Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund

June is LGBT Pride Month!

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:00:37 -0400

This month The Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF) is celebrating LGBT Pride Month! June is LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall riots that occurred on June 27^th, 1969 in Greenwich, New York. On that day in June, police raided a gay bar, something that had happened many times in the past. This time was different, however and a series of events caused the bar’s inhabitants to become angry and rise up against the police. They began throwing coins and other debris at the police who then trashed the bar and beat an innocent man as well as injured many more. News of this riot reached other LGBT members across the city who came out to support the rioters. For the next two evenings the rioters gathered again to protest.

The Stonewall riots raised discussion in the LGBT community and it lead to the modern Gay Rights Movement. In remembrance of the Stonewall riots the first LGBT Pride March was held in June 1970 and these marches have spread all across the United States.

This year’s LGBT Pride March will be held on Sunday June 30^th in New York City and will pass the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots. CWEALF is dedicated to equality and tolerance of all people no matter the gender or sexual orientation of that person and work to increase awareness of the inequality based on gender and sexual orientation in Connecticut.

Photo by Sasha Kargaltsev, “New York Gay Pride 2011” June 29, 2011. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

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Written by Jennifer Farina. Jen is an intern at the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF) and a student at the University of Connecticut.

Girls Rising

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 08:01:11 -0400

This weekend, a wonderful documentary will be shown on CNN. The documentary is titled Girl Rising, and it tells the resilient story of 9 extraordinary girls from around the world. According to the Girl Rising website, it “showcases the strength of the human spirit and the power of education to change the world.”

Girl’s education is extremely important to their development into strong adults. CWEALF participates in the education of girls through our G2O STEM Expos, which keep 7^th grade girls interested in science, technology, engineering and math. The campaign behind the Girl Rising film, 10x10, “is a global campaign for girls’ education” that brings together multiple international organizations dedicated to improving the lives of girls everywhere.

Girl Rising will be shown on CNN at 9pm on June 16^th, and again at midnight. If you can’t take any time away this weekend to watch the film, there are a couple showings across Connecticut in the next few months. You can look them up here, or if you’re feeling bold, arrange a screening yourself! If you feel moved to do something, check out the 10x10 campaign or The Girl Effect to learn how you can help.

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Written by Linda Manville Kaphaem. Linda is an intern at the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF).

Smart girls do it well: young women excelling in STEM

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:00:57 -0400

Women currently earn 41 percent of PhDs in STEM fields – that is, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – but make up only 28 percent of tenure-track faculty in those fields, according to a 2011 report published by the Department of Commerce. That same report says that women hold less than 25 percent of STEM jobs in the U.S., despite filling nearly 50 percent of jobs in the current job market, and that women hold a disproportionately low share of STEM undergraduate degrees, particularly in engineering.

There are plenty of reasons why, including gender stereotyping and a smaller number of female role models in STEM fields. But one factor lies with how young girls are frequently discouraged from pursuing studies in STEM subjects.

Despite that, many girls are becoming increasingly interested in STEM subjects – thanks in part to the efforts of organizations like CWEALF that develop entire programs to encourage their studies – and it shows.

Young women across the U.S. are developing apps, inventing technological advances, and even working on diagnosing certain types of cancer. Here are a few admirable young women who have used science, technology, engineering, and math to make headlines.

Eesha Khare

More than 1,600 finalists from 70 countries around the world entered the 2013 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona. The fair – the world’s largest international pre-college science competition – is geared toward students in grades 9-12. This year, out of the massive collection of entries, Eesha Khare, an 18-year-old student at Lynbrook High School in California, was selected as the competition’s winner.

Khare invented device that can charge a cell phone between 20 and 30 seconds. According to Huffington Post, the “supercapacitor acts as an energy storage device that holds a great amount energy in a small amount of space.” So not only does it have the ability to charge phones with incredible speed, but the device is small and could fit inside of cell phones and other electronics. This innovation could ultimately make it so that we’ll eventually rely on electronic outlets less often

For her work, Khare won $50,000, which she said she will put toward her education at Harvard.

