women’s leadership

As I wrap up this liveblogging session from the Brooklyn Museum, a gooey little confession about how the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art holds a special place in my heart:

This summer, the month before I married, instead of the traditional (cough cough) bachelorette party, friends organized a picnic accompanied by a private tour of Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party, housed at the Center.  What better way to mark the moment, we figured.  And what an amazing opportunity this was to learn about this pivotal piece of feminist art, long buried, and to reconnect with it as members of a new generation.

So it is with extra special love that I wish the Center many happy returns–and TONS of future visitors–on this, its second birthday!

For those of you just joining, here, in chronological order, are 5 posts blogged live from “Women’s Visions for the Nation: What’s It Going to Take?”, a speakout held by the intergenerational feminist thinktank, Unfinished Business, celebrating the 2nd anniversary of the Elizabeth Sackler Center for Feminist Art on this sunny March afternoon.  Quite a gathering of feminists and ideas.  Enjoy.

Liveblogging Women’s Visions for the Nation @ Brooklyn Museum

Elizabeth Sackler Revs It Up

C. Nicole Mason Keynotes

Laura Flanders Emcees

Esther Broner and Ai-jen Poo Take the Stage

Let the Intergenerational Speakout Begin

What Will the Feminist New Deal Look Like?

Closing Thoughts from Esther Broner, Ai-jen Poo, and HipHop Artist Toni Blackman

Liz Abzug Brings It Home

This just in from my friends over at the WMC: Obama To Create White House Women’s Council!

Turns out White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett will be chairing a White House Council on Women and Girls, created by Obama TODAY. Tina Tchen, director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, will serve as executive director of the group. Read all about it here.

HAPPY WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH! AND HERE’S TO MAKING MORE! (Women’s history, that is.)

(Is it still liveblogging if it’s the next day?!  I had no Internet access while I wrote this, so am posting it here today.  Crossposted soon at The REAL Deal, too.)

I’m sitting in a very crowded auditorium at 3 World Financial Center, home of American Express, and the sun is pouring in on one of the coldest days of the year.  We’re about to be warmed by the annual panel that takes place the afternoon of the National Council for Research on Women’s evening-time gala, the Making a Difference for Women Awards.

This year’s panel, “An Immodest Proposal: Advancing a New Era of Social Justice” (kudos on the title, NCRW!) features Co-President of the National Women’s Law Center Marcia Greenberger, Chancellor and President of Syracuse University Nancy Cantor, Accenture / Microsoft / PepsiCo Director Dina Dublon, and Columbia University law professor and Nation columnist Patricia Williams.  The Takeaway co-host Adaora Udoji, whose voice I wake up to each morning, will be moderating.

There is nothing modest about this crowd of female movers and shakers from corporate, academic, and nonprofit spheres.  The NCRW staff—of which I used to be part—has clearly done an excellent job spreading word.  It’s a dazzling lineup.  Let the conversation begin!

Adaora: First question is for Nancy.  What can you tell us about advancing a new era of social justice in education?

Nancy: The idea of the ivory tower as a monastic place is breaking down.  What that means is we have no understanding of the groups we’re leaving behind.  How do we level the playing field of education?  If we don’t find ways to strengthen our connections to our communities, cities, rural areas, and bring in the population, we’re going to be stagnant.

Adaora: Are we seeing that 50% female leadership in education yet?

Nancy: No, not at all.  What we are seeing at all levels is girls falling off the map as we go up.

Adaora: Why is that?

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Yep, Michelle’s gonna be the cover of March 2009 Vogue!

For the latest from Michelle-Obama-watching Gina McCauley (creator of the Michelle Obama Watch blog), check out the latest at Broadsheet.

“It’s like a mass public vivisection where we project all of our hopes, dreams, fears, neuroses and psychoses on to one person,” says Gina.  Sooo familiar.  Um, Hillary Clinton, anyone?

And speaking of projections, definitely check out the spread on Sarah Palin in the latest issue of More.  More from me on that soon.

I’ve been waiting for an article about Michelle Obama’s emerging role beyond M-i-C to emerge.  And here it is (phew!):

Michelle Obama Crafts Policy Agenda, Politico.com: As she prepares to step out beyond her role as the self-described “mom in chief,” Michelle Obama has been busy behind the scenes crafting a policy-driven agenda that will bring working-family issues into the White House.

