On April 12, 2019, the DAUK Film Committee and the DAUK Women’s Caucus screened the documentary "RBG: A Progressive Icon in these Troubled Times” in London. “Super Diva” is on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s sweatshirt at her weekly routine in this lively biography. And “Super Diva’ she is to the young students attending her recent public appearances. The term is well-earned as we hear family, friends and colleagues talk of RBG’s impressive legal acumen, tireless work ethic, quiet determination, and successful strategies to advance gender equality in the United States.

We see her 1992 Senate nomination hearing outlining some of the many cases pursued while a law professor and general counsel of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, winning five of the six gender discrimination case before the Supreme Court. It is shocking to remember that, in 1959, despite graduating first in her law school class, she was turned down NY law firms and denied a Supreme Court clerkship because she was a woman.

There are amusing vignettes from her private life: opera, travel and a supportive husband who famously promoted her Supreme Court nomination. But what shines through is her dedication to the law and her mode of overcoming sexism: “Be a lady and be independent.” And the Justice continues as a “rock star” with her independent thinking in eloquent dissents in today’s Supreme Court.

It was an excellent film and we would highly recommend it. RBG is now available on iTunes!

Watch the trailer

Highlights of the March 8 events in Oslo

There is an irony in the fact that Norway, which is ranked as the second most female friendly nation (2018 ranking*1), is so dedicated to the International Women’s Day. Have they not already achieved equality? The strong engagement is a good barometer for Norway’s general commitment to support women’s rights. The laws here do support women both in the workplace and home. Norway, traditionally a farming nation, recognized the contributions of farmer wives, decades ago, by giving them the status of a regular workers, entitled them to increased social security and workman’s benefits. Now girls are taken over farms since the law on inheritance has changed, favoring the first-born child, replacing the first born “male” as the heir. The law now also states that all corporate boards must be minimum 40% female; however, women tend not to rise as rapidly as men on the corporate ladder. A major newspaper recently reported that more men are going into female dominated vocations, such as nursing and teaching, and a larger percentage of women now seek higher education than men. 

Michael Flood, Queensland University of Technology

Young men who conform to traditional definitions of manhood are more likely to suffer harm to themselves, and do harm to others, according to a new survey of Australian men aged 18 to 30.

This is the first major Australian survey to map ideals of masculinity among young men, commissioned as part of the Jesuit Social Services’ Men’s Project, which is dedicated to helping boys and men live respectful, accountable and fulfilling lives.

The researchers surveyed 1,000 young men on their attitudes toward seven pillars of traditional manhood: self-sufficiency, toughness, physical attractiveness, rigid gender roles, heterosexuality and homophobia, hypersexuality, and aggression and control over women. These represent what we call the “Man Box”, or the ideals of manhood that can be both influential and restrictive to young men.

The men were asked about their perceptions of societal messages about manhood and their own endorsement of these messages.

Our findings showed that many young men remain greatly influenced by these societal messages of what it means to be a man. For example, young men were particularly likely to agree with statements that society expects men to act strong (69%), fight back when pushed (60%) and never say no to sex (56%).

However, some traditional ideals seem to be dropping away. Few young men agreed that society tells them they should use violence to get respect (35%), straight men should shun gay men as friends (36%), boys shouldn’t learn how to cook and clean (38%), and men shouldn’t do household chores (39%).

Read more: Masculinity should not be defined by the Kavanaugh hearings

Join us on Sunday, June 30 at 1:30 p.m. CET ( 7:30 a.m. EDT)

The Books Abroad team warmly invites you to join our rescheduled discussion on Kate Chopin's The Awakening on Sunday, June 30. We apologize for the mishap with the RSVP link to our previous meeting and assure you that you will receive the link to join the meeting when you RSVP for the new date. We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding and look forward to discussing this landmark piece of literature with all of you.

First published in 1899, this novel presents the intellectual, artistic, and sexual awakening of Edna Pontellier, an affluent, married white woman with two children. After years of succumbing to the limited social expectations for women, Edna expresses a profound dissatisfaction with her life and begins to defy those boundaries. Sixty years after The Awakening was published, Betty Friedan famously called the feeling Edna describes as "the problem that has no name." Despite the turn-of-the-century setting in the Louisiana coast, it doesn’t take much imagination to see the unfortunate and stark resemblances between Edna’s cultural context and that of the feminist awakenings in the 1960s and our current cultural moment. As Barbara Kingsolver writes in her review in The Guardian, “I wish I could declare The Awakening a period piece, but Chopin's social analysis still hits its mark.” Chopin’s novel asks the uncomfortable question: How does a capacious, sapient human reconcile her existence with a world that pervasively tells her, you are less. We’re still asking this question.

Please join our international feminist reading group on Sunday, June 30 at 7:30 a.m. EDT (1:30 p.m. CET) for a discussion about this groundbreaking piece of literary fiction.

Please note: This global WebEx is scheduled on Washington DC time. Make sure to check your own time zone.  

