Update: Komen loses our support

Last week, in the midst of the Komen/Planned Parenthood controversy, AAUW nationally and the Kingston branch withdrew our support of the Komen Foundation. Locally, we sent a letter to the editor at the Freeman stating our position.

Minutes Late

No sooner did I hit the send button than Komen’s policy reversal hit twitter and the blog-o-sphere. Our letter wasn’t printed. Old news, I assumed.

That is, it wasn’t printed until TODAY!  The letter, today, is out of date, of course, but the principle still stands.And, we’ll be watching to see how this plays out over the long run.

Why Today?

I find it interesting that our letter is printed right below Kathleen Parker’s column today, Birth control redux supporting the Catholic Church in their fight over the Federal decision not to exempt their organizations that serve the public from including women’s preventive care in their employee healthcare insurance coverage. But, then, that’s another letter.

You can read our letter to the editor here.  And tell us what you think about either issue in the comments below.

Day Trip to Van Gogh Exhibit at Philadelphia Museum, March 18

Linda Gold of Gourmet Art Tours and AAUW-Kingston present

Van Gogh Up Close

The Philadelphia Museum
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Cost: $120

This compelling Van Gogh exhibit has inspired us to offer you a wonderful day trip to enjoy at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Sunday, March 18.

The exhibition focuses on the extraordinary burst of creativity and experimentation during the last five years of Van Gogh’s turbulent life. You’ll find forty-five paintings, on loan from private collectors and museums worldwide, including works from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, and The Hague. You’ll also find a major source of inspiration for Van Gogh’s paintings — a display of stunning Japanese woodblock prints.

For all the details, click here.

Off the Sidelines Book Club

From Susan Holland:

What better place to start than learning what made an upstate NY woman get off the sidelines and run for Congress?

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s web site Off The Sidelines is about bringing women’s voices to the forefront. They’re starting a book club that focuses on the issues and stories that are important to us.  And, they’re currently accepting ideas for books to read and discuss.
The first book will be Half the Sky by Kristof and WuDunn, which we read together last year.  Kirsten will lead a live online discussion of the book on their Facebook page. You can sign up for the book club at: http://offthesidelines.org/bookclub

Commission on the Status of Women

From Jenn Mayfield, International Chair

The next major international event will be the meetings of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) (27 February – 9 March 2012),which will also be held at the United Nations.  The CSW is an organ within the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN that surveys women’s issues worldwide, sets international standards, and formulates policies to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. Founded in 1946, the member states of the Commission meet every year to evaluate progress, identify pressing issues, and develop policies.

The Commission’s meetings always select a specific area or issue to focus on. This year’s key theme is rural women, their empowerment, and “their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development, and current challenges.” The review theme is “financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women.” That was theme of the meetings in 2008, member states will analyze the successes and failures of the policies and programs towards the goals outlined in that session. The meetings also have an emerging theme, the focus theme of the 2013 session, “engaging young women and men, girls and boys, to advance gender equality.” Along with other AAUW representatives, I will attend some of the state meetings and NGO sessions.

I am already looking forward to reporting back to the Branch about the meetings, if you are as excited as I am for the CSW meetings, it isn’t too late to get involved with some of the proceedings. In addition to the government-level meetings, there will be a session of NGO events, workshops, meetings, and lectures that shadows the CSW meetings. The NGO calendar is not available yet, but judging by past sessions, there will be an abundance of fascinating sessions. Additionally, most of those events will be free and open to the public, no registration required.

Committee on Teaching About the UN Conference

From Jenn Mayfield, International Chair

On February 3, the Committee for Teaching About the UN (CTAUN) will hold its annual conference and the United Nations. The title of this year’s conference is “Education IS a Human Right.”

The concept of education as a human right was first formally written into international law in 1948. Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserts that every person has the right to a free and compulsory elementary education. Furthermore, it states that all technical, professional, and higher education should be “equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.” Since then, the right to education and its importance has been emphasized time and again. Still, about 69 million children are not in school. Around the world, the lack of access to education hinders development and social progress as unschooled children grow into uneducated, unempowered adults.

