Women’s Policy ResearchWomen’s Policy Research

I N S T I T U T E

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Q U A R T E R L Y N E W S L E T T E Rfor

FALL 2003

women’s attitudes and activism around envi-ronmental issues. Study Director AmyCaiazza, Ph.D., and summer intern AllisonBarrett reviewed existing research and com-pleted original data analysis about women’scommitment to environmentalism.

IWPR’s research found a gender gap insupport for environmental issues. For exam-ple, while most men and women supportincreased government spending for the envi-ronment, women are less likely than men tosupport spending cuts. As of 2000, approxi-mately 51 percent of both men and womensupported increasing environmental spend-ing, but 11 percent of men and 8 percent ofwomen supported decreasing it. Women arealso less sympathetic to the toll placed onbusiness by environmental regulations. Just12 percent of women, compared with 21 per-cent of men, agree with the statement thatthese regulations are too burdensome.

Women are especially concerned aboutenvironmental problems that create healthand safety risks, particularly at the locallevel. At the same time, women tend to beless trusting of the institutions that they seeas responsible for protecting the environ-ment, including both government and pri-vate corporations.

In part because of their increased envi-ronmental concerns, women are more likelythan men to volunteer in support of environ-mental causes. As of the early 1990s,women were 60 percent of self-reporteddonors and 62 percent of self-reported vol-unteers to environmental causes.

President’s Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Informing the Policy Debate on Welfare Reauthorization . . . . . . .3

Gender – Sensitive Statistics Should Not Perish within the United Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Spotlight on George Washington University Women’s Studies Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Media Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Reporting Back & Moving Forward:The Status of Women in the States Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

General and Project Support . . . . . .6

Member Profile: Frank Roosevelt . . .7

IWPR’s Growing Family . . . . . . . . . .7

Interestingly, IWPR’s research reviewfound that women’s activism is particularlydependent on meaningful opportunities toshape the agendas and strategies of environ-mental organizations. That is, when womencommit their time and (cont’d on p. 4)

Amy Caiazza

Many of the most visible and importantleaders in environmentalism have beenwomen. One of the most prominent wasRachel Carson, who inspired the environ-mental movement with the publication ofSilent Spring in 1962. Her legacy continuesto motivate new generations of women,including the founders of Rachel’s Net-work, a new organization dedicated toincreasing women’s activism around envi-ronmental issues.

This summer, IWPR worked withRachel’s Network to produce research on

Using Research to Amplify Women’s Voices: IWPR’s Study on Women’s Engagement in Environmental Issues

Who’s Voting andWhy? Exploring the Gender Gap Jean Sinzdak

In the 1996 elections, the media builtsignificant hype around the so-called “soc-cer moms,” who were variously described asupper and middle-income, married, white,working women with children who wereconcerned about public schools and jobsecurity. It was said that President Clintonowed his successful re-election to those vot-ers. The reality is that data have nevershown that this particular (cont’d on p. 4)

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton at anIWPR co-sponsored event:“Realizing the Power ofthe Vote: A Discussion on Political Participation &Mobilization Among Racial and Ethnic Minorities.”

A recent cover story in the New YorkTimes Sunday magazine on the reasonswomen don’t get to the top has feministsalarmed. That the New York Times wouldpublish such an extensive piece claimingthat highly educated women are voluntarilyopting out of career success in increasingnumbers suggests that perhaps we are head-ing for another era of “feminine mystique”urging women to go back home.

The most maddening thing about thearticle from the point of view of this socialscientist is that virtually no data are present-ed that back up the claim that this is anincreasing tendency. Lisa Belkin, author of“The Opt-Out Revolution,” cites predictablestatistics that women MBA’s and womenStanford graduates are more likely to be outof the labor force than comparable men. Thequestion is: are highly educated, upperincome women today more or less likely todrop out of the labor force than previouscohorts? Overall, most of the evidence wehave suggests they are much less likely todrop out and much more likely to work forpay. One would never know that from read-ing Belkin’s article.

