Women in Public Policy

Congratulations to the 2013 WIPP Board!

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 16:44:00 -0500

WIPP celebrated the end of the semester with a Potluck and we officially passed the torch to the new board.

President: Alexandra Hensens
Events Committee Chair: Elena Bussiere
Communications Committee Chair: Shruti Chalamani
Fundraiser Committee Chair: Rebecka Flynn
Public Outreach Committee Chair: Emily Joan Kelly
Professional Development Committee Chair: Neelam Ejaz

Thanks to the 2012 Board for all the hard work! It was a great year :)

WIPP is pleased to announce the candidates for the 2013 Board!

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:56:00 -0500

Please find the candidates names and their platforms below. If you have any problems accessing the platforms, or any questions about the elections process, please email Sarah at sak285@cornell.edu.

Reminder: We hope you will join us on Thursday, November 29th at 6:15pm in Mann 102 for a Q&A with the candidates and to cast your vote for the 2013 WIPP Board! Remember that you will have the opportunity to vote online if you cannot attend in person.

President/Steering Committee Chair

Alexandra Hensens
Read her platform

Joan Kelly
Read her platform

Abeela Latif
Read her platform

Communications Committee Chair

Shruti Chalamani
Read her platform

Xiyun Gu
Read her platform

Weixuan Zhang
Read her platform

Events Committee Chair

Elena Bussiere
Read her platform

Shruti Chalamani
Read her platform

Weixuan Zhang
Read her platform

Fundraising Committee Chair

Neelam Ejaz
Read her platform

Rebecka Flynn
Read her platform

Professional Development Committee Chair

Neelam Ejaz
Read her platform

Madina Nizamitdin
Read her platform

Public Outreach Committee Chair

Elena Bussiere
Read her platform

Joan Kelly
Read her platform

Abeela Latif
Read her platform

WIPP is now accepting applications for the 2013 board!

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 09:27:04 -0500

If you are interested in applying, please fill out the attached application and email it to wipp@cornell.edu. You are more than welcome to apply for more than one position, but please fill out only one application. Applications are due by Sunday, November 25 at 11:59pm. Please see below for information about the board positions and for key dates in the elections process.

Board positions:

President/Steering Committee Chair: Organizes and leads board meetings and general body meetings; represents the organization at large; coordinates with other groups on campus; provides leadership through example and visionary planning.

Communications Committee Chair: Maintains the website/blog; adds WIPP events to the student events calendar; documents events throughout the year; makes necessary updates to forms and documents as needed; takes meeting notes; creative ownership of the WIPP newsletter and other publications.

Events Committee Chair: Identifies and contacts resources that would assist in presenting valuable knowledge and discussion topics to WIPP members; organizes and advertises events, especially dealing with empowering women; develops and maintains database of presenters and their areas of expertise.

Fundraising Committee Chair: Secures funding for the academic year; creates and submits budget; seeks funding when appropriate and recommends funding plans to the board; organizes events to raise funds.

Professional Development Committee Chair: Assesses the professional development needs of the membership; plans and executes specific activities and events that address these needs; recommends new initiatives; identifies potential professional development resources.

Public Outreach Committee Chair: Collaborates with other organizations on- and off-campus with a focus on members of the broader Ithaca community; organizes public services events; provides support and leadership to the board in the absence of the President.

Elections timeline:
11/11: Board applications available
11/25: Board applications due
11/29: Candidate speeches/Q&A and voting
11/30: 2013 Board is announced!

Click here for the application.

Sheryl WuDunn '81 visits Cornell

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 18:52:00 -0400

Oct 25th, 2012- During the screening of “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” Sheryl WuDunn ‘81 stopped by to speak to the crowd. The documentary is based on the book of the same name by WuDunn and her husband, Nicholas D. Kristof.

WuDunn and Kristof worked as New York Times journalists and discovered that the greatest unreported news story today is the oppression of women and girls in the developing world.

“When a prominent dissident was arrested in China, we would write a front-page article; when 100,000 girls were routinely kidnapped and trafficked into brothels, it wasn’t even considered news,” explained WuDunn.

The husband-and-wife team focuses on three particular abuses: sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence; and maternal mortality. WuDunn expressed concern that these abuses “needlessly claim one woman a minute.”

WuDunn will also be speaking at Ithaca College November 1st, 2012 at 7:30pm, followed by a book signing.

WIPP Board Elections approaching

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 18:39:00 -0400

If you’re interested in being part of the 2013-2014 WIPP Board now is the time to learn more about each position. Reach out to the current board members to learn more about responsibilities.

