When I started blogging last year, I had a hard time transitioning from someone who writes in a professional capacity to writing from a personal standpoint.  I had to give thought to each word I wrote, thinking about how to get my message across clearly and succinctly.  I knew what my friends would think (as they know my sense of humor), but what about everyone else?

I knew I had to shake off my fears in order to write, largely because I believe the voice of women continues to be unheard. And when the voices of women are ignored (or not present at all) in our business and political world, the outcomes can have long-term, detrimental impact for all of us.

Take 38 Studios for instance. By now, everyone in Rhode Island knows about the backroom political deal made between two men, involving millions of dollars of public money to create jobs in a sector largely dominated by men.  You may not realize, however, that only two women sit on the RI EDC board and 75 percent of staff leadership is male.  Yet, studies show that economic decisions made in business environments that are gender balanced lead to increase profits and good business strategy.

Would it have made a difference if any of the decision makers at the top level were female?  

I don’t know exactly what may have happened, but I do believe that the male decision-makers’ set of assumptions did not take into account women’s economic development or our dismal history of access to capital for female entrepreneurs.  Would a woman have been able to secure a $75 million commitment to fund a high-risk business with the same gender imbalance of power? Unlikely.

Of course I am frustrated with Curt Schilling’s arrogance and seeming cluelessness, but I am even more troubled by the lost opportunities.  What else could we have done with that funding? I spoke with Kate Lyons, Director of Operations for Capital Good Fund.  Capital Good Fund is a micro-lender that uses its loans to jumpstart small businesses, 63 percent of which are female owned.  In 2010, CGF distributed $174,797. These small, strategic loans created or saved 39 jobs. 

So, what could $75,000 - or 1/1000^th of that 75 million dollar loan guarantee -do for Capital Good Fund? “Create 20-40 new jobs in Rhode Island," Kate said. " And all those jobs would be people who are currently unemployed or at high risk of becoming unemployed soon."

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

I cannot count the number of times I’ve nearly been killed. I cannot count the number of times that I’ve been yelled at by motorists, bus drivers, or pedestrians.

Many women have this experience on a daily basis. Women experience the continuum of violence in many different ways. But today, I’m talking about riding a bicycle.

Most women learn to ride a bike at an early age. But at some point, perhaps around high school, we stop. Does this pattern sound familiar? Perhaps it’s because this is the same pattern that goes along with enthusiasm for math, belief/interest in becoming president, or playing sports. Activities once seen as acceptable become less so as we get older and gender stereotypes set in.

I ride my bike regularly. Not as much as my cycling aficionado friends and partner, but more than most. I ride often enough to feel comfortable maneuvering around town with cars at my heels, wearing a skirt while doing so. While it takes work to stay mentally aware of vehicles, glass or other debris in the road, the breeze that hits while you’re gliding down a hill coupled with a workout (without a gym membership) makes it all worth it. And it’s great knowing that you’re not relying on gas consumption to do it.

Despite all the reasons there are to ride a bike, there are a myriad of barriers to women riding. Some common reasons include: fear of injury or harassment, concerns about ability to repair/flat tires, a need to transport children or groceries, lack of time, and not wanting to get sweaty or mess up one’s hair with a helmet.

Each and every one of these issues is highly gendered in our society.

It’s often said that the percentage of women riding a bike is the biggest indicator as to a society's bike-friendliness. In the U.S., about one-quarter of all bicycle trips are made by women. The infographic below demonstrates states with the largest number of cyclists (the size of the box) and the percentage of whom are women (indicated in yellow). It is pretty clear that those states with higher levels of riding also see larger proportions of women riders.

Image courtesy of www.webikeeugine.org.

Access to transportation choices is a feminist issue. When women do not feel safe or comfortable riding a bike, despite all of cycling’s benefits, this is an issue of decreased access to public space—one that has faced women throughout history. And if women are not riding because they were never taught how to use tools or because they have learned that their appearance should take precedence over their health or the environment, that is an issue as well.

So, how do we get more women on bikes?

• Create an environment where sexual harassment of women on or off-bike is unacceptable. This means that if you see a friend make an unwanted sexual comment to a woman, call them out on it. While both women and men experience harassment on bicycles, women’s harassment may take a more sexual turn, beyond, “HEY, get off the road!”
• Create an environment where personal safety is a priority for all. On bikes, this means that both cyclists and motorists know the law (Did you know that bikes are supposed to ride on the street? It’s true!).
• Create an environment where all forms of transportation are accessible to all. This could take the form of complete streets. But at this point, I’d be happy if we could even fix potholes and keep streets clean.
• Create an environment where cycling is a normalized form of transportation. That means that employers encourage employees’ cycling by having safe bike storage facilities/racks or even showers.
• Create an environment where women’s health (and fun!) are more important than their appearance. That means that women and men should understand that occasionally women get sweaty. Yes, really. This may come as a surprise to some who think that women only “glow”.
• Create an environment where women and men are equally encouraged to learn about bikes, as well as maintaining and fixing their gear. Women should be welcomed into traditionally male-dominated spaces like bike shops and taught to learn about and fix their own gear.

I’m happy to report that the most recent divide and conquer tactic intended to incite some women voters or close a political gender gap by declaring another Mommy War never seemed to get beyond the first skirmish. I’m not sure if that was because we can smell a political maneuver or media hype a mile away these days, because too many of us are too focused on our own individual work-life balance struggles to give it any energy, or because we’re too tired from all of the above to care.

Or perhaps it’s because most of us, no matter what our choices are at the moment regarding family caregiving and work - if we’re lucky enough to have a choice - know that in all probability, this too shall pass and we can be standing in other shoes.

Family situations change. Work situations change. The at-home mom today may return to the paid workforce when her children are older.The mother working both in an office and at home may choose to reduce her office hours and work from home or take time away from her career when a second child comes along.  At-home mothers on family assistance can be required to enter job training or employment and find child care for their young children.

Even conservative political commentator and youngest-ever Treasurer of the United States Bay Buchanan wasn’t taking the bait this time, claiming “We don’t need to be dividing moms—single or married; at home or working. It is tough enough being a mom—we need to spend our energy supporting and strengthening one another.”   

I’m with Bay on this one. With recent research showing that four of ten working wives are the main breadwinner, even with the gender wage gap, women have definitely made greater progress toward parity in economic power. With that in mind, the time might be right to flex that muscle and increase the conversation about the ways we could simultaneously address both the current economic and employment picture and work-life balance issues. Innovations such as job-sharing, flextime, and telecommuting might raise more interest at this time.

While we definitely shouldn’t let political advisors or media outlets looking for a divisive or distracting issue guide the discussion about key aspects of our lives, it would be good to have this serious discussion about the intersect of a healthy national employment picture and a more family-friendly mix of home and workplace without having to fall back on a war economy.

But in 2008, I lost my dear friend when Jon took his own life.

I will never really know why Jon left us so early. But I do know that behind the laughter and the kindness Jonathan struggled to accept who he was. He struggled because our society told him who he was was wrong, immoral, sinful, and different.

Jon was gay.

For me, this is what the LGBTQ equality fight is all about. Homophobia, like racism, sexism and classism, causes harm. Real and tangible emotional and physical harm. What’s more, our government condones this discrimination in its utter failure to grant LGBTQ couples the dignity and respect that only marriage can afford.