“I will be setting the world on fire,” she said.

Brittany Wenger

Sarasota, Florida, student Brittany Wenger recently developed a computer algorithm to diagnose leukemia. Pretty big deal, no?

The 18-year-old “built a custom, cloud-based ‘artificial neural network’ to find patterns in genetic expression profiles to diagnose patients with an aggressive form of cancer called mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL),” according to Mashable.

Her invention could change the face of cancer – or, at the very least, mixed-lineage leukemia, which typically has a poor prognosis, with a five-year survival rate of only 40 percent.

And this wasn’t even Wenger’s first foray into scientific discoveries: she previously used artificial-intelligence technology to determine whether a breast mass was malignant or benign. It was called Global Neural Network Cloud Service for Breast Cancer.

Other instances

Wenger’s breast cancer research garnered her grand prize at the 2012 Google Science Fair, which annually collects more than 10,000 entries from young people ages 13-18. She was just 17.

The year before, in 2011, girls swept the competition, a feat Fast Company wrote not only covered, but celebrated. Shree Bose, a 17-year-old girl Texan won the grand prize for her research on the chemotherapy drug, cisplatin; Naomi Shah of Portland, OR, won the age 15-16 category with a study of the effects of air quality on lungs (particularly for people who have asthma); and Lauren Hodge of York, PA, won the age 13-14 category for research on whether marinades reduce the amount of cancer-causing compounds produced by the grilling of meat.

The efforts – and the impact – of these young women cannot be understated. Gone are the days when words like “doctor” and “scientist” and “engineer” are synonymous with male; instead, young women like Eesha, Britney, Shree, Naomi, and Lauren are rising. These girls, like many others when given the right tools and encouragement, are determined, innovative, and smart. So let’s keep pushing young women to think big. When they’re encouraged to study science, technology, engineering, and math, there’s really no telling what they’ll do. They might just change the world.

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Crystal Maldonado is a writer by day, and super-feminist by night. Find her on Twitter @crysmaldonado, or check out her new online magazine, Positively-Smitten.com.

CT's Own Mary Hall: A Pioneer on the National Legal Scene

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 11:53:37 -0400

CWEALF would like to take the opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of Mary Hall, Connecticut’s first female attorney and advocate for women’s rights to practice law. In 1877, Hall, a mathematics professor from Marlborough, CT, set her sights on the virtually unprecedented career change from teacher to female lawyer. She tenaciously studied law for the next 5 years, serving first as an apprentice to her brother Ezra, an attorney and Connecticut Senator, and later to John Hooker, the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Errors.

In 1882, 38-year-old Hall’s application to the Connecticut Bar caused quite the controversy. After passing the Bar examination and receiving a glowing recommendation from Hooker, Hall was accepted by the Bar under one condition: the CT Supreme Court of Errors must rule on the legality of a woman practicing law.

The Hartford Daily Courant supported Hall’s application, stating “It is hoped that the members of the Hartford County bar will not see fit to put themselves on the illiberal side on the pending application of an accomplished lady for admission to the bar. When women are allowed as physicians and teachers without question, it would be taking a long step backward to refuse their admission to the bar. It would be regarded as an admission of fear on the part of the men.”

The Court ruled in favor of women’s equal rights right to practice law in CT, making the In re Hall decision the first judicial decision in the United States that permitted women to practice law. Many thanks to Mary Hall for paving the way for today’s women to enter this fascinating and lucrative career!

Photo from Richmond Memorial Library, 1/24/13 Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MaryHall.jpg

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Written by Cassandra Martin. Currently a CWEALF intern, Cassandra is majoring in English and Communication at Boston College and has aspirations of becoming an attorney.

thereconstructionists: In an age when women were decades away...

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 08:02:27 -0400

thereconstructionists:

In an age when women were decades away from the second wave of feminism and a complete rarity in science, British biophysicist Rosalind Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) conducted a series of seminal X-ray diffraction studies that would lead to the groundbreaking discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.

