Running around New York City with two leaders of the modern feminist movement might have been the highlight of Dr. Andrea McClanahan\u2019s participation in an inspirational summer workshop, but she can\u2019t deny that dinner at Gloria Steinem\u2019s home was a night to remember.<\/p>\n
McClanahan, chair and associate professor of the communication studies department at ESU, was one of a dozen people selected to attend a weeklong Feminist Intensive Workshop in June.<\/p>\n
\u201cWords cannot express how the week invigorated me in my research and activism in Women\u2019s Studies,\u201d she said upon returning to campus and reporting that the workshop was a life-changing event.<\/p>\n
The week was organized by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, activists and authors of two books McClanahan uses in her courses: \u201cManifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the Future\u201d and \u201cGrassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only 12 people \u2014 faculty of women\u2019s studies programs and staff of women\u2019s centers \u2014 were selected to attend, giving each a chance to get close to people and organizations working on women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were really able to connect and discuss issues,\u201d said McClanahan. \u201cI met women from across the country \u2014 some of whom I am already speaking to about collaborative research projects.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steinem, journalist and activist known as a leader of the national women\u2019s liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s, was just one of the well-known feminists who met with workshop participants.<\/p>\n
Among the others were Sheila Tobias, known for her focus on women in math and science; poet and author Robin Morgan, another key women\u2019s rights activist in the 1960s; Anu Bhagwait, known for her work fighting sexual assault and harassment in the military; and Joanne Sadler, former executive director of the UN Development Fund for Women.<\/p>\n
The workshop included a number of discussions on media issues, and meetings with the Women\u2019s Media Center, Equality Now, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, and Women\u2019s World Banking.<\/p>\n
Feminism, McClanahan reports, is now experiencing its third wave. The first wave brought about women\u2019s suffrage in 1920. The second wave \u2014 the fight for women\u2019s rights including career and reproductive choice \u2014 ran from the 1960s through the early 1990s.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s third-wave feminism is defined more broadly, with issues like race, class, age, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender all playing a role in how women define themselves, she said. But one reason people may not be aware of the current movement is that there is no single \u201cbig\u201d issue.<\/p>\n
But there are many obstacles remain for women, she said, especially overseas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people knew what was still happening to women in other countries, they would realize that feminism is still important,\u201d McClanahan said. \u201cEven in our own country we have issues that are still impacting women \u2014 human trafficking is a huge issue. And reproductive rights are, once again, under attack \u2014 from the rates of unnecessary C-sections to issues like birth control and abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is also more focus on the media, as today\u2019s feminists work to show how perceptions of reality are shaped, and that media images can be and often are damaging, she said.<\/p>\n
McClanahan\u2019s research is in this area, specifically how the genders are represented in news reports and entertainment. She puts this to work teaching courses such as Gender Differences and Communication, Feminist Theory, Senior Seminar in Women\u2019s Studies and Introduction to Women\u2019s Studies.<\/p>\n
Since returning from the workshop, McClanahan has been rethinking how she approaches these courses. \u201cThe day focused on global feminism made me realize that I need to spend more time in the classroom speaking about the importance of knowing what is happening globally to women,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The second day of the seminar was focused on media. \u201cEverything I learned that day will impact my teaching, from learning new statistics to helping students view media stories a little differently.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI really believe having the opportunity to speak to people like Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan \u2014 two groundbreakers during the second wave \u2014 and Richards and Baumgardner \u2014 the two individuals who are really credited with creating the primary text on third-wave feminism (\u201cManifesta\u201d) \u2014 has shaped the way I look at things around me and made me realize that even if I\u2019m discouraged at times, I can and should continue the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The experience also showed her that the famous feminists she met are normal people \u201cwho have an extraordinary commitment to fighting for what is right for women.\u201d Steinem, she said, told the group, \u201cLife is your textbook.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFeminism comes from a personal place. Sometimes it is sparked from experiencing an injustice, witnessing a debate, or, like me, reading the writing of a very strong woman who isn\u2019t afraid to speak out,\u201d McClanahan said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how people come to feminism \u2014 just that people realize that the fight isn\u2019t over yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last chapter in the textbook has not been written.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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