Posts from — May 2009

Warner and Steel (1991, 1999) study American and Canadian mothers and fathers, and find that parents with daughters are more likely to support policies for gender equity.  Dads with daughters, for example, are more likely to hold feminist views –to favor affirmative action, for example.

Another study looks at dads in Congress.  Washington (2004) finds persuasive evidence that congressmen with female children tend to vote liberally on reproductive rights issues such as teen access to contraceptives. In a revision, Washington (2008) argues for a wider result, namely, that the congressmen vote more liberally on a range of issues such as working families flexibility and tax-free education.

See full details at FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Having Daughters Rather Than Sons Makes You More Liberal.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama chose federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to become the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice on Tuesday, praising her as “an inspiring woman” with both the intellect and compassion to interpret the Constitution wisely.

Obama said Sotomayor has more experience as a judge than any current member of the high court had when nominated, adding she has earned the “respect of colleagues on the bench, the admiration of many lawyers who argue cases in her court and the adoration of her clerks, who look to her as a mentor.”

Standing next to Obama at the White House, Sotomayor recalled a childhood spent in a housing project in the Bronx as well as her upper-echelon legal career: “I strive never to forget the real world consequences of my decisions on individuals, businesses and government.”

Barring the unexpected, Senate confirmation seems likely, given the large Democratic majority. If approved, she would join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the second woman on the current court, the third in history. She would succeed retiring Justice David Souter.

See AP article here.

Learn more about Sotomayor here

What resides in me,
is a woman far greater than they eyes can see.

What I hear when your voice meets my ears,
is the same doubt that has remained
throughout the years.

What I’ve always wanted you to see,
was this fire coming out
from inside of me.

All you’ve done in your attempts
to dishearten me,
has made me the empowered woman
that you’ve come to see.

The woman I’ve become
may not be what you wanted for me,
but strongly I stand
in spite of your attempts to retain this woman
whom I call me.

Accept me for who I’ve grown to be.

A strong woman who lives her life compassionately.

— Angela Castillo
(B.A. – Sociology Major/ Women’s Studies Minor, 2009)

Check out this new video by Chicago’s Young Women’s Action Team.

The Young Women’s Action Team in Chicago led a project against sexual harassment and violence on the CTA (trains and buses). This film was shot and edited by student producers from Free Spirit Media about YWAT’s public forum. Learn more about this amazing group of young women at http://www.youngwomensactionteam.org

You can also read “In Our Own Words: What the YWAT Is All About” in Shout Out: Women of Color Respond to Violence Against Women (Seal Press, 2007) edited by Maria Ochoa and Barbara Ige.

We’ve all heard that climate change is a global health problem and environmental threat.  A new study by the British medical journal The Lancet gives us a graphic image of how unequal the threat is for different regions of the world. 

The graphic below — click for full size – presents two distorted maps. The first shows the world in terms of carbon emissions. America, for instance, is huge. So is China. And Europe. Africa is hardly visible. The second map shows the world in terms of increased mortality — that is to say, deaths — from climate change. Suddenly, America virtually disappears. So does Europe. Africa, however, is grotesquely distended. South Asia inflates.

“Loss of healthy life years as a result of global environmental change (including climate change) is predicted to be 500 times greater in poor African populations than in European populations,” predicts the report. Which presents a particularly tricky political problem. The developed countries that benefit most from fossil fuels will suffer least. The countries with the maximum incentive to prevent climate change have no power to do it. At Notre Dame, Obama exhorted the graduates to recognize that “that our fates are tied up, as Dr. King said, in a ’single garment of destiny.’” But we are not bound equally. No wonder Obama is looking to create a new coalition.

Continues at Ezra Klein – Your World in Maps: Climate Change Edition.

Congratulations to all of SJSU’s gender and sexually diverse graduates from the Women’s Studies program faculty. The first-ever Rainbow Graduation will take place May 22, 2009 at 11:30 in the University Room, featuring a keynote address by Sociology Professor Susan Murray.

On behalf of the Social Science Department and Women’s Studies Program, we would like to conratulate all the Social Science graduates on their tremendous accomplishment! The Social Science Department post-commencement reception will be held Saturday May 23, 2009 from 12:00-2:00 p.m. at the NW Quadrant of the Tower Lawn (adjacent to the MLK Library). Congratulations again!!!

Here’s an exciting new website  based on the award-winning three-volume encyclopedia edited by historians Vicki L. Ruiz and Virginia Sánchez Korrol, Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2006).

This now virtual historical material (essays, photographs, etc.) may be accessed at: http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/latinashistory

The Honorable Sonia Sotomayor, Judge on the Federal Court of Appeals, has been mentioned as one of President Obama’s potential nominees to the Supreme Court.  Whether she is nominated or not, it’s great to learn a bit more about this amazing woman who serves on the second highest court in the country.

Here is a video interview/biography in which she reflects on her professional duties as well as her family, background, and educational experiences.

–From “Believe and Achieve: Latinos in the Law” (You must have Adobe Flash player – get it here)

AKBAYAN’S 21st ANNUAL PILIPINO CULTURAL NIGHT

Friday: May 8, 2009

7:00 pm (Doors Open at 6:00 pm)

Saturday: May 9, 2009

6:30 pm (Doors Open at 5:30 pm)

Mexican Heritage Plaza

1700 Alum Rock Avenue, San Jose

$15 Pre-Sale / $18 At the Door

Buy or Reserve Tickets online NOW at akbayan.pcn.09@gmail.com

Visit: http://akbayansjsu.wordpress.com  for more info