This week the House Judiciary Committee will take testimony on three pieces of LGBTQ anti-discrimination policy: the Equal Access to Marriage Act, the Equal Access to Family Courts Act, and Equal Religious Protection Act. They are simple pieces of legislation aimed at one goal, ending LGBTQ bias in state law.

If years past are any indication, testimony this Wednesday at the Statehouse will be impassioned, fraught with Biblical references, personal stories, and legal arguments. For me the argument is not merely about same sex marriage, access to divorce or religious protection, though these are certainly a critical steps forward.

For me it is about my friend Jon, who after belting out Tori Amos songs in my living would lose himself in despair so deep that he couldn’t find his way out because we allow our government and our neighbors to discriminate against him and all LGBTQ Rhode Islanders.

It can “get better” but not if we sit on our heels and wait for it. We have to take action to make it better. We have to petition our government. We have to get involved and fight back. Not sure how? You can start today.

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

A total of 392,000 Rhode Islanders pay into the Temporary Disability Insurance Fund.  That’s 78 percent of our workforce.  TDI means the vast majority of Rhode Islanders have a source of wages should they suffer a heart attack, fall down a flight of stairs, need inpatient mental health care, or otherwise become temporarily unable to work.  The majority of Rhode Islanders never use their benefits, yet, many of us feel that our payment each year into TDI is an insurance premium against financial disaster.

One organization, three arts fellowships, and none went to a woman.  This got my attention a few weeks ago, as well as the attention of other friends like a woman in music I know.  Is this the reason so many women I know are using crowdfunding websites and digital fundraising tools?  And is this an alternative that should be pursued?

For Taina Asili, a New York-based artist who leads the group Taina Asili y La Banda Rebelde, part of using Kickstarter.com back in February and May was about the DIY (do it yourself) ethos that she acquired and learned early in her music career – a time when she was involved in the punk music scene. But the campaign was also part of a bigger mission, which she talked to me about at the height of her fundraising.

“We’re not just about making money; we’re trying to bring healing to the world.”

That’s because Asili and her band’s campaign, “Reclaim the Thunder” was about fundraising so that the band could provide 10 free shows in the US and 5 in Europe.  And why free?  Because of the strong relationships and linkages she has built in the community with social justice organizations and youth groups.

Asili recognized that she was taking a gamble as an artist, but that is also true when it comes to applying for grants.  The time needed to write and pull together the pieces required by foundations can also be seen as a gamble, especially in economic times like the present one in which many more submissions come in for grant deadlines. 

However there are advantages of getting grants, such as the recognition and attention that funders provide after their awards, from newsletters to announcements sent to the press.  And if you are someone out there trying to decipher whom to support, an award from a foundation might be the kind of official stamp of approval you want to see before investing your funds.  

But if you are a creative person, the key is having as many fundraising strategies as possible, and RI-based artists Tai Funmilayo Awolaju and Jessica Brown can vouch for that. Both women recently ran fundraising campaigns to travel to Austin, TX (at different times and with different projects).  At the time, Brown was also running a campaign to support an online television program she produces called “Let’s Just Make That.”  Both women ended up down in Austin, not just because of their online fundraising, but also due to community events billed as fundraisers which brought people out from in front of their computers and offered an alternative to those who want to support the women but in different ways.

“Internet is a profound resource and we should talk full advantage of that,” says Asili, but the NEA and other foundations are also important.  Your job is to find what works for you, but more importantly, to be just as creative with raising money as you are with making your art.

"In this world, you get what you pay for."  Kurt Vonnegut

Really? 

I've heard this quote since I was a child and folks said it meaningfully.  If it was quality you were after, well then, you must expect to pay the price.  Higher price = better quality.  Folks were willing and often eager to be able to pay the higher price to have the best quality they could afford.  In fact, talking about the quality of things seemed mighty important back then.  Yep, this here, the best money can buy!

That doesn't really ring true today, does it?  We all want the highest quality for the best price and that usually means, the lower the price, the better yet we still expect high quality.  Seems we all like to think we are getting the better end of the deal no matter the cost to others. We expect it, believe we deserve it, and in some cases, demand it!  (Just look at all the discount stores there are in America).

I've come to realize in the past few weeks that this way of thinking and being is deeply destructive to our society.   It isn't about the money per-se, but about the principles and standards of behavior we carry about money, quality and value.

What's that got to do with Equal Pay?

The Wage Gap reflects American values about women and work.  Though we have had The Equal Pay Act in the United States since 1963, women are still earning less than men.  Some like to argue that this statement does not hold true when you analyze the data by education, experience, and hours. In fact, the data is analyzed in this way as well as by profession, salaried workers, hourly workers and more. 

Every time we pay a woman less we are dishonest, unfair, corrupt.   

The reality is when you hire a woman you get more than what you pay for because we've always underpaid women; no matter the cost to them, their children and families, our communities, and our country.

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

You really don’t have to look too far these days to find news about the struggle for women’s rights that is discouraging, frustrating or downright maddening. So in honor of Mother Nature’s seasonal display of beauty that happens despite depressing headlines, I’ve been looking for some good news to share.

Here’s one of my recent favorites: Since Rush Limbaugh’s gaffe of verbally abusing Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke after she testified before Congress in support of contraception being covered by insurance, at last count 142 companies have pulled their advertising from Limbaugh’s program. View the list and thank the companies who took this step, even if it was only because of the pressure so many of us placed on them to do so. Another shining example of what can happen when women put their social media networks and buying power to work.

If you haven’t yet seen at least a part of President Obama speaking at the White House Forum on Women and the Economy, take the time to do so now.It is truly refreshing to hear a president talk about the issues of women and girls from a personal perspective that made me believe he really gets it.

The Baylor University women’s basketball team not only ended their amazing winning streak by claiming the NCAA championship but also by becoming the first team in NCAA history –men’s or women’s- to have a 40-0 season. All five starting players return next year.

On the global front, after 15 years of house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi was elected to the parliament in Myanmar, and last week Melinda Gates announced a major family planning initiative that could finally make a difference in achieving the millennium development goal of improving reproductive rights and maternal health.

And finally, it’s National Poetry Month, so take some time if you can to savor the inner working of a poet’s heart and mind. A good place to start would be Bill Moyers’ Poets in Performance page where the likes of Nikki Giovanni, Naomi Shihab Nye, Lucille Clifton, and Adrienne Rich weave their word dream catchers, or Rita Dove’s list of young poets to watch which features nine women poets in the group of thirteen. If you haven’t yet seen last year’s National Book Award for Poetry winner Nikki Finney’s acceptance speech, check that out before the month ends. Or take some time to see and hear and smell nature come to life once again and see what bubbles up in your own imagination. Or look for even more good news. It’s out there.

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

The world of lingo, shop-talk and acronyms is not getting any smaller, but my patience with all of it is certainly shrinking. I mean imagine; my opening sentence for this article was about to include “Kickstarter expects to fund more art projects than the NEA.”

Of course, if you don’t know what Kickstarter is, and if you work in the education field, you probably would have interpreted the sentence like this:

“A contraption that supports martial arts movements is expected to fund more art than one of the country’s leading education trade unions.”