Board Positions

President
Professional Development Chair
Communications Chair/Secretary
Public Outreach Chair
Events Chair
Fundraiser Chair/Treasurer

Election Process: Key Dates

Board Applications out: November 11th, 2012
Last date of application submission, November 25th, 2012
Voting takes place the week of November 25th to December 1st (Online Voting)
Announce results: TBA

October Events

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:43:00 -0400

WIPP gathered for Apple Fest downtown in the Commons. Everyone enjoyed the food and folksy music.

The 5K Run for the Ithaca Cancer Resource Center on Saturday, October 13th went great! Although it was a little brisk out, the sunny weather made up for it. WIPP raised $1,563.00! This was more than last year! Thanks to all the participants and congrats on finishing.

WIPP’s next upcoming event will be a breath of fresh air from the hectic week of midterms.

Sandra Fluke addresses civic responsibility & women's health care issues

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 23:00:00 -0400

Sandra Fluke ‘03 has made some difficult decisions. Her message to Cornellians: Don’t be afraid to follow a similar path; get out there and engage the opposition.

Fluke became something of a symbol after she was denied permission to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s discussion of religious exceptions to health care plans with contraception mandates. The witness list included no women. She was attacked by conservative commentators, one of whom called her a “slut.” She eventually spoke to a group of House Democrats and addressed the 2012 Democratic National Convention in September.

At her evening appearance at Cornell Oct. 15, with an audience of mostly students about half-filling the main floor of Statler Auditorium, Fluke said she had been asked to explain her decision to accept the role of a public figure, given all the problems this could cause for herself and friends and family. The main reason, she said, was to send a message to young women that it’s OK to speak up. “I did not want any elementary school girl not raising her hand because of me,” she said.

Beyond that, she said, it was an opportunity to have a conversation in society to move toward “less sexist discourse.”

The next decision: “I was going to remain nonpartisan,” Fluke said. But, she said, some leadership in Congress had become so extreme that “the only thing I could do was kick them out of office.” She now campaigns for President Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates at the state and national levels. It’s not just about women’s issues, she said. She will vote for Obama, she said, for his positions on a wide range of issues.

You don’t need to be a public figure to speak up, she said. Research shows that people form their attitudes based on what they hear from their friends, she noted, so everyone should engage with those around them who hold opposing views. The way to do this, Fluke advised, is to begin by listening to the other person. Their views may be based on misinformation, so be prepared with your own information to correct the problem. The media, she noted, tends to bypass fact checking and simply report what people said, so the best way to arm yourself is to go online to “non-news” sources.

Questions from the audience showed that Fluke’s message was getting through, as many speakers asked for specific suggestions on how to approach such issues as abortion, contraception and LGBT discrimination. Again, Fluke responded, present information and broaden the opponent’s view of the context of the question.

Fluke has one more big decision coming up: Should she run for public office?

“Maybe,” she said, noting that Congress is now made up of only 17 percent women.

After graduating from Cornell, Fluke went on to graduate from Georgetown University Law School, where she became an activist on women’s issues, particularly domestic violence. Earlier in the day, she spoke to roughly 140 students, most from the College of Human Ecology, about her experiences advocating for social justice at Cornell and Georgetown and her views on reproductive rights. She offered specific advice on planning advocacy campaigns and researching legislative issues.

Fluke, who grew up in a rural, conservative section of Pennsylvania, recalled her “eye-opening” adjustment to Cornell’s active political climate. As a freshman, she joined rallies to oppose defunding the Cornell Women’s Resource Center (CWRC) — an early lesson on the power of social activism. “I still have my ‘I stand with CWRC’ sign,” Fluke added.

She credited Cornell’s Department of Policy Analysis and Management and the Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program with providing her with “a set of skills … to understand the impact of policy upon lives … and to apply to issues I care passionately about.”

Source: By Bill Steele, Cornell Chronicle

Join WIPP! Click here to view Powerpoint presentation.

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 18:54:00 -0400

Join WIPP! Click here to view Powerpoint presentation.:

If you were unable to make the meeting but are interested in becoming an official member of WIPP, please email wipp@cornell.edu with your interest and committee choice (see below).We will be maintaining an official membership list this year.

To clarify, all are welcome — including non-CIPAs and all genders!

To be considered an “active member”, it is expected that you attend the monthly general body meetings. We also highly encourage you to join one (or more!) of our five committees:

Steering Committee (led by Hajra and Linley)

Long-range planning, vision-setting, and finances

Communications Committee (led by Sam)

Updating the WIPP blog and student events calendar, creating event flyers, etc.

