ERA RALLY IN WASHINGTON, SEPT 12 AND 13

Article by: Editorial Board, Star Tribune

Updated: August 28, 2014 - 6:52 PM

It seemed to be a blast from the past: A group of former and present legislators and feminist leaders announced at the State Fair this week that a busload of Minnesota feminist activists would travel to Washington, D.C., for a Sept. 12-13 We Are Woman #Rally4Equality2014 event on the national mall. The rally’s aim: The revival of the moribund Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and a push for its inclusion in the U.S. Constitution.

Yes, the ERA — the 1970s lightning rod of division between feminists and gender traditionalists — is back on the national stage, complete with the banners, slogans and arguments of yore. It’s propelled by both a new equality-minded generation and veterans of the 20th-century women’s movement who consider the measure’s failure its most painful setback.

A sense of history was reinforced by the announcement’s timing Tuesday — Women’s Equality Day, the 94th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote. The ERA emerged as a feminist goal just three years after women’s suffrage became law, penned by National Women’s Party founder Alice Paul. Congress approved it and sent it to the states in 1972.
Despite falling three states short (see accompanying map) of the 38 required for ratification before the June 30, 1982, deadline set by Congress, the ERA never completely went away. It has been introduced in every Congress since then. Pro-ERA legal scholars say it remains alive, still only three states shy of its goal, awaiting congressional action to either set a new deadline for its ratification or remove the deadline altogether. ERA opponents disagree, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, and say that a fresh start would be required to adopt the amendment. But for the past 32 years, the ERA hasn’t generated much grass-roots passion — until now.

REMEMBERING AUGUST 26, 1970

My son, Denis, now 61 years old, was visiting me recently. What a memory he has! It’s photographic so he talks about long ago events in detail, even minor ones that may have slipped my mind, like this one leading up to the August 26, 1970 strike in New York City.

Janine (his sister) and I were home for the summer. “You were constantly on the phone,” he recalled. “So much seemed to be going on and you had no time for us. So you sent us to Colombia to spend the summer with dad. A few weeks later in Bogota I picked up El Tiempo and the headlines were screaming…

Feministas Marchan En Nueva York.

with a huge photo of the women marching down Fifth Avenue. And it came to me… So that’s what you’d been so busy about!”

His story brought back vivid memories of that incredible summer, and I now share with everyone the story of the take-over of the Statue of Liberty, as that story has never been told.

CHARLENE SUNESON – NAVAL OFFICER, EQUAL OPPORTUNITY SPECIALIST, SOCIOLOGIST – ACTIVIST FEMINIST FOREVER

With four years of elementary school and carpenter papers, my father Oscar left Sweden for the U.S. in 1923. Using Chicago as a home base, he went wherever there was work, ultimately becoming a contractor specializing in walk-in coolers in food establishments. My mother Violet Chappell, born in Zion, Illinois, was raised in a fundamentalist religion in which only males are congregation leaders. After two years of high school she worked as a bank clerk, but left her job to follow my father. I was born in 1934 in Waukegan, Illinois.

As a homemaker my mother became severely depressed. Her withdrawal meant my younger sister Beverly and I had far more physical freedom than most. Sports were permitted and I took up ice-skating. However, all reading material that had the potential to conflict with my mother’s religion (practically everything except numbers and calculating) was forbidden. Thus, my fascination with charts and statistics ensued and my sister came to excel in math. Also acceptable was an elementary school home mechanics program where girls and boys practiced sewing, electrical connections, carpentry, etc., in the same classes.

High school students took home or shop classes based on their gender. I enrolled in foods and clothing because my friends did. The school newspaper reported on my swimming, diving, bowling, and horseback riding. My sister’s sports included championship baseball. One summer the two of us were left alone at a cottage my father had built in Wisconsin. Having the freedom to read a book about a religious man, I realized that not only did other religions lack merit as taught, so did the one in which we were raised. However, it took several days before there was the courage to face that what one internalized as righteous (or desirable as an occupation), may not be, especially when it restricted women. I changed to a college preparatory program taking every science course and received the Bausch + Lomb Science Award upon graduation.

Next was the University of Chicago. Most meaningful were the readings of historical debates showing that the opposition to equality on the basis of class (among whites) was similar to that between races. The bad news was that there was nothing relating to inequality based on sex.

“We cannot - we must not - ever forget that the rights and opportunities that we enjoy as women…were fought for, agonized over, marched for, jailed for and even died for by brave and persistent women and men who came before us.” 

-Hillary Clinton, Seneca Falls, New York, 1998.

