Activism

Content type
Collection
Idit Klein, 2005

Nine more women for the Forward 50

Kate Bigam

As it does every year, the Forward recently published its “Forward 50” – and just like every year, the list is short on women.

Gyno-Star: Feminist Superhero

Meet Rebecca Cohen and Gyno-Star, the world’s first explicitly feminist superhero

Leah Berkenwald

Wonder Woman, created in the 1940s, showed the world that women could kick butt.

Topics: Feminism, Art, Writing

It Gets Better: Where are the Jews?

Kate Bigam

By now, the It Gets Better Project has made headlines around the world, with everyone from Lady Gaga to president Obama posting a video to support and encourage LGBT youth. A number of Jewish leaders have joined the conversation by making videos of their own. Here are a few of my favorites. Let me know if I’ve missed any good ones!

"Personhood" amendments would write Christian perspectives into law

Emily Kadar

Tomorrow, Mississippi will vote on Initiative 26 and decide whether to dramatically alter their state constitution with the addition of the words:

The term ‘person’ or ‘persons’ shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof.

Entitlement and its Discontents

Judith Rosenbaum

This week, New York Magazine’s cover features an oral history of Ms. Magazine, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Mazel tov to the women of the Forward 50

Leah Berkenwald

Another year, another Forward 50 list of Jewish leaders who have made the biggest impact (good or bad) in American Jewish life.

Bella Abzug at a Women Strike for Peace Protest

Women Strike for Peace: 50 years later

Chanel Dubofsky

Fifty years ago yesterday, the 1961 formation of Women Strike for Peace (WSP) marked a new era for activism, creating a new stage on which women could concentrate their power. In 1984, WSP described in their own words the beginning of their movement: "100,000 women from 60 cities came out of kitchens and jobs to demand: END THE ARMS RACE - NOT THE HUMAN RACE, and WSP was born."

Lesléa Newman

Ms. Magazine: A chat with Lesléa “Heather Has Two Mommies” Newman

Leah Berkenwald

I want to give a shout out to Lesléa Newman, an iconic yet under-recognized gay Jewish writer whose work continues to inform the changing landscape of GLBT rights in the U.S.

Girl Scouts, 2009

Girl Scouts of Colorado take a stand against gender injustice

Kate Bigam

The Jewish community has had a varied relationship with scouting.

Not this again: Women asked to move to the back of the bus in Brooklyn

Leah Berkenwald

"Women told they must ride back of the bus in Brooklyn"

I saw this headline on Jezebel.com and thought, "Not again." It's been less than two weeks since we heard about Yiddish signs asking Jewish women to "move to the side when a man approaches." Is it just me, or is the Hasidic/secular battle for public space in Brooklyn getting out of hand?

Reconsidering Jewish sororities must involve a systematic reconsideration of Greek life

Chanel Dubofsky

They seemed like they were everywhere, since where my friends and I lived on campus was known for its Greek population.

Raysa Rose Bonow, 1931 - 2011

There are the doers in this world and there are the passive people who live vicariously through the doers. Thinking and learning is doing, because it makes you active and aware of your life

Birth Control

Without apology: The atonement stops here

Chanel Dubofsky

For a few semesters in college, I was a Peer Health Sex Educator.

Miriam Rosenberg Roček as Steampunk Emma Goldman, Cropped

JWA's Greatest Hits: Meet Steampunk Emma Goldman

Kate Rafey

One of my favorite aspects about being Jewish is mixing tradition with the present.

Adina Back, 1958 - 2008

While always ready to challenge Jewish convention when necessary, she also honored those traditions that didn’t need changing. Indeed, numerous friends across Adina’s wide community bake challah because Adina taught them—a tradition she learned from her own mother, Toby.

Doris B. Gold, 1919 - 2011

She was never conflicted about whether or not to stand up on some issue or for someone who needed her support. She never slogged through some inner debate, yes or no, what shall I do? It was natural for her to just go ahead forcefully and say and do what was right in her eyes.

Gertrude Elion Poster

Posters in the classroom: Outdated or just underused?

Jewesses With Attitude

Earlier this week in The Sisterhood, Renee Ghert-Zand discussed Keshet’s new poster series recognizing “Jewish LGBT Change Makers,” asking if posters were an outdated educational tool. Renee drew comparisons to JWA’s own Women of Valor poster series, and expressed concern that Keshet’s posters would face the same challenges that she saw with ours. She wrote:

Etta King with Her Campers, 2004

My journey to love my legs and understand the Feminist movement

Etta King Heisler

“How could you?!” Esther screamed.
“What? What are you talking about?” I asked.

Jane Harman

Jane Harman to receive NJDC's inaugural Tzedek Award

Kate Bigam

The National Jewish Democratic Council is presenting its inaugural Tzedek Award tonight – and the first recipient is former Congresswoman Jane Harman.

Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem: Her words as relevant today as ever

Leah Berkenwald

Last week, a group of JWA staffers gathered on our lunch break to watch the HBO documentary Gloria: In Her Own Words.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Rep. Wasserman Schultz on abortion: 'This is personal'

Sarah Seltzer

Anyone who has spent time arguing about politics–particularly hot-button issues like abortion–is familiar with “glazed-eyes, nodding syndrome” which is what happens when listeners (who may even agree with us) grow uncomfortable with the topic and hope to goodness we move on, soon, and yes, yes, women’s rights blah blah blah. It’s just politics, these expressions tell us; why act like it’s so personal? Or maybe it’s just too depressing and abstract to contemplate.

Bella Abzug on the cover of "Life Magazine," June 9, 1972

Three ways not to celebrate Women's Equality Day

Gloria Feldt

As second wave feminism gathered peak velocity forty years ago, the late bombastic and behatted Congresswoman (D-NY) Bella Abzug persuaded Congress to designate August 26th as Women’s Equality Day. It recognized the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that in 1920 gave all U.S. women the right to vote.

Gloria Steinem, 1972

Gloria Steinem: An unheralded GLBT advocate

Alan Kravitz

As I watched HBO’s incisive documentary Gloria: In Her Own Words, one irony became clear instantly: Gloria Steinem is an icon who is utterly uncomfortable with the whole idea of being an icon.

Gertrude Weil Poster

Jewesses for Suffrage

Leah Berkenwald

On August 18, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting any citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex was ratified. Today, 91 years later, we take a look back at the Jewish women who dedicated their lives to women's suffrage in America and around the world. This is by no means a comprehensive list; so many Jewish women fought for suffrage, this is merely a sample of the stories we know.

How many more stories have yet to be told?

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