scarborough] and our boss, Phil Griffin, would have these huge arguments. They would yell and scream at each other and wave their arms and spit. Almost every time, Joe would get what he wanted, and Phil would get something out of it too, and then they both would sit back and say, ‘So, are you going to game tonight?&#8217; Women could never survive if they tried to do that. I actually went into a meeting with Phil and did it myself. I was ‘pulling a Joe.’ It was just awkward. I walked out of that office without a raise — a raise that I deserved. I think Phil thought I was a little crazy, and I wouldn’t blame him for it. You have to find your own voice.” (MORE: TIME&#8217;s Cover Story, &#8220;Confidence Woman&#8221;) William B. Plowman / NBC NewsWire / Getty Images Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Morning Joe&#8221; Be authentic. “If you go into a negotiation communicating effectively and elegantly, but also with your own sense of self, chances are, you’ll get what you want. Obviously, you have to back up your request with data, information and a clear articulation of your value. When you’re able to do that, trust me, your voice will follow. You don’t need to act.” Don&#8217;t play the victim. “Women are the worst with this. In my opinion, they think their boss should worry that they’re paying for their mom’s retirement home or they have three kids or whatever. You know what? That’s not your boss&#8217;s problem. You’re not supposed to go into [negotiations] loaded with guilt. You’re supposed to go in<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=29429&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Business &amp; Tech</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/business-tech/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/negotiating.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Negotiating</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">erinleighskarda</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/mika.jpg?w=160" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC&#039;s &#34;Morning Joe&#34;</media:title>
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		<title>Confidence Woman</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/confidence-woman/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/confidence-woman/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:05:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Belinda Luscombe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[career women]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lean In]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sheryl Sandberg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[success]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[women and work]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[work-life balance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=29261</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sheryl Sandberg&#8217;s first employees, according to her family, were her siblings David and Michelle. &#8220;Initially, as a 1-year-old and 3-year-old, we were worthless and weak,&#8221; they said in a toast at her wedding. But by elementary school the person who is currently the chief operating officer of Facebook, and arguably one of the most powerful women in America, had whipped them into shape, teaching them to follow her around the house and shout &#8220;Right!&#8221; after each of her orations. Was this a game? Sort of. &#8220;To the best of our knowledge Sheryl never actually played as a child,&#8221; they said. &#8220;[She] really just organized other children&#8217;s play.&#8221; Sandberg tells these stories about herself early in her first book, a memoir–slash–&#8221;sort of feminist manifesto&#8221; in which she enjoins women to pursue their careers with more rigor, to engage more energetically in the corporate cook-off, to Lean In—as the book is titled—to the opportunities and challenges of becoming a boss. She says she had misgivings about sharing these family fables because they make her seem bossy, a term she takes issue with. &#8220;I notice bossy is applied almost always to little girls,&#8221; says Sandberg over lunch (she ordered a Wagyu hot dog with no bun and no relish). &#8220;It&#8217;s just not used for men.&#8221; In person, Sandberg does not give the impression that she&#8217;s bossy. She gives the impression that she was born 43, that she was delivered preloaded with the capacity and will to order people around but also the capacity and will to ensure that they thrive. Now that she is really 43, she has so perfected these skills that merely helping run a $66 billion tech company is not quite enough of a challenge. So Sandberg has taken on a new mission: to change the balance of power. That quest and her plan of attack have brought out the broadsides. (MORE: TIME&#8217;s Complete Coverage on Sheryl Sandberg) It would be un-Sandbergian to write a book and just leave it at that. Her campaign comes with LeanIn.org, a nonprofit foundation<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=29261&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Business &amp; Tech</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/business-tech/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/lede.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Strategy meeting Sandberg with LeanIn.org team members</media:title>
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		<title>Why I Want Women To Lean In</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/why-i-want-women-to-lean-in/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/why-i-want-women-to-lean-in/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:03:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Sandberg</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life & Style]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Lean In]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lean In excerpt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sheryl Sandberg]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=29199</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today in the United States and the developed world, women are better off than ever before. But the blunt truth is that men still run the world. While women continue to outpace men in educational achievement, we have ceased making real progress at the top of any industry. Women hold around 14% of Fortune 500 executive-officer positions and about 17% of board seats, numbers that have barely budged over the last decade. This means that when it comes to making the decisions that most affect our world, our voices are not heard equally. It is time for us to face the fact that our revolution has stalled. A truly equal world would be one