SPOTLIGHT ON: MASTER PRINTER SUZANNE BENTON

Center for Contemporary Printmaking | Mathews Park 299 West Avenue | Norwalk | CT | 06850

203.899.7999

info@contemprints.org www.contemprints.org

SPOTLIGHT ON:

MASTER PRINTER SUZANNE BENTON

Large Prints From a Small Press

September 5 -7, Friday through Sunday, 10 am - 4 pm. 

This lively workshop explores monoprinting methods that defy the size limitations of small and not so small presses. Participants create painterly and stencil-raised plates that can be fixed or repositioned. Chine collé techniques will expand the range of imagery and color in the one-of-a-kind prints. Rinsed prints will be demonstrated.

SUZANNE BENTON is an internationally recognized printmaker, sculptor and performance artist who finds inspiration in world mythology, history, literature and legend. A former Fulbright Scholar (India), recipient of many grants, artist residencies, and hostings by the cultural arm US Embassies, she's shared her multi-faceted work throughout the States and worldwide in 30 countries. Her recent body of monoprints with Chine collé draws upon the paintings referenced in Proust’s lengthy novel, Remembrances de temps perdu.

www.suzannemasks.com www.suzannemasksglobal.blogspot.com

$400 for members $425 for non-members

Call 203-899-7999 to register

___________________________________________________________________________

www.suzannemasksglobal.blogspot.com 3 weeks in London / Prague / Berlin

with Paintings in Proust and more!

Copyright © 2014 Suzanne Benton Studio & Art Showcase, All rights reserved. 

Our mailing address is: 

Suzanne Benton Studio & Art Showcase

22 Donnelly Drive, Ridgefield, CTRidgefield, CT 06877

VIVIEN LEONE - Sept. 3,1929 - April 6, 2014

VFA recently heard of the death of early activist Vivien Leone, who was very active in the early Movement in New York City. Some of us remember her covering the Democratic convention in the1972 and recording the dialogue with the candidate, George McGovern, when some of us demanded that he include abortion rights in his program. Vivien's niece , Claudia Ganz, reports that Vivian tried to destroy all her records before she passed on. While we respect Vivien's disinterest in receiving credit for her accomplishments, we must record the history of the feminist movement in which she played an important role.

Born in Weehawken, NJ Vivien Leone graduated from Syracuse University as a music/voice major and married Italian mime Carlo Mazzone-Clementi in 1956. She lived in Rome for several years, divorced Carlo in 1966 and moved to New York City where she worked as a journalist and covered many early feminist events, including the 1970 Ladies Home Journal Sit In. The poetry editor of Aphra, the first feminist literary magazine, she contributed essays to numerous publications, including The Village Voice, The Progressive and Off Our Backs. She supported and collected art by female artists, including Suzanne Benton's sculpture of Susan B Anthony. Vivien is listed in "Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975.

VFA RECOMMENDS:

Stop Here is Beverly Gologorsky’s second novel which, like her acclaimed first novel, "The Things We Do to Make it Home", explores the lives of working-class women (struggling to make ends meet at a roadside diner in Long Island) through the lens of war, destruction, loss, and economic struggle. In simple and striking prose, Gologorsky weaves each woman’s story together to form a complete picture of the tragedies and triumphs of four ordinary friends and coworkers against the backdrop of a nation at war.

Beverly Gologosky is the author of the aclaimed novel The Things We do To Make It Home named a Notable Book by the New York Times, Best Fiction by Los Angeles Times and a finalist for the Barnes and Noble Discover Great Writers Award.


Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Publication date: 11/19/2013
Pages: 256
Sales rank: 623,032
Product dimensions: 5.24 (w) x 8.00 (h) x 0.63 (d)

A Young Woman’s Passion for Feminism

By Talia Weisberg | Tagged Betty Freidan, LGBT, NOW, Orthodox feminism, Star of Davida, Teens

1

Her name can be found in most American history books, and her accomplishments are part of every U.S. history curriculum. This recognition is not undeserved, as she revived interest in feminism with her book The Feminine Mystique and facilitated change in women’s roles by establishing the National Organization for Women (NOW). Although most high school students treat Betty Friedan as another name to memorize for a history test, she is so much more than a removed figure in a textbook for me. She is the reason that I am a feminist.

