Last night I heard amazing ladies–Laura Flanders, Carol Jenkins, Gloria Steinem, Marlene Sanders, Mary Thom, Marie Wilson, Pat Mitchell, and newfound friend Suzanne Braun Levine–talk about women, media and politics (“From Bella to Hillary”) at The Paley Center. I promise promise promise to post about it early next week.

I’m rushing off to catch my plane for Chicago, where I’ll be doing a blogging workshop at the Council on Contemporary Families Conference (with the help of blogger extraordinaire Veronica Arreola). If the conference venue is wired, I’ll try to do some live-blogging from the conference, but if not, I’ll be back over here on Monday of course.

Meanwhile, tonight kicks off the second class of Progressive Women’s Voices back in NYC and I’m only bummed I won’t be in town to join them all for dinner. (The WMC crew are now accepting apps for the 3rd class, btw, so if you didn’t make it this time, you can try again!)

And on a personal note, my parents are currently in Turkey, teaching therapists over there and getting hot stone massages. Not that I’m jealous or anything.

Happy spring weekends to all…!

Rushing off to catch a plane, but some quick news tidbits to share before I go, courtesy of Rebekah S:

Girl racers in USA Today: They thrive in the vast proving ground of the hugely popular sport of auto racing, where girls learn to drive by the age of 5 and go from zero to 80 by the age of 12. The vehicles they are racing are go-karts, not cars, but they are driving nonetheless. For them, the phrase “woman driver” is not another era’s term of derision. It’s simply the job title they covet.

40+ women in NY Times: Interview with some boldface names about their new Internet company, Women on the Web, or wowOwow.com. The site, a dishy, uncensored, freewheeling version of The View is their effort to create an online forum for women over 40 interested in smart discussions. (Oh my gosh – that’s almost me)

FMLA in Washington Post: This year marks the 15th anniversary of the landmark Family and Medical Leave Act, which made it possible for many workers to take unpaid job-protected time off to care for their newborn children or sick relatives. But instead of celebrating, workers’ rights advocates and the Bush administration are battling over what would be the most sweeping revisions ever to the law.

Variety: GLAAD Media Awards reality TV nominees – Gay Characters Just Another Slice Of Life

Well, today is Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, an event I’ve long thought a brilliant conception–especially when it used to be just for girls. But I get it, I get it, esp. when it’s a case of boys seeing Mommy at Work. According to the official literature, the day is designed to be more than a career day:

For over 15 years, the program’s development of new, interactive activities and partnerships has helped us in taking girls and boys to the future they dream of.

This year’s program theme, “Making Choices for a Better World,” centers on “encouraging girls and boys to consider the options they have and make choices for a better world. This means making choices to serve the community and one’s family, to care for one’s body and health, and to make better choices that impact our environment, as well as one’s future.”

Cool. And how can you argue with that. But still, I can’t help but feel the language lost something in the translation from daughters to daughters and sons–and you know what an advocate I am for including boys/men in the feminist conversation.

Helaine Olen (co-author of Office Mate: The Employee Handbook for Finding and Managing Romance on the Job and a contributor to the forthcoming book The Maternal Is Political) has a different bone to pick, and I’m not sure how I feel about her critique. Helaine rails against it in a piece in Newsday, writing:

If the past is any guide, several million children nationwide will accompany their parents to work today, participating in the annual rite of spring known as Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. Moms and dads across the United States will allow their kids to play in their offices, running through cube farms and “assisting” at cash registers, all in the name of breaking down the mystique that exists between work and family.

Yet in a world of home offices, moms on the playground taking business calls by cell phone, and dads answering queries on their BlackBerries at school events, it’s quite likely that children are all too aware of the importance of paid employment to their parents. What they really need is a lesson in the value of taking time to kick back and relax.

She goes on to call for an official event to teach America’s children about the importance of downtime, concluding: “We can call it Let Your Daughters and Sons See Mom and Dad Do Absolutely Nothing Day. Any takers?”

Now, I’m not a parent (yet) so maybe I’m off kilter here. But I still think the event is a good idea. What do y’all think – especially you parents out there? Is it a good thing, or a pain? Did it lose something in the translation when it switched to include boys? What’s been the experience of folks who’ve done it?

If I had a kid and I took them to work today, they’d be spending the entire day in Starbucks, watching mommy type. Thrilling, no doubt.

I just learned about a new project from Think Girl: “I Was There: Stories from the Feminist Front.” Think Girl’s Executive Director Sarah Morgan explains that she was inspired to begin this project after reading Susan Brownmiller’s description of her work on reproductive rights during the Roe v Wade fight. Writes Sarah, “Her first person account of rallying, flyering, marching and, finally, celebrating struck a cord with me and I wanted to read more.” After reading The Feminist Memoir Project: Voices from Women’s Liberation, she decided she wanted to deepen the dialogue on feminism and anti-racism, to cull past and present stories of activism, and to bridge generational divides between feminists.

In this spirit, Think Girl is asking women of all ages, races and backgrounds to submit stories of their work as activists for women’s issues. (Think: A Radical Chicken Soup for the Feminist Soul.) Their hope is that first person stories of strength, perseverance and courage will serve as inspiration to women and girls as they continue their work in or enter the movement.

Stories will be posted weekly at ThinkGirl.net, and they also aim to publish a collection of these stories.

