WHM

Website Wednesday

Did you happen to catch Makers on PBS last week? It’s a documentary featuring ground breaking women and telling “the  remarkable story of the most sweeping social revolution in American history, as women have asserted their rights to a full and fair share of political power, economic opportunity, and personal autonomy… MAKERS brings this story to life with priceless archival treasures and poignant, often funny interviews with those who led the fight, those who opposed it, and those first generations to benefit from its success.”

I haven’t watched the whole thing yet, but (happily!) it’s available online. You can watch the whole thing here. Try watching the first four minutes and not want to watch the rest.

Still, perhaps you don’t have the time for a long documentary–no problem! Check out some of the individual interviews, or at least look at the names and breadth: Susan Brownmiller, Sandra Cisneros, Eve Ensler, Nora Ephron, Catherine MacKinnon, Robin Morgan, Alice Walker, and that’s just a few of the writers! It’s an amazing list of people. Surely there’s something you can use for a class, and lots of potential learning.

But maybe that’s overwhelming, too–a paradox of choice. No problem! Go to the blog, where they are presenting one story per day during March. Let them choose for you.

You’ll be glad you did.

Monday Music

It was going to be this one, because it was the first song I heard this group do (on Austin City Limits) and I love it. Then it was going to be this one because it’s a big bowl of funky soup. Then it was going to be this one because I couldn’t decide between the other two and I love every part of this song–from the percussion loops to the weird vocals (plus the ukelele reminds me of Nellie McKay and I’ll take any excuse I can find to link to her). But it’s this one. Happy Women’s History Month!

No True Scotsman: A Campaign Against Sexual Violence

I tagged this when I saw it last fall for my Social and Political Philosophy class because I thought it was amazing on multiple levels and would provoke a lot of discussion. I showed it to my class and they were pretty stoic in response which surprised me. I wonder if maybe the accents gave them trouble and they weren’t sure they heard what they think they heard. Also, it was close to the end of class. Also, it was beautiful outside.

Still, I thought I should share it here; maybe you can do something with it:

.

Oh, and I showed them this one, too, from FunnyOrDie, the week before, which they thought was funny, so maybe they were thinking it was a spoof, too.

Women’s History Month

Welcome to March, everyone.

Ivan Tejeda sent along this Women’s History Timeline, and I thought I’d share it with anyone who might want to make use.

He writes:

It’s probably for younger students, but still worth a look. Other links on this site are also of interest. If anything, it gives our students a starting point or point of reference in their Women’s Studies.

And justice for all. Thanks, Ivan!

Free History Event For Students

News of this very cool event arrived via an email from Jackie Kirley (retired History):

To friends in academic settings:  note students attend Free.

On Thursday, April 7th the Working Women’s History Project will host an event  commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the fire that changed America.

On March 25, 1911, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City took the lives of 146 workers unable to escape the fire.  Many jumped from the 9th floor; others died piled up in front of a locked door.  Almost all were immigrants.

Public outrage and grief at this horrific tragedy led to new work and safety regulations and general acceptance of collective bargaining.  Workers had struck clothing factories two years earlier to protest terrible working conditions and low pay, but to no avail at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. This tragedy brought reform.

Tickets are $25 ( $30 at the door).  They can be purchased online at www.wwhpchicago.org or by mail using the accompanying flyer.

Students attend FREE but must register by email to:  jackie@wwhpchgo.org and bring a current ID with them.

The event includes

  • a light buffet with wine
  • an original play on the Triangle Fire told from the perspectives of an attorney, one deceased young woman, one survivor – woman, a family member of victim, and the factory owner.
  • a historian who authored a book on the Triangle Fire, an OSHA compliance officer, the Midwestern VP of the American Society of Safety Engineers, and the Executive Director of Jobs with Justice who will examine changes in work safety regulations, manufacturing in a global economy, and the organizing of workers.

It is noteworthy that today America is revisiting the debate about worker rights. Come and join the discussion in the Question & Answer period following the panel.

Best,

Jackie Kirley       Information at jackie@wwhpchicago.org or 773.667.4690

Monday Music

Monday Music is a regular feature whose goal is to provide you with some music to get you fired up for another week of doing the yeoperson’s work of educating the citizenry.

A little circus music for the circus (and the broken-hearted)…

WHM Special: Girls, Women, Men, and Math

I thought this research on was absolutely stunning when I saw it on Slate last week.