Pretty different, right?  Now someone else trying to explain the headline might say something like “Kickstarter, a crowdfunding source or crowdsourcing platform, is expected to fund more art than the NEA – the National Endowment for the Arts.”

Still not sure if you get it?  Kickstarter, a website that allows regular people to donate money and seek donations toward creative projects, is set to fund more programs and producers than the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency created to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities.

Now, in a nutshell: Some start-up web company is doing better work than a federal agency when it comes to funding the arts. Can you believe it; another example of a wasteful government department, right?  Well hold your horses.  As advocate Randy Cohen explains in a release on the website of his organization, Americans for the Arts Action Fund, “'Kickstarter’s $150 million to the arts in 2012 is [one-fourth] of 1 percent of what is needed annually to fund the nonprofit arts sector’s $60 billion in expenditures…' [my emphasis].”

For those who would balk at 60 billion, I refer you to a December 2011 Bloomberg Article, which, in the first paragraph reads, “The Senate today approved a $644.3 billion fiscal 2012 defense budget bill.” And I’ll remind you that there are fewer human costs (ie. bloodshed) associated with debuting new paintings in comparison to the costs when debuting new weapons.

These are just two of the points that you won’t read or interpret in the headlines that came out, which is why I’d like to share additional analysis and perspectives I have on the topic of Kickstarter and the NEA.  As a DJ, music journalist and cultural navigator I have observed the trends and talked to novices, experts and people with views and experience in these spaces.  But as a creative professional who writes grants and raises personal and project funds all the time, I also have my own view and tips on finding, making and losing money.

In short, I’m going to tell you what real artists think and do, and what else you can do to raise money to move a project or idea forward (online, through grants, and employing guerilla marketing tactics).

To answer some specific questions and acquire helpful tools, I interviewed four women who are involved in creative work and industries (five women total if you include my own) and who are engaged in or veterans of online fundraising campaigns: Melissa Czarnik, Jessica Brown, Taina Asili and Tai Funmilayo Awolaju.

For today check out the video above from Czarnik, who is currently completing an artist residency in France, in part, because she was able to raise the funds to get there online. But she used a website called Indiegogo.com, which touts itself as “the world’s funding platform” – not Kickstarter.com.

But noting who all of my experts are is important not just because the series is residing here, on RightHer from Women’s Fund of Rhode Island or because I’ll be filing this work on twitter under “Confessions of an #AmbitiousBlackFeminist.” Giving you the who’s who of the voices also helps explain why the next installment will be what it is:

Gender, Race and Zip Code: Funding the Arts, What We Do and Do Not Know about Kickstarter and the NEA, And Why It Matters.

For now, feel free to catch up on some of the articles that covered the announcement, analysis, and/or “fall-out” from Kickstarter Vs. NEA, and get to know the female artists/practitioners we’ll be hearing from later in the series.

***

• www.nea.gov
• www.kickstarter.com
• www.indiegogo.com
• http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/kickstarter-expects-to-provide-more-funding-to-the-arts-than-nea.php
• http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/the-nea-responds-to-kickstarter-funding-debate.php
• http://www.artsactionfund.org/news/entry/kickstarter-to-fund-more-arts-projects-in-fy-2012-than-the-nea
• http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/senate-passes-amended-crowdfunding-bill-emulating-kickstarter-model.php
• http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why_kickstarter_outfunding_the_nea_isnt_a_good_thi.php

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

That sound you hear? That’s my head exploding.

Traditionally, the Violence Against Women Act has enjoyed broad based bipartisan support. It seems like a question that we asked and answered some time ago. Violence against women = BAD. Ending violence against women = GOOD. Simple, right?

Not so for some members of Congress. Apparently only some victims of intimate partner violence deserve protection. The provisions they object to would protect undocumented people, members of the LGBTQ community and those who reside on Native American reservations.

Ladies, if you are not paying attention to the broad based, sweeping attacks being launched at our sisters, mothers, and daughters right now it is time to wake up and fight back. Whether it is ultrasound bills, undermining access to birth control, calling a female advocate a four letter word, or holding the Violence Against Women Act hostage women’s rights, lives and safety are under attack.

As a society, we still make it incredibly difficult for women to speak about their personal stories of sexual assault and domestic violence. Imagine how terrifying it must have been for Congresswoman Moore to tell her story. Imagine the fear and emotional turmoil that she had to walk through to find the courage to speak out for herself and for all the women who are still struggling to demand that Congress reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. We should all be so brave.

We have a civic responsibility to be engaged in the political process, but we have a moral and human responsibility to speak out for our sisters who cannot speak for themselves. Take a moment to thank Congresswoman Moore for her courageous words, and then take a page out of her play book and never ever let go of your voice. 

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

For women, music and other forms of art can act as a means of self-expression in an environment where their voices are not always heard.  While most music played on the radio expresses individual stories of women’s experience—frequently of love and loss—these are not the only issues that women address through music.

For me, music was my portal into politics and social justice.  I was 14 years old when I saw Bikini Kill, a punk band from Olympia, Washington, (purveyors of the early '90s Riot Grrrl movement), perform at an Elk’s Lodge in Fargo, North Dakota.  After being inspired to pick up the guitar by Kurt Cobain of the band Nirvana (a feminist in his own right), seeing the three powerful women (and  one awesome man) in Bikini Kill perform, listening to their music, and—most importantly—reading their lyrics, was a turning point for me.  Their singer, Kathleen Hanna, sang frankly about feminist issues such as sexual harassment and sexual assault, as well as racism and homophobia.  While their music may have been abrasive or appeared offensive to some, it was exactly what my 14 year old mind needed.  This was my Women’s Studies 101.

Feminism provided a framework for the injustices that I saw in the world—from rumors spread about girls’ sexual activities (and not boys') to unfair treatment by my gym teacher.  These seemingly minor issues were a big deal in my white suburban existence.  But these small issues opened my eyes to larger ones.  It was also during this time that I learned about reproductive justice though Rock for Choice, founded by another band of women called L7 along with the Feminist Majority Foundation, and I marched in my first Take Back the Night. 

Historically, women have created political music, from Billie Holiday to Joan Baez to Crass to Janelle Monae.  Globally, an all-female punk band from Russia was recently arrested for their protests of Vladimir Putin and Ana Tijoux is getting attention for her song “Shock” about Chile’s student protests.  Unfortunately, many political artists aren’t provided with radio play and exposure provided by major labels.  Those in the music industry might claim that these artists aren’t commercially viable and that the public doesn’t want to listen to music with a message.  But, others would argue that political messages aren’t encouraged by the industry because they challenge the positions of power held by the CEOs running the industry. 

Of course, when many people think of the presentation of women in music, they cringe… and as I discussed in my previous blog, rightly so.  But, whether heard on the radio or playing on the corner, women are creating a dialogue about politics through music, which can change people’s lives for the better and deserves to be heard.

Next blog, I’ll talk about music videos, lyrics, and media literacy.  In the meantime, how would you encourage people to check out political artists?  Who would you encourage them to listen to?

An interview with Kathleen Hanna from Bikini Kill (the video at the beginning of the clip is from the show that I attended at age 14): 

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

It’s Women’s History Month and this year the theme for the national celebration is Women’s Education – Women’s Empowerment, and in that part of women’s history there is both much to learn and much to celebrate.

