Politics and Government

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Collection
Kepler's Supernova Remnant

Women as Wave, Women as Particle: The gender-racial politics of the male-female gaze

Gabrielle Orcha

Who are you?

I mean really . . .

Who are you . . . when you are alone and no one is watching?

What is your wave state?

Anita Steckel with her Painting "Skyline", 1974

Of Peonies & Penises: Anita Steckel’s Legacy

Deborah Fineblum Raub

Anita Steckel was 82 when she died last March. But Anita, her many fans would insist, was way younger than most of us will ever be.

Liz Lerman's "Ferocious Beauty: Genome"

Liz Lerman: Still Dancing, Still Crossing

Gabrielle Orcha

This July marks one year since choreographer, author, and innovator Liz Lerman parted ways with her dance company, formerly the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange (now just the Dance Exchange) to fly solo as an independent choreographer.

Rose Finkelstein leads successful strike

April 20, 1919

On April 20, 1919, the young women who worked as telephone operators at New England Telephone and Telegraph walked off the job.

Meat

Overturn the World

Susan Reimer-Torn

On July 2, 1965 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) began its work for women's equality, enforcing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which among other things prohibited employment discrimination within labor unions. This week, we take a glimpse even farther back, to the turn of the century, to the roots of women organizing for fair prices.

Mollie Weinstein Schaffer, 1916 - 2012

We are finally in Paris and you can see that the Americans took over the situation. Can you imagine—ME—with the “handle” that I’ve got using Hitler’s stationery?

Lisa Brown, Michigan State Representative

Why are there so many prominent Jewish pro-choicers in politics?

Sarah Seltzer

Michigan State Representative Lisa Brown has become a new heroine of the pro-choice movement, and she achieved this status both by invoking her Judaism and by using the word “vagina” on the State House Floor, during a heated debate of an omnibus anti-abortion bill.

Michigan state Rep. Lisa Brown: Jewish superhero for abortion

Leah Berkenwald

Michigan state Rep. Lisa Brown is a champion. A hero. A "Jewess with Attitude" to the n'th degree. 

Gail T. Reimer with Debbie Wasserman Schultz at the 2012 Jewish American Heritage Month White House reception

Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month at the White House: Looking toward the future

Gail Reimer

This year’s White House celebration of Jewish American Heritage month was a simpler affair than in years past. The program was President Obama, and his remarks were brief.

Lily Winner and immigration, then and now

Leah Berkenwald
Ninety-one years ago today, journalist and playwright Lily Winner published an essay in The Nation entitled "American Emigrés."
"Women Resume Riots Against Meat Shops" New York Times, May 17, 1902

The Real Housewives of the Lower East Side

Judith Rosenbaum

One hundred and ten years ago today, something surprising happened. Jewish immigrant housewives in New York City—concerned and angry about a sharp rise in the price of kosher meat from 12 cents to 18 cents per pound—launched a kosher meat boycott that lasted nearly a month, spread to several other boroughs of New York, sparked violent riots and arrests, and attracted much media attention before ending with the successful lowering of meat prices.

Emma Goldman at a May Day Rally, Hyde Park, London, May 1, 1937

May Day: Celebrating through protest

Judith Rosenbaum

Happy May Day! Originally, May Day was a pagan springtime festival, roots of which survive in the traditions of flower-festooned maypoles and the crowning of the “Queen of the May.” Since the late 19th century, it has also been a workers’ holiday. Though in the US it has been officially replaced (and I would argue, coopted) by Labor Day in September, May Day remains an occasion for social protest of many kinds.

Marcia Greenberger

Marcia Greenberger is founder and Co-President of the National Women’s Law Center, established in 1972 to advocate for gender equality in education, jobs, economic security, and health. Under her leadership, the NWLC has worked to improve the lives of women, girls and families by backing laws to prohibit pregnancy discrimination in employment and to provide compensation for victims of sexual harassment. It helped pass state and federal tax laws to help millions of families pay for child and dependent care and secured new federal remedies for women seeking child support.

Marijuana

Jewish women and marijuana: Yay or nay?

Leah Berkenwald

If you listen closely, you may hear people wishing one another a "Happy 4/20" today. Why?

Lucy Kramer Cohen, 1907 - 2007

She never put herself in the limelight to lead and yet she was a leader.

Sheila Cheimets , 1936 - 2011

She never put much stock in her pioneering achievements ... until she became a grandmother... It was when she had her granddaughters around her that she began to think about what their lives were going to be like.

Beatrice L. Garber, 1912 - 1999

While she wasn’t your typical 'Bubbe,' cooking brisket or baking kugel, she was a gifted public speaker and totally dedicated to Hadassah, her synagogue, the Land of Israel, the Jewish people, and her family.

Clara Schiffer, 1911 - 2009

She faced discrimination overtly as a Jew and less overtly as a working woman... Those experiences sensitize people to what fair treatment is. We knew that to be fair was important, to work for improving the world an essential task.

Gail T. Reimer with Making Trouble/Making History Honorees, March 18, 2012

Making trouble/making history at JWA's second annual luncheon

Leah Berkenwald

Sunday morning, as readers of the New York Times were mulling over a long and thoughtful article about Gloria Steinem's legacy, Steinem herself was with friends and fellow supporters of the Jewish Women's Archive to honor three remarkable Jewish women—Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Elizabeth A. Sackler, and Rebecca Traister — at JWA's second annual Making Trouble/Making History luncheon.

Shulamith Soloveitchik Meiselman, 1912 - 2009

She was born into a family of great rabbis and scholars; if she had been born a boy, her path would have been clear. Having been born a girl, she had to find her way. She did so with great success in her public and private lives, and did so with wisdom and grace.

Miri Shalem of Beit Shemesh and dance as a tool of social change

Susan Reimer-Torn

Before most of us ever heard of the small town of Beit Shemesh, Miri Shalem the orthodox mother of four children and a long-time resident was directing the town’s JCC.

Yes Virginia, Holocaust deniers still exist and run for Congress

Kate Bigam

The significance of meeting a Holocaust survivor while on my way to visit Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, is not lost on me – but that’s what happened to me two weeks ago. While leading a trip in Israel, I made a quick stop off to visit a friend who was in a Jerusalem hospital just down the road from Yad Vashem, and when raindrops started to fall, I decided to hop a cab to meet up with the rest of my group.

Hanna Weinberg

Remembering Hanna Weinberg, pioneering advocate for domestic abuse victims

Alan Kravitz

For women in the Orthodox Jewish community, domestic abuse is still too often suffered in silence.

Eve Ellis

JWA's Greatest Hits: Why I no longer support Susan G. Komen

Eve Ellis

It is with a heavy heart and an angry mind, that I have raised and donated my last dollar for Komen.

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