Women: Women's Issues
 
There are many issues women in our culture face on a daily basis—how to make a living for a family (particularly for single Moms), how to raise, plan, and care for children in this complex world of choices, how to protect oneself physically and emotionally at work, traveling, at home and on and on. We want to address issues of importance to you. let us know what's of interest to you,what you want to read about and help us find good information out there.
Send suggestions to: info@sheville.org.
News or Press Release
Inaugural
Conference Unites Women Eager to Bring Positive
Change to the World
From
celebrity Jane Fonda to authors, activists, entertainers and holistic
practitioners, women of all ages and paths will gather to explore
environmental awareness, political activism, and personal growth and
empowerment
ASHEVILLE,
N.C.
– The “Southeastern: Time for Our Power! Women Bringing Change to
the World” conference is calling women of all ages, ethnicities and
socioeconomic backgrounds to gather, learn, grow and become inspired
to personally and collectively bring powerful, positive change to
their own lives, their communities, and to the world. The three-day
conference will be held in Asheville, N.C. from June
20 - 22, 2008 more...
 What a Feminist Looks Like
News or Press Release
There's a great video from the Feminist Majority called What
a Feminist Looks Like.
Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women Employees (1943)
Sheville Staff
In the category of unsure whether this is depressing or educational, we present
this piece of advice from our herstory:
Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women Employees (1943). While
the Women's History Month page on which this occurs dubs this piece "hilarious,"
in light of the 2008 election, we are not so sure.
Brenda deLaet
In previous articles in this series, I have written about avoiding the situation, the ‘prey vs. predator’ mindset, and awareness – all important aspects of self defense. My instructor used to say “the best technique is no technique,” meaning that if you can manage to avoid having to use any physical self defense techniques - that’s the best self defense of all! But unfortunately, there are no guarantees. Even if you do everything right, you could still find yourself confronted by a threat some day. Anyone can be targeted – the young, the old, the aware, the distracted, the single woman, the married mother of three, the careful, and the careless. It could happen simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. more...
Early Feminists and the Education Debates
Sheville Staff
In 4th q. 2007, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press released Carol Strauss Sotiropoulos' Early Feminists and the Education Debates. In the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century, Feminists had to counter Rousseau's and traditional arguments for women's education being limited to domestic concerns. Sotiropoulos details how feminists used Romantic arguments to subvert these arguments and to stake a claim for women’s advanced education.
Finding the Movement: Sexuality, Contested Space, and Feminist Activism
Sheville Staff
In October 2007, Duke University Press released the paperback version of Anne Enke's Finding the Movement: Sexuality, Contested Space, and Feminist Activism. This fascinating work details how, in the 1960's and 1970's many women turned public space into activist space - through demanding access to athletic facilities and bars, opening feminist bookstores, shelters, and challenging dress codes and other public expectations. While these changes affected feminism in turn, Enke notes that many of the changes were not instituted by women self-identified as feminists.
New Girl Order
Sheville Staff
Heard about the New Girl Order? It's a worldwide phenomenon. Even in a number
of quite sexist societies, women are discovering that marriage may not be the
best career choice! From New York to Poland to India to Japan to Korea, women
are staying single into their thirties as they pursue career goals - and also
as they reject many of the traditional ideas about marriage and female subservience.
This SYF (Single Young Female) trend has hit many cultures completely by surprise.
And it's not so easy for societies to try to reject it out of hand: the trend
has spawned considerable economic buying power. For more info, see http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_4_new_girl_order.html
Joyce Metayer
When asked, “What’s your passion in life?” Joyce Metayer says, without a moment’s hesitation, “Making art and being in nature.” Joyce is an artist who is best known for her Sculptural Archetypes…wall reliefs that are a combination of painting and sculpture, impeccably constructed by sewing, and often circular in format. The look of her work is very contemporary even though she claims it is based on Paleolithic feminine symbology. more...
It's More than Thelma and Louise
Sheville Staff
Judith Warner recently raised the issue of just how reliable rape statistics are in an opinion piece in the New York Times, The Legacy of Thelma and Louise. Warner got caught in a cross-fire when she reported statistics that showed a dramatic drop in the rape statistics: but then she discusses just how reliable these statistics actually are. What she doesn't mention is that the population demographics of the US, with its lower percentage of younger people, likely contributed to whatever drop there was.