where women ran half of our countries and companies and men ran half of our homes. The laws of economics and many studies of diversity tell us that if we tapped the entire pool of human resources and talent, our performance would improve. (MORE: TIME&#8217;s Complete Coverage on Sheryl Sandberg) Throughout my career, I was told over and over about inequalities in the workplace and how hard it would be to have a career and a family. I rarely, however, heard anything about the ways I was holding myself back. From the moment they are born, boys and girls are treated differently. Women internalize the negative messages we get throughout our lives—the messages that say it’s wrong to be outspoken, aggressive, more powerful than men—and pull back when we should lean in. We must not ignore the real obstacles women face in the professional world, from sexism and discrimination to a lack of flexibility, access to child care and parental leave. But women can dismantle the internal barriers holding us back today. Here are three examples of how women can lean in. Don’t Leave Before You Leave A few years ago, a young woman at facebook began asking me lots of questions about how I balance work and family. I inquired if she and her partner were considering having a child. She replied that she did not have<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=29199&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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			<media:title type="html">lean in</media:title>
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		<title>The Pay Gap Is Not as Bad as You (and Sheryl Sandberg) Think</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/the-pay-gap-is-not-as-bad-as-you-and-sheryl-sandberg-think/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/the-pay-gap-is-not-as-bad-as-you-and-sheryl-sandberg-think/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:00:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ruth Davis Konigsberg</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[77 cents to the dollar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[81 cents to the dollar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[discrimination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lean In]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marlo Thomas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pay gap]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sheryl Sandberg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wage gap]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=28986</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s a galling and often cited statistic: women make 77 (or 81, or 82) cents to a man&#8217;s dollar. President Obama campaigned on it last year, announcing in an ad that &#8220;women being paid 77 cents on the dollar for doing the same work as men isn&#8217;t just unfair — it hurts families.&#8221; Everyone from Lilly Ledbetter to Marlo Thomas has repeated it. And there it is on Page 6 of Sheryl Sandberg&#8217;s book, Lean In: Progress also remains equally sluggish when it comes to compensation. In 1970, American women were paid $.59 for every dollar their male counterparts made. By 2010, women had protested, fought and worked their butts off to raise that compensation to $.77 for every dollar men made. (MORE: TIME&#8217;s Cover Story, &#8220;Confidence Woman&#8221;) Then Sandberg drops the topic of the pay gap altogether (although she later tackles raises and promotions). For someone writing a book on how women hold themselves back — &#8220;by lacking self-confidence, by not raising our hands, and by pulling back when we should be leaning forward&#8221; — this is a big missed opportunity. As it turns out, about two-thirds of that supposed pay gap can be attributed not to institutional discrimination but to choices that women make. Here&#8217;s why: Let&#8217;s first dispense with the fallacy that the pay-gap ratios so often cited are for women and men doing the same job. They are not. If they were, then a female marketing account manager making $77,000, while her male colleague with the same title and work experience makes $100,000, would have a very good case to sue her employers under the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which protects men and women from sex discrimination in pay rates. The pay-gap ratios don&#8217;t even refer to men and women in the same occupation. (MORE: Sandberg Exclusive Excerpt: &#8216;Why I Want Women to Lean In&#8217;) Take 77 cents to the dollar: that figure is actually the annual median earnings of women to men for 2010, based on data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. The other figure<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=28986&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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			<media:title type="html">ruthdaviskonigsberg</media:title>
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		<title>Why Sandberg Matters for Real Women</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/why-sandberg-matters-for-real-women/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/why-sandberg-matters-for-real-women/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Judith Warner</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[larry summers]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Maureen Dowd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ruth Marcus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sheryl Sandberg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[workplace]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=29111</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s obvious that Sheryl Sandberg’s life bears no resemblance to the lives of most women. The double Harvard degrees. Having former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Washington Post Company CEO Don Graham as her mentors. The $50 million net worth. The “exceptional” child care, and the helpful staff. (MORE: TIME&#8217;s Cover Story, &#8220;Confidence Woman&#8221;) The very, very, very high-achieving, it’s tempting to say, are different from you and me. And in some ways, that’s true. They have different opportunities. They tend to have more money. They tend — dare I stick my neck out to say this? — to have outsized talents, drive, focus, and stamina. They have a clarity of vision and sense of purpose that gets them where they need to go. We admire men for all these differences. We applaud their distinction; we don’t wrinkle our noses at the word “ambitious” when it applies to them. We celebrate girls with these qualities — do all we can to raise our daughters to be mini-Sandbergs — and yet we punish women who show their strengths, and, god forbid, enjoy them too