One reason for the choice of the theme this year is that 2012 marks the 40^th anniversary of the legislation creating Title IX of the Education Codes of the Higher Education Act Amendments. Passed in 1972 and enacted in 1977, Title IX, which prohibits federally funded institutions from discriminating based on gender, has had an enormous impact on the participation of women in all aspects of education.

Just one generation later, women outnumber men in American colleges nationwide, and female college presidents are no longer a rarity. Even among the prestigious Ivy League, half of the presidents are women, and here in Rhode Island, another woman, Christina Paxson, will follow Ruth Simmons, Brown University’s first elected female president, who will retire in May.

In 1636, the first chartered college in the country - Harvard, was founded, but it would take almost 200 years before Oberlin became the first college to admit women. And while Harvard opened it’s “Annex” Radcliffe College in 1879, it wasn’t until 1999 that the Harvard-Radcliffe merger became official. Today, not only is Harvard’s president a woman, but also six of its eleven vice presidents.

When I started attending the University of Rhode Island’s Providence campus, it was known as the Continuing Education for Women program, but has since updated both its location and its name. Sadly, my alma mater has never elected a woman president in its 120-year history.

Eleanor Roosevelt once wrote, "…it is our freedom to progress thatmakes us all want to live and to go on."  So this March, celebrate all that the struggle for equal education has brought us in our freedom to progress. Check out the education honorees for this year. You can also help continue the progress by texting WOMEN to 50555 to raise awareness of the inequality that still exists and highlight the change that the Women's Fund of Rhode Island - and other women's funds - are advancing in communities around the country.

And consider joining us for a screening of the documentary Miss Representation and a panel discussion on the portrayal of women in the media at Johnson & Wales' Schneider Auditorium next Tuesday, March 20^th at 3:30 PM.  

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

The man who did his very best to make feminism a dirty word was at it again. Unless you were living under a rock, you probably caught the non-stop coverage of Rush Limbaugh calling Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown law student, a prostitute and a slut after she advocated for herself, and for all women, about the importance of contraception to Congress. What’s more, he suggested that she should post a sex tape on the internet for he and others to watch as payment for government mandated contraception coverage.

It is a rare occurrence that I find myself speechless, especially in response to right wing talk radio. Typically in such instances I yell at the radio, note the factual inaccuracies, vent to my friends and colleagues, and then move on to more productive endeavors like, well, just about anything. But this time I found myself stewing. What does it say about our national discourse when women are treated with such bias, disrespect and contempt? 

Mr. Limbaugh’s non-apology “apology,” in which he notes his“poor choice of words,” does nothing to absolve his complete disregard for women.

Words matter. When we, as a society, elevate the voices of those who, like Mr. Limbaugh, espouse such hateful rhetoric because it “sells” it shouldn’t be surprising that far too much of our public policy disregards the needs and best interests of women.

Here in Rhode Island, a bill similar to the Texas ultrasound law that has gained national attention has been introduced year after year in the General Assembly. And, just last week, the GA took testimony on legislation to end gender rating (the practice of charging women more for health coverage than men),and opponents made the argument that ending this discriminatory practice would mean that men would have to pay more. God forbid we rectify an existing inequity in which women are financially penalized for being born women.

The one thing that gives me hope in all of this, is that women are waking up. Across the country women (and right minded men) are standing up and speaking out. We are demanding  that Limbaugh’s sponsors drop his show, and seven of them already have. We are asking our legislators to end gender discrimination in health coverage.  And like Ms. Fluke we are standing up, we are sharing our stories, and we are demanding that the rights and interests of women be considered and heard. If we are silent we will watch the tremendous progress we have made to a more gender equal society chipped away and eroded one by one. So if you haven’t spoken up yet, find your voice, and use it!

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

Click on the sound file above or here to listen to an excerpt from my interview with feminist media activist, Jamia Wilson.

On my last post I began to talk about why certain female musicians do and do not make lists, and how feminist activists and musicians can work together.

To answer these questions I spoke to feminist media activist Jamia Wilson. As a writer and educator, Wilson travels and trains women and writers on getting their voices heard through traditional and digital media. She is also the Vice President of Programs at Women's Media Center, an organization that convenes panels, issues reports, leads grassroots campaigns, and trains members of the media to
address issues of women’s representation and general diversity.

Wilson clarified that even when you look at independent media and new online networks, women and people of color are still underrepresented in leadership positions. Most places you look, she says, even in alternative spaces, “there is a normalizing of masculinity and whiteness,” and they are “not doing the work” to de-normalize this lens. What you might see, explains Wilson, is “let’s diversify once a month or once a year” without any authentic attempt to “put marginalized groups at the center.”

‘But what about artists like Beyoncé or Katy Perry that are household names?’ I asked Wilson. How can musicians and activists maintain an argument when there are those female artists that do get attention and placement on lists?

“If you look at what it took for Katy Perry or Beyoncé to get on the list,” begins Wilson, “it is often different.” She points out that there is often more reliance on what they wore, how little they wore, or what else they were doing besides music. “You don’t see men being listed and compared in the ‘who it wore it better’ columns and pictures,” says Wilson. “And if you don’t fit into the social sexualization model, you might have trouble.”

So what can women in music and advocates do to counter these trends and raise their profiles? One thing Wilson suggests is creating “consciousness-raising open mics” and “speak[ing] to audiences before performances,” about grassroots and legislative issues. One way to do this, says Wilson, is by partnering with organizations or "join[ing] coalitions to demand equal pay for male and female artists.”

Wilson also believes a prime strategy is “women creating our own media” – like RightHer, the blog from Women’s Fund of Rhode Island. From writing editorials about personal experiences or writing about women in music to using Facebook and “doing tweets about the issues they’re facing,” Wilson says “get out there and do it!”

To listen to a segment of my interview with Wilson, click here. To read more about diversity in the media, click here to view some of my archived presentation notes or here to read the 2012 Women’s Media Center report on "The Status of Women in the Media." Cranston East high school student, Kathryn McDaniel, should also be recognized for her assistance in compiling this year's music list.

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

Despite persistent efforts by the early Christian church to de-sexualize the pagan celebration on the ides of February, it has remained throughout the centuries as a day to celebrate that which was sacred to Juno Februata, the Goddess of the fever of love, and of women and marriage.

In ancient Rome, February was a time for ritual purification, which seems like a tradition we should consider reinstating. We could use a little purification on occasion, although we might want to skip the part where young men in loincloths run around flogging women with strips of skin from the sacrificed goat to ensure fertility or ease in childbirth.  While ease in childbirth is always welcome, I think we could do with less fertility and flogging of women.

In 1994, it was issues of women’s sexuality and violence against women that Eve Ensler explored in her play The Vagina Monologues, which ran off-Broadway for years before touring the country. In reaction to audience response to the play, Ensler and a group of women in New York created V-Day on Valentine’s Day 1998, with a mission to end violence against women and girls. From a single fundraising event that year, V-Day has grown to over 5,800 fund- and awareness-raising events in 48 languages and 140 countries during February, March and April each year, at which The Vagina Monologues or other V-Day works are performed or viewed.