One in six adults cannot read or write, and two out of every three illiterate adults are women. This year’s CTAUN conference will explore the various factors that contribute to the gap between stated goals and targets and the actual results of education initiatives around the world.

This year, the CTAUN conference is especially exciting for New York State AAUW members. At the conference, Joan Monk and Cecilia Dinio-Durkin will be given an award for best practices by CTAUN. They are being honored for their My Sister’s Keeper Project, the NYS AAUW program aimed at international women’s issues. I am very excited to say that I will be attending the conference with Joan and Melissa Guardaro, the chair of the State International Committee.

Kingston Branch to Host Screening of the Award-Winning Film, Miss Representation

Too often media and advertising send boys and young men the message that they should be in control, violent, and unemotional and women should be treated like objects and second class citizens.

Miss Representation, the award-winning documentary introduced at Sundance in 2011, assesses the impact that the media has on attitudes toward women and girls in American society. It explores links between limited, often negative or overly sexualized, representations of women in media and the continued underrepresentation of women in positions of power.

AAUW Kingston is hosting a screening and panel discussion of Miss Representation at the Rosendale Theater March 7, 2012 at 7:15. Purchase tickets for the screening here.

The film presents examples of those media messages and introduces startling facts and statistics through interviews with a diverse group of concerned men and women. The discussion includes politicians, journalists, entertainers, young students, activists, and academics such as Condoleezza Rice, Katie Couric, Corey Booker, and Rosario Dawson.

AAUW’s screening of Miss Representation will be followed by a panel discussing these issues and exploring some of the action steps needed to bring about a more accurate and inclusive representation of women. Panelists include:

 Watch the Miss Representation trailer here

Purchase tickets for the screening here: $10 on-line, in advance; $15 at the door

If you have any questions, please email: events.aauw.kingston.ny@gmail.com

This film is rated TV-14 DL

Snow Cancellation

The branch meeting scheduled for tomorrow, 1/21/12, has been cancelled due to a travellers’ advisory through 3pm Saturday. We’ll make every effort to reschedule.

Planning for Spring: AAUW NYS Convention

Come to the AAUW-NYS Convention April 20-22, 2012 in Rochester!
This year’s state cAAUW NYS Logoonvention theme, “In Their Footsteps”, will celebrate the historic women’s rights movement centered in New York State. It will begin with a Friday afternoon tour of the Susan B. Anthony House and continue on Saturday with a dialogue between impersonators of Anthony and of Matilda Joslyn Gage will bring alive the conflicts within the women’s suffrage movement – surprisingly relevant to today’s political divisions. Workshops on“The Haudenosaunee Influence”, “Harriet Tubman“, African-American “Uncrowned Queens“,”Elizabeth Cady Stanton“,”Women of the Chautauqua Movement“, and “The Seneca Army Depot Peace Encampment” will all expand on this theme.
Keynotes by Cathy Kelm, head of AAUW’s Lobby Corps in Washington, and by Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, as well as workshops on The Temp Economy and “Clean Money, Clean Elections“, a dialogue on the Women’s History Trail, and “Project Women” will show how we can continue the mission today. We’ll extend that mission throughout the world with our international speaker, Jane Roberts.
By popular demand we will again have military bridge on Friday evening, an exercise session (yoga this year!) on Saturday afternoon, musical entertainment on Saturday evening, and opportunities for swimming, walking, and bidding on LAF offerings (purses this year!). As a special treat, the Branch Showcase will be a presentation by the Bath Branch of the play “Momoirs” on Sunday morning. 
– Peggy Kelland, AAUW-NYS V.P. Program

 

AAUW Member Raises Hydrofracking Questions

Susan Holland

Susan Holland, Public Policy Chair

Last Thursday the Freeman published branch member Susan Holland’s letter to the editor regarding Kingston’s conflicting positions on whether the city would accept wastewater from hydrofracking at the Rondout plant.

We’re fortunate to have Susan speaking out and raising questions for us. As our public policy chair she does a wonderful job of keeping us posted on local and state issues.

If you didn’t read her letter, you’ll find it here.