The young women of Newsweek took a look at an old problem: sexism. We’re encouraged and support their efforts, because America is going backwards — compared to other countries in the world — in what we assumed was an inevitable march towards gender equity.

Our rank in the Global Economic Forum’s Gender Equity report is falling. Globally we are 31 overall but 61 in political representation.

Yes, the challenges of home and family remain strong for Americanwomen, but much research confirms that men are more involved in housework and child-rearing than ever before. When we add up time at work, time in childrearing and time on housework, surveys say the genders are in parity with hours invested.

Even at the top end, female M.B.A.s make $4,600 less per year in their first job out of business school, according to a new Catalyst study. Motherhood has long been the explanation for the persistent pay gap, yet a decade out of college, full-time working women who haven’t had children still make 77 cents on the male dollar. As women increasingly become the breadwinners in this recession, bringing home 23 percent less bacon hurts families more deeply than ever before. “The last decade was supposed to be the ‘promised one,’ and it turns out it wasn’t,” says James Turley, the CEO of Ernst & Young, a funder of the recent M.B.A. study. “This is a wake-up call.” via Newsweek

Something more important is going on. Perhaps in a country where women in 2010 constitute only 16% of our elected officials in Washington and the Catholic bishops — yes, with the support of some women — want to overturn Roe vs Wade, America is actually a gender-relations battle ground once again.

We believe the fight is for real, but to date, the younger women haven’t agreed or aren’t interested. Meanwhile, patriarchal forces that want to be certain that women are married and producing the correct number of babies to sustain the religion, know what they must do.

Let’s see: men can’t have babies but they can fill jobs at work. America lives in a job creation crisis. Fill in the blanks, ladies. If you think men are staying home indefinitely, think again.

Yes, we know that women are more educated, but females are more educated in progressive countries the Middle East. Yet, they don’t have jobs.

Just as nations fight for prestige and patrimony, so do men. If I were a man, I wouldn’t turn over all my rights so gladly. Many American men are deeply resentful of women’s progress and tired of being pushed around.

Women’s ambition and pursuit of individuality have cost the country big-time, in their opinion. Their best vision of America does not have women in the corner office.

Let me put the issue to you succinctly, my dear young women. You retain the rights you protect and fight for. While you decide if there’s a real problem here, some well-connected, highly-influential men are trying to put you back where you belong. So far, you’re dropping like flies in terms of believing there’s anything to worry about.

As one young woman said yesterday, it’s all just too stressful to worry about. That’s exactly the response that the guys are counting on.

The women of Newsweek correctly observed: men wrote all but six of NEWSWEEK’s 49 cover stories last year—and two of those used the headline “The Thinking Man.” That was no accident or luck of the draw.

I’m not only speaking of Catholic bishops here, although religion is at the front of the parade to stem the forward march of women to gender equity.

David Brooks made an excellent case for putting women back in the kitchen yesterday, in his NYTimes Op-Ed piece ‘The Broken Society’. I respect David Brooks but the more I follow his conservations about values and politics, I believe he envisions a largely-patriarchal world as the best one for America.

Uneasy about this article, I Googled “David Brooks + abortion” to find that he believes that women’s reproductive rights are a states rights issue, not federal, writing a definitive essay on the subject.

When the ‘liberal’ wing of Conservatives believe that abortion, and presumably reproductive rights also, belong to states, I felt a real chill go up my spine.

Brooks says that the Constitution didn’t guarantee women a right to choose motherhood, which is true. It also didn’t give women a right to vote and a host of other rights which young American women take for granted.

How inane to suggest that a Constitution that didn’t consider women suitable for voting didn’t write her reproductive rights as a human being into the Constitution. Five Republican justices believed differently — apointed by Nixon and Eisenhower, but Brooks says they were wrong.

Women are property of the state and have few individual rights of their own. We get what men give us. On this issue, Brooks agrees with Palin, who arguesthat women’s rights are determined at state and not federal level. Dear young women, I trust you’ve heard of Sarah Palin.

So we applaud articles like this one in Newsweek: Are We There Yet?

Perhaps the handwriting is on the wall for younger women — although I doubt it. It’s too inconceivable for them to believe that Catholic bishops have a much larger agenda in mind, when thinking about their ideal America.

Women bishops of the Episcopal ChurchNot all religions feel this way. Unfortunately the progressive thinking numbers don’t add up against the Catholic Church and Southern Baptists, who believe that women are equal but absolutely obligated to obey the husband in all matters. And yes, he is obligated to treat her well.

It’s the old female morality superiority argument, which I read again last night between President John and Abigail Adams, when the Constitution was being written.

Trust me. While fighting off sex abuse scandals that come with no accountability or penalties like being fired, the bishops have many more surprises in store for American women. You ain’t seen nothing yet. If Roe vs Wade is overturned, contraception is next, because women have turned control of their bodies back to patriarchal institutions. Period.

Unwilling to end on a negative note, let me share some words of wisdom from the Reverend Lavinia Winkett who is the new Assistant Curate of St Etheldreda’s, Trumpington Down in Britain:

Some of you may be a bit upset at the changes that are going to happen, but you had better get used to it. I realize it may be painful for some, but we must all remember that, as one famous Christian writer has said, “One cannot make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.”

In the meantime I have some good news to report. The Church of England is going to merge with the Methodists and the Anglo Catholics are going to join the Roman Catholic Church. As another famous Christian writer has said, “The times, they are a-changing.” In my own opinion this will be a good thing. I was brought up as a Methodist so I am glad to be joining with them again. Meanwhile, Anglo Catholics have been unhappy for some time in the Anglican Church and they will now be able to pursue their homophobic, misogynistic religion on their own until they finally die out.

I have also heard another cause for rejoicing. The Church of England is finally going to have women bishops. I, for one, have never understood the objections to women priests. Why should someone be a priest simply because he can grow a beard? At last the Church of England is stepping into the modern age where women have equal rights, just like lawyers and doctors.

I would like to close with this word of encouragement. All of us have times in life when we think things are not going our way. It is at those times that we need to pull ourselves together and say, “It may not be going my way, but I will be doing it my way!” There is nothing that will get us down unless we let it get us down. If we tell ourselves that our luck is about to change we will soon make our luck change. As another famous Christian writer has said, “The harder I work, the luckier I get!”

So best of luck, and let’s work together. Remember, we can make a difference. Yes we can!

Anne