My middle school history teacher developed my interest in First Wave Feminism, encouraging me to write papers for class and National History Day (NHD) about the suffrage movement. I loved learning about these long-ago crusaders for women’s equality, people who battled for rights I took for granted. My interest in the history of feminist activism led me to learn about Second Wave Feminism on my own during the summer before ninth grade. While researching this era, I read most of the major feminist classics, all of which really resonated with me. I identified most with 1960s and 70s feminism largely because the issues relevant then, from LGBT rights to equal pay, are still pertinent today.

However, it was not until I read The Feminine Mystique that I had my “feminist click moment.” I was shocked by the blatant sexism that society had condoned and the prevalence of discriminatory attitudes towards women, all in such a recent time period. Friedan’s exposé was so powerful that it rallied me to action and made me want to battle for women’s rights. It was official: I became a feminist.

Ever since reading The Feminine Mystique, I have gotten involved in numerous feminist activities. I am particularly proud of my work with Star of Davida, the Orthodox Jewish feminist blog where I have posted biweekly articles on women’s issues since summer 2010. As someone who enjoys writing and believes strongly in feminism, blogging has allowed me to combine these passions and engage with both of them on a deeper level. It has also compelled me to follow other bloggers and read their thoughts on the issues, which has broadened my horizons, introduced me to new ideas, and given me the opportunity to examine my own opinions in order to change them or reaffirm them.

Betty Friedan influenced my current actions as well as my future aspirations: I hope to pursue gender studies in college and become a labor lawyer specializing in women’s issues. These goals were solidified when I attended the 2012 NOW conference as part of the NOW Young Feminist Task Force, an exclusive group that unites young feminists and gives them a greater voice. Hearing motivating speeches and meeting dedicated feminists showed me that this is what I want to do with my life. Although I never met Friedan, who died in 2006, I know that she would be proud to have inspired me to carry on the torch of feminism.

URGENT! WE NEED YOUR STORIES! NCWO Story Collection: Women and Overtime

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN'S ORGS

From: ncworg@ncwo-online.org Reply-to: dawn@ncwo-online.org

The advocacy community is organizing to collect worker stories that highlight the need for the anticipated DEPT OF LABOR proposal to update the overtime eligibility rules (the topic of one of the two Executive Orders President Obama signed on April 8, 2014), and I have been asked to call the need for women's stories to your attention. A template describing the types of stories and types of information being sought is below. If you could circulate this to appropriate people within your organization and collect stories that fit the bill, that would be great. Please return any suitable collected stories (hopefully following the outline below) to Kelly Ross, Deputy Policy Director at the AFL-CIO, kross@aflcio.org.

The story could be in any of three categories: 1) Salaried workers earning more than $23,660 who are not getting overtime but should; 2) Workers who are getting and benefitting from overtime; 3) Employers who pay overtime and succeed.

Hello Everyone Everywhere,


We at Katrina's Dream believe that with your help Nevada will be the first state to ratify the ERA in the 21st Century. So please everyone sign Andrea Miller's petition: 

http://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/era-in-nevada 

and Let's Pass The ERA and join me at the Rally 4 Rights event this coming May 17th taking place in the Las Vegas area where I will be speaking on the need to pass the Equal Rights Amendment:

https://www.facebook.com/events/508864332550888/511245882312733/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity

Also please join me in spirit as I make my way on my pilgrimage across the USA for the ERA

https://www.facebook.com/events/370467279764897/

Thank you! And thank you to those who passed D042 at the 76th General Convention for making my mother-in-law the Rev. Katrina Swanson's dream a reality. Together we of the Episcopal Anglican tradition can move this great nation forward.


Love and Light in Christ,
Helene Swanson, Co-Founder
www.KatrinasDream.org

P.S. Can you also take a moment to share the petition with others? It's really easy – all you need to do is forward this email or share this link on Facebook or Twitter:

http://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/era-in-nevada

Helene Swanson, Co-Founder,
www.KatrinasDream.org

mobile 415.233.2049
blog http://deboissiere.wordpress.com/facebook page https://www.facebook.com/www.KatrinasDream.org
pilgrimage event https://www.facebook.com/events/370467279764897/?fref=ts



Katrina’s Dream is building a grassroots movement to make all Americans equal under the law. Connect with us and with others in this movement via Facebook and Twitter.You can help power our ministry by donating to support our work.

Radio Interview with Jennifer Lee

Jennifer Lee was interviewed on the radio by Sandi Klein.  She was asked about traveling to Pakistan with a feminist film, working at Lucasfilm, living in a Quaker Meeting House in Atlanta, GA as a teen, and about Feminist: Stories from Women's Liberation. 

