Opinion

by Nancy L. Marshall, Ed.D.
From the Fall/Winter 2003 Research & Action Report

Recent headlines have once again raised the question of whether child care is bad for children. After decades of research, advocacy, program development, and policy, what do we really know about child care? Before addressing this question, it is important to talk about the larger question: what do we really know about women’s (and men’s) lives? The question of child care can only be answered as part of a discussion about how women and men meet the two challenges of both raising the next generation and providing economically for themselves and their families.
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by Susan McGee Bailey, Ph.D., Executive Director
March 11, 2004, National Council for Research on Women

The National Council for Research on Women (NCRW) chose the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) as an organizational honoree at its annual Women Who Make a Difference gala dinner. The award, accepted by WCW’s Executive Director Susan McGee Bailey, recognizes outstanding women leaders and organizations working in a variety of disciplines for their unique ability to project their visions for a better world onto local, national, and global landscapes. WCW was honored on March 11, 2004, for its outstanding work linking research, theory, and policy and the profound impact this work has had on policy both nationally and internationally. Read more.

by Margaret Lumpkin Keon, former WCW Overseer and longtime friend of the Centers
Spring 2004, Westover Magazine

In June of 2003, I was privileged to travel to Malawi with four other members of the board of the Global Aids Interfaith Alliance, or GAIA. Although only three years old, GAIA has been amazingly effective in its work to reduce the incidence and stigma of AIDS, and to educate and train religious leaders and lay people. Having the opportunity to be in Malawi and see the beauty of the country and its people, as well as the devastation of poverty, hunger, and illness, was an important experience, one I shall never forget.
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by Vera E. Mouradian, Ph.D.
From the Fall/Winter 2004 Research & Action Report

The question most frequently asked of advocates and professionals who work with battered women is: “Why do women stay with men who abuse them?” The short answer is that they don’t: most women who are abused by an intimate partner do not stay with their abusers permanently. Most leave eventually, although the process of leaving may take months or years, with many starts and stops. Unfortunately, the end of the relationship does not necessarily mean the end of the abuse. For these reasons, a more fruitful question to ask is: “What goes into the decision to stay or leave?” Read more.

February 7, 2005

Linda Williams, Ph.D., explains that memories of child sexual abuse are not always continuous. 

By Jean Hardisty, Ph. D.
From the Fall/Winter 2005 Research & Action Report

Story after story of former welfare recipients who now hold jobs have created the dominant media metaphor—women formerly leading hopeless, dead-end lives are required by welfare reform to become employed and now are thrilled with their independence and new sense of self-worth.
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Op-ed submission to the Boston Globe (unpublished)
by Pamela Seigel and James Vetter, Ed.M.
March 25, 2005

The recent shooting rampage at Red Lake High School was among the most violent episodes ever experienced in a school in the United States. Why are we not more shocked? Media reports seem more sparse and muted than with other school shootings in recent years. Could it be after the string of similar attacks by young people from Littleton, Colorado to Jonesboro, Arkansas, we have grown too accustomed to the violence and alienation this desperate act reflects? We may never know why Jeff Weise killed nine others and then himself that Monday afternoon, but we can see familiar patterns. According to press accounts, Weise was a troubled young person who reported being victimized at home and by other students. Neighbors claim that he had few friends and that few adults took the time to get to know him. In recent weeks, depression and teasing at school caused him to retreat to home tutoring. Reports of other school shootings often portray isolated loners with few social skills, excluded from the peer group. Many were targets of bullying and harassment.
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Op-Ed submission to the Boston Globe (unpublished)
by Nancy Marshall, Ed.D. and Steve Barnett, Ed.D.
March 30, 2005

The creation of the Department of Early Education and Care, developed to administer the Massachusetts’ early education care system, puts the state at a critical juncture in advancing its historic commitment to young children. On July 1st, the new department becomes active, and its Board and Commissioner will have the tough task of deciding how to proceed. Well-trained, qualified teachers and providers are necessary for programs to promote children’s school readiness. The recently released Massachusetts Capacity Study Research Brief: Characteristics of the Current Early Education and Care Workforce provides research-based evidence of the magnitude of the task of workforce development.

Letter to the Editor submitted by Susan McGee Bailey, Ph.D. to Newsweek magazine in response to "The Boy Crisis" article which ran January 29, 2006. (unpublished)
January 30, 2006

by Sumru Erkut, Ph.D.
From the Fall/Winter 2006 Research & Action Report

Does it matter to corporate governance whether women serve on a board? If so, does it make a difference how many women serve? That is, is there a critical mass that can bring significant change to the boardroom and improve corporate governance? My colleagues Vicki W. Kramer, Principal, V. Kramer Associates, and Alison M. Konrad, Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, and I set out to answer these important questions. Our findings shed light on a growing problem for organizations and society: not enough women are serving on corporate boards to the corporations’ detriment.

by Anne Noonan, Ph.D. and Michelle Porche, Ed.D.
Letter to the Editor published in the Boston Globe
August 27, 2005

by Georgia Hall, Ph.D.
Letter to the Editor published in the Metrowest Daily News
September 14, 2005

Education Week
by Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D., Meda Chesney-Lind, Ph.D., and Nan Stein, Ed.D.
June 7, 2006

There are legitimate concerns about boys’ achievement, but there are also legitimate concerns about the way the current issue is being framed. Headlines repeatedly pit girls against boys, and accompanying photos show boys with hurt expressions, dejected, slumped over their desks. The girls who surround them are caught in mid-laugh, whispering to a friend, sitting atop the monkey bars, staring at the camera with defiant self-confidence.

Letter to the Editor submitted by Susan McGee Bailey, Ph.D. to The New York Times in response to "The Complaint Gap" op-ed which ran July 15, 2006. (unpublished)
July 17, 2007

by Jean Hardisty, Ph.D.
From JeanHardisty.com, copyright by Jean Hardisty
October 2005

Senior Scholar Jean Hardisty shares her thinking on structural racism engrained in U.S. society that became front-page news during Hurricane Katrina coverage.