Women's
Studies Students Find Time
to Get Involved
Women For Women by Hatice Dalkir In May 1994, I met with the group, Women for Women in Bosnia (WWB). Founded in 1993, WWB intended to help women in ex-Yugoslavia by matching American or Canadian women sponsors with refugee women in either Bosnia or Croatia. Sponsors would send letters and whatever amount of money they could afford to their counterparts overseas. The group gave me and many other women a way to protest the violence in those republics and make a real difference in the lives of those affected by the war while our national leaders refused to take a stand. I decided to become a volunteer at WWB. I began as an office worker, doing paperwork and answering phones, and eventually became a program coordinator. The positive reactions of the women in WWB helped make all the staff's hard work worthwhile despite limited funds. I found that, as well as empowering the women we aided in Bosnia and Croatia, the women in America and Canada who supported WWB's efforts also felt empowered by their participation. Since WWB was founded, it has aided more than 1,200 women and sent approximately $400,000 to women refugees. The organization continues to expand its programs and, in April 1997, we established a microcredit lending program which makes loans to women so they can start income- generating projects. In March 1998, we will |
start a
career skills training program to help women who have
recently had to abandon a rural lifestyle become
self-sufficient in urban settings. This will provide six
months of career counseling and technical skills training
while they continue to receive direct donations from
sponsors. 1998 will be the year that WWB broadens its efforts to include women victims of another genocidal war, this time in Rwanda. This expansion prompted the group to change its name to "Women for Women." Rwandan women will be eligible for the sponsorship and career training that Women for Women have found to be so successful in Bosnia and Croatia. To launch this program, Women for Women need to raise $50,000 and has set an initial goal of $30,000 by February 1st, 1998. Women for Women welcomes volunteers and student interns. We need help developing a class curriculum for counselors in the career training project. Other tasks include contacting donors and assisting in project decision making. For more information, please contact Women for Women president Zainab Salbi or program coordinator Janna Perry at our office: 1725 K Street, NW wwbosnia@embassy.org |
Bread & Roses by Shannon Wyss While many of you are busy studying, working, or possibly gathering at one of the Tuesday night Franklyn's sessions, I am making music with DC's Bread & Roses Feminist Singers. We are the second oldest feminist chorus in the country and are celebrating our twentieth anniversary this year. We sing music mostly by, for, and about women. The subject matter of our songs ranges from political activism (à la protest march) to love (mostly between women) to things that have nothing to do with feminism (like holiday music and songs that celebrate nature). Our music spans time from the sixteenth century to the present. We do everything from Sweet Honey in the Rock and Michael Callen to rounds, madrigals, and songs in other languages (like Hebrew, Japanese, and sign language). We are a non-audition chorus, so any interested woman is welcome to join. Our membership is currently mostly lesbian, although we have straight members, too, and in the past have had bisexual members as well. The women |
in the group
span a few generations and come from varied backgrounds.
Not only is Bread & Roses a great place to get my
weekly dose of music therapy, but it has been the source
of my community in DC. I joined Bread & Roses right
after I moved here, and this is my third season with
them. In the chorus, I have found a diverse group of
women who are wonderfully accepting of me and, whether
they know it or not, are constant role models in my
life—something every woman, and particularly every
dyke, needs. Interested in joining us? Give me a call or email me for more information. My phone number is 202-554-5324; you can reach me online at hugdyke@aol.com. Interested but can't sing? Our upcoming winter solstice concert is Saturday, December 20, at 4pm at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. The church is located at 400 ‘Eye' Street, SW, one block from the Waterfront Metro on the lower Green line. Tickets are a mere $10 and will be available at the door. We do, however, recommend that you order them ahead of time by calling 800-494-TIXS. Free food will be available afterwards (goodies like brownies, cookies, and chips & dip). So come join us to celebrate winter solstice! We'd love to see you there! |
Five Students Present Work at NWSA Annual Conference
by Jen Beeson and Natalie Lacireno-Paquet
| Five current
and former students of the Women's Studies Public Policy
Program presented their research at the National Women's
Studies Association Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference. The
October 17-18 meeting was held at Anne Arundel Community
College in Arnold, Maryland. Jennifer Brooks, Barbara
Gilbert, Rachel Klein, Natalie Lacireno-Paquet, and
Kristen Severson presented their work as part of the
conference theme "Hidden Realities/Secret
Visions." Brooks, Gilbert, Klein, and Lacireno-Paquet delivered papers during a panel discussion about the unintended consequences and hidden meanings of welfare reform called "Women and Welfare: Blind Spots in Policy." Jennifer Brooks spoke on the effects of using alternative methods to officially measure poverty. Rachel Klein |
spoke about
the impact welfare reform will have on low-income women's
access to health insurance. Barbara Gilbert delivered a
talk discussing welfare reform and immigrant women.
Natalie Lacireno-Paquet spoke on the social factors that
influence battered women's use of AFDC. The presentations
were all very well received. Kristen Severson, a recent grad, presented a well-designed poster describing findings from her master's thesis on "Lesbian Mormons." Also participating in the conference was Cynthia Deitch, Associate Director of the GW Women's Studies Program. She was a participant in a round table discussion entitled, "Graduate Degrees in Women's Studies- Close Up Options, Models and Issues." |
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