Tune in at link: http://the51percent.podbean.com/

http://www.feministstories.com                                                                       feministwaves@gmail.com

VFA urges its members to TAKE ACTION on MARCH 8, 2014 with the Feminist Majority.

8 Actions for March 8: Celebrate International Women's Day With Us!
by CARMEN RIOS on Mar 6, 2014
Women all over the world will celebrate International Women's Day on Saturday, March 8, by taking action for their social, political, and economic equality. The United Nations' official IWD theme for this year is "equality for women is progress for all," and we couldn't agree more! This International Women's Day, celebrate with us by speaking out for women's rights - eight times.

1. Tell your Senator: Support CEDAW!
CEDAW has been ratified by 187 of the 193 member states of the UN, the United States is one of only seven nations that has not yet approved it, putting us in the company of Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Iran and two small Pacific islands. As a leading advocate for human rights, the US has a compelling interest to improve conditions for women. Yet, the United Sates has compromised its credibility as a world leader in both human rights and women's rights in its failure to ratify CEDAW.

Email Your Senator Now .

2. Tell President Obama: #LiftTheBan!
For many victims of war, resources provided by US humanitarian aid eases their suffering; but for victims of war rape care is limited. Survivors of war rape are denied access to comprehensive medical care that includes the option of abortion, largely because of US policy that is wrongly interpreted to place anti-abortion restrictions on humanitarian aid in conflict zones - in direct violation of international human rights and humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions. Girls and women systematically raped during conflict face increased rates of maternal mortality, permanent reproductive damage, and obstetric fistula, in addition to isolation and trauma. Without access to the option of abortion care, victims are forced to risk their health - either by carrying unwanted pregnancies to term, seeking dangerous methods of abortion or, in many tragic cases, taking their own lives.

Take action with Feminist Majority and the Global Justice Center to urge President Obama to issue an executive order lifting the ban on abortion restrictions in conflict zones, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.

Send A Message to President Obama Today.


3. Tell the Supreme Court: #MyBodyMyBC!

The Affordable Care Act guarantees that all new health insurance plans cover FDA approved contraceptives, including the pill and IUDs, without co-pays or deductibles. But over 40 profit-making companies have filed lawsuits against this ACA requirement saying that they have a right to deny this coverage to their employees because of the companies' so-called religious beliefs.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments March 25 regarding whether companies can take away this important birth control benefit from women. Send a clear message to the Supreme Court that companies should not be able to use religion as cover to discriminate against women.

Sign The Open Letter Today.


4. And Show Up to Tell the SCOTUS: Let Women, Not Bosses, Decide!

Folks will be meeting on Tuesday, March 25 outside of the Supreme Court building to make their voices heard in this important debate - and you should be there! Come around 8:30 AMand bring your own signs!

RSVP Today.

VETERAN FEMINISTS OF AMERICA JOINS THE

Women all over the world will celebrate International Women’s Day on Saturday, March 8, by taking action for their social, political, and economic equality. The United Nations’ official IWD theme for this year is “equality for women is progress for all,” and we couldn’t agree more! This International Women’s Day, celebrate with us by speaking out for women’s rights – eight times.

Take action with us for International Women's Day and support equality around the world.

In Solidarity,

1600 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 801, Arlington, VA, 22209 | 703.522.2214 | webmaster@feminist.org

You have received this e-mail because of your interest in women's issues. To unsubscribe, please click here.

TEXAS MEMBER, Verne Crabtree's daughter, Carol Donovan, is running (as a democrat) for the Texas House from Dallas, District 107.

Please help her if you can.

Her address is: 6333 E. Mockingbird Lane, Suite 147, Lock Box 800 Dallas, TX 75214.

Email: carolfortexas@gmail.com www.carolfortexas.com

Living history portrayals of inspiring women in their own words, stunningly acted and filmed

What if all the wise, funny and notable women who have marked our lives from antiquity to modern times were to come alive? See it happen in unforgettable portrayals by historian and actress Elaine Partnow. With authentic costumes and realistic locations, Elaine--author of 17 books and performer at well over 500 venues internationally--breathes life into notable and fabulous women of the ancient and recent past. Placed in historical context, scripted from each woman’s own words, you will see these great women in action.

With a modest and achievable budget of $13,375, we will produce twelve webisodes, each a stand-alone for the Internet; we will also combine them into two web series, about 45 minutes each, made available on DVD, ready for the classroom, discussion groups, and civic organizations. A great tie-in for National Women's History Month and other womanly celebrations.

For more information on how to contribute to the Kickstarter campaign visit this link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/315576434/the-quotable-woman-the-webseries