As stated on the V-Dayweb site, their work is grounded in four core beliefs:

• Art has the power to transform thinking and inspire people to act
• Lasting social and cultural change is spread by ordinary people doing extraordinary things 
• Local women best know what their communities need and can become unstoppable leaders 
• One must look at the intersection of race, class,and gender to understand violence against women
  
  
That’s a pretty solid core. Locally, there are numerous V-Day events, starting with three this week at Johnson& Wales University,. Students of Providence College will be holding a V-Day event at the Avon Theater on Thayer Street in Providence on Feb.22^nd at 6:30 PM and on Feb. 25^th at 1 PM. There will also be an event at URI during that last weekend of the month. Both Rhode Island College and Roger Williams University have events scheduled in March, and the now annual Red Tent event at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, this year on Sunday, March 4^th will be followed by a performance of The Vagina Monologues. To find an event near you, go to the Find an Event page on the V-Day web site.

If you can’t make an event this year and want to support the cause, go online and sign up for the One Billion Rising campaign which will culminate next year at this time, and however you celebrate it, may your V-Day be filled with love.

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

It’s a common and industry accepted practice called gender rating and it means that women are charged higher health insurance premiums than men. How do insurers rationalize this? It is all about health care utilization, or how much health care women receive. As it turns out, I, as a woman, could possibly at some point in the future get pregnant, and the costs associated with my hypothetical pregnancy would drive my hypothetical medical costs higher. In turn, this drives my actual health insurance premiums higher than those of my male counter parts. One would think that those involved in the health care system would know that in most cases men have something to do with women becoming pregnant, but apparently the responsibility is all on us ladies.

Under President Obama’s health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act, this discriminatory practice will be banned in 2014 when most major components of the law go into effect, but until then women will continue to be unduly discriminated against.

Gender rating will continue to make basic health coverage a financial impossibility for far too many women. And consider the potential discriminatory ripple effect. As the economic recession drags on and small business owners (and non-profit directors, i.e. me) are struggling to meet budgets and bottom lines and one cannot help but examine our spiraling health care costs. If I know, as I do, that my health care premiums will be lower if I hire a man instead of women what is to prevent me from doing so?

Ending gender rating is far from a panacea to our unsustainable and troubled health care system. A robust implementation of the Affordable Care Act and comprehensive payment and delivery system reform in the upcoming years could not be more important. However ending this deplorable practice is an easy way to make life a little more equal for women in the Ocean State, and that is always the right thing to do.  

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

Report card time is often one of anxiety even when you know the evaluation criteria against which you’ll be measured and realize you have not done your best (or even made an effort) to meet those expectations.  Though we have been able to track our progress and efforts over time we open the report card hoping it will tell a different version of the story. 

On January 30, the CFED (Corporation for Enterprise Development) released the national Assets and Opportunity Scorecard grading individual states (in addition to a rank order of states) on 33 measures.  Basically the assessment determines which states have strong policies toward helping residents build and protect assets. 

I opened our report card hoping we’d somehow end up with a different version of the Rhode Island story than the one that, well, we deserve.  We didn’t fare so well.  Our highest grade?  We received a B in Health Care. C was given in policies related to financial assets and income; and education and business and jobs, D’s.   We failed in housing and homeownership. 

Not a report card to boast about.   In fact, it’s something to be deeply concerned about.  As any responsible parent, guardian or government knows, it’s time for an intervention. 

Dismal enough, these grades really only tell a part of the story.  Reading between the lines (and digging a bit deeper into the data made available by the CFED on their website) we unearth the burgeoning and persistent divide between communities of color and gender.  In general, whites are far LESS vulnerable. One and a half times more white workers own a business; almost two times as many workers of color are unemployed.   And, in every issue area, men are faring better than women.  

If the data were analyzed looking at communities of color and gender we’d see an even deeper divide.  In fact, I’d be willing to bet that our B, C’s and D’s might all spiral downward to failing across the board. 

The truth is persistent gender inequality continues to keep women and, even more so, women of color among the most financially vulnerable Rhode Islanders.  Underemployment, wage inequity, unfair payday and predatory lending, in addition to 6 years of declining state investments in programs designed to promote economic security among low and moderate income working women are responsible for producing the grades we, in all honesty, rightfully deserve. 

Gender equality is the right course, the right intervention!  No community or state can thrive when it does not value and ensure the well being of all its residents.  

Policies and economic priorities must be examined through a gender lens. The implications of policy made without putting on our gender lens will continue to produce report cards and stories that keep real truths about the economic well being of Rhode Islanders hidden.  

More importantly, making policy with blinders on continues to impact the most vulnerable: women and women of color.

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

If you are unfamiliar with Adele, you are probably familiar with her song, “Rolling in the Deep”. Blues-inspired, with a neo-soul feel, Adele was difficult to avoid in 2011. Her record, “21”, spent 15+ weeks at number 1 on Billboard’s charts and she was ranked as the number one artist in 2011 by Billboard.

Adele was followed in the top 10 by several other female artists including Rihanna, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, and Taylor Swift.  While Adele’s statement above might not hold true for all of these artists, this is clearly a group of strong women.

So, with all of these women at the top of the charts, it would seem that gender equality is not really an issue in the music industry, right?

Well, not quite.  What the charts do not reveal is the presentation of women within the industry.  Anyone who has watched music videos for an extended period of time or read popular music magazines, can attest to the fact that women and men are not necessarily portrayed equally. 

Researchers Erin Hatton and Mary Nell Trautner recently completed a study assessing covers of Rolling Stone magazine from 1967-2009. They broke up images into three categories: not sexualized, sexualized, and hyper-sexualized.  They found that despite the popularity of female artists, the majority of images of women were not just sexualized, but hyper-sexualized. Across the years, only two percent of images of men were hyper-sexualized, contrasted with 61 percent of images of women, with an increase over the last 10-20 years.  In fact, in the 2000s, women were five and a half times more likely to be presented in a sexualized, rather than non-sexualized manner. The authors attribute this change to a narrowing of acceptable presentations of women in the media.

Its implications are not difficult to see: girls and women are presented with fewer ways to exist in the world; their options are limited and the message they receive is that what is important about them is their sexuality and appearance, rather than their talents, skills, or personality. But this increased sexualization is not relegated to just adult women. In 2010, the American Psychological Association (APA) released the Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, which found that girls are being presented in increasingly sexual ways, and that the consequences of this are serious, affecting many areas of life, including: cognition; physical and mental health;sexuality; and attitudes and beliefs.

As the Director of Girls Rock! Rhode Island (GRR!), whose mission is to help girls and women empower themselves through music, part of my job is to help girls and women navigate the culture and the media (music or otherwise). GRR! does this through workshops within our programs, focusing on media literacy, relational aggression, gender stereotypes, the history of women who rock, and more. Participants at Girls Rock Camp (ages 11-18) and Ladies Rock Camp (18+), (most of whom have no musical experience), attend these workshops in addition to learning an instrument, joining a band, writing an original song, and performing it live, in a few short days. The hope is that the workshops, combined with a positive all-female environment that supports self-expression and creativity, will allow participants a space to create their own media and challenge the negative images around them.

While Adele’s focus on the creation of music over the creation of an image is a beacon of light in this sea of hyper-sexualized media, she is still the exception. GRR! wants to do more than simply provide a life vest to keep girls and women from drowning; we aim to create a safer and less dangerous sea.