openly. The early reception of Sandberg’s book, from the New York Times’ snarky profile through the Greek chorus of who-does-she-think-she-is reader response that followed, drives this point home. In fact, that reception provides more proof for Sandberg’s core message than she probably ever could have imagined. The fact is: when women put themselves out there, they invite a massive slap-down. Success and likeability are inversely correlated for us. And the result is, often enough, without even realizing that we’re doing it, women take themselves out of the game to avoid isolation. “In order to protect ourselves from being disliked, we question our abilities and downplay our achievements, especially in the presence of others,” is how Sandberg puts it, in the much-debated Lean In. “We put ourselves down before others can.” (MORE: Sandberg Exclusive Excerpt: &#8216;Why I Want Women to Lean In&#8217;) I don’t know a single woman who doesn’t do this. Nor a teenage girl, for that matter. It’s not just a<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=29111&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<title>Forget About Mentors — Women Need Sponsors</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/forget-about-mentors-women-need-sponsors/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/forget-about-mentors-women-need-sponsors/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sylvia Ann Hewlett</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life & Style]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[career success]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[career women]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eric Schmidt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[larry summers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lean In]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mentors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sheryl Sandberg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sponsors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sponsorship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[women's movement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[work-life balance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=28680</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg’s manifesto, goes on sale nationwide next week, women will at last learn what’s presumably eluded them for the past 50 years: success is a mind-set. Breaking through that pernicious glass ceiling requires unremitting resolve, the sort of pedal-to-the-metal drive that Sandberg insists accounts for her extraordinary career trajectory. If other women have stalled in their headlong rush for the C suite, she theorizes, it’s because they’ve held themselves back — “by lacking self-confidence, by not raising our hands and by pulling back when we should be leaning in,” she writes. (MORE: TIME&#8217;s Cover Story, &#8220;Confidence Woman&#8221;) But women’s ambition, Center for Talent Innovation research affirms, is not in short supply; nor can a lack of it be blamed for women’s failure to attain parity or power. Our data show that now, more than ever, women are going for broke, bringing home the bacon while raising kids in a society that’s ever more reluctant, in terms of public policy, to support them. Since the 2008 financial meltdown, we’ve seen workloads going up and “flex” vanishing altogether as these women struggle to retain a toehold in a shrinking economy. Their performance is off the charts, their commitment unflagging. And still they’re neither paid nor promoted on a par with men. What accounts for women’s career stall is not a lack of push, we’ve discovered, but rather a lack of pull. After surveying some 12,000 white collar workers, interviewing nearly 60 executives and conducting some 20 focus groups, we can say with authority that what women lack is sponsorship. Women are 46% more likely than men to be absent the senior-level advocacy that propels top performers into top jobs. They don’t have, as men do, someone in the C suite who will put their name forward and go to bat for them. When they do, our data show, they punch through: women with sponsors are 27% more likely than their unsponsored female peers to ask for a raise. They’re 22% more likely to ask for those all-important stretch<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=28680&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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			<media:title type="html">Larry Summers speaks during a news conference at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong, China, Jan. 14, 2013.</media:title>
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		<title>How Did You Get Ahead at Work?</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/how-did-you-get-ahead-at-work/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/07/how-did-you-get-ahead-at-work/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:00:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>TIME Contributor</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=29158</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=29158&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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			<media:title type="html">Strategy meeting Sandberg with LeanIn.org team members</media:title>
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		<title>Live Chat: Belinda Luscombe on How Women Succeed</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/06/live-chat-belinda-luscombe-on-how-women-succeed/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/06/live-chat-belinda-luscombe-on-how-women-succeed/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:32:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>TIME Staff</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=28980</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In an exclusive interview, TIME&#8217;s Belinda Luscombe spoke to Facebook&#8217;s Sheryl Sandberg about her controversial crusade to help women move up in the workplace. Join Luscombe &#8212; a working mother herself &#8212; tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET when she&#8217;ll be taking live questions about Sandberg&#8217;s mission and how women can have more successful careers. Have a question now? Leave your thoughts for Luscombe in the comments below.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=28980&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Society</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/life-style/society/</primary_category_link>
