I encounter the second year grad students. The ones who earned their class the name “The Class From Hell”. They had a poster up in the TA office the previous year with a running total of how many female students came to see each TA. These amazing specimens move from dirty looks or come-on looks to comments: “You wear that just to show off your legs, don’t you?” “Not many skirts around this place.”

Today we begin and end with stories about how the governor of Minnesota intends to end democracy as we know it in this state; notables get JFK award; FBI did, after all, infiltrate Iowa anti-war group, as suspected; Supreme Court to pregnant women: if you want equal benefits, don’t have a uterus; Obama’s new gas emissions guidelines.

In fact, you never know when somebody is going to come at you with their arms spreading outwards and their chin tilting to one side to avoid crunching faces. And when they get their arms around you, you never know how long it is supposed to last. Or where exactly you are supposed to put your arms and hands. It can be hell.

Politics at home and around the world: Martial law could be an improvement in Ciudad Juarez, 3,000 families homeless in Gaza, the UN Secretary-General’s remarks on International Women’s Day, the impact of conflict on women, Iraq’s pariah widows, a foundation to help women with restraining orders, an interactive graphic on the gender wage gap, Bush to appear before the International Criminal Court?, who is behind the campaign against Obama’s health care plan, and a partial list of the AIG counter-parties.

As a medical writer, I’ve noticed that most medical writers I meet are female. A quick Google search using the keywords‚ “freelance medical writer‚” produced seven female and three male writers (approx. 2:1 ratio) from the first 10 eligible results. While it is difficult to draw statistically relevant conclusions from such a small sample size, it certainly implies a trend.

The American Medical Writers Association is the leading professional organization for medical communicators, with over 5,500 members from around the world. The ratio of female to male members is 4449:1227 (approx. 4:1), mirroring the trend observed with the Google search.