Dear readers: I need your help! I’m compiling a list of interesting blogs by women scholars (you know, like BitchPhD, Feminist Law Professors Blog, CultureCat, Baxter Sez, Afrogeekmom…) as part of my mission to entice even more women scholars to bring their perspective and analysis into the blogosphere. I’m looking in particular for examples of blogs that balance astute cultural, social, or political commentary with a-day-in-the-life. If you have one to suggest, please comment here. I’ll post the resulting list here on G w/ Pen soon.

Guidelines for Guest Scholarblogging are available here.

I’m excited and delighted to be part of this panel.

In case anyone is wondering where we got our name, it was inspired by the line from the Country and Western song by Ed Bruce (who also wrote such other classics as “Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies to Grow up to Be Cowboys”) that goes like this, “There’s girls, and there’s women and there’s ladies. There’s yeses, there’s no’s and there’s maybes.” It makes me laugh every time I hear it. Here’s the whole song; it’s a good example of the C and W storytelling that endears itself to my Texas-born heart in spite of my feminist soul:

There was only me and her and him
The bar was giving last call so I thought I’d move on in
And I was slick and feeling like a man so I took the stool between ’em
And ordered one more round for me and her and him
I placed my arms across the back of her barstool
And I don’t remember what I said but at the time it sounded cool
She pushed her drink away and never looked at me
She just paid her tab tipped the man and left me sittin’ there alone with him
And he said there’s girls and there’s women and there’s ladies
There’s yes’es and there’s no’s and there’s maybe’s
There’s teasin’ and pleasin’ they start learnin’ when they’re babies
There’s girls and there’s women and there’s ladies
Well he pushed his old straw hat back and he grinned
And he said ain’t they all a mystery ha ha sonny it’s a sin
They’re all sittin’ on the world they’re tryin’ to win
Ah but you know I love a mystery
So let’s drink another round to you and me and them
He said there’s girls…There’s girls and there’s women…He said there’s girls…

Language usage is one of the most important elements of any conversation about women in the world today. When Hillary Clinton recently said about herself, “I’m your girl”, she stirred up a little dust. I tend to think we women have simply matured past the need to rail against the word once we had made it our own little joke and/or sign of mutual affection. We took its power back from men who in the past used it as a way to demean and infantilize us. I don’t know whether Hillary’s use of “girl” was contrived, but it strikes me as a bit of self-deprecating humor of the sort that candidates need to use from time to time to show they are human.

What do others think?

The movie version of The Nanny Diaries opened last week, and my good friend and fellow traveler Heather Hewett, Coordinator of the Women’s Studies Program at SUNY-New Paltz, has an extremely smartypants op-ed on it all today in the Washington Post titled “Who’s Your Nanny?”. Muses Heather,

I can’t help noting how little the story has to do with reality — either with the situation of parents like me, who depend on nannies and babysitters to care for our children, or with the lives of most women who work as caregivers.

She goes on to contrast reality (the feminization of migration) with the nanny fantasies that currently abound in pop culture — not only The Nanny Diaries, but a slew of so-called reality tv shows and plays. I find Heather’s op-ed an excellent example of accessible writing that surveys the latest theory and pop thinking on the subject and makes us all think. GO HEATHER!

There’s an interesting trio of articles in the current issue of the New York Press: “By the Numbers” by David Crone, “Working Girls” by Marin Resnick, and “Who Needs Work?” by Gaije Kushner. I find the headline on the cover (“City’s White Collar Women Shatter the Glass Ceiling) to be at odds with the emphases of the articles (glass ceiling not so shattered). I’m all for celebrating progress, but the cover message sends an inaccurate message, one that is debunked in the issue’s very pages. What gives?

On another note, I love what they’ve done with the Rosie the Riveter image, updating her to represent the more ethnic face of New York. But wait – isn’t she wearing a blue collar, though the headline is all about white? Now I’m double confused.

(Thank you to Marco, always on the hunt for visuals, for pointing me to this cover.)

I feel like I have been blessed with some of the most amazing mentors a girl could ask for, but I have also–to be down-and-dirty honest–had some really horrifying experiences with older women. Think body image expert not eating her own birthday cake, a thesis adviser who only pretended to read my blood, sweat, and tears work, and a racist, chain-smoking Devil Wears Prada boss.

When I was in my young 20s, I often took the bad to heart (waaaaay to heart), and though I think it made me stronger and more resilient, I also want to prevent that from happening to the next generation of youngins. Sure there are bad eggs everywhere, but the more that women can “out” some of our most toxic intergenerational thoughts, the less of them there will be.

Plus, we just have so much important work to do. And so much outrageous fun to have. I can assure you I am already having an absolute blast collaborating with Gloria, Debbie, and Kristal. Who knew work could be so fun?

Young women think empowerment means short skirts and high heels! They are so entitled!

Older women can’t let go of their leadership positions and they’re so damn judgmental! It’s like they don’t even want young women to succeed!

Sound familiar?

With all the important work to do, it is time that women of all ages talked and listened to one another instead of rehashing the same cliquish complaints in isolation. It is time that we reopen a dialogue about women’s lives, power, entitlement, and empowerment from a generational perspective.

The four of us–Kristal Brent Zook, Gloria Feldt, Courtney E. Martin, and Deborah Siegel—are taking it on the road to spark just this discussion and we figured this would be a great online home for all of our thoughts, fights, and insights.

