Events Archive 2003-2004
September 2003
Alice Walker at Yale (Event Cancelled)
September 10
Co-sponsored by the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Alice Walker was scheduled to give a reading and lecture in conjunction with the Beinecke Library’s exhibitions celebrating the accomplishments and contributions of women in the arts: “Intimate Circles: American Women in the Arts” and “Extravagant Crowd: Carl Van Vechten’s Portraits of Women,” on view at the library throughout the fall. This event was cancelled.
Welcoming New Women Faculty and Administrators
September 15
Our third annual reception welcomed new women faculty and senior administrators, and celebrated the successes of women who have recently received tenure and women who have joined Yale’s senior administration in the past year. Susan Hockfield, Provost; Linda Lorimer, Vice President and Secretary; and Frank Turner, Acting Director of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library gave opening remarks. An overview of the plans and projects of the Women Faculty Forum was presented by members of the Council and its Steering Committee. Nearly 150 members of the Yale community joined us for the event.
“Diversity at Yale: Affirming Action” Panel Discussion
September 15
Co-sponsored by the Arthur Liman Public Interest Fellowship & Fund and the Dwight Hall Center for Public Service and Social Justice
This panel discussion focused on the issue of faculty diversity, examining definitions of diversity with reference to recent legal rulings, issues of faculty diversity at Yale, efforts at the Medical School to diversify faculty with respect to gender, and thoughts on how to increase racial diversity in the faculty as a whole. The panel was moderated by Deborah Cantrell, Director of Projects on the Profession at Yale Law School; and Judith Resnik, Arthur Liman Professor of Law. Speakers included Hazel Carby, Charles C & Dorathea S Dilley Professor of American Studies and African American Studies; and Reva Siegel, Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law. Commentary will be given by Holly A. Thomas, Co-Chair of the Collective of Women of Color in the Law at Yale Law School; and Meg Urry, Professor of Physics and Astrophysics.
Naomi Schor Memorial Lecture
September 23
Joan Scott, Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study School of Social Science, spoke on the subject of “French Universalism in the Nineties.” Joan Scott is Harold F. Linder Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in the School of Social Science. Her research focuses on the history of modern France. She has also contributed to the development of the field of women's history, both in its substantive and theoretical dimensions, arguing for the importance of analyzing gender as a changing, historically variable way of organizing social relationships. She has written on the history of women's work in the context of economic development. Her current project explores the history of feminism in its relationship to democratic politics.
A Master’s Tea with Hoda Elsadda: “The Politics of Memory: Some Challenges Facing Women’s Movements in the Arab World”
September 30
Co-sponsored by Davenport College
Hoda Elsadda, works to change policies and attitudes related to gender throughout the Arab World. Elsadda is a professor of English literature at Cairo University and co-editor of Hagar, one of the most influential Arabic publications dealing with gender issues. She was a driving force behind Egypt’s 1994 “Equality Before the Law” project, aimed at modifying the Egyptian marriage contract to safeguard the legal rights of women. She also led the 1995 “Stereotypes of Arab Women in the Media” project, which challenged negative stereotypes of women in the Arab media. Elsadda is the founder of the Woman and Memory Forum, an independent research center that provides “alternative cultural information” on the roles women have played in Arab history. Her numerous books and articles focus on women’s issues and on comparative literature.
October 2003
The Smiles of the Extravagant Crowd: Examining the Photographs of Carl Van Vechten
October 15
Co-sponsored by the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Marianne LaFrance, Professor of Psychology and Women’s & Gender Studies, gave a lecture on issues relating to the work of Carl Van Vechten, in conjunction with the exhibition Extravagant Crowd: Carl Van Vechten’s Portraits of Women, on display in the Beinecke Library from July 28 to October 18, 2003. The exhibition includes portraits of some 50 women of achievement photographed between 1932-1964, including such famous names as Billie Holiday, Zora Neale Hurston, and Marianne Moore, and some now-forgotten women who made significant contributions to the Broadway theater community, the Harlem Renaissance, the early Hollywood film industry, and the 1920s and '30s expatriate communities in Paris and London. A reception and viewing of the exhibition followed the lecture.
Welcoming the Women of the World Fellows
October 22
This luncheon session, featuring the ten women of this year’s World Fellows class, enabled Fellows and attendees to share and discuss research and innovations to further gender equality around the world.
“Women Mentoring Women” Kick-off Reception and Panel Discussion
October 30
Co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and Graduate Career Services
The “Women Mentoring Women” initiative was organized to promote and facilitate the development of mentoring relationships between women graduate students and women faculty in FAS. The reception celebrated the launch of the “Women Mentoring Women” website, which serves as vehicle for connecting women faculty and graduate students. The panel discussion highlighted the importance of women mentoring women in the academy, and examined the ways in which mentoring can make a positive impact upon students and faculty. The panel was moderated by Peter Salovey, Dean of the Graduate School and Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology. Panelists included Meg Urry, Professor of Physics and Astronomy; Vilashini Cooppan, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature; and Pamela Schirmeister, Associate Dean of the Graduate School.