Only one statistic cited in the article con-veys a trend: a 3.5 percentage point drop in thelabor force participation rate of mothers withchildren under one year of age, from 58.7 per-cent in 1998 to 55.2 percent in 2000. Thisgroup of women is probably among the mostvulnerable to job loss and many of those whocannot find jobs due to the recession, particu-larly those with little education, stop lookingand are thus no longer counted as part of thelabor force. While it is also possible that thisdata point reveals a significant change inpreferences on the part of the small subset ofmothers who are highly educated and havehigh family incomes, they too may be affect-ed by the recession and the lack of good jobopportunities. Child care for infants is themost difficult to come by and usually moreexpensive, so absent a good job the “choice”to stay home becomes more attractive.

This recession and jobless recovery is infact characterized by a high rate of laborforce drop out—the overall labor force par-ticipation rate has fallen 1.3 percentagepoints between April 2000 and October2003. In the previous recession in 1991,men’s labor force participation fell only 0.7percentage points, and women’s only 0.1percentage points.

Thus, it’s far too early to tell whether arecent dip in labor force participation formothers is part of a long term trend or aresponse to this recession. For most of thepast several decades women, and especial-ly mothers, have been increasing theirtime in the labor force, limiting the num-ber of children they have and spacing themcloser together.

In a review of 30 years of data from thePanel Study of Income Dynamics thatStephen Rose and I have been working on,we find that women in the second 15-yearperiod, 1983-1998 worked for pay muchmore than women did in the prior 15-yearperiod. In the latter period, about 1/2 ofwomen worked every year; in the earlierperiod, that proportion was only about 1/4.

Most likely Belkin’s hypothesis that thehigh income fast track women with whomshe spoke signal the start of a revolutionwill not be proven true as the years unfold.Her article also seems to deny the reality ofwhat women themselves stressed, that theiremployers refused to provide more family-friendly work schedules and that they hopeto return to work shortly.

Changing the behavior of employers andcreating new norms that limit work hoursand make it more possible for everyone tobalance work and family life or personalactivities is clearly the agenda we must pur-sue. Personally, I’m convinced that suchaccommodations will increase women’s lifetime labor force participation and their earn-ings. I also believe that men will increasing-ly use such accommodations, the less stig-matized they become, and the more thatreduced time jobs have good pay and fringebenefits and advancement potential. That’sthe revolution we need, and it is one that istruly beginning. Our job is to sustain it.

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I W P RBoard of Directors

Ellen Delany, ChairMarcia L.Worthing,Vice Chair

Esmeralda Lyn,TreasurerMartha Darling, SecretaryHeidi Hartmann, President

Lenora Cole AlexanderMariam Chamberlain

Linda Chavez-ThompsonMaria Ferris

Irasema GarzaYvonne JacksonPaulette KesslerBrooke Shearer

Evan StarkKathleen Kennedy Townsend

Emily Van AgtmaelKatrina vanden Heuvel

Joan Wainright

STAFFHeidi Hartmann, President

ResearchBarbara Gault, Director of Research

and Vice PresidentSarah Bauleke, Research Work-Study

Sarah Benatar, IWPR/GWU Research FellowAmy Caiazza, Study DirectorStacie Golin, Study Director

Hiedi Hatcher, Research Work-StudyAnn Jameson,Volunteer Legal AssociateAvis Jones-DeWeever, Study Director

Feven Kiflu, Research Work-StudyYuko Kume, Research InternSunhwa Lee, Study DirectorVicky Lovell, Study Director

Misha Werschkul, Mariam K. Chamberlain FellowApril Shaw, Senior Policy Analyst

Lois Shaw, Senior Consulting EconomistJean Sinzdak, Outreach Director

Tara White, Research Intern

Finance and AdministrationAnne Thai,Accounting Manager/Grants Coor.

Pegi Brooks, Office Manager/ReceptionistViolette Davis, Special Assistant to the President

Alyssa Haynes, Administration and Publications Work-Study

DevelopmentRebecca Sager,Associate Dir. of Development

Alison Stein, Development FellowJennifer Howard, Development Intern

CommunicationsAmy Caiazza,Acting Director of Communications

Imogen Gunn, Research and Media Assistant

Newsletter EditorsApril Shaw and Jean Sinzdak

Institute for Women’s Policy Research1707 L Street NW, Suite 750

Washington, DC 20036Tel: 202/785-5100Fax: 202/833-4362www.iwpr.org

President’s Message

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Imogen Gunn

IWPR recently held a standing roomonly Congressional briefing to educate pol-icymakers and advocates on the latestresearch pertaining to welfare and poverty,highlighting how it applies to the currentwelfare reauthorization debate.