When Franklin first started working as a research assistant at the biophysics laboratory at London’s King College in 1951, there was only one other female scientist on the staff. Working with Raymond Gosling, one of the Ph.D. students assigned to help her, she applied her mastery of X-ray diffraction techniques to decoding the structure of DNA, but conflict in the scientific community was quick to take hold. Over the next few years, as the research was gathering momentum, so was the friction. In early 1953, Francis Crick and James D. Watson of at Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory gained access to Franklin’s data without her consent — most notably, the famous Photo 51 — thanks to Maurice Wilkins, her chief rival at King’s, and used it to enhance their own existing research.

So antagonistic was Wilkins’s attitude toward Franklin that in March of 1953, he announced her departure from the lab in a private letter to his friend Crick:

Our dark lady is leaving us next week.

The following month, the prestigious scientific journal Nature published an article proclaiming Francis and Crick’s discovery of DNA’s double helix. In it, they made an intentionally oblique reference to Franklin’s work, the core armature of the very work they were claiming as their own:

It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.

Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958, shortly before her 37th birthday. Despite her pioneering contribution to science, she was never nominated for a Nobel Prize, which wasn’t being awarded posthumous at the time. Her death thus made her ineligible for the 1962 Nobel Prize, which was eventually awarded to Watson, Wilkins, and Crick.

In his 1968 autobiographical account, The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA, Watson repeatedly belittles Franklin’s work. But a recently released illustrated and expanded edition shines new light on some of the controversies.

In lieu of formal recognition on par with the scale of her work’s influence, Franklin’s greatest legacy is perhaps her ethos and her unwavering faith in the power of science as a force of social good. In 1940, barely 20, Franklin wrote in a letter to her father, Ellis:

Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated. Science, for me, gives a partial explanation of life. In so far as it goes, it is based on fact, experience, and experiment. … I agree that faith is essential to success in life, but I do not accept your definition of faith, i.e., belief in life after death. In my view, all that is necessary for faith is the belief that by doing our best we shall come nearer to success and that success in our aims (the improvement of the lot of mankind, present and future) is worth attaining.

Brenda Maddox eloquently captures the essence of Franklin’s spirit in Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA:

She did not find life easy — as a woman, as a Jew, as a scientist. … The measure of her success lies in the strength of her friendships, the devotion of her colleagues, the vitality of her letters and a legacy of discovery that would do credit to a scientific career twice its length.

Learn more: Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA | Rosalind Franklin

What a great quote and even more inspirational woman!

coolchicksfromhistory: Sophia Brahe (1556-1643) Art by Carolyn...

Thu, 30 May 2013 11:47:49 -0400

coolchicksfromhistory:

Sophia Brahe (1556-1643)

Art by Carolyn Bernhard (website, tumblr)

Tycho Brahe was one of the most important astronomers of the sixteenth century. The last major astronomer to work without the aid of a telescope, Tycho built his own instruments to track the movements of celestial bodies. His work paved the way for Johannes Kepler’s laws of planetary motion.

Tycho’s younger sister Sophia assisted him in his scientific observations. Their family was part of Denmark’s high nobility and although the Brahe children were well educated, their parents did not consider science an appropriate field for people of rank. Nevertheless, Sophia taught herself astronomy and as a teenager helped her brother observe a lunar eclipse. Throughout their lives, Tycho and Sophia maintained a close correspondence.

Sophia also studied alchemy, horticulture, and chemistry, but her most lasting individual work is her genealogy of Danish noble families. Published in 1626, it remains an important source for Danish historians today.

There are so many amazing female scientists, Sophia Brahe is one of them!

californiastatelibrary: Marilyn Reece, Civil Engineer What do...

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:04:30 -0400

californiastatelibrary:

Marilyn Reece, Civil Engineer

What do you do when you like math but don’t want to become a teacher? You could be a civil engineer, like Marilyn Reece.

She was the first woman to be a fully-licensed civil engineer in California and she’s featured in our May calendar of women trailblazers in science, tech, engineering and math.

