Feminist Events Calendar

January:
-22nd: 32nd Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

February:
-14th: V-day
-14th-21st: National Condom Week

March-Women's History Month:
-8th: International Women's Day

April:
NEW DATES!
-8th: Feminist Leadership Institute
-9th-11th: National Collegiate Global Women's and Human Rights Conference

Contact Us!

Call us toll free at either the East coast office (1-866-444-FMLA) or the West coast office (1-866-471-FMLA) . You can also email us at campusteam@feminist.org. We are always happy to hear from you and answer any questions or concerns!

What do you think?

This is your E-zine, and we are always updating and changing to fit your needs, so please let us know what you think of our new format! Email campusteam@feminist.org with any suggestions, ideas, or comments.

Commemorate the 32nd Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
January 22nd marks the anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, and its 32 years of saving women's lives. The right to a safe and legal abortion is far from secure, however, in fact Roe v. Wade currently hangs by a razor-thin 5-4 margin in the US Supreme Court. In fact, the Supreme Court almost overturned Roe v. Wade in 1992. The possible retirement of multiple Justices could allow the Court to be packed with anti-abortion Justices who would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, relegating women to back alley abortions.

In recognition of these dangers the FMF has re-launched its Never Go Back campaign with a new 2005 Campus Action Kit and updated Never Go Back website. On the website you can find printable versions of the kit materials, including factsheets and a sample letter to the editor, as well as other information and action ideas that you can use on your campus this month and in the months to come. Visit NeverGoBack.org and take action today!

Take the FeministCampus.org User Survey
We want to know what you think of our website! Let us know how useful you have found the online information and resources we provide. Remember, this is your program and your website; it's here for you, so take a minute and tell us how we're doing and how we can be better! Take the survey

During January, Tell the FDA that you support EC OTC!
You sent thousends of letters urging the FDA to approve Emergency Contraception (EC) for over-the-counter (OTC) status during December's EC Week of Action, but it is very important to keep up the good work until the FDA makes its decision about EC OTC! This decision is expected to come by the end of this month. If you haven't sent a letter yet, send one today! If you have sent your letter already, remember to tell your friends to send one too! We must continue to take action on this issue until the FDA approves EC for OTC status.

Santa Monica College
In the December 6th edition of the Feminist Campus Ezine we featured the efforts of the Women's College Student Association ( WCSA ), an FMF affiliate at Santa Monica College, to prevent the administration's attempts to shut down the Women's College program at SMC. We are now happy to report that these efforts were successful! Thanks to petition writing and the support from fellow students they were able to convince the administration to keep the WCSA's office open. They also said that they would not move the office until another suitable space is created in a new building.

Senator Boxer Joins Representatives in Challenging Ohio Election Results
January 6, 2005--Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has joined with Representative John Conyers (D-MI), Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Stephanie Tubb-Jones (D-OH), and other Democratic members of the US House in challenging the Ohio presidential election results. "Senator Boxer's courageous stand today ensures an important and historic discussion of the many election irregularities in Ohio," said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority. According to Congressional rules, it takes one Representative and one Senator to reject the Electoral College's vote and force a debate. More

TAKE ACTION Thank Senator Boxer for her courage in challenging the Ohio election results

Oversight of Abstinence-Only Programs Moved to "Friendlier" Agency
January 6, 2005--The recently passed omnibus spending bill included an authorization for Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson to move oversight of the two largest federal abstinence-only education grant-giving programs within the agency from the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). The decision to change the oversight agency to ACF, which the Washington Times described as "friendlier" to abstinence-only education, has raised concern that political objectives could overpower medical science in the running of the abstinence-only programs. The ACF is the agency responsible for promoting marriage for mothers on welfare. More

Study Shows Access to Emergency Contraception Does Not Lead to Risky Sex
January 5, 2005--A new study released today found that women who have easier access to Plan B brand emergency contraception do not engage in riskier sexual behaviors. The study, by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco, was published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study also revealed that women who had the most access to emergency contraception (EC) were also most likely to use it to prevent unintended pregnancies, according to Women's eNews. Women who received EC in advance were twice as likely to actually use EC as women who had to go to a clinic to obtain a prescription for EC or women who could obtain EC through behind-the-counter pharmacy access available in California, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. More

Shirley Chisholm Dies at Age 80
January 3, 2005--Political pioneer Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and the first woman of any race to seek the nomination of a political party for the office of President of the United States, died on Saturday at her home in Florida the age of 80. The slogan of her many campaigns, "Unbought and Unbossed," said it all. Chisholm challenged the system and fought for women's rights and civil rights. She would accept no artificial boundaries of sex or race. More

More Feminist News

Family Brutally Killed in the Name of Honor in Pakistan
January 6, 2005--Armed men shot dead a woman, her husband, their son, and two others in a farming village in Pakistan. According to Agence-France Press, four of the woman's brothers and four other family members brutally killed the family in a so-called "honor" killing because their sister refused to marry her cousin and chose to marry another man in 2002. More

Pentagon Issues New Policies to Prevent Sexual Assault in the Military
January 5, 2005--Following sexual assault scandals in Iraq and at the Air Force Academy, the Pentagon has issued new policies to prevent these types of crimes from occurring, to investigate cases more thoroughly, and to treat victims with more consideration. According to the LA Times, part of the Pentagon's plan is to establish definitions of sexual assault and harassment and to designate a sexual assault response coordinator at every US military installation in the world, including all military branches, service academies, and other academic institutions. More

Iraqi Women Forced to Wear Headscarves to Avoid Attacks by Fundamentalists
January 3, 2005--Since the US-led invasion in Iraq, more and more Iraqi women, both Muslim and Christian, are wearing headscarves in order to protect themselves from attacks by Muslim fundamentalists.