In a more ambitious experiment organized with the university’s math department, the psychologists evaluated how undergraduates performed when they had male or female math professors.

They measured, for instance, how often each student responded to questions posed by professors to the classroom as a whole. At the start of the semester, 11 percent of the female students attempted to answer questions posed to the entire class when the professor was male, and 7 percent of the female students attempted to answer questions posed to the entire class when the professor was female. By the end of the semester, the number of female students who attempted to answer questions posed by a male professor had not changed significantly: Only 7 percent of the women tried to answer such questions. But when classes were taught by a woman, the percentage of female students who attempted to answer questions by the semester’s end rose to 46.

The researchers also measured how often students approached professors for help after class. Around 12 percent of the female students approached both male and female professors for help at the start of the semester. The number of female students approaching female professors was 14 percent at the end of the semester. But the number of female students asking for help from a male professor dropped to zero.

Finally, when Stout and Dasgupta evaluated how much the students identified with mathematics, they found that women ended up with less confidence in their mathematical abilities when their teachers were men rather than women. This happened even when women outperformed men on actual tests of math performance.

Think about that. On objective measures of math performance, these women were outscoring men. But their identification with mathematics was not tied to their interest, determination, or talent. It was connected to whether their teacher was a woman or a man.

So, what would it take to get an experimental section or two of all women students taught by a woman teacher?

Friday Spotlight–Violence Against Women on College Campuses

This is a tremendously depressing, disturbing report from the Center for Public Integrity on the horrific handling of sexual assault cases on college campuses across the country. I found it back in February but decided to save it for a WHM post. Just because.

From the report:

According to a report funded by the Department of Justice, roughly one in five women who attend college will become the victim of a rape or an attempted rape by the time she graduates. But official data from the schools themselves don’t begin to reflect the scope of the problem. And student victims face a depressing litany of barriers that often either assure their silence or leave them feeling victimized a second time, according to a 12-month investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.

The probe reveals that students found “responsible” for alleged sexual assaults on campuses often face little or no punishment, while their victims’ lives are frequently turned upside down. Many times, victims drop out of school, while students found culpable go on to graduate. Administrators believe the sanctions administered by the college judicial system are a thoughtful and effective way to hold abusive students accountable, but the Center’s investigation has discovered that “responsible” findings rarely lead to tough punishment like expulsion — even in cases involving alleged repeat offenders.

One takeaway point, I guess, is to remember that there are lots of reasons that a student might end up with us from a four year school–grades and money, being two of the least traumatic of possibilities. Another is that we have an obligation, I think, to educate our students about the realities and definitions of sexual assault, harassment, and other sorts of common, destructive, misunderstood behaviors.

Next Up!

Next up! is a regular feature on Sundays, showcasing HWC (and beyond) events in the coming week. Use the “Comments” section to provide updates and additions!

Tuesday @ 3:37pm in Room 727: March Faculty Council Meeting. All are welcome to attend!

And Women’s History Month Events:

~Monday, March 8th: Forum with Jan Huttner: Looking Critically at the 2010 Oscars (7pm, Rm323). Ms. Huttner is a film critic and leader of the Women Film Critics Circle. You can read her work at The Hot Pink Pen and Films42. Hosted by Amanda Loos.

~Tuesday, March 9th: Seminar on Violence Prevention and Self Defense: Five Fingers of Self Defense (3-5pm, Rm 1001). More info is available here. Write to Michal Eskayo (meskayo@ccc.edu) to make sure you have a spot.

~Wednesday, March 10th: Screening and Discussion: Jean Kilbourne’s Still Killing Us Softly 3 (2-3pm, Rm 1001). Hosted by Dave Richardson’s Social and Political Philosophy class, this film is a funny and horrifying look at the images of women and womanhood in advertising in particular, exploring the way that women (and men) are coached,  manipulated, and constructred through familiar imagery in ways that are not obvious in isolation, but undeniable when collected together.

Women’s History Month Event Schedule

First off, congratulations are in order to Loretta Visomirskis (English), who has been elected the new Chair of the Women’s Studies Committee, taking the reins from Amanda Loos and Marcy Henry (Humanities, 2x), who had been co-chairs.

There are seven events planned as of now (2 already occurred); all of them are open to students, faculty, staff, administrators and the general public, and all of them are FREE. Bring a class if you can!

