Post-blizzard, Sen. Murkowski notes that only women turned up to run the Senate

Something was a little different in the Senate on Tuesday morning. And Sen. Lisa Murkowski noticed it.

The Alaska Republican was one of only a few lawmakers in the Capitol building following the weekend blizzard, and it was her job to handle the formalities of delaying Senate business until her colleagues could get back to work. After finishing a bit of parliamentary business, she described what she saw in the ornate chamber.

“As we convene this morning, you look around the chamber, the presiding officer is female. All of our parliamentarians are female. Our floor managers are female. All of our pages are female.” Read the entire story in the Washington Post.

It’s a first – women elected to Illinois Farm Bureau Board

For the first time, two women have been elected to the Illinois Farm Bureau Board of Directors.
District 1 – which includes Kane, DeKalb, Lake and McHenry counties – will be represented by Michele Aavang of McHenry County.

Meanwhile, District 5 – which includes Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kendall and Will counties – will be represented by Tamara Halterman of rural Mazon.

“I think it’s important for a woman to be on the board because women are just as involved in farming operations as men are,” Halterman said. “It’s time we have a woman on the board.” Read the entire story in the Kane County Chronicle.

Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois bringing STEM opportunities to girls

Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois robotics program has had great success so far this year.

During recent FIRST LEGO League (FLL) tournaments for 9-14 year olds, four of ten competing teams won awards and one squad qualified for the state tournament. A team of older girls in the FIRST TECH Challenge (FTC) league starts competition in January and has been busy giving demonstrations of their robot design and programming skills – including marching with their scene-stealing “candy cannon” in several holiday parades. GSSI is also gearing up to host a Jr FIRST LEGO League Expo (a science fair style robotics event for students age 6-9) for the southern Illinois region. GSSI’s “robot revolution” is indicative of the Girl Scout movement’s ongoing commitment to bringing girls relevant, exciting opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Read more.

Court to Hear Whether Women Should Register for Draft

Whether Thursday's historic decision to allow women in all combat roles may require them to register for the draft faces its first test next week when a federal lawsuit challenging the male-only registration gets its day in court.

The case, National Coalition for Men vs. the Selective Service System, will be considered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Pasadena, Calif., on Tuesday.

The court date coincidentally occurs just days after Secretary of Defense Ash Carter opened all military combat roles to women, a decision he said may affect whether women are required to register for the draft.

"It may do that," Carter said. "That is a matter of legal dispute right now, and in fact litigation."But Carter said the outcome of the court case won't affect the Pentagon's decision to move forward. Read the story in its entirety on Military.com.

Big news from the Pentagon: All military jobs will be opened to women who qualify for them

All military jobs will be opened to women who can qualify for them. No quotas. Based purely on the ability to do the job. Here is an expert from a speech by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on December 3 about women in the U.S. military service:

"This means that as long as they qualify and meet the standards, women will now be able to contribute to our mission in ways they could not before. They’ll be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars, and lead infantry soldiers into combat. They’ll be able to serve as Army Rangers and Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps infantry, Air Force parajumpers, and everything else that previously was open only to men. And even more importantly, our military will be better able to harness the skills and perspectives that talented women have to offer. 

‘No exceptions’ was the recommendation of the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Air Force, and the Secretary of the Navy, as well as the Chief of Staff of the Army, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the Chief of Naval Operations, and the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command. While the Marine Corps asked for a partial exception in some areas such as infantry, machine gunner, fire support, reconnaissance, and others, we are a joint force, and I have decided to make a decision which applies to the entire force."

Read the speech in its entirety.

The Illinois Fortune 1000 companies with the most and least gender diverse corporate boards

In 2011, women held 14.6 percent of corporate board seats across all Fortune 1000 companies. To improve that figure, two women founders launched 2020 Women on Boards, a national campaign to increase the percentage of board seats held by women to 20% or greater by 2020.

Today, the non-profit released its annual Gender Diversity Index, revealing how far corporations have come to hitting the goal and how much further they have to go. According to the index, women now sit on 18.8 percent of board seats, up from 17.7 percent the previous year.

The rankings categorize every company by four designations - (W)inning, companies that have 20 percent or greater women on their board, (V)ery Close, companies with 11-19 percent, (T)oken, companies with one woman, and (Z)ero, companies with no women on their board. Read the rest of the story on ChicagoInno.

See the complete list of all "Winning" companies.

Four Supreme Court Justices Featured in Grand-Scale Painting at the National Portrait Gallery

The Four Justices by Nelson Shanks;  2012;
Ian and Annette Cumming Collection, on loan
to the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery will display a loaned portrait of the first female Supreme Court Justices, Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, beginning Oct. 28. The 9-foot-6-inch by 7-foot-9-inch oil painting by the artist Nelson Shanks features the four women in an interior based on the Supreme Court Building; it will be displayed in the museum for three years.

This portrait recognizes the achievements of these four women—the first to serve on the nation’s highest court.

“The scale of this painting speaks to the grand accomplishments made by these four women and the example they set for future generations,” said Kim Sajet, director of the museum. “I imagine this portrait will spark a conversation among young people, particularly young women, about breaking barriers.” Read more from the news desk of Smithsonian.