A female student at Baghdad University recently stated that she chose to wear a headscarf so she could "walk in the street without fearing someone will kill me or kidnap me...I head rumors about killing women without a scarf. Why should I risk my life?" reports United Press International. More

More Global Feminist News

Help Provide Assistance to Tsunami Victims
With hundreds of thousands of people displaced by floods in ten countries from Southeast Asia to the Horn of Africa, more contributions are needed.

If you are interested in donating or helping in any way, check out the tsunami assistance guide that OneWorld, an organizational network of which the FMF is a partner, has put together.

NEW DATES!
The Feminist Majority Foundation's National Collegiate Global Women's and Human Rights Conference dates have been changed to April 9, 10, & 11, 2005!

The conference will connect the dots between the need to build a national constituency to increase international family planning and health funding aid, to ratify international treaties for human rights and the environment, to combat sweatshops, and to promote non-violence and peace. Register Today!

Levi Strauss Awards CEDPA with Grant for Women's Leadership in HIV/AIDS
The Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) is a women-focused nonprofit international organization founded in 1975. CEDPA's mission is to empower women at all levels of society to be full partners in development.

The Levi Strauss Foundation and Levi Strauss & Co. has awarded $50,000 over one year to CEDPA to provide women's leadership training and technical assistance to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) implementing HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support activities. CEDPA will build on its long history of working with NGOs and women leaders to raise awareness and promote best practices that will reduce HIV/AIDS transmission. The funds will be used to provide training to several women and youth leaders in selected sub-Saharan Africa and Asian countries, as well as follow up technical assistance to the NGOs in which they work to reduce HIV/AIDS infection and raise awareness of HIV prevention in their communities. All training and assistance will focus on specific gender issues that make women and young girls more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS transmission. (Source: OneWorld U.S.) Find out more about CEDPA.

WLP Organizes Training for Women Activists in Morocco
Women's Learning Partnership (WLP) in cooperation with its partner in Morocco, Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM), convened the Maghreb Regional Learning Institute for Women's Leadership and Training of Trainers from December 11-14, 2004 in Marrakech, Morocco.

WLP Institutes are learning centers for empowering women to participate as leaders in the decision-making processes in all areas of social, political, and economic life. The goal of the Institute was to train women's rights activists in the Maghreb region to become better trainers and advocates for women's equal participation in civil society. (Source: OneWorld U.S.) Read More

Take Action to Save Roe v. Wade
The FMF has re-launched its Never Go Back campaign with a new 2005 Campus Action Kit and updated Never Go Back website. Visit the website or click on the links below to use the new kit to take action on your campus this month.

• Start out with some of these Roe v. Wade Activism Ideas.
• Spread Awareness with our three new factsheets: Access Denied, Think Again, and Barriers to Choice.
• Use this sample Letter to the Editor as a template for a letter to your own campus or local newspaper.
• Download and print the Never Go Back petition.
• Purchase additional materials for your Roe v. Wade Anniversary activities.

EC OTC Campaign
The EC Week of Action December 6th-10th was a big success, but it is imperative that we continue to send letters to the FDA telling its members that we support over-the-counter status for EC right up until it makes its decision this month! Here are some ideas for what you can do:

• Write a letter to the FDA in support of providing Emergency Contraception over-the-counter.
• Tell your friends to write a letter too!
• Write an article for your campus paper on why EC is important.
• Put up EC informational flyers all over campus.
• Make banners and signs to hang up all over campus
• Have a bucket drive, instead of getting donations, pass out EC palm cards.
• Coordinate an evening program or activity with a residential advisor. Make sure the program emphasizes the importance of ensuring women access to EC.

2005 COOL Idealist Conference
Students and Youth: Are you coming to the 2005 COOL Idealist Conference at the University of California, Berkeley from March 18-20, 2005?

Registration for the 2005 COOL Idealist National Conference is officially open! Click on "Registration" at http://www.idealist.org/conference2005 to register your group now!

Women as Global Leaders: Educating the Next Generation
March 14-16, 2005
Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
http://www.zuglobaleaders.org

Zayed University announces its First Annual Student Leadership
Conference, to be held March 14-16, 2005, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The conference will bring together female students, faculty mentors and student leadership professionals of both genders from around the world to focus on issues relating to "Women as Global Leaders."

The conference format will include presentations by prominent world leaders and personalities, and opportunities for participants to interact with these leaders, as well as papers, presentations, simulations and workshops. While student participation is limited to female students, leadership practitioners and educators of both genders are invited. Parallel and interactive sessions are planned for all participants, and all sessions will be in English.

Sacred Circles: A Celebration of Women's Spirituality Conference 2005
February 18-19, 2005
http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/sacredcircles/
Washington National Cathedral
Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues, NW
Washington, DC 20016-5098
202-537-2221
http://www.nationalcathedral.org

Find a feminist internship or post-graduate job!

Job Search Tips:

• Develop a Contact Network
  Once you have targeted a career or specific position, you should acquaint yourself with professionals in that field or organization. These professionals can offer you an insider's view and may be able to open doors that might otherwise remain closed. Your network can also consist of family members, friends, classmates, professors, and electronic discussion groups. (Source: MonsterTrak)

Each issue will have new tips to help you succeed in finding a feminist internship or job. Have a great tip for this section? Submit it to campusteam@feminist.org!