November 2003
Marie Curie Nobel Centennial: Celebrating Women in Science
November 6-8
Co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, Whitney Humanities Center, University Library, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library, Office of New Haven & State Affairs, The Dibner Fund, The Dibner Institute, The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc., Women Faculty Forum, and the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
This University-wide symposium was organized to celebrate the centenary of the first award of the Nobel Prize to Marie Curie, within the broader context of an examination – and celebration – of women in science. The conference emphasized the impact that women scientists have historically had in their fields and address challenges for the 21st century. Thursday sessions in the Whitney Humanities Center highlighted the historical importance of Marie Curie, as well as the roles women have played in science. A program for high school students on Friday morning introduced 100 students to the life and contributions of Madame Curie, and also included a panel on “Career Choices in the Sciences.” The Friday afternoon panel, “Frontiers in Chemistry, Astrophysics, and Biology,” featured three prominent women scientists discussing ground-breaking work in their fields. On Saturday morning, the presidents of MIT and Princeton, joined by the President of the National Academy of Sciences, discussed “Challenges in Science and Technology for the 21st Century” before a large audience.
The following pdf contains more information on the symposium.
Structures of Work and of Families Seminar
Work and Families at Yale
November 12
At this first session of the series, we welcomed an audience of over sixty members of the Yale community to listen to and talk with Kim Bottomly, Professor of Immunobiology, Dermatology, and Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology; Elizabeth Dillon, Associate Professor of English and American Studies; Laura Freebairn-Smith, Director of the Organizational Development/Learning Center; and Saraswathi Vedam, Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Nursing. We discussed the policies at Yale, as compared to those of other universities and the challenges, particularly for women, who often bear primary responsibility for caregiving.
December 2003
Structures of Work and of Families Seminar
Work-Life Lessons from Around the World
December 4
Over eighty individuals for this discussion, featuring Anne Alstott, Professor of Law; Linda Mason, Founder and Chair of Bright Horizons and Alumni Fellow of the Yale Corporation; Judith Resnik, Arthur Liman Professor of Law; and Frances Rosenbluth, Professor of Political Science. We discussed government subsidies for child care, comparative data from Europe and beyond, the interaction between women's care giving obligations and their salaries, the corporate side in on-site childcare and the incentives to develop such benefit packages, and the relationship between work/life policies and equality, in both the United States and abroad.
January 2004
Structures of Work and of Families Seminar
What Can the Corporate World Teach Academia?
January 15
In this session, we examined some of the ways that organizations, and in particular corporations, have addressed work and life issues. The challenges and successes that businesses face in implementing changes are exemplary of a host of innovations that are possible. Often, workplace policies are based on an unspoken expectation that the “ideal worker” has no commitments or obligations beyond his job. We discussed the implications and criticisms of this model. What prompts workplaces to abandon this assumption and to implement change?
This session featured:
- Lotte Bailyn, T. Wilson Professor in Management, MIT Sloan School of Management
- Emily Bazelon, Senior Editor, Legal Affairs magazine
- Sharon Oster, Frederic D. Wolfe Professor of Management & Entrepreneurship, Yale School of Management
- John Pepper, Former President and CEO of Proctor & Gamble, Senior Fellow of the Yale Corporation
Structures of Work and of Families Seminar
Paid and Unpaid Caregiving Work
January 29
In this session, speakers examined a central challenge of work-life balance: the collision of wage work with care obligations. More than half of all two-parent families (which include about 70% of American children) have both parents in the labor force; among families with children over the age of 6 the percentage is higher. An overwhelming majority of single parents are employed outside the home. However, caregiving and household work still must be done—everyone must eat and be clothed and sheltered, and the young, the old, and the disabled have many physical needs. Caregiving can be outsourced; some families can afford to hire substitutes. But such a decision has implications for social inequality—care work is typically poorly paid, socially devalued, and is disproportionately done by women of color. Or, one or both adults can structure job obligations so that they have time for caregiving, taking a part-time position or an extended leave from the workforce, for example. This decision also has economic and gender consequences.
This session featured:
- Michele Goyette-Ewing, Child Study Center, Yale University
- Jessica Sager, Executive Director and Staff Attorney, All Our Kin
- Reva Siegel, Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law, Yale Law School
- Peggie Smith, Professor of Law, University of Iowa Law School.
March 2004
Barbara Babcock - Inventing the Public Defender: The Nationalism Connection
March 24
Cosponsored by the Women’s & Gender Studies Program, and the Legal History Forum
Barbara Babcock is the Judge John Crown Professor in Lawat Stanford Law School. She is writing a biography of Clara Foltz, thewoman lawyer in California at the end of the 19th century, and spoke on the important contributions Foltz made to the law profession. Clara Shortridge Foltz (1849-1934), the Portia of the Pacific,was the first woman lawyer in California (1878), and went on to considerable fame over fifty years of legal practice and women's rights activism. She was one of the few pioneer women attorneys to try jury cases, and to make a mark as a "thinker" (as she called herself). In 1893, she was the first person to write about the idea of a Public Defender, an equal adversary representing the accused. One ingredient of her invention was the brief, bright Nationalism movement.
For more information on Clara Foltz and women’s legal history, please visit http://womenslegalhistory.stanford.edu
Dr. Sylvia Rimm – Raising Kids in the 21st Century: How to Raise a Happy and Achieving Child
March 29
Cosponsored by the McDougal Graduate Student Center, Office for Women in Medicine, and the Yale WorkLife Program
Dr. Rimm shared the foundational principals of parenting which she provides to parents at Family Achievement Clinic, to the listeners of her national public radio program, to viewers on her NBC-TV Today show interviews, to the readers of her syndicated newspaper column, and in her parenting book, How to Parent So Children Will Learn. She described the four cornerstones of raising happy and achieving children. Dr. Rimm is a Psychologist, Author, Speaker, Columnist, and NBC Today Show Contributing Correspondent. She gave two talks during her visit to Yale.
Dr. Sylvia Rimm – Gender Issues in Achievement
March 29
Cosponsored by the McDougal Graduate Student Center, Office for Women in Medicine, and the Yale WorkLife Program
School and life achievement patterns for girls and women differ considerably from those of boys and men. When parents and teachers are sensitized to gender issues relative to achievement, they are better able to encourage life-long achievement for all. The suggestions given by Dr. Rimm helped researchers, clinicians, teachers and parents decrease male problem behaviors and increase their access to emotionally rewarding behaviors and achievement. Dr. Rimm is a Psychologist, Author, Speaker, Columnist, and NBC Today Show Contributing Correspondent. She gave two talks during her visit to Yale.
April 2004
Structures of Work and of Families Seminar
Reimagining Academic Work and Family
April 1
In the final session of the series, we returned to the academic workplace. First, we considered how the academic workplace itself is changing. Universities are experiencing the effects of changing demographics, globalization, and economic uncertainty, and responding with various measuresfor instance, increasing reliance on adjuncts and part-time faculty, and decreasing commitments to liberal arts while building up professional training. At the same time, the pool of faculty is becoming increasingly diverse, bringing new priorities and experiences to the academy. The American Council on Education reports that the proportion of women among all faculty in the United States increased from 32 to 39 percent between 1987 and 1999. The proportion of racial/ethnic minority faculty grew as well, from 10 to 15 percent. As the academic workforce becomes less elite, white, and male, the ideal worker assumption becomes less and less defensible. What might these changes mean for the lives of those who work in the academy? And finally, we will come full circle and return to Yale. What have we learned from this series? What options are there for change here?
This session featured:
- Vilashini Cooppan, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, Yale University
- Mary Ann Mason, Graduate Division Dean, UC Berkeley and Author of the study, "Do Babies Matter?
- Judith Resnik, Arthur Liman Professor of Law, Yale Law School
- Vicki Schultz, Ford Foundation Professor of Law, Yale Law School.
Global Controversies, Local Institutions: Women Under Sharia
April 15
Cosponsored by the Center for African Studies, Women’s & Gender Studies, and Yale Center for International & Area Studies
This roundtable discussion focused on the interaction of local and global in relation to the situation of women under Sharia law in Nigeria, and around the world. Prominent human rights lawyer, Ayo Obe, and Dr. Ayesha Imam, head of BAOBOB for Human Rights, addressed the recent controversies concerning the indictment and procedural and evidentiary problems with legal proceedings in particular Nigerian Sharia courts.
Kamari Clarke, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Yale University, moderated the session, and Feyi Koya-Adunbi, Former Associate at the Nigerian Civil Liberties Organization, introduced Obe and Imam.
“In the Company of Scholars: Yale Women in a Changing World” Conference
April 30 – May 1
Cosponsored by the Association of Yale Alumni
At this conference, planned especially for women graduates of the University, we continued a dialogue that began with the special Tercentennial Conference called “Gender Matters,” sponsored and developed by the Women Faculty Forum (WFF). Several hundred successful, dynamic women graduates of Yale College and Yale’s graduate and professional schools came together in New Haven for a day and a half of conversation and networking with one another and with a large number of Yale's superb women faculty and administrators, focused on “The Gender of Globalization,” “Women’s Health Research: Evolving Knowledge and Changing Practice,” and “Yale Women and Leadership.” The conference will presented an opportunity for alumnae and other women members of the Yale community to meet with professional or volunteer peers and colleagues around issues of work, advancement, education and skills, family roles, and the nature of success after Yale.
More information about the conference is available online at www.aya.yale.edu/conference/sc04.