Let’s kick off Monday with an awesome woman in STEM!

With workshops like “CSI New Haven,” “Hybrid...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:13:50 -0400

With workshops like “CSI New Haven,” “Hybrid Vehicle Demonstration,” and “Assessing Pain in Hospitalized Patients” (all pictured above), CWEALF’s STEM Expo at Gateway Community College on Friday was a success!

Brilliant Minds: Women in Mathematics

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:19:04 -0400

Brilliant Minds: Women in Mathematics:

visualoop:

Via

Interesting Infographic!

Happy Equal Pay Day!

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 08:42:14 -0400

For those who do not know Equal Pay Day is an awareness day that occurs on a Tuesday in April every year to remind us of the Gender Wage Gap. Tuesday is selected purposefully because that is how many days in to the next week women have to work before they have earned the same amount their male counter parts received the previous Friday. Right now across our country women who have the same job, skills, education, duties, and hours as their male colleagues make on average 23 percent less money. Every time I write these blogs or go to events on this issue or that social problem I get the distinct feeling that the only group listening to the sermon is the choir. Women, many you already know about the wage gap, you are organizing yourselves, taking classes on negotiation, writing to your legislators (if you aren’t, start) because this is your paycheck that is short $377 dollars a week¹. So this blog is not for the ladies, although of course ladies are encouraged to read, and then send, to husbands, bosses, brothers, sons, casual acquaintances.

MEN, THIS IS HOW THE WAGE GAP HURTS YOU!

Husbands, boyfriends, other, if you are married, cohabitating, or in any other way sharing expenses with a woman your combined income is down Twelve Percent.
Fathers with daughters who are just starting out, that extra $377 means she will never have to chose between hitting you up for grocery money and going hungry ever again.
Sons, the wage gap means you mother retires with roughly Half the retirement savings she should have gotten². Are you able to pick up that tab, or will you have to watch her suffer?
Everybody, pay equity, if properly executed, has the potential to stimulate the economy Twice as much as Obama’s 2009 stimulus bill did³.

¹ Catalyst. Catalyst Quick Take: Women’s Earnings and Income. New York: Catalyst, 2013. http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/womens-earnings-and-income

² Johnston, D. (2011, Oct 26). Underpaid women and their men. Reuters. Retrieved from http://blogs.reuters.com/david-cay-johnston/2011/10/26/underpaid-women-and-their-men/

³ Bassett, L. (2012, Oct 24). Closing the gender wage gap would create ‘huge’ economic stimulus, economists say. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/24/gender-wage-gap-economic-stimulus_n_2007588.html

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Blog written by Alessandra Burgett. Alessandra is a CWEALF intern and MSW student.

Welfare Misconception

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 08:01:01 -0400

Contrary to the popular misconception welfare is not something people try to get so they can just sit home and be lazy. People want to work; most human beings have an innate desire to be useful contributors. The problem lies not with the individuals, but with the system. The pull yourself up by your bootstraps mentality is still deeply imbedded in our societal values and rhetoric even though the economic and interpersonal systems that made that possible have long since changed.

Part of this systemic change which was discussed at the Welfare Educational Forum that took place at the Legislative Office Building on Wednesday, February 13^th is the concept of job mobility, and how it doesn’t exist anymore. In times gone by one could start out in a low-wage job and, through a combination of experience, seniority, and hard work, steadily climb the ladder to a position that at the very least offered you and your family some security and often afforded a modestly comfortable life. However this is no longer the case, a department president who fifty years ago began in his company of employment as a secretary or delivery person with no education or experience, will today not give that same position to an applicant with less than an associate’s degree and three years experience (not to mention the credit check, background check, and urinalysis).

Instead of simply cutting funding, under the ludicrous argument that if we give people enough help to keep them out of poverty they will never go to work again, why don’t we take steps to make sure people can work? One of the largest barriers to employment, experience by 23% of participants served by CTWorks, was lack of a high school diploma. Yet only 7.8% of these participants are enrolled in basic education services. Why you ask? Perhaps the answer lies in another fun fact from Wednesday’s forum; CT only spends 4% of its TANF block grant on training and education, as opposed to the national average of 10%. We need to take steps to reduce the welfare rolls by reducing need, not by altering eligibility requirements. Having events in which people can discuss these issues and exchange ideas on how to improve the system are vital.

