Video: Women, Power, Media, Politics Panel Leaves Questions Unanswered

By Gloria Feldt | February 1, 2011 |

Yesterday the New York Times reported that women constitute a mere 13% of Wikipedia editors. This is a completely self-selected effort. No closed doors, no glass ceilings.

What’s the problem? There are no excuses, though many reasons remain for this disparity–not unlike the behaviors of women in politics (or not), in business, and women in top media positions.

I had the opportunity to moderate (if one can call it that) a panel of fabulous women at the 92Y Sunday 1/23. It was icy outside but The Nation columnist Katha Pollitt, Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY 18), and Rebecca Traister, author of the Big Girls Don’t Cry, warmed things up quickly inside.

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How Can Women Reach Political Parity in a Chaotic Time?

By Gloria Feldt | January 20, 2011 |

You know I believe chaos is opportunity. But are women carpe-ing the chaos? With all those groups helping women run for office, why aren’t we moving the dial toward political parity faster? At the rate we’re going, it’ll take us 70 years to get there. And even if we do, will it be a plus or a cruel joke if, say, Michelle Bachmann becomes the first woman president? Isn’t it time for progressive women to come out of the closet and acknowledge that a women’s agenda is more important than her gender?

I’m excited to have a chance to ask questions like these about women, power, media, and politics of three of the most politically savvy women I know at the 92Y in New York this coming Sunday night 1/23, at 7:30 pm. You are most cordially invited.

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Dali Time Happy New Year

By Gloria Feldt | December 31, 2010 |

There’s a wonderful exhibit of surrealist Salvador Dali paintings and sculptures in New York’s Time Warner Center. They’re so alluring, they’re even upstaging the huge Botero Adam and Eve sculptures that attract much photo-snapping of people grinning slyly at Adam’s eye-level penis.

I am mesmerized by Dali’s clock sculptures. They drip time, melt time, warp time. Juxtapose fast and slow passage of time, or rather tease us for thinking such mundane distinctions exist. Apparently Dali agreed with Albert Einstein that time exists only so that everything doesn’t happen at once.

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The Feministing Five Interview

By Guest | March 28, 2010 |

Feministing.com’s Chloe Angyal asked me the five questions that the terrific online community puts to a different feminist every week. In case you have ever wondered what food, beverage, and feminist I’d take with me to a desert island, read on…

Gloria Feldt is a force to be reckoned with. Feldt is the former President and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Foundation of America and has devoted her entire working life to women’s rights. This week marked the conclusion of efforts to pass health care reform, and because abortion coverage was used, successfully, as a wedge issue in the debate over those efforts, it’s important to reflect on what went wrong, what we did right, and what our next steps should be. And who better to help us understand that than Feldt?

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Goldilocks SOTU: Not Too Big, Not Too Small, Just Right

By Gloria Feldt | January 28, 2010 |

“I am feeling so disempowered,” the woman prefaced her question to me at a “Passion to Action” conference in Grass Vally, CA, sponsored by the See Jane Do organization. But her face telegraphed very powerful emotions: anger, frustration, fear. It was a look we’ve seen on the faces of teabaggers as they shouted wild allegations and disrupted town halls across the nation.

This woman was no teabagger. She was a progressive Democratic woman, a key member of Obama’s base. The impassioned ones who swept him into office on a frothy wave of belief in the change he promised; the ones now feeling somewhere between skeptical and cynical.

“I want real health reform. What happened to that and what can I do about it?” The questioner lobbed this at me after my speech encouraging women to use our power as activists. If hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, then it would be very important to listen to what women like her had to say about Obama’s State of the Union address.

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As Senate Continues Health Care Reform Debate, Delaying Tactics Reign

By Guest | December 17, 2009 |

Yesterday’s wrap up report of Senate action from NFPRHA-worth a read to see how the meat grinder of legislation works, and how detrimental the 60-vote rule is to getting anything done. And bless Frank Lautenberg! He just never stops.

December 16, 2009, 5:00 p.m. (EST)

Today, the Senate continued debate on its health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590). Last night an amendment offered by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) to provide for the importation of prescription drugs did not garner the necessary 60 votes for passage, so while the vote in favor was 56 — 43, the amendment failed. The Lautenberg amendment was intended to improve upon a similar amendment offered by Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) which also failed. Like the Lautenberg amendment, the Dorgan amendment did not get the necessary 60 votes, with the vote in favor only being 51 — 48. A motion by Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) to recommit the bill (effectively killing the bill by sending it back to the Finance Committee) also failed 45 — 54. An alternative to the Crapo motion, offered by Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) which would protect middle class families from tax increases, passed 97 — 1.

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I Have to Learn to Spell “Sebelius”

By Gloria Feldt | February 28, 2009 |

I just realized I’ve been misspelling the name of Obama’s apparent new pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Spelling it with an “i” instead of an “e” as the second letter. Well, I’ve got to get it right now, because it looks like I’ll be referring to her quite a bit. She’ll have one of the largest portfolios of any cabinet member, and certainly one of the most important.

Her appointment comes as no surprise, but it’s good news. Who will be the White House health czar then is the question? Maybe Obama won’t appoint one after all, since that was perhaps a position cobbled up to give Daschle extra status in the pursuit of universal health care. Pride goeth before a destruction…

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What Will Michelle Do?

By Gloria Feldt | November 29, 2008 |

The Obama girls, Malia and Sasha, are so adorable. They make America smile every time they skip onto the stage with their father, and we’re communally delighted to know their good behavior during the campaign will be duly rewarded with a puppy. And just imagine what a kick it is for girls in their 7…

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