Is it harder to work for a female boss if you're a woman? That's the question du jour being chewed over in the feminist blogosphere. The New York Times ran a piece on workplace bulling that's stayed near the top of their most-mailed list since Sunday, centered around a study claiming that women choose other women as the targets of their bullying 70 percent of the time. Jezebel pointed out that it's the second such bullying piece the Times has run this year, the first written by the leadership coach, Peggy Klaus, whom the most recent piece quoted prominently. Meanwhile, the American Lawyer ran a similar piece a couple of weeks ago—also citing Klaus—and remarking upon the statistic that a majority of female lawyers under 40 preferred to work under a male boss. The takeaway from all the pieces (other than that Peggy Klaus has a gift for self-promotion) is that women are disappointed when their working relationships with female bosses don't measure up to idealized expectations.

Speaking of expectations, there's also the question of the decidedly un-nuanced assumptions about how women operate in the workplace from which the Times piece proceeded. On the XX Factor, Meghan O'Rourke writes that she was "perversely pleased" by the piece: "That's not to say I think anyone should yell at her assistant today; but I do think that anything that reminds us that women hardly conform to a single type, in the workplace, at home, or in the bedroom, is a plus. That's why I never really got into difference feminism, which would have us believe that XX and XY are apples and oranges." On Broadsheet, Amy Benfer agrees, saying "Every woman does not have to think of every other woman in every situation as being on her team. In fact, one may mildly dislike or outright despise another woman without having to revoke one's feminist card."

Still, irksome as the treatment of the "bullying" question might be, it's worth deconstructing, if only to figure out how it fits in with this bit of old news buried inside the Times article:

"After five decades of striving for equality, women make up more than 50 percent of management, professional and related occupations, says Catalyst, the nonprofit research group. And yet, its 2008 census found, only 15.7 percent of Fortune 500 officers and 15.2 percent of directors were women. ...[Snip]... Research on gender stereotyping from Catalyst suggests that no matter how women choose to lead, they are perceived as "never just right." What's more, the group found, women must work twice as hard as men to achieve the same level of recognition and prove they can lead."

Tags: bullies; difference feminisim, New York Times; female bosses; power structure

Conventional wisdom holds that a recession's no time to launch a new business (Double X, ahem, has to disagree with that one), but of course that's not a truism in every industry. Over at our sister site The Big Money, J. Lester Feder writes about the boom the recession has brought to the cloth diaper business, and explains why some startups in the field are flourishing:

At a time when most of the economy is in the toilet, the cloth-diaper business is booming. Cloth diapering has long been a countercultural lifestyle choice, reserved largely for deeply committed environmentalists. It became more popular in the past couple of years as green went from crunchy to hip. Sometimes too hip: Parents in search of eco-status could shell out more than $300 for a single diaper made from designer-printed organic bamboo fabric. While luxury diapers still sell for upward of $100, most are no-frill models retailing for less than $20, converting a new generation of parents looking to cut costs and creating a growing market for entrepreneurs. Cloth-diapering site Diaper Swappers now has more than 67,000 members, and it is adding new ones at a rate twice as fast as before the recession, now around 100 per day.

Read the rest at The Big Money.

Tags: recession; diapers; The Big Money, startups

Tattoo parlors seem to be beating the recession, seeing steady profits thus far during the downturn as consumers shift toward "meaningful" purchases. (Christian Science Monitor)

As the economy slows, the U.S. mint is producing far fewer coins than in previous years. The Mint will make 3 billion coins in 2009 - a 70 percent decline from the 10 billion produced in 2008. (National Public Radio)

Despite receiving stimulus funds from the Federal government, many states are still finding that they need to cut thousands of jobs. (Washington Post)

In a time of widespread job insecurity, tough times have not translated into the firings of companies' chief executives. "Overall, 361 of the world's 2,500 largest public companies, or 14.4 per cent, replaced their chief executive in 2008." (Financial Times)

It's unclear how the recession is affecting colleges generally, but small colleges without large endowments appear to be in the most danger. (Associated Press)

"How does this compare to the Great Depression?" asks Price Fishback. "We won't know the final outcome of this recession for a while, but I can safely say that the current situation is nowhere near as bad as the situation during the 1930's." (New York Times/Freakonomics)

The economic downturn has finally hit Iraq. "Car sales have plummeted. The once-booming property market has skidded to a halt. Electronic goods that were flying off the shelves a few months back are staying put. And ... more than a quarter of men ages 18 to 29 are unemployed." (Los Angeles Times)

Hit by the recession, some in France are stocking up on an unusual and safe form of investment: cows. Buying into a cattle fund can bring a 4 to 5 percent return a year after taxes, based on "natural growth" - the sale of their offspring. (New York Times)

How are the wealthy weathering to the recession? 53% are worried they could run out of money, and 78% report that the crisis has affected their sense of financial security. (Luxist)

Tags: recessionwire; news; economy; daily briefing; U.S. Mint; tattoo parlors; CEOs; recession; wealthy; colleges; Iraq; France