We are four diverse, feminist authors representing generations from Generation Y to pre-Baby Boomer and we want to ask the tough questions:

• Are young women really opting out of the workforce?
• Do older women really think of their employees as [overly?] entitled?
• How can younger women express gratitude and learn from their elders and visa versa?
• How can older women listen and cede power to the next generation?
• What do power and empowerment look like to women of different generations?
• Does liberated sexuality equal Paris Hilton? Madonna? Bisexuality?
• What is the major unfinished business for women in the workplace today?
• How do we keep our eyes on the prize of equality and opportunity for all?

Stay tuned for our intergenerational explorations of these issues, and so many others. And by all means, join in! Here’s to women who have ideas and aren’t afraid to use them…

Girl with Pen’s first Guest Scholarblogger post comes to you from a researcher who happens to be a dear old friend. Introducing Rebecca London, Ph.D., Director of Research at Stanford University’s John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities. Rebecca lives on California’s central coast with her husband and two school-age daughters. She’s frequently quoted in the press as an expert on poverty, youth, and working motherhood. She makes a mean strawberry margherita. Here she is!

Mom and Dad Are Busy: Schooling Our Schools
By Rebecca London, Ph.D.

Summer is dwindling, days are getting shorter, and parents everywhere are sighing in relief as their children return to school. I was contemplating this freedom when I realized that this year, with my younger daughter headed to kindergarten at our local public school, I will have this and my older daughter’s 2nd grade class in which I’ll be expected to volunteer. (I say “I” here because it is my experience that the mother is expected, but in my family my husband and I tend to share this responsibility.) Between my nearly full-time job and my hour-long commute that can only be done off-hours, how in the world am I going to manage this?

“Parental involvement” in school is the new way of characterizing the activities performed by the PTA and room mothers from our childhoods. Now, in addition to organizing bake sales and class picnics, schools and teachers want and expect all parents to contribute, especially with their time in the classroom. There is actually a good reason for this. Several years ago the National Research Council compiled research on the characteristics of youth-serving settings that turn out the most well-developed adults (for the executive summary, click here). A key to success, it turns out, is placing youth at the center of the intersection of family and school (and also community, a topic for another post). But for this to happen, family and school need to meaningfully intersect. In many cases, they don’t.

As challenging as it is for me – with my professional job and long commute – to find time to volunteer in my daughters’ classrooms, imagine what it would be like if I had a low-wage service job with no flexibility. Or if I didn’t speak English very well or knew that my education level was lower than that of every teacher and staff member at the school. What if I felt like I was never good at school and didn’t want that to rub off on my own kids, or heaven forbid, someone else’s? These are the challenges faced by parents and schools in many disadvantaged neighborhoods, where schools struggle for lack of funds and facilities, and parents struggle to provide these same life essentials for their families. If youth are to be at the center of family and school in these communities, we need to tear down the power differentials that shield the school from its parents and create opportunities beyond helping with academics, beyond being present during school hours, and beyond contributing through fundraising. Schools need to think outside the box on this one and learn from their parents what works.

As for me, I’m thinking I will run for the school site council, a body of teachers, parents, and administrators that make governing decisions for the school. I figure that because it meets after school hours, I might actually be able to manage my service without doing time during my workday. Hopefully it will count in the race to place my own kids at the center of their intersection with family and school. And for all the other parents with less flexibility and fewer resources, may their schools figure out more feasible ways for them, too, to be involved.

Email Rebecca at rebecca_london@yahoo.com

(A note from Girl with Pen: If you are a feminist-y researcher and interested in guest blogging opportunities on this space, please email me at deborahsiege@gmail.com with a few sentences describing your idea for a post.)

You MUST check out this piece by Kristal Brent Zook over at the Women’s Media Center, titled “Hillary Gets Down.” Seriously, it’s too good to miss. Go read it – go read it now!

Kristal is an award-winning journalist and author of Black Women’s Lives: Stories of Power and Pain. Keep an eye out for her forthcoming book, I See Black People: Interviews with African American Owners of Radio and Television, which will be published by Nation Books in February 2008.

I can’t wait to hit the road with Kristal this March. The two of us, Courtney Martin, and Gloria Feldt are becoming a traveling foursome that I’ve started referring to in my head as the womenladygirls. Marco thinks we need a psychedelic sisterhood bus and, of course, a logo. More on that soon.

Do check out the MotherTalk bloggers’ reviews this week of a book called Getting Unstuck Without Coming Unglued: A Woman’s Guide to Unblocking Creativity by Susan O’Doherty. Here’s the schpiel: At the age of 42, O’Doherty, a practicing psychotherapist, chose to confront the cultural demons who had been telling her all her life that the only “important” writers were men. She offers tools for managing the stress of trying to do serious creative work while holding down a job and, often, caring for a family. Sounds like, perhaps, a modern lady’s A Room of One’s Own?

Brought to you by GIRL with Pen. There. I just wanted to see if I could use women, ladies, and girls all in one post – there’s an interesting yet familiar debate going on on one of the listservs I’m on about the politics of calling ourselves girl. Dude, I’m fine with it. But I also understand the objections, and how frustrating it must seem to see younger women returning to the diminutive second-wave feminists fought against.

NEW OPPORTUNITY ON GIRL WITH PEN!: If you are a scholar who shares our mission of bridging feminist research and popular reality, is interested in blogging, and would like to try your hand at it, Girl with Pen is your place. Please contact me at deborahsiege@gmail.com for guidelines and parameters.

An amazing Stanford researcher who focuses on various issues around poverty, motherhood, and youth is going to be our first Guest Scholar/Blogger. She’ll be guest posting in this space very soon. She’s got the goods. Stay tuned!