Go Michelle, go.

(Thanks to WMC’s Rebekah for the heads up)

As Barack and Michelle (hey, are we all still on a first name basis, now that they are official?) settle into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, I find myself fascinated by every move they make.  And it’s hard not to make comparisons.  Everyone from Jezebel to the WSJ has compared Michelle O to Jackie O (try here, here, and here) and the fashion mags are all gaga over her style, but it seems to me there are some far more interesting–and more substantive–historical analogies going on.

Check out these excerpts from a March 1933 AP article reported by Lorena Hickock, about Eleanor Roosevelt’s first day as First Lady.  The article is titled “New ‘First Lady’, Made Solemn By Inaugural, Lays Plans To Simplify White House Life; To Cut Expense”:

“The crowds were so tremendous,” Mrs. Roosevelt added softly. “And you felt that they would do anything – if only someone would tell them what to do.

“I felt that particularly, because when Franklin got to that part of his speech in which he said it might become necessary for him to assume powers ordinarily granted to a President in war time, he received his biggest demonstration.”

Mrs. Roosevelt moved over to one of the wide windows and stared thoughtfully out across the White House grounds at the Virginia hills, softly outlined against a grey afternoon sky.

“No one,” she said, “at all close to people in public life today can fail to realize that we are all of us facing extremely critical times.

“No woman entering the White House, if she accepts the fact that it belongs to the people and therefore must be representative of whatever conditions the people are facing, can light-heartedly take up her residence here.

“One has a feeling of going in blindly, because we’re in a tremendous stream, and none of us knows where we’re going to land.

“…Neither Franklin nor I would want to do anything that would detract from the White House dignity, which we both love,” she said. “But I believe things can be made a good deal simpler without that.

“It should be done, I think, to save the time and the strength of a man as busy as a president must be. And now, of all times, there is no occasion for display.

“…My feeling about the White House is that it belongs to the people. Their taxes support it. It is really theirs. And as far as possible they should be made to feel welcome here. They shouldn’t have the feeling that they are shut out.

“I realize, of course, that there are limitations. There are times when one can’t receive visitors. There are times when a family has got to have privacy. After all, we’re living here, you see.

“But the lower floors, away from our living quarters, will be open to the public even more, if I can manage it, than they have been in the past. And I want the visitors to be given every courtesy.”

Interesting, given the way the Obamas opened the White House to public visitors on Day 1.  For a good counter to the Jackie-Michelle comparison, check out this historically-informed little piece in Newsweek, “Why Michelle Obama Is Not the Next Jackie O”.

And on a less serious note, how’s this for bit of useless yet kind of interesting First Lady trivia: Eleanor Roosevelt was the only first lady taller than Michelle Obama (who stands at 5’11).  Eleanor topped her by an inch.

(Thanks to Marco for the heads up.)

I’ve seen books that teach you how to apply lessons from private life to leadership in the office, but this one  takes leadership skills from the office and applies them to the home. The whole premise of Jamie Woolf’s Mom-in-Chief: How Wisdom from the Workplace Can Save Your Family from Chaos is that “being a mom means being a leader,” and the foreword is by none other than CEO of Working Mother Media Carol Evans.  While I have yet to pass judgment on whether business strategies that work in the workplace transfer to parenthood, what I’m most interested in here is the way the author has fortuitously capitalized on the Michele Obama moment to promote her book–a book that was finished, I am sure, long before Obama won the election.  Ingenius, I say.

Here’s from the promo material:

Michelle Obama Has What It Takes to Be Mom-in-Chief:
5 Lessons in Leadership That Mothers Can Learn From the New First Lady

Michelle Obama has stated that her focus when her husband takes office Jan. 20 will be serving as “mom-in-chief” to her daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7. Leadership expert Jamie Woolf, author of Mom-in-Chief: How Wisdom from the Workplace Can Save Your Family from Chaos (Jossey-Bass; 288 pages; $22.95) examines how Obama will lead her family through this challenging transition.