Brenda deLaet
The Psychological Aspects of Self Defense: Awareness
When you hear the term “self defense” you probably think of physical skills. However, in the recent article “Prey vs. Predator,” I made the point that self defense has a psychological component. Mindset is critical to relinquishing the status of ‘prey’ that many of us have internalized simply by growing up in a society in which women are frequently victimized. more...
Words that Talk
Va Boyle
We were sitting around with some friends talking (as we're prone to do), and we began
to talk about words that carry controversial meanings such as “crone”
and “feminism”. We explored what these words meant to us individually
and were surprised at both the commonality in meaning and the more marginal meanings
that create a lot of conflictual emotion. It was fascinating to hear the variety and impact of various meanings within our small group, meanings likely held within our culture also.
So, we are asking you, our readers, to share your personal ideas, attitudes and meaning that one or both of these words have for you—please don’t look them up in the dictionary.
We want to hear your own words. Take a moment please, not so much to ponder, but to give your knee-jerk, off-the-cuff response and send them to shevilleva@gmail.com.
J. Lee Lehman
Yes, I admit it. My partner and I took turns reading Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows aloud to each other the weekend of its release. It seemed
both fairer, not to mention more fun, to savor that last piece of the story
together. more...
Gap diminishes in Gender-based Administrative Styles
J. Lee Lehman
A study of leadership styles among administrators of community colleges shows
that both women and men who are community college administrators are changing
their approach to leadership – and that as a result, there is less difference
between their styles compared to 1985, when the last such study was implemented.
One of the more interesting differences is that women have been far more likely
to actively seek out mentors than men. Perhaps this is like asking for directions?
For more information:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/05/22/gender
Glass Ceiling in Academia may be Shattering
J. Lee Lehman
Beginning July 1, 2007, half the Ivy League Schools will have women presidents. Unfortunately, the gap in tenured professorships remains.
For more information:
http://www2.universitybusiness.com/newssummary.aspx?news_date=2007-05-04&news_id=14848#top
Brenda deLaet
Take a moment to imagine yourself in a familiar situation. You are out for a walk, on one of your favorite routes. Perhaps you’re walking in your neighborhood, or on the Blue Ridge Parkway, or around Beaver Lake. It’s a beautiful Spring evening, but you are keeping up a good pace, in order to make it back to your car before it gets dark. For the last few minutes you’ve been thinking about dinner possibilities. It would be tempting to pick something up on the way home, but you’ve been eating out so much lately…..let’s see...there’s chicken in the freezer, what could you do with the chicken? You remember mushrooms in the crisper drawer, what else?.... Your thoughts are suddenly interrupted, however, when you notice a man on the path up ahead of you. At first it looks as if he is standing still, but then he turns and begins walking toward you. Hit the pause button there. What are you feeling? What are you thinking? Are you still thinking about dinner? Probably not. more...
Title IX may apply in athletic harassment
J. Lee Lehman
In a potential expansion of Title IX protection for women, a sexual harassment
lawsuit against the University of North Carolina has been reopened due to the
ruling of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA, to send the case
back to District Court for a jury trial. The case had originally brought nine
years ago, but it was only recently that the Circuit Court ruled on the issue of
whether a suit relating to sexual harassment of a student by a coach could be considered
a Title IX matter. Previously, Title IX has only been applied in college athletics to expanding
sports opportunities for women. For more information, please see http://www2.universitybusiness.com/newssummary.aspx?news_date=2007-04-13&news_id=14553#top
Nancy Spence
Getting through the bad times is a challenge to the most stoic of personalities. Major life events – losing a job or getting newly hired; falling in or out of love; loss of physical capacity or health; finding oneself in a financial crunch – all of these life changes engender an amazing level of stress, whether the stress is acknowledged or not. more...
News or Press Release
Womansong is a community chorus that provides a place for women's emotional, creative, spiritual nourishment through healing and support. It celebrates the unity, diversity, and empowerment of women through musical expression, serving the community and promoting social change.
Check out our newest CD at www.womansong.org
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Time for Our Power!
Prey?......Or Predator?