Interesting Read: “The On-the-Ground Reality of Women Leaders”
After celebrating Women’s History Month in March, it is wise to recognize that women are still on unequal footing in the workplace. Women have only been allowed in the two-year MBA Program at Harvard Business School for 50 years.
A recent conference at Harvard Business School addressed the on-the-ground reality of women leaders 50 years after the first women were admitted to the School’s two-year MBA Program. And the reality is that women leaders are stuck—for example, women make up less than 5 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. Check out Forbes for the full article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2013/04/17/the-on-the-ground-reality-of-women-leaders/ .
Standing Room Only at “In the Works” WGSS Panel
It was standing room only as Dr. Alphonso, Dr. Arendt, Dr. Lawrence and Dr. Orlando talked about their current academic projects at last week’s “In the Works” Panel discussion, part of Women’s History Month here at Fairfield University. Attendees listened to the professors, from a range of disciplines, discuss topics ranging from Edith Wharton to roller derby. 
Question of Habit Documentary Screening Tonight!
Monday, April 08 7:30PM
Library Multimedia Room
Join Dr. Bren Ortega Murphy as she screens her award-winning documentary “A Question of Habit.” The film, narrated by Susan Sarandon, examines the depiction of Catholic nuns in contemporary U.S. popular culture. It contrasts these images with the lives of actual women religious, both historical and current. A brief question and answer session will follow the screening. Sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. Refreshments provided.
For more information on the film, check out http://www.questionofhabit.com/index.html 
In the Works: WGS Faculty Talk about Current Projects – April 4, 6:00PM
Join WGSS for a faculty panel discussion about current research projects:
Professor Alphonso – “Family, Politics and the State”
Professor Arendt – “A Rink of One’s Own: Gender, Sport and the Alter Ego in Contemporary Roller Derby”
Professor Lawrence: “Jarena Lee’s Calling: Biography and Storytelling”
Professor Orlando: “Edith Wharton, Women and the Politics of Representation”
All are welcome! Refreshments will be served. BCC 206
Women’s Day, April 4 2013 at Fairfield University!
Women’s Day, April 4, BCC Lower Level – 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m
Come discover and celebrate women, past and present, who have found their identity through imagination and innovation! Enjoy table presentations from several Fairfield University clubs, arts and crafts, baked goods, a Bead-for-Life jewelry sale, performances throughout the day, and much more!
At 6:00pm, in BCC 206, be sure to check out “In the Works,” WGS Faculty Talk about their Current Projects. In honor of Women’s History Month, WGS faculty will share their current research pertaining to women, gender and sexuality. 
“In the Works” WGS Faculty Talk about Current Projects – April 4
In honor of Women’s History Month, WGS faculty will share their current research pertaining to women, gender and sexuality. Refreshments will be provided! Join us on April 4, BCC 206 at 6:00 p.m. The following professors will be sharing on their latest research:
Gwendoline Alphonso: “Family, Politics and the State”
Colleen Arendt: “A Rink of One’s Own: Gender, Sport and the Alter Ego in Contemporary Roller Derby”
Anna Lawrence: “Jarena Lee’s Calling: Biography and Storytelling”
Emily Orlando: “Edith Wharton, Women and the Politics of Representation”
Sponsored by the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program.
Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Alumnae Panel Tonight
Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Alumnae Panel
Kelley Center Presentation Room – Tonight!
Tonight we kick off Women’s History Month with the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program Alumnae Career Panel Discussion!
Hear about life after Fairfield as some of our recent graduates share their experiences in the working world. The discussion will be moderated by Professor Orlando. Refreshments will be provided.
Women’s History Month!
Please join the Program in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies in celebrating Women’s History Month. we have many exciting events planned for March and April that you do not want to miss! (Click on the poster below to make it larger.)