When President-elect Barack Obama moves into the White House, his aides and supporters will celebrate his historic achievement. His wife and kids will be glad he’ll finally be home for dinner. 
Michelle Obama, a high-powered lawyer and executive administrator, values family life and says she will strive to give her daughters as normal a life as possible despite their being in the pubic eye. While she intends to use her platform as first lady to be an advocate for women’s issues, military families and national service, her priority will be her children, not policy–especially in the first transition year.

Jamie Woolf, whose book teaches moms how to use “best practices” from the workplace to make family life run more smoothly, says that adopting business leadership strategies can make the difference between a smooth and a chaotic transition for any family. Here are the lessons she draws from Michelle Obama:

Lesson 1: Motherhood is a leadership job: By calling herself “mom-in-chief,’ Michelle Obama sends a message that being a mom means being a leader, giving her job a status not usually afforded mothers. By celebrating her role rather than apologizing for it, she connects the notion of leadership beyond the walls of corporate suites and presidential mansions to the homes of average parents. The best leaders, like the best parents, strive to provide the proper conditions in which others can grow and reach their highest aspirations.
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We’ve been marinating on 2008; what an incredible year! Turbulent, exciting and really most of our wishes seemed to be granted in one fell swoop with the outcome of the US election.

There was China’s Olympic moment of glory, the first female Mayor in Egypt and of course the highs and lows of the U.S. election and then the same sex marriage Proposition in California. For all the leaps forward there is still more to be done for gender equality globally. Next year we want more inclusion! We wanted to share our top 5 wishes en route to inclusion. Enjoy and add your own in comments.

Our Top 5:
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Do check out the latest forum at The REAL Deal (the blog of the Nat’l Council for Research on Women, where, full disclosure, I’m consulting!)  Kyla Bender-Baird took the lead on this one, and she’s pulled together a wonderful chorus of voices voicing hopes and dreams at this moment in history.  The posts comprising the forum include:

The Next Generation of Women Leaders Speak Out, by NCRW’s Kyla Bender-Baird

Big Dreams for Michelle Obama, by GWP’s own Courtney Martin

Turning from Fear to Hope in Politics and Leadership, by Julie Zeilinger, who lives in Pepper Pike, OH and is a sophomore at the Hawken School, and whose young woman’s feminist website, www.thefbomb.org will launch in February, 2009.

Bringing Marginalized Women to the Forefront of Politics, by Jeanie Adkins, Development Associate, The Mautner Project

Safe to be Idealistic Again, by Jaime Holmes, Graduate Assistant, The Institute for Teaching and Research on Women at Towson

Moving towards New Leadership and Opening New Possibilities, by GWP’s own Gwendolyn Beetham

Looking Past the U.S. Borders in the Next Four Years, by Emily Falk, Senior Associate, Brand Management Marketing, Catalyst

Feel free to speak YOUR mind and be part of the forum by posting comments at the site.  And if you like what you see over there, link love much appreciated, of course!

This morning I heard the most inspiring talk from one of the most inspiring women I know, Miss Jacki Zehner. The talk was sponsored by 85 Broads, an organization of power women set up to educate, empower and connect talented women across industries, generations, and geographies, and the room was filled with said women — including author Leslie Bennetts, SheSpot guru Lisa Witter, and NCRW leader Linda Basch. When I got up to circulate, I heard three women say, “I wish I had given that speech.” It was just that kind of speech. The title? “Are YOU Ready for a Revolution?”

This here’s a pic of Jacki climbing a chair as she takes off her power jacket to unveil the Wonder Woman girl power t-shirt she’s wearing underneath. And that was only the start. I mean, that was the end of the striptease, but the beginning of a speech on making the personal political–a favorite theme of mine–in which she urged us all to push past our comfort zones. Jacki did, when she took on Goldman Sachs, where she was formerly a partner, in her ballsy (female anatomy equivalent here) post at HuffPo last month, called “Why Are Goldman’s Women Invisible?”.

Jacki blogs at 85 Broads, and at her own blog PursePundit, at HuffPo, and is soon to be a media star, I just know it. Look out world, cause Purse Pundit is on the LOOSE. The woman walks her talk, bringing the message to a sector where revolution is not exactly water cooler conversation: the corporate sphere.

So she got me thinking, where are the edges of my comfort zone? Where are yours?