Successes and Challenges of Women in Leadership Roles in Traditionally Male-Dominated Environments
A Forum on the Empowerment of Women
Wednesday – 15 September 2010
1:00 – 2:45 PM
United Nations Church Center
777 UN Plaza, 8th Floor – Boss Room
(44th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues)

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by Donna Decker, Woodhull Alumna

Originally posted to Ms. Magazine Blog on September 1st, 2010

“Women I admire have gone through hell to get their work out there,” Erica Jong told us this past weekend. “I’d like to change that for you.”

Despite its sale of 20 million copies worldwide, Jong’s 1973 feminist novel Fear of Flying provoked a backlash, the vestiges of which still own a sliver of Jong’s soul. She quotes verbatim the vitriol of critic Paul Theroux, who called Jong’s heroine, Isadora Wing, “a mammoth pudenda.”

Yet here is Jong nearly 40 years later, having gone through hell, trying to set forth a cooler path for women writers. She and Barbara Victor–the first person to interview Moammar Ghadaffi after the American bombing in Libya in 1986–acted as facilitators for the Master Class Writers Retreat at the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership in Ancramdale, New York. The institute is named after Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for President of the U.S. in 1872, 48 years before women could vote.

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This past week marked the end of our internship program for our final 3 summer interns: Arielle Algarin, CUNY Macaulay Honors College ‘12, Roya Nazarian, Barnard College ‘12, and Ali Carr, Barnard College ‘11. We would like to show our appreciation and extreme gratitude for all of their efforts and hard work! We may be full of cake, but we’re never full of recognizing achievements!  Check out only SOME of the enormous contributions these wonderful women have given to the Woodhull Community:

Ali:

-Wrote tons of outreach letters and facilitated partner discounts!

-Set up our Registration forms for our Fall Seminars! View them/Register here!

Arielle:

- Check out Arielle’s weekly news updates! July 9,  July 17,  July 23,  July 31,  August 8

Roya:

- Blogged about her experience in Israel! Read her article here!

- Created our “Causes” page on facebook! Check it out and spread the word!

THANK YOU!!!

If you are interested in applying for a fall or winter internship with us, please see our internship program!

By Lori Sokol, Woodhull Alumna

Originally published in The Newswomen’s Club of NY’s Blog on August 23, 2010

Illustration by Tracey Berglund

The media frenzy over actress Portia de Rossi seeking to change her name to Portia DeGeneres is sure to infuriate long-standing feminists who have fought long and hard for women to keep their maiden names. Or not?

The issue of marital name change can strike near to the hearts of women journalists who often struggle when they marry with whether to give up the bylines that they’ve worked hard at establishing.

De Rossi, 37, recently filed a petition in a Los Angeles court to legally take the last name of her famous same-sex partner, Ellen DeGeneres. California Assemblywoman Fiona Ma introduced a bill that would make California the seventh state to give married spouses and domestic partners equal opportunity to take their surname of choice. Ma says the proposal is really about “equality in relationships.”

But would pioneering feminists like Lucy Stone agree?

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by Deborah Grayson Riegel, Woodhull Alumna

Originally posted to The Jewish Week on August 20th, 2010

Deborah Grayson Riegel

I’ve heard some great one-liners in my life that have driven me to the kind of laughter that makes my lungs ache. Brilliant observations by Chris Rock, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have made me burst into giggles that speed up, slow down, stop…and then pick right back up again, sometimes for days. But few lines made me giggle as long as the innocent observation made about me by a fellow Little League mom sitting next to me in the bleachers:

“With what you do for a living, I guess you never fight at home.”

Excuse me. I think I still need another minute to recover from that one.

Yes, I am a professional coach and facilitator who helps people and organizations communicate more effectively and improve their personal and professional relationships. So, one might assume that I am the Mistress of Interpersonal Communications and Queen of Human Relationships, keeping conflict at bay with my Superpowers: finely honed listening skills, profound curiosity, and genuine compassion for how people feel.

Yes, one might assume that. And one would be wrong. Dead wrong.

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Originally posted to my blog ReelGirl on August 15th, 2010

I’m thrilled that Chief Judge of the Federal District Court in San Francisco, Vaughn Walker, lifted his temporary stay on his brilliant ruling striking down Prop 8. His eloquent, almost 140 page decision is now a part of America’s history of civil rights and makes me proud to be a San Franciscan.

My Wedding pic

I disagree with one major point Walker made: his implication that allowing gays to marry doesn’t affect heterosexual unions. On the contrary, I believe his decision profoundly and permanently pushes all marriages’ potential much further towards something sacred.

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