Redtracker

Oprah Winfrey has gone public with details of her collision with a shopkeeper in Zurich who refused to show her a Tom Ford handbag, saying, “No. It’s too expensive’. Oprah tells Entertainment Tonight’s Nancy O’Dell that she asked to see the bag at least twice more, but the shopkeeper refused, suggesting cheaper bags.

“One more time, I tried,” says Oprah but the shopkeeper refused saying “Oh, I don’t want to hurt your feelings”, leaving the woman who earned $77 million last year, according to Forbes magazine, saying “Okay, thank you so much. You’re probably right, I can’t afford it.”

Oprah’s ET interview was focused on her new movie ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler. For the Swiss side of the story, read Huff Po.

NYT Magazine: Opting Back In

I remember Lisa Belkin’s cover article well, generally refusing to give it serious credence because the title ‘Opt-Out Revolution’ applied to a select group of often Ivy-League educated women married to successful men. A national trend it was not in a country among the most difficult internationally in promoting national policies that give any assist to working moms. Several of the women have sobered up in the last decade. Read Judith Warner’s article in this weekend’s NYT Magazine.

French Women = More Babies

If America has no work/motherhood policies, France has made a demographic u-turn, with large credit given to pro-family policies. The average number of children born to French women rose to 2.01 in 2011 from 1.96 in 2007.

New French mothers are offered a state-paid, extended course of vaginal gymnastics with an emphasis on seeing thelves as les femmes as well as new moms. Perineal therapy — think Kegel exercises — are as ubiquitous in France as free nursery schools, generous family allowances, tax deductions for each child, discounts for large families on high-speed trains, and the expectation that after a paid, four-month maternity leave, mothers are back in shape — and back at work.