Empowerment Committee (led by Jamie)

Events on gender equality (including International Women’s Day, Seneca Falls trip)

Professional Development Committee (led by Maria)

Professional development workshops, networking events, and the mentor-mentee program

Outreach Committee (led by Sarah)

Volunteering, connecting with other organizations, getting involved in the Ithaca community

Michelle Bachel Speaks: "Women and the New Development Paradigm"

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 23:31:00 -0400

Michelle Bachelet, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women and former President of Chile, spoke about gender equality and women empowerment on Tuesday, September 4th in Statler Auditorium for the Bartels 2012 World Affairs Fellowship Lecture.

Bachelet talked about her work at the United Nations Women and their efforts to end a variety of injustices such as genital cutting, domestic violence, trafficking, lack of health care and contraception, and unequal pay.

“The very creation of U.N. Women by the United Nations General Assembly illustrated the crucial, and I would say historic, recognition [of women] from the international community,” Bachelet said.

According to Bachelet, gender equality and women’s empowerment are not only noble goals in their own right, but also serve as fundamental drivers of social, cultural, political and economic development.

“The historic and persistent marginalization and discrimination is not sustainable. It’s not just hurting women. It’s hurting all of us,” she said. “It is both the right thing and the smart thing to do, to ensure women’s rights, to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment, especially during this time of rising inequality and up and down economies.”

Bachelet stressed that gender equality must be a global agenda and that education was an important stepping-stone to achieving these goals. Bachelet argued that, if women are not allowed to occupy positions of power then gender equality cannot be achieved. Gender equality is a human right and a social justice.

“There is rising awareness that we cannot solve the great challenges of our time unless we unleash the potential of full and equal participation of women, whether we’re talking about addressing climate change or reducing poverty,” Bachelet said.

“We can acknowledge the progress we’ve made, but millions of others [women] face barriers that keep them from reaching their potential.”

Women have not always been allowed to be involved in work advancing public policies and laws that can help eliminate the disadvantages they face in society, Bachelet said.

“In particular, the right of women to take charge of their own sexual and reproductive rights seems far from secure,” she said, adding that she finds it “incredible” that it is largely men who are the decision-makers on these issues.

According to Bachelet, countries need to level the playing field and strive toward gender equality. Without women in decision-making positions, countries cannot address some of the biggest issues facing women today, Bachelet said.

“I urge you to stand up for equality and progress for all … so that the future women want is the future we all share,” she said.

Bachelet served as president of Chile from 2006 to 2010. She was the first woman to hold that position. As president, she guided the country through the global economic crisis and spent billions to expand social programs. She is credited with championing a variety of issues such as pension reform, social protections for women and children, pay equity and education. Bachelet left office with a record 84 percent approval rating.

In 2006, Forbes named Bachelet the 17th most powerful woman in the world. A pediatrician before her political career, Bachelet also served as Minister of Health from 2000 to 2002, and as Minister of National Defense from 2002 to 2004.

Quote source

The WIPP Board would love to welcome the new CIPA first years!...

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 16:52:00 -0400

The WIPP Board would love to welcome the new CIPA first years! We hope the new mentor system we implemented is making your transitions easier. Our first General Body Meeting is September 13th at 6:15pm in Caldwell 100. Please come learn more about WIPP and how to get involved! We hope to see some CIPA men attending as well.

April Events

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:49:00 -0400

April 20th

WIPP members were lucky to have such beautiful weather for the Day of Service at Significant Elements. Volunteering activities included logging inventory and gardening. The staff at Significant Elements sent us an email saying thanks!

“We had a great time working with volunteers from the Women in Public Policy group- and the men from CIPA -on April 19. They were up for anything, and spent almost five hours enthusiastically cutting branches, clearing brush and pulling weeds on a sunny, 80 degree day. Our back yard looks fabulous! They also entered more than 130 books into our inventory system, a task that we haven’t had time for. Thanks so much for your help!”

Significant Elements is a program of Historic Ithaca begun in 1991 to promote the reuse of architectural elements when the demolition of a building cannot be otherwise prevented. They provide an avenue for the reuse of such materials, and through their activities promote restoration and reuse instead of demolition.

Click here for more photos.

April 25th

A special thank you dinner was held in honor of the previous WIPP board members. Despite if being a sad farewell to graduating mentors, the food was delicious.

Click here for more photos.

April 26th

Take Back the Night featured Shura Gat. Shura has trained in a variety of martial arts and is affiliated with the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation Self-Defense Instructor program. Through her company, Strong Stance, she has taught in educational, corporate and community settings for over ten years and is committed to empowerment-based instruction that uses the strengths that students already have as a foundation for learning new skills.
Afterwards WIPP provided dinner and all of Cornell University gathered and marched to Ithaca Commons for a rally at 7:30pm.

