Christine Lagarde discussed debt reduction with Saudi officials.RedTracker

The IMF has solidified Christine Lagarde’s bid to become the new Director of the International Monetary fund, thwarting last minute efforts of Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer due to his age.

IMF rules carry an age limit for first-time managing directors of 65 or older and those rules won’t be changed. The IMF executive board said in a statement late yesterday in Washington that it retained Lagarde and Carstens as the candidates for the post of managing director, excluding Fischer, who exceeds the age limit for the job.

Carstens has described Lagarde’s chances of being chosen as “quite high.”

Egypt, Bahrain and the UAE now publicly support Lagarde’s candidacy. Saudi Arabia’s Ibrahim Alassaf told reporters in Jeddaha after his meetings with Lagarde that his country seeks a stronger role in the IMF.

Saudi Arabia’s Freedom Riders NYTimes

We are tracking and supporting the June 17 protest by women in Saudi Arabia.

The driving ban stems from universal anxiety over women’s unrestrained mobility. In Saudi Arabia that anxiety is acute: the streets — and the right to enter and leave them at will — belong to men. A woman who trespasses is either regarded as a sinful “street-walker” or expected to cover herself in her abaya, a portable house. Should she need to get around town, she can do so in a taxi, with a chauffeur (there are 750,000 of them) or with a man related to her by marriage or blood behind the wheel.

Unlike Erica Jong’s Daughter Molly, Kyleigh Kühn Honors Her Mom’s Work AOC Sexual Politics

Reading a series of Erica Jong|Molly Jong-Fast interviews, the one thing I know for sure is that my own mother would slap my face in front of the crowd, if I ever disrespected her in such a public way. She would deck me, simply stated. A mother in India might well set Molly on fire or throw lye on her face, blinding her for life and disfiguring her beyond recognition for her insolent words about her mother.

Those of who have read Molly’s assertion that women aren’t that oppressed globally are speechless, particularly after Erica Jong responded to the Feministing.com question first from an American loss of control of our bodies including birth control perspective, and then in an international context about controlling fertility as the key step in building stable nations.

See yesterday’s post:

Molly Jong-Fast Says World’s Women Aren’t Oppressed, Feminism Is A Luxury Problem AOC Sexual Politics

Women and Sleep Deprivation

Sleepy wife may take it out on hubby TODAY Health

A new study suggests that women, but not men, tend to have more negative interactions with spouses after a night of poor sleep.

“Other research has shown that sleep disturbance and deprivation has profound effects on mood, irritability and frustration tolerance,” said the study’s lead author, Wendy Troxel, an assistant professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. “And the person you’re most likely to take it out on is not your boss or some random person, but your spouse.”

Troxel studied 35 couples who had ‘healthy’ marriages. For 10 nights, the couples wore wrist devices that tracked their sleep patters. Each day the 70 men and women answered questions about four positive interactions and four negative ones.

After sleep-interrupted nights, women reported more negative interactions with their husbands such as feeling criticized or ignored by a spouse and fewer positive feelings like being valued. Men reported no changes at all.

Boys Club

Suddenly Some Wives are Silent

Men Behaving Badly … It’s a Good Thing by Marlo Thomas for Huff Po

The most potent images from this, the ugly month of May, speak with certitude about how quickly those age-honored traditions are unraveling:

Strauss-Kahn doing the perp walk in handcuffs. Weiner crying at the mic. And not a single wife standing silently at her cad’s side, her face frozen in shame. (Okay, maybe Mme. Strauss-Kahn did — but they’re French.)

This time, the wives were silent, alright — silent as in gone.

As those of us who fought the battles of the feminist movement in the early 70s know, change doesn’t happen in giant leaps, but, rather, in smaller, significant steps. That’s why this string of salacious spring scandals has filled me with optimism — because, in each case, women have drawn a new line in the sand.

Newt Gingrich Charity Paid Cash to Gingrich For-Profit Business ABC News

“The spirit of operating a non-profit organization is to work for the public good regardless of the politics that are involved,” said Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, in an interview with ABC News. “I believe it violates that spirit.”

Gingrich urged an ABC News reporter to focus on his speech this morning, when asked about the allegations.

“I’m not concerned about that. The American people aren’t concerned about that. Try covering the speech,”

Anne Talks Business

LVMH and the Smart Sensuality Woman

Angelina Jolie Stars in Louis Vuitton ‘Core Values’ Campaign by Annie Leibovitz

Angelina Jolie stands for Smart Sensuality values in the new Louis Vuitton ‘Core Values’ campaign, a series of adverts whose central theme of travel communicates the concept that travel is both a physical and emotional journey.

The Smart Sensuality woman — smart, sexy and with heart — is not only the embodiment of the Louis Vuitton woman but she is the key persona in solving the problems that face humanity in the 21st century.

The Smart Sensuality woman doesn’t shy away from her humanitarian responsibilities.