I don't think Thom spent nearly enough time on this, but it was perhaps the most provocative thing said at the World Economic Forum. South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu told the audience that's time for men to step aside and let women be in charge:
When we exclude women, we diminish ourselves
This shouldn’t be such a difficult topic for people of faith. It seems entirely consistent with the teachings of the world’s great religions that men and women are equal in the eyes of God. God isn’t stupid – He created Eve because Adam couldn’t make it on his own. Kofi Annan, receiving a report from the UN Alliance of Civilizations, said it is the faithful who are the problem - not the faiths.
Nevertheless, faith and gender remains a sensitive subject. My colleagues indulged me and allowed me to reflect on the apartheid era when the majority of South Africans were excluded and marginalised for something they could do nothing about: their ethnicity.
It seems to me that women are also sidelined for something they can do nothing about,their gender and humanity is the poorer for it. In my own church, which decided only in 1992 that women could be ordained as priests and bishops, it was quite a shock to realise how much we had diminished ourselves in our ministry when we saw the difference women made.
In this volatile time, when there is so much distress and dissatisfaction, we are wasting a huge source of talent and wisdom by not including women as equals in all aspects of life – whether in politics, business or religion.
Not surprisingly, this didn't go over well in the male-dominated WEF. But I think Tutu has a point. Look at this line up...it's not only pasty white, but overwhelmingly male, both hosts and guests. We women are 51 percent of the population and yet are only 17 percent of either house of Congress. Studies have shown that the more a society works towards gender equity, the higher the aggregate education of the entire population, the lower the birth rates, the lower the child mortality, the lower the incidences of domestic abuse and other forms of violent crime. All in all, by all measures, society improves when women have more of a voice in shaping their future. So maybe it is for us to work towards a more equitable society. By the way, if you want to hear more of my thoughts on this, Jacob Dean, producer of Thom Hartmann, has an internet radio show on Nicole Sandler's network every Monday evening and we talked about a women's revolution last week. Tell me if you don't agree that we need to put more gender balance in our society.
ABC's "This Week." Topic: Politics. GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul. Economic Roundtable: Glenn Hubbard, Lawrence H. Summers, Diane Swonk. Political Roundtable: George Will, Matthew Dowd, Arianna Huffington, Dana Loesch.
NBC's "Meet the Press." Topics: Politics; and the Super Bowl. GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Govs. Mitch Daniels, R-Ind., and Deval Patrick, D-Mass.; Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif.
NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Richard Stengel, Andrea Mitchell, Howard Fineman, Nia-Malika Henderson. Topics: Mitt Romney's gaffe on the very poor; negative campaigning in the general election.
MSNBC's "UP with Chris Hayes" - Panel: Melissa Harris-Perry, Michelle Goldberg, Amy Goodman, Anne-Marie Slaughter. Topics: Nevada Republican Primary results; Israel; Susan G. Komen vs. Planned Parenthood; The Obama Administration’s birth control requirement for Catholic institutions
CBS' "Face the Nation." Topic: Politics. Gingrich; former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Roundtable: Michael Kranish, Norah O’Donnell, John Dickerson.
CNN's "State of the Union." Topics: Politics; the economy; and the Middle East. Govs. Martin O'Malley, D-Md., and Bob McDonnell, R-Va.; Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; Dick Armey, chairman of FreedomWorks; Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala. Roundtable: Alice Rivlin, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Ron Brownstein.
CNN's "Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz" - Topics: Coverage of GOP; Nevada caucus coverage. Panel: Jonathan Martin, Politico; Christina Bellantoni, PBS; Michael Shear, New York Times; Michelle Cottle, Daily Beast; Matt Lewis, Daily Caller; Felix Salmon, Reuters; Mark Potts, University of Maryland.
CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - Topics: Mitt Romney, GOP, religion, and Russia. Panel: David Brooks, New York Times; David Remnick, New Yorker; Peggy Noonan,Wall Street Journal; Chrystia Freeland, Reuters; Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore.
"Fox News Sunday." Topic: Politics. GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum; McDonnell; former Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla. Panel: Bill Kristol, Liz Marlantes, Liz Cheney, Juan Williams.
So what's catching your eye this morning?
