Post-Election: What's Next for Women and the Media
 From coffee shops and dinner tables to Saturday Night Live, the media's
treatment of women has been scrutinized and dissected throughout the election
cycle. From Senator Hillary Clinton's run for the Democratic nomination to John
McCain's selection of Governor Sarah Palin as his VP candidate, women have been
in the news.
The Wellesley Centers for Women is pleased to present Post-Election: What's Next for Women and the Media, a dynamic panel discussion featuring Diane Sawyer, ABC News; Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, CNBC Television; and Lynn Sherr, ABC News, on Thursday, November 20 at the University Club in New York City. Ellen Levine, editorial director of Hearst Magazines, will offer remarks. Additional speakers will be posted online upon confirmation of their participation.
The panel will
consider the ways women have been portrayed in the media. What has changed for women as a
result of the coverage of women's political participation, and what has stayed
the same? Can media be a positive tool for women in politics? How can we
inspire measured coverage of women in politics in general?
For more information and to reserve your seat(s), visit www.wcwonline.org/NYCevent.
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New funding expands WCW work in middle schools
Evaluation of sex education curriculum
This project is an evaluation of the effectiveness of Get Real, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts (PPLM) middle school comprehensive sex education curriculum. The evaluation is designed to assess the curriculum's effectiveness in achieving short-term objectives, such as positive attitudes toward delaying sexual activity and toward contraception and protection use; effective communicating about sex with parents and peers; greater understanding of the need to limit the number of sexual encounters and sexual partners; increased understanding of the risks involved in frequent sex, sex with an older partner, and having many sex partners; increased intention to practice correct and consistent use of protection and not to combine sexual activity with substance use. The  long-term objective is promoting sexual health through limiting unintended pregnancies and increasing the correct and consistent use of contraceptives and other protection. Funding is provided by PPLM; the WCW team is led by Sumru Erkut, Ph.D., associate director and senior research scientist at Wellesley Centers for Women.
Evaluation of dating violence prevention programs
This collaborative, multi-level experimental evaluation, funded by the National Institute of Justice, is designed to help increase the capacity of schools to prevent dating violence/harassment (DV/H). Nan Stein, Ed.D., WCW senior research scientist, serves as the co-principal investigator with Bruce Taylor of the Police Executive Research Forum in Washington, DC. The long-term goal of this study is to help prevent dating violence, sexual violence, and sexual harassment by employing rigorous methods to evaluate strategies for altering the violence-supportive attitudes and norms of youth. The study will evaluate the relative effectiveness of a multi-level approach to DV/H prevention programming (in terms of knowledge, attitudes, intended behavior, behavior, and emotional safety of youth participants) for middle school students in 55 middle schools in a large urban school district.
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New work promotes disability rights in Asian countries
 The
Open Society Institute is funding a new project at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW): Accessing the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to Empower Women
and Children with Disabilities in Bangladesh and Nepal. Under the
direction of Rangita de-Silva de-Alwis,
LL.M., S.J.D., WCW senior advisor on international programs, the
overarching goal of this project is to facilitate full citizenship
rights for women and children with disabilities in Bangladesh and
Nepal. The project adopts a paradigm shift to bring the women's rights
movement together with the disability rights movement to focus on the
intersectionality of rights of women and children with disabilities.
This pioneering model will broaden access for women and children to
resources, strengthen laws and practices impacting women and children
with disabilities, and bolster the initiatives to ratify the U.N.
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
2007. Strategies such as building action task forces, convening
seminars, developing advocacy manuals, and providing technical
assistance to constitutional reform, law and policy making,
and litigation to challenge discrimination will be employed to meet the
project goals.
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WCW informs international conference in Philippines
Sumru Erkut, Ph.D., associate
director and senior research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW), presented a paper, "Women's Rights and
Immigrant Women's Rights to Culture: Seizing Opportunities, Upholding Rights,"
at the International Conference on Gender, Migration, and Development in Manila, Philippines, September 25-26. This program had its beginnings at WCW in 2006, when WCW
scholars Pamela Alexander, Susan McGee Bailey, Rangita de-Silva de-Alwis, and
Erkut met with Sylvia Lichauco of the Philippines. The group brainstormed
about issues that affect the well-being of women with particular relevance to
the Philippines. The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women in partnership with UNIFEM, ILO, UNICEF, Women and
Gender Institute of Miriam College, and the Lola Grande Foundation sponsored
the conference. A total of 436 participants--advocates,
academics, international organizations, and leaders of NGOs--from 36 countries and five continents attended. The conference
ended with the joint development of the "Manila Call for Action" to be presented to the
participating states at the Second Global Forum on Migration and Development in
Manila chaired by the Government of the Philippines, October 27-30, 2008.
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Women's Review of Books
 Peruse the table of contents and preview select articles from the newest issue of Women's Review of Books, including "Drawing Pride" a review by Meisha Rosenberg of Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist, by Nancy Goldstein.
Other free articles available online include reviews of:
Harriet Wilson's New England: Race, Writing, and Region, edited By JerriAnne Boggis, Eve Allegra Raimon, and Barbara A. White; reviewed by Jean M. Humez;
Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth: Poems 2004-2006, by Adrienne Rich, and My Body: New and Selected Poems, by Joan Larkin; reviewed by Alicia Ostriker; and
Shelter Half, byCarol Bly; reviewed by Judith Niemi.
Subscribe to Women's Review of Books.
Help sustain this unique and valuable publication by advertising in it.
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We are committed to finding answers.
We thank you for being part of the solution by making a gift to WCW's Annual Fund. Your support helps WCW uncover innovative solutions and policy alternatives to social challenges and inequities found throughout our communities.
If you have never given a gift to support the vital role that Wellesley Centers for Women plays in driving social change, we'd love to hear from you. Join the community of committed individuals who help us to shape a better world through our research and action projects.
You can make your tax-deductible gift over the phone (781.283.2831) or online (www.wcwonline.org/donate).
Thank you!
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Thank you for reading eNews Update. If you'd like more information about the Wellesley Centers for Women, I invite you to visit our website at www.wcwonline.org.
Susan McGee Bailey, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Wellesley Centers for Women
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