WMC News & Features
Congresswoman Barbara Lee--a Rebel Inside the House
Now in her sixth full term in the House of Representatives, the congresswoman holds to her radical roots, explaining in her new book just how mainstream those revolutionary programs have become. Currently chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, she spoke to author Emily Wilson of her need to define herself.
WMC News & Features
May 29, 2009 | Erica González Martínez |
Politics
Fearless Judge, Fearful Conservatives
The nation has barely had a chance to meet the new nominee for the Supreme Court, but some are all too ready to resent a woman of such fortitude. The author argues that sexism is evident in the agenda of many of Judge Sotomayor’s opponents.
WMC News & Features
As Secretary of State, Clinton Can Exercise a Range of Roles
In her current job, Hillary Clinton has found the freedom to express herself in various modes that work for her and for the Obama Administration. She is winning the appreciation of the public and of political and media observers.
WMC News & Features
Obama Needs a Frances Perkins by his Side
President Barack Obama has emphasized that affordable health care for all is crucial for long-term economic prosperity. Frances Perkins made that point in 1933. A new biography brings President Franklin Roosevelt’s labor secretary out of the shadows just in time for us to understand why progressive women matter so much as America struggles with economic crisis, war and recovery from callous, corrupt government.
WMC News & Features
May 07, 2009 | Jodie Evans |
Politics
In the Name of Mothers Around the World
The author, co-founder of the grass-roots peace and justice movement CODEPINK and board member of the Women's Media Center, calls on us to honor Mother’s Day as it was originally intended—by the abolitionist, feminist and pacifist Julia Ward Howe.
WMC News & Features
April 29, 2009 | Peggy Simpson |
Politics
First 100 Days—Feminists Give High Marks to Obama
Women’s rights activists give high marks to President Obama for his fast footwork in reversing many policies of the Reagan and Bush presidencies.
WMC News & Features
Tracey Ullman Examines the “State of the Union”
Sketch comedian extraordinaire Tracey Ullman found a comfortable niche on Showtime for her satiric probe of America’s psyche. But no viewer gets to remain complacent under her penetrating gaze.
WMC News & Features
In Iceland, Our Long-Sought Victory in Battling Human Trafficking
On April 17, the last day before Iceland’s parliament adjourned to prepare for elections on April 25, members passed a bill criminalizing the act of buying individuals for purposes of prostitution. Patterned on the Swedish law that addresses the demand fueling the commercial sex industry, the action was hailed as an historic moment in the international struggle against human trafficking. Via Equality Now, here is a dispatch describing the campaign from Gudrún Jónsdóttir, spokeswoman for Stigamot, a women's rights organization in Iceland.
WMC News & Features
Democracy and Pandora’s Box: Family Laws in Afghanistan
For women in Afghanistan, the promise of democracy seems not to include equality, nor protection from the potential of domestic violence. Here, the secretary general of Parliamentarians for Global Action explains the politics behind the proposed oppressive law regulating Shia marriages.
WMC News & Features
Quiet Push to Recognize Suffrage Sites
Spearheaded by New York Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, powerful chair of the House Rules Committee, legislation was signed into law at the end of last month that will help celebrate the not-so-ancient history of how women won the vote in the United States.
WMC News & Features
Afghan Women to Obama: We Must Be at the Table!
The author, a global affairs professor who has worked extensively in Afghanistan, talks to Dr. Masooda Jalal, a political leader and the subject of a new documentary. Her message: women must be involved in peace making; the Taliban and warlords are “only powerful because we allow them to be.”
WMC News & Features
March 30, 2009 | Peggy Simpson |
Politics
Chances Improve for Ratification of CEDAW
The United States has been an odd holdout in ratifying the UN treaty on women’s rights. Now it’s a priority of the Obama Administration, and Senator Barbara Boxer chairs the subcommittee that will hold hearings. Still, there’s no guarantee.
WMC News & Features
Patsy Mink: Paving the Way
Kimberlee Bassford discovers a subject for her documentary who had crafted the laws that made it possible for the filmmaker to achieve her education and career.
WMC News & Features
New U.S. Policy in AfPak: Looking for Mr. Moderate Taliban
To those who advocate making peace with certain elements of the Taliban, the author, who has worked to secure human rights with Pakistani legislators across the ideological spectrum, argues against any prospective deal that sacrifices women’s empowerment.
WMC News & Features
Obama Comes Through, Reversing Bush Era Repro-rights Restrictions
Monies to expand family planning services for poor women that were cut from the stimulus package are restored in President Obama’s proposed budget, and the administration rescinds a last-minute Bush Administration rule that would have severely weakened women’s access to reproductive health services.
WMC News & Features
To Michelle Obama, and Her Sister “First Ladies”
Journalist and historian Janus Adams pays tribute to the First Lady in the White House, recognizing that she joins a tradition of firsts among our nation’s African American women.
WMC News & Features
February 23, 2009 | Nichola Gutgold |
Politics
Hillary Clinton Continues To Rewrite the Script
Lisa Burns, author of First Ladies and the Fourth Estate (Northern Illinois University Press, 2008), concluded her illuminating book with the statement: “the question of women’s ‘proper’ place in political culture is as relevant today as it has been during any historical period.” As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton continues to redefine our possibilities as she demonstrates that the tradition-bound role of first lady can lead to a political voice on the international stage.
WMC News & Features
A Challenge to New York’s New Senator—and to Her Supporters
Senator Gillibrand’s troublesome record on immigration policy was ignored by a number of social justice organizations quick to congratulate her. Now the senator and those who support her must embrace an agenda that protects the human rights of immigrants.
WMC News & Features
Turning the Tide against the Taliban: What Works
The Obama Administration must empower the Pakistani people, who have already shown that they’re ready and able to stand up against the forces oppressing women and girls in the valley of Swat and elsewhere. Here, the secretary-general of Parliamentarians for Global Action, tells us how.
WMC News & Features
February 02, 2009 | Marianne Schnall |
Arts and culture,
Feminism,
Health,
International,
Politics,
Violence against women
Turning Pain to Power
Women and girls in eastern Congo suffer sexual atrocities that are tactics of war in the region. Playwright Eve Ensler has joined with Dr. Denis Mukwege to ask us to imagine the unimaginable, to empathize and join together to end the terror.
WMC News & Features
President Obama and Women’s Rights Activists: Celebration and Bumps in the Road
The White House ceremony and reception marking the President’s signature on his first major law honored feminists and the bill’s inspiration, Lilly Ledbetter. But the week was also marked by setbacks for legislation important to women workers and to women who depend on Medicaid.
WMC News & Features
Remaking America
Women’s Media Center President Carol Jenkins witnessed a day that will change her family and our nation, as Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States of America.
WMC News & Features
January 20, 2009 | Peggy Simpson |
Politics
Word to Activists, Don’t Stop Now
Even in the midst of the inaugural celebration, activists gathered in the capital to plan out their roles in the coming months.
WMC News & Features
Girls Need to See Women Rise to Political Power
In about a week, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States—entering the history books as the first African American to serve. Young girls know from Hillary Clinton’s near success at becoming the Democratic candidate that women can aspire to the highest office too, but studies show that their assurance could quickly fade.
WMC News & Features
Looking Forward to 2009
The Women’s Media Center asked feminist authors and commentators Lynn Sherr, Alida Brill, and Beverly Guy-Sheftall to tell us what women might expect from what is widely expected to be a new year of national change. Their words are as cautionary as they are hopeful.