In future RightHer blogs, I am very excited to continue discussing girls’ and women’s representations in music (and the rest of media) and the ways that music and art can act as vehicles for empowerment.

This article focuses on artists in popular music. However, one of GRR!'s strategies is to expose girls and women to artists outside of mainstream media who might encourage a greater range of possibilities and experiences.  Who are some positive female artists that you would share?    

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

An unrepentant cinephile, I celebrated the new year transition into 2012 with a Meryl Streep double feature– Mamma Mia! for a rollicking New Year’s Eve and Julie and Julia the next day to mark the end of seasonal overeating. I haven’t seen Streep’s more recent film portrayal of Maggie Thatcher in Iron Lady, but I intend to as soon as possible.

I am in awe of Meryl Streep, whose more than 30-year film and stage career has included an amazing array of portrayals of strong and complex women in 45 films and 13 stage productions. The way she studies and inhabits a character is rare and it is no surprise that she has had more Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations than any other actor.

No doubt one reason she is so good at portraying interesting, strong and complex women is that she is one herself. Besides her off-screen roles as wife and mother of four, the list of causes she is actively engaged in is as long as the list of her Golden Globe nominations.

I admired her when she teamed up with the National Resources Defense Council in the '80s to make a televised public service announcement alerting us to the use of dangerous chemicals on our food supply.  

I admire the fact that she is also active in many women’s rights causes. She serves on the Advisory Council of Equality Now, has narrated a number of films for Women for Women International, and co-hosted the kick-off party for the Women in the World Foundation.

She is also the national spokeswoman for the creation of a National Women’s History Museum near the National Mall in Washington D.C. The museum currently exists online until the proposed building is erected. Its mission statement reads: “The National Women’sHistory Museum affirms the value of knowing Women’s History, illuminates the role of women in transforming society and encourages all people, women and men, to participate in democratic dialogue about our future.”

Since the legislative proposal for the building doesn’t require any public funds, relying instead on private donations, you would think this is the kind of bill that would sail through Congress. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. One of the sticking points in the last Congressional session, when it got stuck in committee, was the inclusion of Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood and advocate of birth control as a basic human right.

In a country that values freedom of speech as much as ours does, I’d like to think that we women should be able to decide what is important in our own history, don’t you? Even though Women’s History Month is two months away, I’m hoping women will rally around this effort to write women back into history before then. Please consider visiting the online museum and signing the petition, donating or otherwise supporting this cause. Let’s make 2012 the year we get not just a room of one’s own, but an entire building in our nation’s capitol.

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

Then it struck me. The answer to that last question depends on all of us. Yes. It all depends on you, me, our friends, neighbors, and family members and what we decide to do with our most precious resource this year – our time.

Today marks the start of the 2012 Rhode Island legislative session. This afternoon I will head up to the Statehouse for the first of many visits to speak with legislators both friend and foe of women’s rights. The session will no doubt include attacks on women’s reproductive rights, and threats to funding for childcare assistance and health insurance for low income children and pregnant women. I’ll be working alongside our allies to end gender discrimination in health care and elect more women to serve in the halls of the Statehouse. Will you join us?

The success or failure of our efforts depends on whether you decide to make your voice heard.  Whether Rhode Island continues to accept discrimination against women is up to you and I and our collective efforts this year.

So instead of making a New Year’s resolution that you know you’ll never keep (and really - you don’t need to lose 10 pounds anyway) make a resolution to get involved. Make a resolution to make your voice heard with our state’s decision-makers on the issues affecting women and girls. Write a letter to your state representative and call your state senator. Ask them where they stand on the issues you care about, and remember where they stand when you head out to the polls on Election Day next fall.

Here’s wishing for a Happy New year for all Rhode Island women - may we together protect the rights of women and girls and fight to end discrimination in 2012.

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

I’ve learned some important things this year about change.  Often the focus of our New Year’s resolutions, the desire to change something about ourselves, an improvement to our lives, to do away with something or add something in an effort to refresh ourselves. 

The aha moment this year came in learning that our hidden and competing goals kept unconscious win over our hoped for change. The need for self-preservation trumps our good intention. Excavating hidden and competing goals and testing out the assumptions and beliefs we hold offer the keys to the change we seek. ** 

I’ve long given up the tradition of New Year’s resolutions because too many were soon forgotten!  I do, however, have a New Year’s intent or theme that I focus on all year long. No strings, no expectations, no goals, objectives and measures.  Just something I hold out there for myself to think and reflect on and invite in to my life as it will come. Interestingly and amazingly, these gifts do come into my life.  Over the years I’ve explored joy, freedom, gratitude, and abundance, among others. I’m always amazed as I take stock at the end of each year how the theme has played out over the year and how it’s shaped my life in ways I would not have known if I had narrowed myself to a resolution easily made and cast aside.

“For auld lang syne”, as the song goes, loosely translated, means “for the sake of old times”.  Tradition, culture, attitude, belief, habit, legend, lore and law often have us repeating roles, behaviors, routines and ways of life.  Not because they support the way we want our lives and those of our sons and daughters to be, but because they are familiar, safe, and support the stories we tell ourselves.

It is time to let loose of attitudes, beliefs, routines and behaviors that no longer serve us regarding gender.  For the sake of new times and future generations let us hold the intention to achieve gender equality.

**Immunity to Change

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

A friend recently posted a message on Facebook saying she was looking for a new, preferably local bank to which she could switch her accounts from her too-big-to-fail bank. She got a number of suggestions of local credit unions or community-minded smaller banks along with my comment, “I’m still waiting for the women-run, women-owned business friendly bank that invests in micro-credit circles both locally and globally."  Since obtaining a loan has gone from way too easy prior to the economic downturn to now practically having to sign over your first-born child as collateral, I thought it would be a good solution.

So did my friend. “I love this idea! How can we make this happen?” she responded. When we met in person the next week, she was still thinking about next steps to making the idea a reality. I admitted that while I’d bet that almost every woman I knew would be glad to join such an institution, I didn’t have a lot of friends in the financial sector who would know how to make it happen.

With women increasingly being negatively affected by the economic crisis micro-credit seemed to be a successful model that would work to keep women and their families financially afloat in these turbulent economic waters. But a recent Women’s enews article by Susan Feiner suggests that not all micro-credit programs are created equal. Feiner also urges us to consider why people are poor in the first place. She points out that globally, along with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund required structural adjustments in developing countries with large debt came a reduction in government spending that provided essential public services. And some micro-lenders have been known to take advantage of the resulting dire situations, charging exorbitant interest rates on loans to women trying to replace the social support for their families previously provided by government programs.

Let’s hope this is not the same path Europe and the United States take in dealing with their own economic crises and crippling debt. Advocates for the poor on both sides of the pond are concerned that some proposed cuts in government spending will affect the neediest among us the most, leaving poor women and their families even more vulnerable in these challenging times. Feiner, who spoke at a conference in Spain prior to a micro-credit summit there last month, warns “Women of the world watch out. Austerity does not feed families, pay the rent, or buy heating fuel.” Last week, as part of my new job with the Feinstein Center for a Hunger Free America at the University of Rhode Island, I attended a meeting of the Northeast Regional Anti-Hunger Network and heard the same concerns.

