This morning I got up at 5:10 a.m. and drove to the Potomac river to hang out with a bunch of boys.

I’m a coxswain for Thompson Boat Club’s U-23 Men’s Development Camp, a summer rowing program for college rowers.

Male rowers. Big, tall boys.

So what am I, a young woman, doing on a team with young men?

Coxswains need to be small and light and it’s a lot easier to find small, light girls than it is to find small, light boys on a college campus, which is how I ended up coxing for Columbia University’s heavyweight men’s program.

It’s an interesting situation to be in. 

I’m in charge of steering the boat and often running practice, calling drills, and executing strategy during races. 

But I’m as much as a foot shorter than some of the rowers in my boat. 

And I’m a girl. 

But my gender is never an issue for my teammates. I’m their coxswain and they trust and respect me as another one of their teammates.

That isn’t to say that it’s always easy.

Coxing is hard.  I have good practices and bad practices just like anyone else on my team.  And, although it is a strange experience being a woman on a men’s team, I love it. 

It’s like having 20 brothers.

Lisa recently wrote a blog post about Title IX and athletic opportunities for girls, which got me thinking about my own experiences.  I was a four-year varsity athlete in high school where I played field hockey and rowed.

Being on a team with other young women was a lot of fun, great for my self-esteem, my discipline, and for building leadership skills.  I think that part of the reason I’m able to hold my own among guys who weigh twice as much as me is because of the skills I learned while playing on all-female sports teams.

While my experiences don’t necessarily mirror those of other female athletes, (And, for the record, I do consider myself an athlete; I regularly run and lift weights in addition to coxing.), I think they have been equally important and empowering. 

A year after the U.S. women’s 8+ won a gold medal in Beijing, and a month after the University of Washington Huskies (whose coxswains are all female) swept the IRA national championship men’s heavyweight 8+ events, I can’t help but feel optimistic about women’s athletics and the future of women and feminism in general.

SaraEllen Strongman is a summer intern at The Women’s Foundation. Raised in Bethesda, Maryland, Sara is a junior at Columbia University majoring in women’s and gender studies. In addition to rowing, she likes to read, run, and do yoga.

And, on the heels of our announcement of $400,000 in new grants and more information on how women are increasingly impacting philanthropy,The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that grants for women and girls are growing faster than other foundation giving.

The Chronicle writes, "Giving by grant makers who specifically focus on helping women and girls has grown more rapidly in recent years than giving by all foundations, according to a new study released today by the Foundation Center and the Women’s Funding Network."

Sweet.

Though there is still a lot of work to be done.  As The Chronicle reports, "As a share of all foundation grant making, grants to benefit women and girls reached a high of 7.4 percent in 2000 and 2003 and has hovered between 5 and 6 percent since 1990."

7.4 percent.  As the high.

Given that we’re still half of the population, that isn’t nearly enough.

Still, progress is progress. 

And while this is a reminder of how far we have yet to go, it’s also an inspiring tribute to how far we’ve come, and how possible change is.

Lisa Kays is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications.

As a follow-on to today’s earlier post on how women are increasingly driving charitable giving, I couldn’t help but also post this link to a Feministing post by Miriam, on her own personal giving.

I was grabbed by Miriam’s description of her own personal giving not only because she describes her motivations honestly (the economy, being involved with nonprofits), but also because she explains how her own perception of philanthropy has changed from including just the uber-wealthy to encompassing regular people just like her.

Miriam writes, "When I used to think of philanthropy, I’d think of really really rich people giving huge sums of money. The culture of giving has changed, thanks to online donation programs and groups like MoveOn.org or the Obama campaign, who encouraged people to give even small amounts understanding that if many people did, it would make a big impact."

Pretty much exactly what we aim to do through The Power of Giving Together. 

How refreshing to have it described so eloquently by a young feminist out there doing her own thoughtful, philanthropic thing.

Thanks for the inspiration, Miriam.

Lisa Kays is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications.

The In Good Company blog took some time yesterday to explore how women are impacting the world of philanthropy, with some interesting findings I thought I’d share to get the week started:

First, In Good Company reports, last year, anonymous donations were made to at least 20 universities.  All were earmarked for scholarships for women and minorities and were all given to schools whose presidents are currently women.  Mysteriously cool.  Speculation is that these donations are coming from a woman, or group of women, which is great.

But I still have to ask–why anonymously?  Why not proudly attach names to these empowering gifts for women?

Then, did you know that single women are more likely to give more than single men? 

Fascinating, given that still, single, women-headed households are far more likely to be living in poverty, and that women are still earning less than men. 