So what’s Think Girl, you ask? Here’s a bit about them:

Locally, Think Girl bridges women in Metro Detroit: women of all races and ethnicities, of low- and middle-income, of all body abilities, of spiritual and secular beliefs, and from Detroit and the suburbs. They present educational workshops for preteen girls on media literacy and body image, women’s history and feminism, and challenging stereotypes. Think Girl believes in feminist activism that is both global and local. We aim to center women of color in our dialogues and activism, and to represent the ways in which all social justice movements intersect.. Globally, our web site links activists with women’s news, educational resources, and personal writings. We hope to help girls and women understand feminism’s past and present, and encourage them to contribute to its future. We are co-organizing The Feminist Summit, a national conference coming to Detroit in May 2009.

More info here.

This just in, from my friends at New Moon:

25 Girls Nominate Themselves As Most Beautiful…Just They Way They Are.

Eighty percent of 10-year-old American girls diet. The number one magic wish for young girls age 11-17 is to be thinner. (justthink.org) Studies show that reading “teen magazines” and having exposure to thin models creates lower self esteem, body dissatisfaction, decreased confidence and potential eating disorder symptoms in young girls (mediafamily.org)

By age 13, approximately 53% of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies”. This number will increase to 78% once girls reach 17 years of age. (National Institute on Media and the Family)

In the May/June 2008 25 Beautiful Girls issue of New Moon, the magazine puts a new twist on the annual theme by asking girls to nominate themselves as beautiful girls. The magazine entitled Toot Your Own Horn, features twenty-five girls from around the country who wrote essays explaining what makes them beautiful. The issue brings together compelling evidence of the ability for girls to see themselves for who they really are…and find it beautiful. Nominations for the 2009 “25 Beautiful Girls” issue are due by September 15, 2008. For more information visit, www.newmoonmagazine.org.

And BTW, New Moon is sweeping up awards. The mag recently received the 2008 Parents’ Choice Gold Award for best children’s magazine and has garnered nine Parent’s Choice Foundation Awards, five Educational Press Association of America Design and Editorial Awards, a National Association for Multicultural Education award, a Folio Award and the Association of Educational Publishers prestigious Golden Lamp Award in 2006.

While we were all focused on PA, the Republicans were busy filibustering to prevent a vote on the Fair Pay Act. NOW has been tirelessly fighting for this on all of our behalf. As Kim Gandy tells it, there’s nothing new in this bill. Writes Kim, “The Fair Pay Act just gives women back the rights that the Supreme Court took away last May. Simple, right?” For the latest, which isn’t good, click here.

And do check out the interview with Lily Ledbetter in TAP. Here’s the preamble:

Of all the appalling decisions the Roberts Court issued last year, one of the worst was the 5-4 ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, which gutted the equal-pay provisions of the Civil Rights Act and overturned a decades-old employment-law precedent.

The plaintiff, Lilly Ledbetter, worked for nearly two decades at a Goodyear Tire plant in Gadsden, Alabama. She brought an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint against Goodyear after she discovered that for years she had been paid less than male co-workers with the same job. The justices ruled that employees can only file a wage-discrimination complaint within 180 days of when the payroll decision was made.

After the Supreme Court issued its decision, which leaves women and minorities in Ledbetter’s situation with no recourse, congressional Democrats pledged to pass legislation that would give employees two years to file a complaint, in accordance with the law before the Supreme Court issued its decision. The Senate is considering the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act this week, and TAP talked with Ledbetter, who was in Washington to push for the bill’s passage.

Read the interview here.

I just saw a clip from The League of First Time Voters on CNN and must say I’m impressed with what CNN is doing over there. I just watched a panel of young women — first time voters, all — talk with the host about the issues. Nice site. I urge folks to check it out.

Quick hit post-game coverage of yesterday’s results:

Allison Stevens at Women’s eNews (“Women’s Vote Gives Clinton Pennsylvania Win”) notes, “White women went particularly strong for Clinton, with 64 percent backing Clinton and 36 percent for Obama.” And goes on to quote Ellen Bravo: “‘Some of it is gender identity and some of it is admiring her on other grounds,’ said Ellen Bravo, an Obama supporter who is former director of 9to5, the National Association of Working Women, an advocacy group in Milwaukee. ‘Some of it may also be race. I don’t think it’s so simple.'” Obama, in turn, drew heavy female support from African-American, young and anti-war women.

PunditMom shares insights culled from Pennsylvania college students.

And over at Addie Stan, some folks just want to Make. It. Stop.

Last night I informally celebrated the 90th birthday of one of my mentors and guides: Mariam Chamberlain, founding president of the National Council for Research on Women, major funder of women’s studies back when she was at the Ford Foundation, economist at Harvard from the days when women didn’t do such things. Mariam was surrounded by the young women who know and love her from our various stints working at the Council. (I worked there for two years straight outa college, and then returned for another round after I finished my PhD.) When conversation came round to the election, my favorite response came from friend and former colleague Gwendolyn Beetham, who simply said: “I’m for whoever is going to be McCain.” After amazing lemon cake from Buttercup, all rushed home to watch the returns.

To Mariam (who is on email daily): May your 90th year be filled with hope, love, continued faith in the vitality of a women’s movement in all its flavors, and a candidate who can beat McCain.

All this generational conversation of late has made me want to take action and create more space for young people to speak their mind. So come fall, I’ll be taking it to the campuses some more. If interested in bringing me to yours, please do get in touch! Here’s the blurb:

Talkin ’bout My Generation: Youth, Gender, Race and the 2008 Election

Young voters—and female ones in particular—have been the subject of heated debate in an election where race and gender matter like never before. But what do young voters really think about gender, feminism, race, and the Presidential election? In this talk, feminist author/cultural critic Deborah Siegel sheds fresh light on media myths and real-life generational rifts that surfaced during primary season. Join Deborah for a lively, interactive forum in which members of the so-called postfeminist, post-Civil Rights generation are invited to freely speak their minds.

For more info, please contact Speaking Matters at info@speakingmatters.org.

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