You wouldn’t balance your own budget by cutting out basic needs. Let’s be vigilant in making sure that our local, state, national and international representatives don’t either, and that micro-credit programs don’t become just the latest big banking disgrace. 

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

Rhode Island’s road to implement the Affordable Care Act federal health care reform law has been a bumpy one.  After great news at the beginning of last week – that Rhode Island was the first state in the nation to receive Level 2 funding of $58 million – we hit another pothole at the end of the week. 

You may remember a protracted fight over the last year about whether or not to allow health care reform to be derailed by anti-abortion language that eventually caused the exchange legislation to languish and die in the House.   Exchanges are new health insurance marketplaces that are the cornerstone of health care reform.  

Rhode Island’s exchange will make it easier for individuals to purchase health insurance, and hopefully will be a mechanism through which we can hold insurers accountable.   When the legislation to create the exchange died, to the relief of health care advocates, Governor Chafee stepped in and created our exchange through an executive order.  And to his credit, he did so without placing additional restriction women’s access to abortion coverage.

Rhode Island has developed a reputation as a national leader in advancing innovative health care reforms to protect consumers and improve quality of care. It was, at least in part, this reputation that drove the federal government’s decision to award Rhode Island the Level 2 funding of $58 million.

The state will use the funds to implement the Affordable Care Act, to create a Rhode Island Health Benefits Exchange, and perhaps most importantly, to expand health care coverage to 140,000 uninsured Rhode Islanders. Of the 12 states that were awarded federal planning dollars last week Rhode Island was the only one to be awarded Level 2 funding which is both a great honor and a desperately needed shot in the arm to improve the Ocean State’s health care system.

Yet just as we got this great news, the Rhode Island Right to Life Committee made good on their threat to drive us off the reform road and into a ditch.  They filed a lawsuit challenging the Governor’s authority to establish the Health Benefits Exchange. On it the face the lawsuit is about separation of powers, yet according to WRNI health care reporter Megan Hall the suit is all about abortion, and I agree.

The Right to Life Committee isn’t driving us into the ditch alone.  Twenty-eight legislators signed on in support of their lawsuit, in an attempt to undermine the future of health care reform in Rhode Island and with it health care coverage for 140,000 uninsured Rhode Islanders.  

Their real argument?  That the significant restrictions in Rhode Island state law and in the federal Affordable Care Act – which clearly block most public dollars from covering abortions – are not enough.  They want to be able to prevent Rhode Island women from spending their own money to cover insurance coverage for abortions – a legal, medical procedure.  

Abortion is an emotional and divisive issue, with passionate people on both sides of the fence.  A fight over public money?  Fine – let’s have that.  But restricting what Rhode Island women can do with our own money and turning health care reform into a political football?  That’s driving us into a ditch.  Let’s hope the Rhode Island Supreme Court gets its directions right and turns away this lawsuit.

I was a big fan of zero population growth when that movement for population stabilization, which first appeared in the late 1960s, later became linked to the feminist movement. With limited resources, it made sense to do what we could to keep the population from growing too fast, and I could never understand why it wasn’t a more prominent issue.

Are women’s rights and population growth connected? You bet they are. In his book More: Population, Nature and What Women Want, Worldwatch Institute Vice President for Programs Robert Engelman makesthe case that population growth slowing and eventually ending is essential for social and environmental sustainability, and that goal will most likely occur when women have the same health status, rights, and opportunities as men. But despite falling fertility rates and support from the current administration for family planning efforts worldwide, women’s reproductive rights continue to be under attack at home and abroad.  What’s up with that?

According to Population Connection, an estimated 200 million women around the world would like to have more control regarding reproductive decisions but have no access to contraception.  And a recent Huffington Post article claims that here in the United States we are currently experiencing some of the most extreme assaults on women’s choice we’ve seen in a long time, especially around abortion provisions in the health care reform bill. Author Laura Bassett explores the claims that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops might be behind the effort and that some Catholic nuns and laypeople are opposing it.  Bassett names public opinion surveys that indicate that a majority of Catholics today are pro-choice. So who are the bishops representing?

The last two blog posts in this space have been about women’s representation – in the Rhode Island General Assembly and in the media.  I want to remind us to be aware of how we are represented in many other venues as well – home, school, community, workplace, marketplace, faith community –where we should also expect to have our voice and vision heard and our rights respected.

Recently 22-year-old Molly Katchpole used her voice to stand up to banking giant Bank of America against their announced debit card charge and last week was successful in having them back down. She turned her one voice into 300,000 using a change.org petition and social media to spread the word. Molly reminds us that an individual can still make a difference, even against great odds.

So pick your venue, large or small, and make your voice heard.

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island. 

I was reminded of this a couple weeks ago after watching the trailer for a must see documentary Miss Representation. I was reminded how women are treated by the media, and of the impact the media has in shaping the minds and lives of our young people.

After watching tape of Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, being grilled by a cable news show host about whether she had breast implants it was suddenly less puzzling that of the last ten women I have spoken to about running for office, only one is even considering it.

One of my favorite Suffragettes, Alice Walker, once said the most common way people give up their power is by believing they don’t have any. Over the last century women have begun to claim our power. We won the right to vote. We comprise the majority of college graduates, and have taken the lead in medical and law school enrollment. Twenty nine women serve in the Rhode Island General Assembly which is more than last year. My generation has opportunities that our mothers only dreamed of. The question that remains to be answered is whether we will overcome the insidious impact of media’s portrayal of women as little more than sexual beings to be what we dream of being as girls. 

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

With the Rhode Island unemployment rate still hovering around ten percent, there may be plenty of people with the time and motivation to join this movement inspired by the Arab Spring and European public space protests and processes.

The occupation claims to be a diverse, leaderless resistance movement representing 99 percent of Americans. They hold a daily General Assembly to foster open,participatory organization between the members of the public in attendance. From the coverage I’ve seen, women, especially young women, are definitely in attendance.

An Education and Empowerment Committee holds Open Forum for presentation and discussion of relevant issues to the protest. Given the breadth of concerns in the occupation’s first official release they could be there for some time. I’m hoping they’ll get around to the need for individual, national and global financial literacy sooner rather than later.

According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) financial literacy is defined as:“the ability to make informed judgments and to take effective actions regarding the current and future use and management of money. It includes the ability to understand financial choices, plan for the future, spend wisely, and manage the challenges associated with life events such as a job loss, saving for retirement, or paying for a child’s education.”

Sound relevant? Seems to me that’s exactly what we need right now, both individually and collectively, and apparently so did some members of Congress. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed last year has made promoting financial literacy and accessibility one of its top priorities.

While we wait for that priority to materialize, and because women are particularly vulnerable to economic insecurity, you may want to get started on some resources for exploring financial literacy for women and girls.There’s something for almost everyone on the Women page at mymoney.gov. The Girls Inc.Economic Literacy Program looks like it provides a great head start for girls. I wish I had something like that when I was a girl, or a resource like the Women's Institute for Financial Education when I was at some personal financial crossroads.

Whether you’re occupying your home, office or a public space near you, a little financial literacy goes a long way. Happy exploring, and stay tuned for more on women and economics.