Photo by UH Manoa Library, “Ad: A good, smart boy wanted for work” June 22, 2012. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License.

Photo by dr.coop, “Rule of Thirds - Three Degrees” May 4, 2010. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- 2.0 Generic License.

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Written by Alessandra Burgett. Alessandra is a CWEALF intern and MSW student.

A Woman of Inspiration: Ann Richards

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 05:53:37 -0400

Ann Richards was a pistol, a real character, and the first woman governor of Texas (in her own right). She was a feminist Democrat from Texas, just like me, and my mom actually was involved with her campaign in the 1990s.

Ann Richards was born in Lakeview, Texas outside of Waco. Waco is where she met her future husband, David Richards, who she married at the age of 19, later enrolling in Baylor University. There, she graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in 1954. While her husband went to law school in Austin, she got her teaching certificate and taught government at a middle school.

She stopped working, but stayed involved by volunteering for political campaigns like those of Henry B. Gonzalez, Ralph Yarborough, and Sarah Weddington. Weddington was a lawyer who had been involved with the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade reproductive rights case. In 1974, Richards became her administrative assistant in the House.

She ran for office for the first time in 1976 against the incumbent Travis County commissioner and won, and was re-elected in 1980. In 1982, she was elected state treasurer, and was reelected in 1986. She was the first woman to be elected to a state office in 50 years in the Lone Star State.

Richards won the election for Texas governor in 1990 against all odds – many people didn’t even think a woman should be involved in politics at all, let alone in a leadership position like that. As governor, she appointed more women and minorities than any other Texas governor had. Having two daughters, she prided herself on helping to break down gender barriers for the women of Texas. During her term she also worked on insurance reform, created a program for prisoners who struggled with addictions, and made an ethics commission, among a number of things.

Richards was smart, and she was fierce. She didn’t take anything from anyone. She’s inspiring to me because she kept fighting for what she wanted and what she believed was right despite everything that was going on around her. I’ll always keep Ann Richards in mind as I strive for my own goals and try to adopt her attitude.

Photo by Kenneth C. Zirkel (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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Written by Brittany Estes-Garcia. Brittany is a student at Arizona State University and is a volunteer with CWEALF.

“Debunking myths about gender and math performance”

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:19:18 -0400

In the spirit of Pi day, did you know that some recent studies have addressed the myth of gender and math performance? Common myths tell the tale that girls just aren’t as good at math, but researchers suggest this just isn’t so. In reality, a more complex constellation of cultural factors may be at work.

Professors Kane and Mertz from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater comprehensively explored math performance among girls and boys. They tackled the “greater male variability hypothesis”, which states that math ability among males varies more widely (males at very high and very low ability) than math ability among females. In order to see if this hypothesis held weight, they gathered data from over 80 countries around the world and compared the variability of boys’ and girls’ math performance.

Results of their study showed that the variability of ability between genders varied by country. For example, Kane and Mertz indicated that, in Taiwan, eight grader boys’ score varied much more widely than did girls; yet they found that, in Morocco, boys and girls had equal experiences and patterns of school attendance) contribute to variability. In those countries in which women have a high labor force participation rate, and have a small gender wage gap, girls have the highest math scores.

“In summary, gender equity and other socio-cultural factors, nor national income, school type or religion per se, are the primary determinants of mathematics performance at all levels for both girls and boys”.

To read their research, see the American Mathematical Society

To learn more about CWEALF’s work with girls and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) go to our website

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Photo by Paul Smith (originally posted to Flickr as Pi pie) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Girl Scouts of CT deserve praise for more than just its cookies

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 09:25:14 -0500

It’s Girl Scout cookie season! While you’re off ordering (or dreaming about the delivery of) those rich, decadent Thin Mints, let’s celebrate some of the other reasons why Girl Scouts of Connecticut (and nationwide) are awesome.