So I guess it makes sense then that when women are married, they influence their husbands to give more than they would if left to their own devices. 

We’ve seen how a few of those stories might be happening among our donors.

So, married or single, it seems the increasing reality is that women are giving more, influencing giving more and generally changing the philanthropic landscape as we know it. 

To get plugged into this powerful movement in the Washington metropolitan area, learn more about our work here.  Elsewhere?  Find your local women’s fund through the Women’s Funding Network.

Lisa Kays is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications.

Shakira has made early childhood development a priority!

And I like to think I have helped make it a priority in the Washington metropolitan area.

Shakira has made policy a focus — policies that have long lasting impact on children’s well being such as nutrition, medical care and early education.

I like to think the Early Care and Education Funder’s Collaborative’s focus on advocacy will make long lasting impact on the well-being of children in low-income communities in the region!

Shakira believes in collaboration and thinks that private charities cannot do it alone!  She thinks public government implementing many of the early childhood programs should be partners in creating long-term change.

I like to think that the Early Care and Education Funders Collaborative is a model of collaboration working in partnership with the public government to make long-term systemic changes.

Shakira has made the least glamorous issue fashionable – how can early childhood development and teaching very young poor children be glamorous to those who have influence?

I like to think I helped make early childhood development “fashionable” here at The Women’s Foundation.  It has been an important issue for the region for many years, and now a priority for The Women’s Foundation!

Would you ever think that Shakira and I were kindred spirits — motivated by the same hope that every child, especially in desperate situations — receive quality early education to ensure they are prepared for school, but more importantly for life?

Well, think again!  When it comes to early care and education, Shakira and I are on the same page!

HyeSook Chung is The Women’s Foundation’s Program Officer for Early Care and Education.  (And from now on, her nickname at the office will be Shakira.)

“She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn’t be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window.”

The above is from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.
 
I remember reading The House on Mango Street in high school.  It was required, but it turned out to be one of the books that has stuck with me over the years. I find Esperanza’s story to resonate with growing up as a women in the Washington D.C. metro area.  She describes many of the challenges that continue to face young women – discrimination, violence, isolation, and sexuality.

I think of this quote in particular because I, too, am looking out of the window.  Although it is a gray day, I’m neither sad nor anxious.

In fact, I am quite excited to be looking out this window here at Washington Area Women’s Foundation. My “place by the window” is actually a desk in an organization that is helping women overcome challenges and empower themselves.

As I think of Esperanza, a name which means “hope,” I read some of the stories of women who have been helped by The Women’s Foundation.  I read about SECRETS, a program run by DAARA that provides a safe place and counseling for young girls much like Esperanza.

I read about women who, thanks to programs that The Women’s Foundation helps fund, are able to become what they want to be.

I am a new intern at The Women’s Foundation and I am excited to be helping to ensure that young women do not inherit a “place by the window.”

Lauren Yothers is a summer intern at The Women’s Foundation.  A native of Alexandria, Virginia, Lauren is a senior at the University of Miami majoring in Latin American studies and minoring in Spanish, Portuguese and environmental science.  Her career interests include nongovernmental organizations, socio-environmental problems, and human rights issues.

Thank you to the Joint Economic Committee for drawing attention to rising unemployment among women-headed families in its new report, “Women in the Recession: Working Mothers Face High Rates of Unemployment.”

With so much public attention being paid to job loss among men, which, don’t get me wrong, is and should be of deep concern, the challenges for women have too often been overlooked.

How many others – besides we at The Women’s Foundation and those who attended our May 2009 Stepping Stones Research Briefing– would know that the national unemployment rate for women who are heads of households was 11 percent in May – higher than the 9.8 percent rate among men?.

Our national response to rising men’s unemployment, particularly in the manufacturing and construction sectors, has been to increase funding for job training and education and engage in job creation.  In fact, this was a key focus of the stimulus package passed earlier this year – and the President has also been talking about this even more in the last few days.

Don’t get me wrong – I think it is always good public policy to fund job training and job creation.  But I can’t help but compare this response to “welfare reform” of the 1990s, where low-income women heads of households were forced into “work first” and “rapid labor market attachment” models that basically forced them to take a job, any job, and offered only barriers to education and training. (This “work first” approach was also a hallmark of the Workforce Investment Act, which reformed the public workforce training system.)

A recent paper demonstrates quite strongly just how counterproductive this approach is.  Research concluded that welfare reform decreased the probability of both high school and college attendance among young adult women by 20 to 25 percent.  In other words, welfare policies have kept women from the very education and training that would help lift them and their families out of poverty and, ironically, offer more protection against unemployment. (Unemployment among individual without a high school diploma is 14.8 percent, compared to 4.4 percent for college graduates.)