MLK Convocation featuring Diane Nash – Thursday, January 31 at 3PM
All faculty, staff, and students are invited to attend the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation featuring civil rights activist, Diane Nash. Convocation will take place this Thursday, January 31 at 3 p.m. in the Quick Center for the Arts – Kelley Theatre. This event is FREE to the University community. This year’s event will be moderated by Dr. Yohuru Williams, Associate Professor of African American History, and will feature and interactive discussion with students and Diane Nash.
Nash’s involvement in the non-violent movement began in 1959 while she was a student at Fisk University. In 1960 she became the chairperson of the student sit-in movement in Nashville, TN, the first southern city to desegregate its lunch counters. In 1961 she coordinated the Freedom Ride from Birmingham, AL to Jackson, MS, a story documented in the recent PBS American Experience film Freedom Riders.
For more information about the MLK Celebration, please visit the web site at www.fairfield.edu/mlk or contact Fred J. Kuo or Dr. Ellen Umansky, Co-Chairs – MLK Celebration Committee.
Welcome back!
Expect a lot of great things coming from Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies this semester! Check back often as we are planning our annual Women’s Month events as well as other events. New courses are also in the works for the next academic year so it is an exciting time to be involved with WGSS!
Here’s an interesting link to get the semester started and to get us thinking about gender: Nepal to issue “third gender” citizenship. 
Celebrating Our Veterans – 92 year old Lucile Wise, WWII pilot
Lucile Wise, 92, awaits pilot Chad Graves as the two prepare to fly in a 1942 Boeing-Stearman biplane at Centennial Airport. Wise, with the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II, was among the first women to fly military aircraft. This year, they will be honored at the 10th annual gala of Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum on Dec. 21.
This Veteran’s Day, let’s celebrate the first military pilots in US history like Lucile Wise!
From the Denver Post
Arvada WASP pilot recaptures legacy of Fifinella with biplane flight
The first female military pilots in U.S. history — women including Lucile Wise of Arvada — signed up during World War II and trained to fly bombers and fighters such as the legendary P-51 Mustang.
The U.S. Army Air Forces didn’t have enough pilots, so women were recruited for military flying jobs stateside to free up men to fly combat missions overseas.
Seventy years after her pilot training, Wise strapped herself into the open cockpit of a 1942 Boeing-Stearman biplane, used as a military trainer during the war.
The 92-year-old wore goggles, a headset and a borrowed leather bomber jacket. Excited, she grinned as the pilot fired up the engine.
When the canary-yellow biplane roared down the runway, a former Air Force pilot watched in awe.
“Fifinella flies again,” said Greg Anderson, president and chief executive of Wings Over the Rockies, as the plane rose into the warm afternoon sky earlier this week. “The legacy lives on.”
Fifinella — a female gremlin designed by Walt Disney that appeared in many World War II cartoons — was the official mascot of the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Her image appeared on the noses of bombers and on the flight jackets of 1,074 women, including Wise.
“These ladies were way ahead of their time,” he said. “Individually, and as a group, they have a piece of history we will never be able to experience. They paved the way and proved it could be done.”
These women will be honored at the 10th annual gala of Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum on Dec. 21, which will feature many WASP pilots, including seven who live in Colorado. The traveling exhibit, “Fly Girls of WWII,” runs through March at the museum.
In an era when the dominant role for women was to stay at home serving as wives and mothers, the opportunity to train as military pilots opened a door to women like Wise, who had dropped out of Colorado Women’s College and was working in Wichita.
“We all wanted to do something to help the war effort. All my women friends were joining the military,” Wise said. “I did it for a lark, to add a little excitement to my life.”
She took her first flying lesson Dec. 6, 1941 — the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor — because someone had taken her up in a Piper Cub.
Once behind the controls, Wise was hooked.
By 1943, Jackie Cochran — a beautician who became America’s top female pilot — had established the WASPs at the request of President Franklin Roosevelt.
More than 25,000 women applied to the program, and fewer than 1,900 were accepted into the training program at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas.
Wise’s classmates included Gertrude “Tommy” Tompkins, whose fighter went down along the California coast soon after takeoff Oct. 26, 1944, and has never been found.
“We never dwelled on it,” said Wise. “We were too busy.”
The pilots flew a total of 60 million miles in two years. Thirty-eight women died during their service, an accident rate comparable to male pilots doing the same job.
WASPs flew military planes from factories to bases, trained male pilots, towed targets for gunnery practices and tested planes.
Two WASPs were also used to convince male pilots it was safe to fly the B-29. Men resisted flying the new heavy bomber because it hadn’t received rigorous testing, and its engines tended to catch fire.
Col. Paul Tibbets recruited two WASPs to serve as demo pilots, and after three days of training, the women powered up the four-engine bomber and ferried around the men.
“They flew it, no problem,” said Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught, one of the most decorated women in military history, now president of the board of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation. “They thought it was great. That ended the (men’s) fear of flying that plane.”
The WASPs were disbanded in late 1944, receiving a letter of thanks from Henry Arnold, commanding general of the Army Air Forces.
The war had reached a point “when your services are no longer needed,” he said. “The situation is that if you continue in service, you will be replacing instead of releasing our young men.”
Most WASPs returned to traditional roles.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do. I felt lost,” Wise said.
Although the women had been promised that they would be adopted into the military, that never happened. Bills in Congress to militarize the WASPs hit fierce opposition, so they were disbanded with no military benefits and “largely ignored by the U.S. government for more than 30 years,” according to the teacher guide of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
Wise, who married and raised two children with her husband in Washington, D.C., got fired up in the late 1970s when the Air Force announced that women would be allowed to become military pilots for the first time.
“We got very annoyed,” said Wise of the WASPs, who realized they had been totally forgotten by history. “We got organized.”
Wise fought for their rights by volunteering in a tiny office at the Army Navy Club in Washington, D.C.
Their demand to be recognized as military veterans faced a united front of tough opponents, including the Veterans Administration, President Jimmy Carter, the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
“Those groups had so much power, and they feared this would open the floodgates,” said Wise.
If the WASPs were granted military status, opponents feared, then the other civilian organizations that worked in the war effort would also demand military recognition.
But the WASPs refused to quit, calling their congresspersons and talking to supportive reporters. They gained some key advocates.
“The Pentagon testified in our favor,” said Wise. “It was pretty unusual for them to take a position opposite the White House.”
Col. Bruce Arnold, the son of commanding Gen. Henry Arnold, also fought for them, as did Sen. Barry Goldwater, himself a World War II pilot.
In 1977, the House and Senate passed a bill that gave WASPs military status and veterans benefits.
And in 2010, the WASPs received the Congressional Gold Medal from President Barack Obama.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to know a number of WASPs,” said Vaught. “They’re a breed among themselves. They have a spirit of adventure that just won’t quit.”
Colleen O’Connor: 303-954-1083, coconnor@denverpost.com or twitter.com/coconnordp
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_21968958/arvada-wasp-pilot-recaptures-legacy-fifinella-biplane-flight
The Sound of Silence and the Resurrection of the Hottentot Venus: Abdellatif Kechiche’s “La Vénus Noire”
Next Wednesday, October 3 at 5:15pm, Dr. Eloise Brière, Professor at SUNY-Albany, Specialist of African & Caribbean Studies will present “The Sound of Silence and the Resurrection of the Hottentot Venus” at the DiMenna-Nyselius Library. This will be a fascinating lecture and of interest to the WGS faculty and students!
“In our postcolonial age, the story of the Hottentot Venus has special relevance for those from former colonies whose peoples were subjected to Europe’s pathologizing gaze. Caught between the pre-Darwinian drive to determine the place of humans on the evolutionary scale and the European public’s insatiable appetite for the exotic and strange, Sara Baartman, a subaltern black woman was brought from South Africa to Europe in 1810 to be displayed in freak shows as well as in genteel drawing-rooms for Europeans to view her disproportionate buttocks and genitalia. Silenced by the voices of her keepers as well as by that of France’s most authoritative scientist, Georges Cuvier, Sara became the site of scientific speculation as the missing link between lower primates and homo sapiens. The Tunisian filmmaker, Abdellatif Kechiche, born four years after his country’s independence from France, could not fail to hear Saartje Bartman’s silence. The presentation will discuss how Kechiche fills in the blanks of history to resurrect Saartje Baartman, whose European odyssey ended in 2002 when the French government allowed her remains to be returned to South Africa.”
City of Westminster Archive Center, London/Bridgeman Art Library
“Sartjee, the Hottentot Venus, Now Exhibiting in London, Drawn From Life,” read the caption on this engraving, circa 1810.
Quick Center Presents Lesley Stahl “Inside 60 Minutes”
The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts opens its 2012-2013 signature lecture series, Open VISIONS Forum, with legendary broadcast journalist and co-editor of 60 Minutes Lesley Stahl at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, September 19, 2012. Lesley Stahl was one of the first female television reporters. Ms. Stahl was first hired at CBS News in 1972, the same day that affirmative action was passed. She entered an industry that was male-dominated, but strove to make a name for herself.
The award-wining journalist’s lecture is entitled “Inside 60 Minutes.” Following Lesley Stahl’s presentation, there will be an informal conversation and discussion with Professor Philip Eliasoph, OVF moderator, and Dr. James Simon, a former Associated Press reporter who created the journalism program at Fairfield University. Single tickets are $45.
With humorous and poignant anecdotes, Stahl relives her two decades of covering the White House during the Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush presidencies, and then viewing government as an “outsider” as co-editor of 60 Minutes. She details how news is gathered, and offers her insights on the major news stories she covered, including Watergate, the Iranian hostage crisis, and Iran-Contra. She also warns that now more than ever, the media controls what is news and how the industry is and is not handling that responsibility.
Gender, Sex and Sexuality Commons plans for a busy academic year!
Today we met with Fairfield University juniors, Rachel Lang and Astrid Quinones to talk to them about the Gender, Sex and Sexuality Commons (GSSC).
Last year, Lang, Quinones and others found it necessary to claim a space to create and foster and all-inclusive community for students of various genders, sexes, and sexualities, and thus established the Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Commons (GSSC). In the process of creating this space, they collaborated with the Diversity Office, Women’s Studies Department, and clubs such as Alliance and Sisters Inspiring Sisters to build bridges across student groups with common interests and between students and academic department. Physically, the space acts as a central location for clubs to have meetings, discussions, and to network for events both inside and beyond Fairfield University to combat injustice. The GSSC is located at 70 McCormick, room 123 and is open to students around the clock.
The GSSC will be busy this semester organizing events in connection with LGBTQ Month in October and a film screening and discussion in November about sexual assault in the military. Last spring, the GSSC was active in organizing Women’s History Month through V-Day events, Take Back the Night and a Women’s Day Celebration, along with Fairfield’s own Gender Bender Ball. 2012’s theme for Women’s Day was empowerment, and raised awareness of the various issues we face and the things both men and women can do to empower others. Bringing together more student groups than ever, GSSC had student clubs, initiatives, and programs come to Women’s Day to present their passion in conjunction with the theme of empowerment.
Interested in becoming involved in the planning of this academic year’s events? Come to 70 McCormick, room 123 to share your ideas on Tuesday, September 18 at 7pm. If you can’t make it but have some ideas, please email Rachel.lang@student.fairfield.edu or astrid.quinones@student.fairfield.edu
Library Women’s History Month Exhibit
Check out this rather fierce Women’s History Month display at the library. Thanks to our pals in the Library!
Women’s History Month
March is Women’s History month, and here is some publicity you’ll be seeing around campus of events that WGS is sponsoring. Be sure to come out and take part in some of the exciting program planned by WGS and the Gender, Sex and Sexuality Commons!