1. It’s sort of like the younger sister to CWEALF. If you’ve never been a Girl Scout, you might not know just how closely the organization’s mission lines up with Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund’s. Girl Scouts of Connecticut’s website (where all stats and facts used in this article can be found) talks all about how it aims to “builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.” Sound familiar? If so, that’s probably because those young girls could easily become advocates for CWEALF, which has the mission of “empowering women, girls and their families to achieve equal opportunities in their personal and professional lives.”

2. It reaches out to 65,000 girls and adults each year. In fact, their reach is so far and so influential that the organization has been recognized by CWEALF for its efforts. Last year, Jennifer Smith Turner, president and CEO for Girl Scouts of Connecticut, was named one of the 2012 Marie Miller Stewart Awardees. Smith Turner helped to ensure that each Girl Scout reaches her full potential.

3. It encourages girls to become interested in the government. It’s never too early to get young women interested in politics, and the Girl Scouts of CT take that notion very seriously. In fact, they will be taking a trip to Connecticut’s capitol on Feb. 27, where they’ll speak with legislators and participate in workshops. I see a future president of CWEALF (and maybe even the U.S.) in the making.

4. It helps make science, technology, engineering, and math (also known as STEM) accessible. Girl Scouts of CT provides ample opportunities for its young members to get involved in fields of interest often geared toward boys; there are astronomy clubs, LEGO leagues, and chemistry groups the girls can join. G2O, a program by CWEALF, does the same. G2O - it stands for Generating Girls’ Opportunities - brings STEM to high school girls and helps them transform an interest into a future.

5. The cookies. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Girl Scouts are amazing because of the delicious goods they sell each year. More importantly, however, is the message and lessons behind the cookie sales. Girl Scouts of CT - and CWEALF, for that matter - are all about providing women with the opportunities to be self-sufficient, strong, and knowledgeable. The Girl Scouts cookie program is a chance to do that. Its five goals include strengthening each girl’s ability to set goals, make decisions, manage money, deal with people, and consider the ethics of business - all skills that extend far beyond a simple cookie sale.

Next time you’re thinking of purchasing a box Samoas, remind yourself of why Girl Scouts is such a lovely program - and feel free to add an extra box to your order (for the greater good!).

Photo by bamalibrarylady, “God bless vegan girl scout cookies!” 2/2/13. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.

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Crystal Maldonado is a writer by day, and super-feminist by night. Find her on Twitter @crysmaldonado, or check out her new online magazine, Positively-Smitten.com.

Volunteer Spotlight: Rita Keeling

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 09:00:27 -0500

In our last Volunteer Spotlight, we met Iwona Zambrzycka who was as an Information and Referral (I&R) that worked with us answering client emails regarding legal issues. Today I’d like to introduce you to another one of our I&R volunteers. Rita answers our I&R phone line and has also been instrumental in research and evaluation around our Legal Education Program.

Q: How did you hear about CWEALF and what made you want to get involved with us?
A: I was searching for somewhere to volunteer in Hartford where I would be able to make a difference, especially with an underserved population. I noticed that CWEALF was very much involved in helping people find ways to overcome many of the disadvantages that they face, especially in the legal system.

Q: You’ve been working with us since January 2012. What has been the best part about volunteering?
A: There is really so much that I enjoy about being a part of CWEALF! The fact that the work environment at CWEALF is so welcoming has been a wonderful experience. There is always an opportunity to learn from any one of the staff members in a variety of areas, in addition to learning from the various clients. There is always an opportunity to learn here, and that is something that I value.

Q: What have you learned from this experience?
A: I have learned SO much from this experience, some of which impacts me personally. I have learned about so many resources available to help others, especially those in the lower socio-economic status level. I believe that one of the major things that I can take away from my experience here is the renewed belief that I can make a difference in the community because I see change made every time I come into the office. That is not something that happens often- being able to witness the impact you have made immediately. I feel that CWEALF has helped me grow personally as well as professionally, where I have realized a passion within myself to help others.