Click here for more photos.

It has been a good year and we hope all of CIPA has a terrific summer.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention Month

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 18:05:00 -0400

Some of the WIPP team sweated it out during our Turbo Kick event led by instructor Irene. If you are interested in her class, check it out here. It was tough! It kind of reminded me of Zumba or Tae Bo, in that you are putting together different moves and following the instructor. It was a lot of fun and an intense cardiovascular workout.

WIPP is proud to announce our email address is up and running wipp@cornell.edu

Some events coming up we’re excited about:

Day of Service, April 20th

If you’re interested please RSVP and fill out this poll. Give back to the community!

On April 25th, wear your hottest pair of jeans! It’s Denim Day.

What’s it all about? An 18-year old girl is picked up by her married 45-year old driving instructor for her very first lesson. He takes her to an isolated road, pulls her out of the car, wrestles her out of one leg of her jeans and forcefully rapes her. Threatened with death if she tells anyone, he makes her drive the car home. Later that night she tells her parents, and they help and support her to press charges. The perpetrator gets arrested and is prosecuted. He is convicted of rape and sentenced to jail.

He appeals the sentence. The case makes it’s all the way to the Italian Supreme Court. Within a matter of days the case against the driving instructor is overturned, dismissed, and the perpetrator released. In a statement by the Chief Judge, he argued, “because the victim wore very, very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them, and by removing the jeans it was no longer rape but consensual sex.”

Enraged by the verdict, within a matter of hours the women in the Italian Parliament launched into immediate action and protested by wearing jeans to work.

http://denimdayusa.org/

Another event April 26th is Take Back the Night. Take Back the Night is a march and rally protesting sexual assault, rape, and violence. This is an opportunity to raise your voice and stand with others in support of survivors and make it known such criminal acts are not tolerated.

A woman walks alone down a dark, deserted street. With every shadow she sees, and every sound she hears, her pounding heart flutters and skips a beat. She hurries her pace as she sees her destination become closer. She is almost there. She reaches the front door, goes inside, collects herself, and moves on forgetting, at least for tonight, the gripping fear that momentarily enveloped her life.This scene could have occurred anywhere last night, last year, or even 100 years ago. Historically, women faced the anxiety of walking alone at night and that is why Take Back the Night began.

After Colloquium in the CIPA Lounge there will be food and a guest speaker discussing victim advocacy at 6pm. At 7pm all of Cornell University will begin to gather and march to Ithaca Commons for a rally at 7:30pm. CIPA will march together. Bring a jacket in case it gets chilly at night. Things may get very powerful and intense. If you ever feel like you need support, remember there are services on campus here to help. You are not alone.

On April 2nd, Dr. David Lisak, Associate Professor of Psychology...

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 16:29:00 -0400

On April 2nd, Dr. David Lisak, Associate Professor of Psychology at University of Massachusetts Boston, came to Cornell to give a presentation on “Confronting the Reality of Sexual Violence on the College Campus.” Dr. Lisak conducts and supervises research on the causes and consequences of interpersonal violence. His research has been published in leading journals in psychology, trauma, and violence. In addition to his research and teaching, Dr. Lisak consults frequently with law enforcement and prosecutors on sexual violence and homicide cases across the country. His discussion focused on the behaviors and characteristics of the non-stranger rapist. He has studied the motives and characteristics of “undetected” rapists, or in other words – men who rape but are never prosecuted. Dr. Lisak ended with a message for men and women to practice intervention when a situation does not seem right.

Paving the Way

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:49:00 -0400

The 2011-2012 WIPP Board has really been doing a great job of mentoring and guiding the new WIPP Board to be the next generation of women leaders. And we (the new WIPP board), have been doing our best to preserve and build upon the foundation that these ladies have worked so hard to establish, while making it our own. Working together we’ve implemented several events so far, such as a meditation and relaxation de-stress workshop with Diane Hecht and celebrating International Women’s Day, a day for globally recognizing and applauding women’s achievements, as well as for observing and highlighting gender inequalities and issues. This year’s IWD theme is Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures.

Jamie Frank took the lead on this event and in her words has shared her experience. “Here at Cornell, WIPP celebrated International Women’s Day with a dinner and discussion event in the CIPA lounge on March 8, 2012. WIPP is gratified by the attendance, which included great diversity in the gender and national origin of our attendees.
The 2012 theme for International Women’s Day was connecting girls, inspiring futures. Over dinner, CIPA attendees talked about what this theme means to them, different cultural ramifications of this theme, how women are portrayed in the media, and the expectation of women in the workforce, both domestically and Internationally.

