Emerging Leaders Network

By Rylee Sommers-Flanagan

Over the last two weeks, Rylee explored what it means to be both an academic and everyday feminist and discussed her own research in the context of other scholarly work. This week she focuses on the implications of real women in political office.

By now, it might be obvious that I want more women to run for office. However, when I express that wish without qualifications or conditional addendums, it may be misleading – especially because I am writing so openly as a feminist with clearly defined politics.

By Talia Weisberg

I had the amazing opportunity to participate in a NOW webinar moderated by Terry O’Neill, President of NOW, “The Budget Deal is a Feminist Issue.” The webinar discussed how Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) 2012 budget deal would cut several social services. Programs on the chopping block include Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics, Pell grants, job training, Head Start, childcare programs, and WIC nutrition programs. Women are overrepresented in each of these program’s recipient pools.

By Tunisia L. Riley

On June 23, The National Council for Research on Women’s Emerging Leaders Network and the Girl Scouts of the USA presented “Pathways to (Non)Profit.” This powerhouse panel included women who made the transition from corporate to non-profit careers and others who made their entire career in non-profit sector.

By Rylee Sommers-Flanagan*

Last week, Rylee intermixed everyday feminism with an academic feminist perspective to explore why we should care whether fewer women than men run for office. This week, Rylee discusses some of her original research as well as a few of the variables political scientists study in relation to women in politics.

By Rylee Sommers-Flanagan

Last fall, I decided to write a thesis about women running for state legislative office. This choice—to research women in domestic politics rather than the concentrations of my International Studies major (Latin America and Political Economy)—meant taking on a subject about which I had mostly intuitive and first-hand knowledge – and very little academic expertise.

Although I’m a longtime feminist, I have never taken a women’s studies course. Usually, I’ve defended feminism loudly, flying by the seat of my bloomers, and wielding loose and unofficial lingo.

Margot Baruch, an NCRW AMEX Fellow, recently posted a blog analyzing the newly established UN Women program. She writes that in order “for UN Women to be effective, it needs to incorporate a feminist and women’s human rights lens while working in the bureaucratic confines of the United Nations.” Check out her blog post about UN Women here!