Q: What are your future plans?
A: I would love to continue volunteering at CWEALF for as long as my schedule allows and I have made a personal commitment to doing so. I plan on going back to school to pursue my Masters in Social Work, as well as becoming more involved in the Hartford community, doing advocacy and/or youth development.

Q: Tell us a fun fact about yourself!
A: I am a hardcore New York Giants fan!!! And I secretly enjoy horrible, scripted, “tacky” reality TV

If you have any questions about internships or volunteering at CWEALF, please visit our website and/or contact Lisa Herrera at lherrera@cwealf.org

CWEALF currently has 16 volunteers, some of which are pictured...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:06:57 -0500

CWEALF currently has 16 volunteers, some of which are pictured above. They help us with a variety of projects whether it’s tracking legislation, staffing our Information and Referral line, coordinating our STEM Expos, or updating this blog! We couldn’t do all the work we do without their help and we are very grateful to them. While many will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with their special someone, here at CWEALF we have dubbed this week Volunteer Appreciation Week to celebrate the people we love most - our volunteers!

Obama Should Put More Women in His Cabinet

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:30:18 -0500

During the 2012 presidential election campaign, one of the biggest controversies concerning the Republican candidate Mitt Romney was the lack of diversity he represented and his outdated beliefs about women in the workplace, illustrated by his comment saying he went through “binders full of women” to find senior-level staff as governor of Massachusetts.

Because of this and because of Obama’s more progressive views on women, Obama greatly benefited from the gender gap during the election, getting the majority of the female vote in the United States.

Unfortunately, Obama is now putting together his second-term administration and so far his cabinet, which includes Vice President Joe Biden, is definitely a “boy’s club”. There are only two women, both holdovers, who are Janet Napolitano of Homeland Security and Kathleen Sebelius of Health and Human Services. This seems especially out of place for Obama, who could have definitely found more qualified women to fill positions for his cabinet.

It seemed like he was going to elect Susan Rice to fill Hillary Clinton’s prior role as secretary of state, but he went with Sen. John Kerry instead. He avoided a conflict with that, but decided to fight for Sen. Chuck Hagel for the Pentagon even though that choice was more likely to lead to an argument than Rice.

Obama can and should do better. Without equal representation, women and girls do not have a voice and as a country that makes it difficult to concentrate on women’s issues and forge ahead for equality. This is related to the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF) and their work on being a voice for women and girls. CWEALF fights for women and girls to be represented concerning public policy by doing things like providing testimonies at the State Capitol, and getting involved in legal advocacy and coalitions. CWEALF also has Legal Education and Research & Evaluation programs.

Photo by Beverly & Pack, “Official Portrait of Barack Obama,” 1/13/09. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

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Written by Brittany Estes-Garcia. Brittany is a student at Arizona State University and is a volunteer with CWEALF.

Domestic Violence Screening

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 09:51:32 -0500

A recent article discusses the recommendation that women between the ages of 14 and 46 should be screened for intimate partner violence (IPV) through a standard set of questions when at a doctor’s office or clinic. This recommendation was made by a panel of medical experts after reviewing dozens of studies and interviews with over 30,000 people. The task force only found evidence to address women of childbearing age, though screenings for other groups such as men, children, and older women should still be developed. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association have similar recommendations for screenings for domestic violence. Planned Parenthood has been screening women for years and has found the practice to be helpful.

One-fourth of all women and one-thirteenth of all men in the United States experience domestic violence during their lives, according to the Office on Women’s Health. This is 2.3 million people each year. Domestic violence is a very complicated issue with just as complicated solutions. The CDC suggests that prevention efforts would require “addressing change at all levels of the social ecology that influence IPV: individual, relationship, community, and society.” It is at least a positive sign that such task forces and screening recommendations are recognizing the importance of trying to find preventative measures. Domestic violence affects so many people and it needs to be acknowledged and discussed before anything can be done to change it on a broader level. The Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF) supports the right of everyone to feel safe in their own home.

