Archives for Womens Windows Interviews

WERU Special 5/31/17: Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

Producer/Host: Linda Washburn
Engineer: John Greenman

Program Topic: The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

Key Discussion Points:
a) The Equal Rights Amendment was introduced in 1923. Why was it introduced?
b) 94 years later the ERA languishes- why?
c) What has jump-started interest in the ERA?
d) Are there ways other than a Constitutional amendment to bring equality to women?

Guests:
Posie Cowan, founder of Equal Rights Maine, from the Blue Hill Peninsula
Kathleen Bonk (Brooksville and DC) was involved with ERA ratification starting in 1972, then worked with Betty Ford and Alan Alda on the ERA Countdown Campaign as Communications Chief and is now on the steering committee for the current federal ERA drive.

To learn more about this topic:
Equal Rights Maine at equalrightsmaine.org (local organization)
Equal Means Equal: Why the Time for an Equal Rights Amendment is Now by Jessica Neuwirth, The New Press, 2015.
Why We Lost the ERA by Jane J. Mansbridge, University of Chicago Press, 1986.
Posie’s connection to the suffrage movement: And on to the ERA:
bangordailynews.com/2016/03/28/the-point/my-great-grandmother-fought-for-womens-equal-rights-im-still-working-on-her-dream/?ref=relatedBox
visit www.eracoalition.org and www.equalrightsamendment.org.

Women’s Windows Interview: Sonali Kolhatkar 3/20/11

Producer/Host: Marge May (aka Magdalen)

Topic: Malalai Joya denial of entry into the U.S.

Who is Malalai Joya an what is her role in Afganistan? Why was she denied entry into the U.S. for here 5th visit to this country?

Guest: Sonali Kolhatkar: journalist, activist, co-founder and director of the Afghan Women’s Mission in the U.S.

Women’s Windows Interview 3/29/09

Producer/Host: Marge May
Topic: An interview with Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, Editor of the collection of stories: “My Little Red Book” ; published by Twelve Books, 2009
How do girls experience their first periods today and how are these experiences different from those of a generation or so ago? How can parents and the culture at large provide a more supportive environment so that girls have sufficient information about their bodies and do not react with shame to this very natural event? What is the average age of onset today and how has that changed in the last 25 years? Is the change that has occurred well-known?

Women’s Windows Interview: Vagina Monologues 3/15/09

Host: Magdalen
Guest: Nicolette Yerxa: organizer, director, actor for the production

Topical summary: Vagina Monologues and VDAY project history; the problem of domestic violence in Maine; organizations in Maine that aid victims of DV and strive to end DV; new monologues in VM; details of the upcoming performance, March 20th and 21st at 7p.m. and March 22nd, at 2p.m., at the Maine Grind, 192 Main Street, Ellsworth, Maine. Tickets are available at the Grasshopper Shop and at the door. WERU is a co-sponsor. For more information: www.nextstepdvproject.org or WERU (207)-469-6600

Please join WERU in our support for The Next Step Domestic Violence Project, for Downeast Sexual Assault Services, and for women all over the world who have experienced violence.

The Vagina Monologues is a collection of pieces on a particular topic performed by an all-female cast. It is very funny at times, very explicit at others, but it is always powerful. Performances are organized yearly by women all over the world in order to raise money and awareness in their own towns.

Each year the author, Eve Ensler, chooses a place in the world or a population of women who need help and need to be heard. This year the spotlight is on the Democratic Republic of Congo. Over 300,000 women and girls in the DRC have been tortured or raped as a systematic tactic of war. Ninety percent of the money earned through this performance will go directly to local organizations and 10 percent will go to the national V-Day organization for the work they are doing in the DRC.

The Next Step Domestic Violence Project and Downeast Sexual Assault Services serve both Washington and Hancock Counties in their work to end violence against women and girls. Women from both counties have worked together on this project to support vital services for those who need them in their own communities.

Women’s Windows Interview 11/30/08

Producer/Host: Magdalen

Topic: Terry Tempest Williams’ new book: Finding Beauty in a Broken World
How has art, the creation of beautiful objects, helped one Rwandan community to recover from the Rwandan Genocide? How does art imitate life in the concept of “mosaic”? How does observing others, keeping one’s eyes open, affect one’s own reality?

Guest: Terry Tempest Williams