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

After years of a tenuous truce on the issue of abortion in the General Assembly, Senate leaders amended a non-controversial but critical piece of health care legislation to include language that would effectively ban abortion coverage on the Rhode Island health insurance exchange, our new health insurance marketplace that is the cornerstone of health care reform. With less than an hour to review the proposed language, pro-choice advocates were caught off-guard by this backdoor attack on women’s health, and Senate leadership revealed the conservatism of their chamber by refusing to remove the language.

Five other states had already passed identical restrictions and we found ourselves wondering - will Rhode Island be the next Mississippi?

Through the organizing and advocacy work of hundreds of Rhode Islanders, and a few dedicated elected officials, we were able to stop the Senate version of the health exchange bill from becoming law. Yet the underlying problem remains: a handful of anti-choice legislators were able to hold the future of health care reform, and with it tens of millions of dollars in federal funding to expand access to quality affordable health care, hostage over the issue of a women’s right to choose. I don’t know about you, but that scares me.

A few short weeks ago, Governor Chafee issued an Executive Order establishing the Health Benefits Exchange in time to secure federal funding, and thankfully he did so without placing additional restrictions on women’s health thus maintaining the status quo prohibitions on state or federal funding for abortion.  

Yet this fight is far from over. Anti-choice activists have latched onto health care reform efforts as a vehicle to steadily chip away at women’s reproductive rights. They are more than willing to endanger Rhode Island’s efforts to rein in spiraling health care costs and expand access to 140,000 uninsured Rhode Islanders to do so.

An educated and engaged electorate is critical to creating a functioning democracy. If you are as concerned about this as I am, and if you don’t know whether you Senator is pro-choice –give them a call today and find out.

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

When I was a girl, I wanted to be a rabbi.  I wasn’t particularly committed to my religion, it’s just that back then only men were allowed to be rabbis.  I wanted to prove to the world that women are just as effective leaders, just as powerful communicators, and just as knowledgeable as men. In my youthful enthusiasm, it came down to thinking that anything a man could do, a woman could do better. As an adult, I know life isn’t a competition between men and women; it is a conversation where all voices need to be heard.

While I didn’t become the first female ordained rabbi, I learned from my family – and my religious beliefs – that social justice is important.  After college, I roamed around a bit in the nonprofit sector, working for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, writing grants for community health centers and immigrant organizations, and then headed to graduate school for a degree in public policy. There, I researched immigrant women who became activists, despite cultural norms telling them to stay home and stay quiet.  I interviewed women-serving organizations to find out if foundations truly cared about their work.  Then, I moved to Rhode Island to start a career in health care for the uninsured.

In 2001, I became a mother. Frustrated with Rhode Island’s parental leave policies for adoptive parents, I launched a campaign to alter our state Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) to offer parity between adoption and maternity leave. After a few legislative sessions and participating in a commission to study the issue, legislators finally reached a compromise:  a state tax credit for families that adopt from the foster care system.  While the compromise is helpful, it didn’t fundamentally change the way we value parenting. 

My mother’s generation may have broken the glass ceiling, but the plexi-glass ones of work and motherhood are still in place.  My husband’s aunt, who is a retired union president and mother of three, let me in on her secret, “Oh, honey, you can have everything.  Just not at the same time.”

Her advice may be today's reality for women and girls, but very few - if any - men and boys ever receive that message. I want my sons to know that life is about finding meaningful work, loving relationships, creating a just society, and, sometimes, compromise. Mostly, I want them to know that balancing our aspirations with the day-to-day realities of family life isn’t just women’s work.

I am excited that this year I will not only be a Women’s Fund of Rhode Island blogger, but also a Women’s Policy Fellow.  My cohort of seven women includes public servants, nonprofit employees, small business owners, advocates, and retirees, all of whom believe that we need to create public policies that embody gender equality in Rhode Island. I will be blogging about the progress (and, no doubt, obstacles) faced by the Policy Institute Fellows.

Let’s get the conversation going! What’s the future you hope for?

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.

A third-grade boy was picking on another boy. I don’t remember what he was saying, nor how the other boy was responding, but I obviously found it unacceptable and a primal instinct took over; I grabbed his finger and yanked it back as far it could go. He yelped like a puppy and everyone pointed and laughed at him. Someone needed to put him in his place. Unfortunately for him, I was not only a kindergartner but also a girl. My teacher told me girls weren’t supposed to act that way. Regardless, I continued to stand up for boys and girls.

It did not take long for me to realize that girls got the brunt of unfairness, and not just by kids, but by teachers and other adults. I began to comment on anything I deemed unfair, which was a lot. My parents rolled their eyes as I harped on about unfairness and inequality. Eventually, they began calling me “The Mouth.” They still do but it hasn’t stopped me from using my voice and taking action. However, I’m more rational now and no longer turn to violence. 

My concern for women and girls motivates my professional work. In my current position at Women’s Center of Rhode Island, I work with the community to develop strategies to prevent teen dating and domestic violence in Providence. My goal is not to raise awareness but to change attitudes and behaviors. Knowledge is not enough; we must act.

As a Women’s Fund of Rhode Island blogger, I will write about issues that affect women and girls on a daily basis. I will update you on efforts to create change at the state and community level. You can expect to read stories about women’s accomplishments and new opportunities for girls, as well frustrating news about the poor conditions and violence women face in Rhode Island. I’ll do my best to keep you informed, for better or worse. 

I hope you enjoy my entries and my righther cohorts’! 

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.  

I’m really looking forward to exploring some areas of mutual interest with you on this site.  So you’ll know which paths I’ll be heading down most often, here’s a bit more about me:

I’m the middle of five children of a British mother and German-American father who met and married while they were both serving in the military during World War II. Both their stories and silence about their wartime experiences contributed to me becoming an advocate for peace.

I grew up in between two brothers and was considered a tomboy.  My first feminist act may have been questioning why my brother and his fellow Cub Scouts were handling ropes and knives while I was learning how to set a proper table and make hospital corners on a bed in Brownies.

I married and had children early, so the women’s movement of the 60s and 70s was more spectator than contact sport for me, but it definitely had an effect on my marriage and childrearing. I was a full-time mother and homemaker until my divorce, and then juggled those roles with both work and school for many years thereafter. My two daughters are both grown, married and mothers with careers – one in an office and one in the home. I’m continually interested in how women of all ages are handling the work-life balancing act.

My own career path in prevention,  human service and  education has included work with abused and neglected children; substance abuse and violence prevention in schools, communities and prisons; HIV/AIDS client support; and facilitating dialogue on challenging topics. My column “That’s What She Said” in the Providence Phoenix allowed me to blow off steam on a regular basis.

Ten years ago on September 11^th, 2001 I was directing a media literacy project in some Providence elementary schools. We were producing a video on bullying that explored options to hitting back. Our nation’s response to the terrorist attacks made me realize how unsupported that concept is in a war culture. When the project ended, I enrolled in the Gender and Peacebuilding program at the University for Peace in Costa Rica to gain a more global perspective and learn how women can become more involved in peacebuilding.

I’m in the generation who are now involved in what I call the second caretaking – assisting our parents in their elder years and end of life experiences and in the process thinking a lot more about our own. I’m pleased that the Women’s Fund recently released a report on older women in Rhode Island and look forward to continuing that conversation, along with other topics of equality in this blog. 

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.  

Contents of this blog constitute the opinion of the author, and the author alone; they do not represent the views and opinions of Women's Fund of Rhode Island.