About International Women’s Day
‘IWD is now an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother’s Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.’ (Source: www.internationalwomensday.com)
WIPP was glad an honored to celebrate this day with many different CIPA fellows.”

On March 3rd, the ladies gathered to see the Vagina Monologues at Bailey Hall. All proceeds from the Cornell production go to the Ithaca Advocacy Center and V-Day, which helps them to continue their work to end violence against women. If you have never experienced the Vagina Monologues, it’s highly recommended you check it out! The stories are very touching and personal, ranging from heartbreaking to hilarious. Afterwards WIPP had a discussion and everyone seemed to agree Because He Liked to Look At It, was their favorite. A woman describes how she had thought her vagina was ugly and had been embarrassed to even think about it, but changed her mind because of a sexual experience with a man named “Bob” who got lost looking at it and enjoyed it. My Angry Vagina, was a close second, in which a woman humorously rants about injustices the vagina has to deal with.

We are really excited about an upcoming event this Wednesday, March 14th, the Oral Communications Workshop with Angela Noble-Grange, 4pm 404 Plant Sciences. I know I’m going, I’m terrible at public speaking. Hope to see you there.

PS: Please feel free to submit something you’ve written, academic or opinion, on anything related to women or public policy, and we’ll post it here!

Senator Gillibrand visits Cornell

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:43:00 -0400

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the President’s Council of Cornell Women, Friday, March 2, in Statler Auditorium.

The overarching message Gillibrand had to share was that women are one of the most significant, untapped resources in this country. In the toughest economy since the Great Depression, it is women who have the ability to lead the way, she said. Gillibrand highlighted that it is not just politics where women must make a difference. While women are earning more than half of college and advanced degrees, they must get more involved in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and “unleash their untapped potential,” she said.

“Women are drawn to people and impacting the community. They don’t go into STEM fields because it isn’t obvious, initially, how they’re helping people,” she said. “The tech campus is an extraordinary project not just for New York but also for the entire nation. It’s perhaps one of the greatest opportunities we’re going to have in a very long time,” Gillibrand said.

“Women are often the ones who can reach across party lines, we are often the ones who can listen well and realize what we need to do to come together,” she said. “When women’s voices are heard, it is better for our country.”

“During World War II, with Rosie the Riveter, we asked women to enter our workforce, because we needed them,” Gillibrand said. “Six million women entered the workforce, forever changing our economy. If we have six million more women voting tomorrow than today, that’ll make a huge impact.”

In response to one attendee’s question, Gillibrand said that the Blunt Amendment — which was voted down last Thursday but would have allowed employers with an objection to the Obama administration’s new birth control coverage rule to opt out — was an “absolute attack on the autonomy and health of women.”

“There has been a continuous attack and assault on women’s reproductive freedom in this Congress,” Gillibrand said. “They got elected because they said they would focus on jobs. They haven’t focused on jobs for a minute.”

Gillibrand expressed frustration that there has been so much attention to an issue that she felt was decided by the Supreme Court decades ago: access to contraception as a fundamental right.

“I think we need a wakeup call for anyone, male or female, who cares about women’s health or well-being, and doesn’t want this constant focus on reproductive issues,” Gillibrand said. “I hope the American public is listening to the rhetoric. They’re trying to put us back decades in how American women think about themselves and their healthcare … It is just outrageous.”

In 2006, she had won the seat for New York’s 20th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives against the odds, in a Republican heavy district. Gillibrand was appointed to be sworn in as senator of New York in January 2009, filling the seat of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Gillibrand was required to run in a special election in November 2010, which she easily won with 63% of the vote. Throughout her time in Congress, Sen. Gillibrand has been committed to unprecedented transparency and access to her office. She became the first member of Congress to post her official public schedule, personal financial disclosure and federal earmark requests online.

In the U.S. Senate, Gillibrand helped lead the fight to repeal the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, which banned gays from serving openly in the military. She also worked to provide health care and compensation to 9/11 first responders and survivors.

Gillibrand currently lives in Brunswick with her husband and their two young sons.

Sources: Emma Court. “Speaking at Cornell, Senator Gillibrand Urges Women to Lead Sciences.” The Cornell Daily Sun. March 5, 2012. http://cornellsun.com/node/50293. Rachel Stern. “Gillibrand stresses contribution of women in Cornell appearance” Ithaca Journal. March 2, 2012. http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20120302/NEWS01/203020375/Gillibrand-stresses-contribution-women-Cornell-appearance

Welcome

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:20:00 -0500

The new 2012-2013 WIPP Board is happy to present and christen our new blog for Cornell’s Institute of Public Affairs: Women in Public Policy.