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		<title>The Promise of More: Why We Should Raise the Minimum Wage</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/02/21/the-promise-of-more-why-we-should-raise-the-minimum-wage/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/02/21/the-promise-of-more-why-we-should-raise-the-minimum-wage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Shamus Khan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama Administration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Society]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[minimum wage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[President Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[State of the Union]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[work]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[work-life balance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=28547</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In this year’s State of the Union address, President Obama outlined a plan to gradually raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9/hour. Raising the minimum wage has always been contentious, but necessary — conservatives should remember that in 2007, President Bush signed a 41% minimum wage hike into law, while Obama’s is just under 25%. Yet this is a political fight we shouldn&#8217;t have to have. The poor — mostly women and minorities — make too little. And the more radical aspect of Obama’s plan could fix that for good. The president has proposed indexing minimum wage, meaning that it would increase each year as the cost of living slowly climbs, free from the whims of partisan bickering. Our federal minimum wage began in 1938, when President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which also limited the work-week to 44 hours, provided guaranteed overtime and placed limits on child labor. The minimum wage was set at 25 cents an hour (about $4.10 today). Its purpose was simple: guarantee that Americans who went to work received a wage they could live on. And the hope was that higher wages for workers would mean more consumer spending, thus strengthening the U.S. economy. Since its enactment, the benefits of a minimum wage have been well established. (MORE: A Brief History of the Minimum Wage) Three years before the Fair Labor Standards Act, Roosevelt signed into law legislation that he is perhaps more famous for: the Social Security Act. Those who receive Social Security today know well the importance of cost of living adjustments. While the first beneficiaries no doubt appreciated their checks when they arrived in 1940, each year they saw those checks remain the same as goods around them increased in price. In 1950 Congress acted, raising Social Security payments; they did so again in 1952 — resulting in an almost twofold increase in benefits. But for decades seniors didn’t know if they would have less money to spend the following year (or if they would have enough to live on). In 1972 Congress<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=28547&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Labor</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/business-tech/labor/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/paycheck.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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		<title>Viewpoint: The Decline of Unions Is Your Problem Too</title>
		<link>http://ideas.time.com/2013/01/29/viewpoint-why-the-decline-of-unions-is-your-problem-too/</link>
		<comments>http://ideas.time.com/2013/01/29/viewpoint-why-the-decline-of-unions-is-your-problem-too/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:45:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Eric Liu</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business & Tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Great Recession]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[income]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[labor unions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[organized labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strike]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[unions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[workforce]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://ideas.time.com/?p=27853</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week came news that the share of America’s workforce that’s unionized hit a 97-year low. A mere 11.3% of workers now belong to a union, and a great chunk of those are in the shrinking public sector. In the private sector, unionization fell to an abysmal 6.6%, down from a peak of 35% during the 1950s. Most Americans yawned at this news. On one level that’s understandable. After all, most Americans aren’t in a union. It’s a vicious cycle: as unions decline, fewer people see their fates as bound up with unions, which just accelerates the decline. But on another level, America’s non-reaction is striking. We remain in the wake of the Great Recession. Inequality and wealth concentration are at levels not seen since just before the Great Depression. This would seem as ripe a time in modern memory for a revival of organized labor. Instead, a basic assumption now shapes most Americans’ mindset about labor: the belief that the death of unions isn’t my problem because I’m not in a union. That assumption is wrong in two critical ways. (MORE: What the Current Economic Outlook Means for American Families) First, the fact is that when unions are stronger the economy as a whole does better. Unions restore demand to an economy by raising wages for their members and putting more purchasing power to work, enabling more hiring. On the flip side, when labor is weak and capital unconstrained, corporations hoard, hiring slows, and inequality deepens. Thus we have today both record highs in corporate profits and record lows in wages. Second, unions lift wages for non-union members too by creating a higher prevailing wage. Even if you aren&#8217;t a member your pay is influenced by the strength or weakness of organized labor. The presence of unions sets off a wage race to the top. Their absence sets off a race to the bottom. Unfortunately, the relegation of organized labor to tiny minority status and the fact that the public sector is the last remaining stronghold for unions have led<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=ideas.time.com&#038;blog=27622548&#038;post=27853&#038;subd=timeopinions&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Labor</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://ideas.time.com/category/business-tech/labor/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeopinions.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/unions.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">A group of Union members picketing</media:title>
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