At such a crucial juncture, IWPR recog-nized that it was imperative to make politi-cians aware of the implications the proposedpolicies could have on women and their fam-ilies. In collaboration with the Center forEconomic and Policy Research (CEPR) andthe Community Service Society (CSS) inNew York, IWPR organized a CongressionalStaffers’ briefing on welfare reauthorization.

The briefing, which was held in the U.S.Capitol on Friday, September 5th, drewapproximately 85 attendees, including repre-sentatives from nearly 40 Congressionaloffices and committees. IWPR Study Direc-tors Vicky Lovell and Avis Jones-DeWeeverpresented their most recent research on theimplications of the proposed 40-hour workstandard. Dr. Lovell reviewed findings fromher paper, 40-hour Work Proposal Signifi-cantly Raises Mothers’ Employment Stan-dard, and Dr. Jones-DeWeever discussedBefore and After Welfare Reform: The Workand Well-Being of Low-Income Single ParentFamilies. Dr. Heather Boushey of CEPRreleased her findings on the impact of the cur-rent economy on job opportunities and wagesfor former welfare recipients. Finally, Dr.Mark Levitan of CSS presented his researchon the effects of the recession on single moth-ers’ employment, unemployment, and wages.

Overall themes presented by the panelincluded the unrealistic nature of proposedwork requirements given the average workweek of mothers coupled with high unem-ployment currently. With the economic cli-mate slow to improve and unemploymentholding steady at 6.1 percent, single moth-ers are disproportionately affected. Female-headed households have seen their unem-ployment rise during the economic down-turn to 8.5 percent. For former welfarerecipients, the employment picture is equal-ly bleak, as many welfare recipients foundemployment in industries that have been hithard by the economic downturn.

piled and updated in close cooperation withthe UN regional statistical commissions. Thelast version of the report the World’s Women:Trends and Statistics was also published in2000 following the 1990 and 1995 versions.

Currently, there is no ongoing work orany efforts to continue publishing thisreport in 2005 and/or to maintain the WIS-TAT database. This is despite the fact that asa result of the data, the Regional Commis-sions of Africa (ECA), Latin America andthe Caribbean (ECLAC), Arab countries(ESCWA), Eastern Europe (ECE) andSouth and Southeast Asia (ESCAP) havestarted to pay more attention to genderissues and work on “engendering statistics”is getting increased attention.

Continued and persistent demand from thewomen’s movement should maintain regionaland national efforts aimed at the global level.Alliances can be strengthened both inside andoutside the UN. The United Nations Develop-ment Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Divisionon Advancement of Women (DAW) and Unit-ed Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) arethree important organizations inside. Feministresearchers, academics, activists, and parlia-mentarians need to unite their voices in acampaign targeted at the UN to maintain theirglobal statistical database. This battle cannotbe lost or ignored, especially at a time whenmore and more data issues surface in the con-text of Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) at the UN and many donor tables.One hundred and seventy-five governmentshave signed on to achieve eight goals by2015. Progress or regress can only be moni-tored by timely, accurate, and comprehensivedata. Above all, the true picture can only bedrawn as long as the data are gender-sensitive.We have to coordinate a campaign to makeour demand for quality data sources at the UNStatistical Division.

Informing the PolicyDebate on WelfareReauthorization

Hande Keklik, Ph.D. candidate, Universityof Utah Economics Dept., Former consult-ant/Programme Analyst at UNIFEM

Women’s Indicators and Statistics data-base (WISTAT)—the only comprehensiveglobal data source may be eliminated at theUnited Nations Statistical Division(UNSD). What can the feminist communitydo? How can feminists inside and outside ofthe UN system increase demand?

Many feminist researchers, academics,activists and advocates of socio-economicsdevelopment have used the UNSD report;World’s Women: Trends and Statistics. TheWISTAT database has been the most impor-tant source for this publication. Both thereport and the database are in danger of per-ishing. Internal pressure has not been strongenough to prevent it. The need for outsidepressure has become vital.

Over the last two decades the continueddemand for gender-sensitive statistics toillustrate progressive policies and to supportadvocacy has created success at the UN.Today, the need for statistics to drive gender-sensitive policymaking has become muchmore apparent, with the emerging work-gen-der-macroeconomics field and many otherthemes in development economics and otherfields. The international community hasmoved forward in many respects, especiallythrough UN conferences. The World Confer-ence of International Women’s Year in 1975recommended the development of statisticsand indicators concerned with women’s situ-ations. In 1988, WISTAT, the first and onlyglobal database, was launched. It became aninternationally recognized and supporteddatabase with cross-time and cross-countrydimensions focusing on the advancement ofwomen towards equality of women and men.The most recent 2000 version incorporatesdata up to the mid—and-late 1990s, com-

Gender – Sensitive Statistics Should Not Perish within the United Nations

IWPR Study Director Vicky Lovell presents atthe Congressional Briefing.Also on the panel (from lto r): Dean Baker (CEPR),IWPR Study Director AvisJones-DeWeever, MarkLevitan (CSS), HeatherBoushey (CEPR).

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energy to a cause, theywant an active and significant voice in deci-sion-making processes. Those opportunitiescan also increase women’s self-confidenceas civic and political activists, which caninspire them to sustain and even increasetheir commitment.

Women also respond to messages thatcombine a sense of personal responsibilityto address problems with a vision of howthings can be changed. On average, womenare more empathetic than men, and they aremore likely to see themselves as personallyresponsible for tackling environmentalproblems. They are also more likely tochange their behaviors to achieve a betterfuture. Environmental groups can tap intothis concern by providing a concrete set ofways to act, both personally (for example,recycling) and politically.

Rachel’s Network is dedicated toempowering women to become effectiveadvocates for environmental reform. As anorganization dedicated to giving women astronger voice in all kinds of policymaking,IWPR sees our collaboration with Rachel’sNetwork as a way to help increase women’spolitical and civic engagement on behalf ofthe policies they support.

To see the full report, go to IWPR’s web-site at www.iwpr.org, click on PDF reports,then scroll down to Engaging Women inEnvironmental Activism: Recommendationsfor Rachel’s Network.

“group” of women wasresponsible for Clinton’s win. The founda-tion for Clinton’s re-election was largelybased on support from low-income womenand from women of color, as noted by AnnaGreenberg of Greenberg Quinlan RosnerResearch. For example, in a post-electionsurvey, she found that low-wage workingmothers voted Democratic in that Presiden-tial election, supporting Clinton over Doleby 55 percent to 28 percent. More than two-thirds (89 percent) of African Americanwomen voted for Clinton.

Regardless of the hype, one thing is forcertain: gender does play a major role inelections. The 1996 presidential election hadan 11-point gender gap (at the time, thelargest ever recorded), with women favoringBill Clinton and men favoring Bob Dole,according to the Center for AmericanWomen and Politics (CAWP). A significantgender gap was also present in the 2000presidential election, with 53 percent of menand 43 percent of women voting for Presi-dent Bush. The implications of the gendergap are also apparent when looking at who’sgoing to the voting booth: in every presiden-tial election since 1980, the proportion ofeligible women who voted has exceeded theproportion of eligible men who voted, asnoted in IWPR’s Status of Women in theStates report. For example, in 2000, the per-

centage of eligible women that voted was56.2 percent, while the percentage of eligiblemen who voted was 53.1 percent.

As noted, married moms with childrenhave been a demographic of focus amongthe media and many campaign strategists. Ina twist on the soccer mom model, the mediahas recently called attention to a new con-cept: “security moms,” women who suppos-edly look to government to protect theirfamilies and children and therefore supportBush’s anti-terrorism programs. Is this areal voting block? The evidence is less thanconvincing, since there was a large gendergap in support for President Bush’s propos-al to spend $87 billion rebuilding Iraq:about 53 percent of men and 70 percent ofwomen reject his plan, according to a Wash-ington Post/ABC News poll.

Interestingly, single women are less like-ly to vote than married women but morelikely to vote Democrat if they do, makingthem a key source of votes for that party. Inaddition, young women who have nevermarried are more likely to vote than areyoung women who are widowed, separated,or divorced; in 2000 they were twice as like-ly to vote, according to the Center for Infor-mation and Research on Civic Learning(CIRCLE).

In fact, young women, particularlythose in the 18-24 year age group, havelong shown that they vote in larger num-bers than young men, so capturing thisdemographic would be a boon for any can-didate. Higher proportions of youngwomen than men have voted in every pres-idential election since 1976, and the gap intheir turnout has grown throughout theyears. In 2000, 43 percent of young womenvoted, compared with 40 percent of youngmen, according to CIRCLE.

Minority women’s votes also make ahuge difference to election results, as evi-denced in the 1998 congressional elections:that year, minority women gave Democrats53 percent of the overall women’s vote, aspointed out by Anna Greenberg. This is true,despite a historically lower turnout rateamong minority voters. As with whitewomen voters, African American and His-panic women have historically been morelikely to vote than their male counterparts,according to CIRCLE. Examining the rea-sons for their differing turnout rates and

(cont’d from p. 1)

(cont’d from p. 1)

Using Research to AmplifyWomen’s Voices: IWPR’s Studyon Women’s Engagement inEnvironmental Issues

Who’s Voting and Why?Exploring the Gender Gap

developing strategies to encourage morewomen from all racial and ethnic groups tovote are key issues for both academic andpolitical researchers. Despite voting morethan men, however, women hold manyfewer political offices than men and thus areunder-represented.

Ultimately, the ideal situation is for morewomen to participate in the electoralprocess, no matter what their race, class,age, or party affiliation. Understanding howwomen vote and how they feel about politi-cal issues will lead to strategies to leveragetheir participation in the political process,which ultimately will improve politics andstrengthen women’s voices.States Outreach Director Jean Sinzdak (on right)

spoke about The Status of Women in the Statesreports at “State Policy Toolbox” dinner sponsoredby the Womens Legislators Lobby (WILL) andWomen’s Action for New Directions (WAND)annual conference on September 14, 2003.

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Their report, Women, War and Peace is avail-able from UNIFEM (www.unifem.org). Thetalk by Elisabeth Rehn was co-sponsored bythe GW Institute for European, Russian, andEurasian Studies (IERES).

Women’s Studies was pleased to co-spon-sor and bring to the GW campus an importantand timely conference organized by Psychol-ogists for Social Responsibility (PSR) on“Rethinking Gender, War, and Peace: Femi-nist Perspectives,” October 10-12. MarthaMednick and Ann Anderson of PSR were theprime movers and conference chairs.

In October, the Women’s Studies Pro-gram hosted a special talk by Irene Tinkeron “Democracy and Diversity: How MuchRepresentation?” (with a focus on electoralpolitics internationally). Irene Tinker is pro-fessor emerita from the University of Cali-fornia-Berkeley with a long and distin-guished history of scholarship and activismon women and international development aswell as women and politics/public policyissues. The talk was co-sponsored by IERESat GW and by IWPR.

Cynthia Deitch

IWPR and the GWU Women’s StudiesProgram have shared a fruitful, cooperativerelationship for more than five years. Alongwith a newer international focus, the GWWomen’s Studies Program continues itslong and pioneering tradition of graduatestudy on women and U.S. public policy. Weoffer an MA in Public Policy with a Con-centration in Women’s Studies (as well as anMA in Women’s Studies), joint degrees withthe Law School, and a field specialization inGender and Public Policy within the inter-disciplinary Ph.D. program in Public Policy.

We are proud to have co-sponsoredIWPR’s tremendously successful confer-ence last June. In addition to our own facul-ty participation in the conference, as profes-sors of talented graduate students, we wereespecially gratified to watch a panel of ourstudents (Sabrina Denney Bull, SuzanneBeechey, Rosa Maria Castanada, and DanaMcGrath) presenting their work to anengaged audience.

The George Washington UniversityWomen’s Studies Program is presenting anumber of events this year that highlight therole of women in global political change.

Spotlight on George WashingtonUniversity Women’sStudies Program

This fall, IWPR has continued toreceive press coverage in various mediaformats covering a wide range of issues.IWPR researchers have been cited in mul-tiple media outlets.

IWPR’s The Status of Women in theStates publications continued to receivewide media coverage. The Milwaukee Jour-nal-Sentinel, The Capital Times, and the APran stories on Wisconsin Lt. Governor Bar-bara Lawton’s new initiative to increaseeconomic welfare of women in the state, forwhich IWPR’s Status of Women in Wiscon-sin report was cited as a driving impetus.IWPR’s research on this project was alsofound in Women’s eNews and PR NewswireAssociation stories. April Shaw was quotedin the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

Gender wage and workplace issues alsodrew media coverage. IWPR’s research wasfeatured in NAFE Magazine and cited inThe Capital Times. Dr. Barbara Gault wasquoted in the Christian Science Monitor andthe Washington Post, and Dr. Vicky Lovellwas quoted extensively in Women’s ENews.

Elisabeth Rehnspeaks to theGW Women’sStudies Program.

Family issues also gained media atten-tion. Dr. Stacie Golin was quoted in anarticle on child welfare in the VillageVoice. On other issues, Jean Sinzdak wasquoted in Women’s ENews about women’sfoundations utilizing research in grant-making, and Dr. Lovell’s research onunionization in retail food was cited in thePittsburgh Post-Gazette.

IWPR director Dr. Heidi Hartmannwas featured in the April 2003 issue ofCurrent Biography. The article describedDr. Hartmann’s background and IWPR’smission. Dr. Hartmann’s presentation onSocial Security at the 60 Plus Associationwas covered on C-SPAN. She was alsoquoted in Time Magazine and the ChicagoSun-Times about workplace and wage gapissues and noted in the Lexington Herald-Leader as a plenary speaker at a statewideforum on women’s status in Kentucky. Dr.Hartmann was also quoted in both the NewYork Times and the Washington Post on thesubject of older women and the economy.– Grace Pai

M E D I A N OT E S

On January 30, Women’s Studies will co-sponsor with the GW Theatre and Dancedepartment a performance about domesticviolence by a group of South African youth.GW Theatre Professor Leslie Jacobsonworked with the performers in South Africalast summer and has arranged for them tovisit GW in January.

Thanks to a recent generous grant award-ed to GW Women’s Studies by an anony-mous donor, we will expand the internation-al dimension of our program in the springsemester.

In November and December we will beworking with graduate students seekinginternships in public policy organizationsworking on gender issues, matching themwith organizations seeking graduate studentinterns for Spring semester (January – May2004). If your organization would like tobecome involved with our internship pro-gram (the Practicum in Women’s Studies)please contact Susie Han (202-994-6225;susiehan@gwu.edu) or Professor CynthiaDeitch (deitch@gwu.edu).

In September, Women’s Studies spon-sored a lunchtime talk at GW on “The Impactof Armed Conflict and the Role of Women inPeacebuilding” by Elisabeth Rehn. Alongwith Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Elisa-beth Rhen (of Finland) served as an Indepen-dent Expert for UNIFEM from 2001-2003,traveling around the world to document thesevere and pervasive problems faced bywomen in post-conflict trouble spots and theenormous courage demonstrated by women.

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IWPR General andProject Support

We are able to accomplish our goalsthrough contributions from: the John D.and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundationand the A.L. Mailman Family Foundationfor our research on child care issues; theOpen Society Institute for work onwomen’s political participation, health, andreproductive rights; the David and LucilePackard Foundation for research on univer-sal pre-k, the Annie E. Casey Foundationfor work on paid family leave, unemploy-ment insurance, and access to higher edu-cation; the Levi Strauss Foundation and theRockefeller Family Fund for The Status ofWomen in the States; the Joyce Foundationfor work on employment retention; theJoint Center for Poverty Research for workon the impact of disabilities on low-incomefamilies; the Center for Information andResearch on Civic Learning and Engage-ment for a project on young women andmen in politics; Rachel’s Network forresearch on women’s engagement in envi-ronmental issues; AARP and its PublicPolicy Institute for projects on issues ofimportance to older Americans; and theFord Foundation for work on job qualityand access to higher education.

Thank you to all our members anddonors for your commitment to positivepolicy change for women and families.

Jean Sinzdak

Since our November 2002 release, thebuzz around the latest round of IWPR’s TheStatus of Women in the States reports contin-ues. In July, our Director of Research Bar-bara Gault was a keynote speaker at theWomen’s Legislative Network Luncheon ofthe National Conference of State Legislators’annual conference, where she presented onthe reports’ findings and the crucial impor-tance of connecting research and policymak-ing to further women’s legislative agendas. InOctober, IWPR President Heidi Hartmanndiscussed the states reports at a panel spon-sored by the Washington Statistical Societycalled “The Role of Statistics in Achievingthe Dream: Remembering August 28, 1963;Four Decades of Nurturing the Dream Statis-tically, Thoughts for the Future” (celebratingthe 40th anniversary of the “I Have a Dream”speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.).

Our state-based Advisory Committees tothe project have been working hard to mobi-lize women with the findings. As always,the dynamic and committed women andmen who serve on these committees contin-ue to inspire us by helping make The Statusof Women in the States reports valuable topublic policy debates on behalf of womenand their families.

In September, the Women’s Fund of theGreater Milwaukee Foundation, the chair ofthe Wisconsin Advisory Committee, spon-sored their annual Women and Public PolicyLuncheon. At the luncheon, Wisconsin Gov-ernor Jim Doyle said the state is launching

several initiatives to address the status ofwomen in the state, including a key initiativespearheaded by Lt. Governor Barbara Law-son called Wisconsin Women = Prosperity.The campaign was launched in directresponse to IWPR’s The Status of Women inWisconsin report, which was co-publishedby the Women’s Fund and which reportedthat Wisconsin earned poor marks in severalareas, including pay equity, reproductiverights, and electing women to public office.The initiative’s key goal is to build econom-ic growth in Wisconsin by improving the sta-tus of women in the state. The year-longproject currently seeks volunteers to serveon task forces addressing factors affectingemployment, health care, economic self-suf-ficiency, educational achievement, and otherbarriers to success. It will culminate with astatewide conference in June 2004 where theresults of the project’s study will be reportedalong with policy recommendations forshort- and long-term improvements. Asquoted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,Gov. Doyle told the mostly female audienceof about 1,000: “How much better couldWisconsin be if every woman in our statecould fully participate in the economy, ineducational achievement, in political leader-ship, and had full access to health care?”

Elsewhere in the country, the chairs ofthe West Virginia Advisory Committee,Barbara Howe of West Virginia UniversityWomen’s Studies and Joan Browning of theCoalition for West Virginia Women, teamedup with Kansas Advisory Committee chair

Reporting Back & Moving Forward:The Status of Women in the States Reports

For a complete list of IWPRSpeaking Engagements

and events, visitwww.iwpr.org/new.html

Ann Cudd of University of Kansas Women’sStudies, to present a session on The Statusof Women in the States project at the Nation-al Women’s Studies conference, held in Junein New Orleans. The session focused onhow women’s studies departments can playan active role in the project and serve asactivists around such reports.

IWPR will continue to keep you postedon important happenings in the states!Please share your news with us by contact-ing Jean Sinzdak at 202/785-5100 or sinz-dak@iwpr.org.

IWPR President Heidi Hartmann (front row, left) presented at “The Role of Statistics in Achieving theDream: Remembering August 28, 1963; Four Decades of Nurturing the Dream Statistically,Thoughtsfor the Future.” Among those pictured are former IWPR Board Chair Margaret Simms and IWPR Pro-gram Advisory Committee member Juanita Tamayo Lott.

IWPR Summer newsletter 2003 shouldhave been labeled Spring/Summer 2003.

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Alison SteinThere are not many people in this world

who can say that their first progressive andfeminist education came from a personalletter from Eleanor Roosevelt. There areeven fewer people who can say that EleanorRoosevelt is their grandmother.

Frank Roosevelt, a generous and activemember of IWPR, is the grandson ofFranklin Delano Roosevelt and EleanorRoosevelt. Now an economics professor atSarah Lawrence College, as a child Dr. Roo-sevelt moved to Long Island with his moth-er when his parents divorced. Dr. Rooseveltcorresponded regularly with his grandmoth-er during his last year as an undergraduate atYale, and after hearing his grandmotherspeak to a group of Harvard students in thesummer of 1959, he began to think aboutwomen’s issues.

“For the first time in my life, I becameaware of the fact that women could play amajor role in the world. My grandmotherspoke for forty minutes without a singlenote. My mentor was now a woman.”

After graduating from Yale, Dr. Roo-sevelt served in the Navy for two years inJapan. When he returned, he began a gradu-ate program in economics at Columbia. Inthe midst of the 1968 strikes at the Univer-sity, Dr. Roosevelt discovered that the eco-nomics department consisted primarily ofconservatives, and so he left and finishedhis Ph.D. at the New School for SocialResearch, a school known for radical andfeminist economics. It was here that his pathfirst crossed with IWPR’s President andfounder, Heidi Hartmann.

Upon completing his Ph.D., Dr. Roo-sevelt taught at Vassar College for twoyears. In 1977, he left for Sarah Lawrence,where he has been teaching ever since. Dr.

Roosevelt stayed in touch with Heidi andconsulted with her when she was firstbeginning to think about IWPR. “IWPR wassomething I believed in and supported, so Igave her some money. It was exciting tohave been in on its founding.”

While Dr. Roosevelt does not workspecifically on feminist economics, he isdeeply committed to the field and feels thatthere is still a long way to go. “I like to thinkof myself as a sympathetic outsider. Eventhough feminist economics has made enor-mous strides, there is still great prejudiceand bias. Many economists are not too sym-pathetic with these issues.” Dr. Rooseveltkeeps abreast of the work of the Institute,and uses IWPR’s research in his teaching.“While I don’t teach feminist economicsspecifically, keeping up with IWPR’s workkeeps me better informed. The reports helpme to be a better teacher.”

From 1989 to 1994, Dr. Roosevelt servedas the co-chair of the Eleanor RooseveltMonument Fund, a project that raised about$2 million to commission and put in a beau-tiful statue of Eleanor Roosevelt on the upperWest Side of Manhattan. To this day, EleanorRoosevelt remains his mentor. “Adlai E.Stevenson said it best when he spoke aboutmy grandmother. ‘She would rather light acandle than curse the darkness.’”

Today, Dr. Roosevelt serves on the Boardof Trustees of the Manhattan Country DaySchool, and was one of the original mem-bers of the Editorial Board of The Review ofRadical Political Economics. Currently, Dr.Roosevelt is rewriting one of the major eco-nomic textbooks of the 20th century, Under-standing Capitalism: Competition, Com-mand, and Change. The third edition will becompleted at the end of this year and pub-lished by Oxford University Press in Fall2004. Dr. Roosevelt lives in New York Citywith his wife, who is a Rousseau scholarand teaches at the Metropolitan College ofNew York. They have three children and fivegrandchildren.

Give the Gift of EqualityRebecca Sager

The holiday season is right around the cor-ner and the frenzied rush to the mall hasalready begun! This year, how about avoidingthe mad dash for the last parking spot, endlessstore lines, and the dreaded holiday Muzak?You can by giving the gift that is guaranteedto fit and have a lasting impact – an IWPRgift membership. What other gift supportsequality for all women and saves you the has-sle of keeping those pesky gift receipts? Notonly are IWPR gift memberships a great wayto celebrate the holidays, but they also pro-mote IWPR’s research and disseminationefforts on behalf of women and their families.And if that weren’t enough, your gift is com-pletely tax-deductible!

In memory of and/or In honor of contribu-tions are another thoughtful way to memori-alize or celebrate special people or events inyour life. It’s an ideal graduation, birthday,holiday or any day tax-deductible gift. Whatbetter way to mark an event while at the sametime supporting the vital work of IWPR?When you make an In memory of and/or Inhonor of gift, the recipient will be acknowl-edged in our upcoming newsletter andreceive an attractive card notifying them ofyour thoughtful gesture. It’s a wonderful trib-ute and it supports IWPR’s important work.

We’ve had a wonderful time celebratingour 15th anniversary this year. You’vehelped IWPR make this year special, butour work isn’t done yet! Until all womenachieve social and economic equality,IWPR will remain the source for timely andhard-hitting research on the issues that mat-ter most to women. Please affirm your com-mitment to women and their families bymaking a generous year-end, tax-deductiblecontribution. Your support has brought us sofar and IWPR is counting on your continuedgenerosity to take us even farther.

Mem

ber Profile

Dr. Frank Roosevelt

Frank Roosevelt withhis grandson, Ben.

IWPR’s Growing Family

Joey Caiazza-Blum withhis mom, IWPR StudyDirector Amy Caiazza

Aidan Jones-DeWeeverin his Halloween

costume.

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