Books Abroad brings readers across the globe together to discuss works of feminist literature and their relevance to current events in the United States. We meet via WebEx roughly once every three months. So far, this group has read Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, Rebecca Solnit’s The Mother of All Questions, and Roxane Gay’s Not That Bad. We look forward to our upcoming discussion and welcome suggestions for future readings.

A Call to Action! Here's everything you need to create your own IWD party

Collective action is how we achieve positive change. Women, men, young and old -- we all have a part to play in achieving a more gender-balanced world. With increased equality comes a more just and prosperous society, so this year’s International Women’s Day theme is all about creating #BalanceForBetter.

International Women’s Day (IWD) is on March 8, play your part and consider hosting your own IWD event this month!

Never hosted an International Women’s Day event before? No problem. We came prepared with a few resources and suggestions! Consider going over a brief history of International Women’s Day, have an open and honest discussion about gender-based discrimination, watch an informative video on the Equal Rights Amendment, play a few rounds of Women’s History Month trivia, and come up with your own action ideas to help the women and men in your community build #BalanceForBetter.

Use the links below to download all the tools, templates and videos you need to make your International Women's Day. event a success:

International Women’s Day 2019 Suggested Agenda and Additional Resources

International Women’s Day 2019 Slides

Learn more about the Equal Rights Amendments

Watch the film Legalize Equality

Step up and find your #BalanceForBetter

The Equal Rights Amendment resolution passed unanimously in Tokyo where we committed to do whatever we can to help get the ERA ratified.  See the resolution here.

Watch the video "Legalize Equality."  This 30-minute video gives an excellent overview of the Equal Rights Amendment and why it is critical to be ratified.  

You can watch the video until 31 December 2019.

To receive the streaming link and password, click RSVP and you will receive an email with the information in it.

Feel free to share the link and password to DA members that want to view it.  However, please do NOT post the link and password on the internet in any way.  Only Democrats Abroad has access for this private screening and we need to honor this special access given by Equal Means Equal and Heroica Films.  

Additional References to learn more about ERA:

Join our ERA Photo and Video Campaign!

We are SO CLOSE now to getting the ERA ratified! The Virginia general assembly starts their session on January 9^th and the Virginia Equal Means Equal team needs our help right now!

They would love to have some photos and videos of Americans living abroad who support ERA to use to win over some votes. So if you could take a photo holding a sign and/or make a 30-45 second video, that would be appreciated. Here are the simple guidelines.

If possible, they would like by the end of the week so they can put something together for a big event in Richmond on Jan 8. So if you could send something in before then, that would be great. However, if you miss this first deadline, we have also been asked by both Arizona and North Carolina for the same thing and they do not need as soon. Just send as soon as you can!

So – show your support of women and equal rights by creating a photo and/or video. Send the photo and video links to era@democratsabroad.org

THANK YOU for your help! 

Thank you for reading our DA Global Women’s Caucus Summer Newsletter.

We are all very excited about the work we have been doing since our last newsletter and the work yet to come, so here is our update.

I’m Michelle Cummings-Koether, and I am the new Women’s Caucus Chair for Germany. I am here to help coordinate Women’s topics and events in Germany, and to try to place a focus on important Women’s topics for Democrats Abroad. I look forward to working with the various Chapters and Precincts in Germany, to help keep a bright light on topics that affect Women in the United States.

A little about myself. I was born in the US and have spent my life traveling between the US and Germany. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now live in Munich. When I am not fighting for Women’s topics, I work as an interculturalist, consulting American and European companies on how to work together. I also teach intercultural topics at three universities in Munich and Augsburg. To help me regain footing and to help me keep focused, I hang out with my dog while she works as a therapy assistant dog with disabled kids.

I would also like to announce that the Women’s Caucus will be holding the Germany Women's Caucus Workshop (Open to Democrats Abroad Worldwide) on September 22nd in Berlin. With the theme “refocus, revisit, resist & re-empower” we will hold an all day event followed by dinner. This event will be open to all DA members worldwide. Please RSVP today. More details to follow.

I am looking forward to this new opportunity and the challenges that will arise. As my consultancy takes me all across Germany, I hope to meet with some of the Chapters personally soon. If you need to reach me, my email is dag-women@democratsabroad.org.

With Black History Month behind us and Women’s History month coming to an end, it is an appropriate time to call attention to the intersectional pioneers who deserves more credit than they may have gotten.

In this past month I have researched a few of the women in the struggle for human rights.  They each have their own story and we do not want those stories to be lost. One common trait they had in common, regardless of their cause or profession, was their burning determination.  I learned a lot from their personal stories and gained a few insights. Most all the women that were reported on, fought for several causes. When slavery was abolished, they demanded the vote and control over their bodies, then them wanted equal rights in the workplace; they did not give up!

This speaks to the lesson number one; when these women spoke out they become stronger. Activism itself, seemed to generate power and it can become contagious. Diane Nash, the civil rights activist from the 60s, said “There is a power in each of us that we do not realize until we take responsibility.”