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Written by Sarah Trench. Sarah is a student at NYU and volunteer blogger for the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF).

What’s in a name? Pro-choice v. pro-life and the abortion debate

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:07:00 -0500

Labels have, up until this point, played a pretty sizeable role in the abortion debate. Are you pro-choice? Pro-life? Anti-choice? Pro-abortion? Sometimes it felt like what you called yourself mattered more than what you said.

Abortion discussions also frequently cite Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the U.S. But a recent study, conducted by Pew Research Center in honor of Roe v. Wade’s monumental 40th anniversary, found that only 40% of those younger than 30 even know what the case was all about.

It’s no wonder some are intimidated by abortion debates, especially when people on both sides of the issue are so passionate about their views. But it’s a conversation that needs to happen, and it needs to move beyond the hard-edged pro-life/pro-choice sides.

At least that’s the stance Planned Parenthood has taken. The “pro-choice” organization recently announced it would remove the word “choice” from its language as part of its latest campaign, Not In Her Shoes. According to the short video they released, Planned Parenthood has said it hopes that moving beyond labels will help foster more meaningful conversations surrounding the issue.

“For many people, [abortion is] not a black and white issue,” the video says. “So why do people try to label it like it is? Pro-choice? Pro-life? The truth is these labels limit the conversation and simply don’t reflect how people actually feel about abortion.”

According to polling done on behalf of Planned Parenthood, the numbers support this idea. A 2012 poll showed that 35% of those who identified as pro-life did not want Roe v. Wade overturned. Further complicating the issue, a whopping 12% said they were both pro-choice AND pro-life, while another 12% argued they wouldn’t identify as either. (For the full polling results, visit NotInHerShoes.org.)

So are the pro-choice/pro-life monikers really working?

At a press briefing, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said, “It’s a complicated topic and one in which labels don’t reflect the complexity.”

Feminist and women’s rights outlets have also weighed in on the issue. Amanda Marcotte wrote a great piece about it for Slate.

“I can see why Planned Parenthood might want to shed the term in order to get these conflicted people to realize they are on Planned Parenthood’s side. But I’m afraid that the desire to go label-free is doomed to fail,” Marcotte wrote. “Labels are simply part of language, and shorthand rhetoric is part of the political debate. As long as abortion is a contested issue, there’s no opting out of that.”

Over at RH Reality Check (which also has a fantastic article about Roe v. Wade) Tracy Weitz tackled the issue, too. She wrote, “Pro-choice is a political label and has nothing to do with the real stories and lives of women who have abortions.” However, Weitz also brought up the point that simply backing away from polarizing labels isn’t enough. “What’s next?” she asked.

It’s a brilliant question, and hopefully one that reproductive rights panels – like the one CWEALF attended on Jan. 17 – can delve into further. At that panel, Lt. Governor, AG George Jepsen, SOTS Denise Merrill, and Treasurer Denise Nappier all spoke candidly about what Roe v. Wade has meant not only for them personally, but for women’s rights as a whole. On Jan. 30, Planned Parenthood and CWEALF will host another discussion about abortion at Hartford’s Charter Oak Cultural Center, 5:30 p.m.

Whether you support Planned Parenthood’s decision or not, we likely can all agree that its announcement, coupled with the chatter surrounding Roe v. Wade’s anniversary, has sparked a crucial discussion. Now it’s up to us to keep the conversation going.

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Written by Crystal Maldonado. Crystal is a content developer and professional blogger by day, and a dog-mom and super-feminist by night. Follow her @crysmaldonado.

It takes a village to silence street harassment

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 10:00:43 -0500

It takes a village to silence street harassment:

Great article on street harassment over at Feministing.com.

Sexual harassment is a topic that the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF) provides information on. If you or someone you know feel that you are being sexually harassed, please contact CWEALF’s Information and Referral (I&R) line for information on how to deal with your situation. You can call 1-800-479-2979 or simply submit your questions online.