~Monday, March 8th: Forum with Jan Huttner: Looking Critically at the 2010 Oscars (7pm, Rm323). Ms. Huttner is a film critic and leader of the Women Film Critics Circle. You can read her work at The Hot Pink Pen and Films42. Hosted by Amanda Loos.

~Tuesday, March 9th: Seminar on Violence Prevention and Self Defense: Five Fingers of Self Defense (3-5pm, Rm 1001). More info is available here. Write to Michal Eskayo (meskayo@ccc.edu) to make sure you have a spot.

~Wednesday, March 10th: Screening and Discussion: Jean Kilbourne’s Still Killing Us Softly 3 (2-3pm, Rm 1001). Hosted by Dave Richardson’s Social and Political Philosophy class, this film is a funny and horrifying look at the images of women and womanhood in advertising in particular, exploring the way that women (and men) are coached,  manipulated, and constructred through familiar imagery in ways that are not obvious in isolation, but undeniable when collected together.

~Wednesday, March 17th: Wellness Center Event: Relationship Safety Day (Time and Location, TBA). Hosted by Mike Russell of the Wellness Center and Dean Anna Blum. (More info when I have it; sorry.)

~Wednesday, March 24th: Panel Discussion: Pornography, Women, & Sex (2-4pm, Rm 1001). Feminist philosopher Robin Morgan put it this way: “Pornography is the theory, rape is the practice,” tying together two familiar (enough) aspects of American culture–one tacitly, if not openly accepted and one, ostensibly, despised. Yet, in the last ten years, pornography has become more readily available and more widely consumed without comparable increases in sexual violence against women, and some feminist philosophers have gone as far as to say that it is through the embracing of their sexuality–in pornographic contexts or otherwise–that women gain their fullest claims to equality. Hosted by Dave Richardson’s Social and Political Philosophy class, a panel of not-quite-yet-finalized, but certain to be fascinating people will discuss issues related to pornography and its effects (objectification? empowerment?) for women and men and sex in general.

~Thursday, March 25th: Film Screening and Discussion with Filmmaker Eileen Douglas: My Grandfather’s House (6pm, Rm. TBA). Hosted by Amanda Loos and Marcy Rae Henry, along with their Fine Arts and Humanities classes, filmmaker Eileen Douglas will discuss her documentary about her search to find the house her Grandfather fled in 1911 in Lithuania “to escape the Tsar’s army.” More information about the room as soon as I have it.

~Tuesday, April 13th: Play: The Vagina (Time and Room, TBA). Directed by Marcy Rae Henry, written and performed by her Humanities 208: Women in the Performing Arts class and co-sponsored by the Humanities department as a Humanifest-oh 10 event, the performance will feature a collection of monologues, moments, and more, focused on the titular subject. Last year’s performances were compelling, powerful, poignant, and hilarious, sometimes all at once. Don’t miss this year’s version.

Self Defense Seminar Sign Up

Michal Eskayo, co-chair of the World Languages Department asked that I remind everyone about the upcoming, FREE, self defense seminar, “The Five Fingers of Self Defense” taking place on Tuesday, March 9th from 3 to 5pm in room 1001-1002.

The seminar is for men and women and open to students, faculty, staff, and administrators. It is being offered through the auspices of Thousand Waves Martial Arts Center and sponsored by the Women’s Studies Committee as a part of Women’s History Month.

The statistics related to violence against women are mindbendingly staggering. In the U.S. one third of women murdered each year are killed by intimate partners. 83% of girls aged 12 to 16 experience some form of sexual harassment in public schools. An estimated 150 million girls under 18 suffered some form of sexual violence in 2002 alone. (Sources)

If you’ve attended this seminar in the past, consider going again to get a refresher. If you’ve never been, please consider going this year to learn what there is to know, if not for yourself, for some woman or girl that you know. And if you aren’t going, at the very least take a minute at the beginning of class to tell your students about it…

Contact Michal at meskayo@ccc.edu to reserve a spot.

Farewell, Black History Month; Hello, Women’s History Month

“BLK History Month” from Nikki Giovanni’s Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea:

If Black History Month is not

viable then wind does not

carry the seeds and drop them

on fertile ground

rain does not

dampen the land

and encourage the seeds

to root

sun does not

warm the earth

and kiss the seedlings

and tell them plain:

You’re As Good As Anybody Else

You’ve Got A Place Here, Too