I hope that as the Administration and Congress turn their attention to programs serving primarily women and that they will continue to be solidly committed to job training and creation.

Gwen Rubinstein is a Program Officer at The Women’s Foundation.

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with The Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty.

For daily updates and links to past articles, check out “Women and Poverty.” It’s a new section of our site with a comprehensive collection of recent news and analysis on women and poverty.

Along with these daily updates, continue to visit TheWomensFoundation.org for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty every Friday.

Here’s this week’s news:

• As part of a call to reduce immigration, Christian Science Monitor op-ed contributor Lawrence Harrison cites cultural “problems” that he claims immigrants bring from Latin America, including high rates of teen pregnancy and single motherhood

• The Washington Post reports on a program (funded by The Women’s Foundation!) that offers at-risk girls mentors and healthy activities.

• The Los Angeles Times profiles two sisters who benefit from a program that sends low-income girls to summer camp.

• Chicago Sun Times columnist Mary Mitchell, who is currently battling breast cancer, asks for more assistance for low-income women struggling with the disease.

• A Philadelphia Daily News story on the difficulty of getting into a special charter school for children from foster homes interviews a mother desperate to get her daughter into the program.

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.

The DC Abortion Fund (DCAF) is devastated and appalled to know that our most skilled and intensely dedicated late-term abortion provider, a beloved partner to DCAF, Dr. George Tiller, was fatally shot in the lobby of his church in Wichita, Kansas on Sunday morning, May 31, 2009.

In the past eight months, DCAF pledged financial assistance to four uniquely challenged women—from Maryland, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia, as well as in Omaha, NE, to obtain a third-trimester termination from Dr. Tiller at Women’s Health Care Services in Wichita.

Two of the women were taking medications considered harmful to fetal development.  One attempted to self-abort countless times before reaching out—terrified because she came from New Guinea, where abortion is illegal.  One spent 10 weeks trying to raise money to afford her abortion before finding DCAF.
One patient was a fifteen-year-old sexual assault survivor who didn’t know she was pregnant until the beginning of the third trimester.  One of the women had diabetes and a fetal anomaly.

While heartbroken for the women we assisted, we found solace in knowing Dr. Tiller was willing to provide comprehensive care when there was no other option.

DCAF is eternally indebted to the legacy of boundless courage and compassionate health care offered whole-heartedly by this man who gently and faithfully urged us to trust and support women.  He truly exemplified reproductive justice for all by working tirelessly to accommodate struggling families all over the country.

In accordance with our respect for Dr. Tiller’s profound service to women, DCAF is grateful for our partner clinics and heroic providers–true warriors on the front lines, ensuring access to quality abortion care in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

In memory of our angelic and wise doctor and beyond the shadows of opposition, we remain determined in our mission to provide our neighbors with dignified health care regardless of what’s in their wallet.

Elisabeth Sowecke is the lead case manager at the DC Abortion Fund, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, a national foundation-led initiative, is excited to collaborate with the Women’s Foundation to bring you the latest news and analysis on women and poverty.

Spotlight is the go-to site for news and ideas about fighting poverty.

For daily updates and links to past articles, check out “Women and Poverty.” It’s a new section of our site with a comprehensive collection of recent news and analysis on women and poverty.

Along with these daily updates, continue to visit TheWomensFoundation.org for our weekly rundown of the top news stories on women and poverty every Friday.

Here’s this week’s news:

• The New York Times profiles a nonprofit that provides free clothing to assist low-income women entering the work force.

• A Chicago Sun Times column focuses on Mama Brenda, a Chicago spoken word poet who performs outreach to single mothers and others in need.

• A new program is encouraging healthy eating by increasing the value of food stamps for low-income mothers who shop at farmers markets, according to the Washington Post.

• The Los Angeles Times notes that among the proposed cuts from California’s budget are treatment for breast and cervical cancer for illegal immigrants and women older than 65.

• As reported by the Albuquerque Journal, the economic downturn has forced a local program for low-income girls to merge with a parallel program for boys.

To learn more about Spotlight, visit www.spotlightonpoverty.org.  

To sign up for our weekly updates with the latest news, opinion and research from around the country, click here.

The Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Team

Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity is a foundation-led, non-partisan initiative aimed at ensuring that our political leaders take significant actions to reduce poverty and increase opportunity in the United States. We bring together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy and foundation communities to engage in an ongoing dialogue focused on finding genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans.