Tuesday, March 29, 2011
MWPC Honors a Trailblazer: Geraldine Ferraro
Teacher, congresswoman, advocate, vice-presidential candidate, assistant district attorney, ambassador - regardless of the job she was doing, Geraldine Ferraro will be forever remembered for her greatest role: trailblazer for women everywhere.
Long before her historic run for the vice presidency, Geraldine Ferraro was breaking down barriers as a role model for women everywhere on many different levels. While working as a school teacher and raising three children, she simultaneously earned a law degree and entered into a field at that time overwhelmingly dominated by men. She then worked her way from lawyer to assistant district attorney and head of the Special Victims Unit, where she became a powerful advocate for abused children.
As a three-term U.S. Representative, Ambassador Ferraro quickly assumed a leadership role and earned the respect of her male peers. As a Representative, she worked to break down the barriers to equality for women, for example, by co-sponsoring the 1981 Economic Equity Act.
In 1984, she made history as the first woman to run for the vice presidency on a major party ticket. As the first woman to run for this high office, Ambassador Ferraro faced many obstacles and challenges. She responded with dignity, class, and intelligence.
As a new generation of women rise to meet the challenges of this century, the significance of her life’s work and what she stood for will forever be a beacon of strength as we carry forth the work yet to be done. In her words, “campaigns, even if you lose them, do serve a purpose… my candidacy has said the days of discrimination are numbered. American women will never be second-class citizens again.”
Ferraro’s breakthrough opened the doors for women to achieve success for the next two decades. Condoleeza Rice, Madeline Albright, Hilary Clinton, and many other outstanding women can all thank this trailblazer for clearing the path to their achievement.
The Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus mourns the loss of this great pioneer for women and celebrates the progress she made possible for so many women to succeed. Her spirit will forever inspire countless future successes to come.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Former Governor Weld Urges Congress to Preserve Family Planning
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Board Members in the News
http://blogs.forbes.com/shenegotiates/2011/03/14/general-cou nsel-can-transfo rm-the-legal-profession/
Thursday, March 10, 2011
MWPC Honors 2011's Good Guys
Friday March 4, 2011 marked the MWPC’s 10th Annual Good Guys Awards, honoring 5 outstanding gentlemen who are dedicated to achieving equality for women across all realms of society. It was a terrific lunch and an exciting ceremony enjoyed by all. This year’s honorees, like all our past honorees, have proven a stand-out bunch.
In case you missed it, here’s the scoop:
Local television and radio host Jim Braude presided as emcee over an enthusiastic crowd, kept the audience engaged and even found time to make a pitch for his own Good Guys Award!. True to form, he kept the event entertaining and flowing smoothly and we were thrilled to have him back again.
This year, the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus installed the first ever Distinguished Public Service Award in honor of Senator Edward W. Brooke. A Republican from Massachusetts, Senator Brooke became the nation’s first popularly-elected African American United States Senator as well as the nation’s first state Attorney General. He was instrumental in the passage of landmark legislation that has brought women to where we are today: Title IX of the 1972 Education Act, the 1968 Fair Housing Act, and the Equal Credit Act to name a few. He also supported the strengthening of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, allowing Medicaid insurance to cover abortions, and has long been an advocate for the rights of gays and lesbians.
While Senator Brooke himself was unable to attend the awards in person, he was honored with a beautiful video tribute and recorded a moving acceptance speech. We’d bet a Tiffany’s Good Guys Award there wasn’t an uninspired soul in the room!
The third annual Senator Edward M. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award was given to MA Senate Majority Leader Frederick E. Berry. In his fourteen-term career he has increased protections for victims of domestic violence and eased the healthcare burden on women and their families. He has also worked ceaselessly to protect children from abuse and to advocate for children with disabilities, using his own experience with cerebral palsy to improve their lives.
Senate President Therese Murray delivered a delightful award presentation and, surrounded by friends, family, and devoted staff, Senator Berry accepted his award with gratitude and a sparkling sense of humor.
Keeping the momentum up, UMass Boston Chancellor J. Keith Motley presented a stirring speech to resounding applause and a standing ovation after accepting his award for his indispensable work to support educational opportunities for women and underprivileged youth.
CEO of the Boston Foundation Paul S. Grogan, was honored for utilizing the Foundation’s resources to advance the interests of women, from housing programs to educational opportunities to job training programs.
Finally, Attorney Stephen M. Weiner of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo Health Law Practice was honored as a phenomenal mentor to women in the healthcare and legal fields. Now he can add being an all-around Good Guy to his list of accolades as one of the nation’s best lawyers.
Thank you to each one of our honorees for your devotion and hard work in achieving equality for women. Your selflessness and service have made a difference in the lives of thousands of women and you have more than earned the title of “Good Guys.” Congratulations!
All proceeds from the event went to the MWPC Education Fund, which finances programs that provide valuable skills and resources to women looking to enter politics or public policy. Among those programs are an annual campaign skills training, the MassGAP initiative to increase the number of women in high-level appointed positions (www.massgap.org), the Commonwealth Commentary series, the Speakers Bureau, and our internship program (http://www.mwpc.org/get/internships.php).
Thank you to everyone who contributed to making the event a success: To all of our Board Members, our interns and volunteers, all of the elected officials and guests, our award presenters, and to our generous sponsors – we could not have done it without you.
A special thanks to those involved in the production of the Senator Brooke tribute video: Joyce Ferriabough-Bolling for producing the piece, GJ Nelson, Kim Tran, Priti Rao, Jessica Gibbons, Marissa Szabo– thank you for your devotion, input, creativity, and passion.
Finally, we also must extend a special thanks to our fabulous emcee Jim Braude who helped keep the event entertaining and running smoothly!
For more information on MWPC and our events, please visit www.mwpc.org. We look forward to seeing you at our next event!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Women legislators say more support for female candidates needed
By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff
MARLBOROUGH - Senior women legislators fanned out across the region today in support of freshmen female representatives facing election challenges, saying the push was particularly significant in this 90th anniversary year of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
"The whole point of supporting other women is to make sure that they feel they are supported and that they can run for office, " said Patricia Haddad, a Somerset Democrat who is the assistant majority whip of the House.
Traveling in a bus that shuttled them from Hudson, Marlborough, Framingham and Bellingham, the women held a roundtable discussion and stood on street corners and at rotaries holding signs for the candidates, smiling and waving at passing motorists.
For the women, the electoral push comes at a time when women's toehold in the Legislature -- they hold 26 percent of the 200 seats -- is threatened by a wave of women leaving office. There are six women departing the House and three women the Senate. In one of those districts -- that of state Senator Joan Menard of Fall River -- no woman is running for the open seat.
The departures leave open the possibility that the Legislature could see a net loss of women -- a change that would mark a comedown from 2009, when women made up the largest percentage of incoming freshman in recent memory. Women also hold a record number of leadership positions, serving as committee chairs and vice-chairs, as well as members of the speaker's leadership team, according to Haddad.
Massachusetts lags behind a number of other states in its percentage of female state legislators. According to the National Conference of State Legislators, New Hampshire claims the largest contingent, with 37.3 percent of its Legislative members female. Next up is Vermont with 37.2, Colorado with 37 percent and Minnesota with 34.8 percent.
In Massachusetts, as of 1979, only 7.5 percent of legislators were women. By the late 1990s, women had grown to be a quarter of legislators -- but since then, that figure has remained virtually unchanged, according to the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at UMass Boston.
"We are not where we would want to be in terms of equal representation," said Priti Rao, director of the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus. She noted that women make up 51 percent of the state's population.
As part of a push to increase female representation, Rao said that in the anniversary year of the 19th Amendment, a push will be on to involve women in the political process.
"Women supporting women is how we get to equal representation," she said. "Women worked really hard for the privilege so we want to make sure that women are exercising their right."
Rao noted that a major hurdle in getting more women elected in Massachusetts lies in persuading more women to run. That task is difficult because women who are just as qualified as men are often more reluctant to run for office, Rao said. On average, she said, women have to be asked seven times by seven different people before making the decision to run, Rao said.
"They often feel that they are not ready," she said.
Haddad said she often hears from young women that they feel torn between running for office and tending to families.
"We haven't broken that barrier yet," she said.
Yet, at the same time, women, too, have greater access to campaign funding with their growing professional connections, said Representative Alice Wolf, of Cambridge.
"It's gotten a lot easier for them to raise money," she said as she stood on a Marlborough street corner holding a sign for Danielle Gregoire, one of the freshmen legislators facing a challenger in November.
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