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Tag(s): 2008 Democratic Natl Conv; 2008 Republican Natl Conv; Exhibition; Feminism; Writing
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July 21, 2008 at 01:33:04

Headlined on 7/21/08:
Calling All Women to the White House

by Meryl Ann Butler Page 1 of 2 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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The White House Project www.thewhitehouseproject.org will offer a series of events at the Democratic National Convention, in Denver, Colorado (Aug. 25 – 28). This is the 100th anniversary of Denver's 1908 Democratic National Convention.[1]

The White House Project will also offer events at the Republican National Convention[2] in Saint Paul, Minnesota (Sept. 1 – 4). Both conventions are scheduled later than usual this year, in order to launch campaigns after the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The White House Project is a national, nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization, 501(c)(3), that aims to “advance women’s leadership in all communities and sectors, up to the U.S. presidency. By filling the leadership pipeline with a richly diverse, critical mass of women, we make American institutions, businesses and government truly representative. Through multi-platform programs, The White House Project creates a culture where America’s most valuable untapped resource—women—can succeed in all realms.”

Marie Wilson

White House Project President and Founder, Marie Wilson, will be one of many high-profile women speaking at "Unconventional Women," an historic, non-partisan symposium uniting 3,000 women at the DNC.

Wilson founded The White House Project in 1998. Prior to that, for nearly two decades, she was the President of the Ms. Foundation for Women, and was co-creater of Take Our Daughters to Work Day. Wilson also authored the critically acclaimed, Closing the Leadership Gap: Add Women, Change Everything, which was re-released with a new afterward in January, 2008.

Additional DNC events include The White House Project's 10th Anniversary Celebration, and a celebration of Shirley Chisholm with a screening of Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed, (sponsored by Best Buy and Mills College).

Shirley Chisholm circa 1968.

The RNC events include a reception and exclusive screening of the documentary film, "14 Women" (hosted in partnership with Best Buy and Women's Leadership Forum (WoLF), and the premier late-night convention party for women,

"Political Chicks a Go-Go" (hosted with Lifetime Networks and RightNOW.)

The White House Project is a partner in Women, Power and Politics, a 10-month online exhibition at the International Museum of Women, which has covered everything from body politics to religion.

For the remainder of the year, the exhibition is focusing on democracy, voting, campaigning and women working together across borders. The exhibition is currently calling for submissions from women and men around the world. It showcases inspiring stories of women claiming and exercising their power. There is a different focal topic each month. Upcoming topics include:

“Why is Voting Important?” 

September, 2008. Submit before August 1, 2008 to be considered for a featured story. General submissions welcome until December 31, 2008.

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www.merylannbutler.com

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author and educator who counts First Lady Dolley Payne Todd Madison as well as two signers of the Articles of Confederation among her ancestors. Mary Ball, mother of George Washington is in the ancestral lineage of Butler's great grandmother, Blanche Ball. Grateful to know that the blood of America's founding mothers and fathers runs in her veins, Butler has been newly filled with matriotism as a direct result of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Lest she appear too uppity, it should be revealed that she also has family ties to James Butler Hickok, better known as Wild Bill. Butler has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled enlightenment for the past two decades. A native of NYC, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006). They don't call quilts "comforters" for nothing! www.90minutequilts.com Butler was faculty advisor for "The Love for All Mankind/Anti-Apartheid Quilt" project at ENMU (1993), now in the collection of the Hon. Nelson Mandela. As Arts Advisor for the Center for Improving U.S.- Soviet Relations (CIUSSR) Baltimore, MD; her activities included the "First U.S.-Soviet Childrens' Peace Quilt Exchange" (1987-88), an historic project chronicled in the media of both countries. Citizen diplomacy trips to the U.S.S.R. in 1987 and 1988 included lectures and presentations to fashion designers, craftspeople and artists in Odessa, Moscow, Kiev and St.Petersburg, in which she focused on the topic of creating global peace through international art exchanges. Butler is the proud mother of a daughter and seven stepchildren (all grown), and a passel o' grand younguns. It is to these new generations that she dedicates her political activism. Archived articles www.opednews.com/author/author1820.html Older archived articles, from before May 2005 are here.,

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3 comments

In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Rady AnandaIn 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Add Women Change Everything

Thank you so much for providing deeper coverage of the White House Project, Meryl Ann.

I wholly agree with Marie Wilson's sentiment that bringing women's perspectives to the policy tables WILL change everything.

by Rady Ananda (109 articles, 261 quicklinks, 27 diaries, 868 comments) on Monday, July 21, 2008 at 7:59:12 AM

Margaret Bassett is an 86-year old, currently living in senior housing, with a lifelong interest in political conumbrums. She hopes to hold out for one more presidential election. Bachelors from State University of Iowa (1944) and Masters from Roosevelt University (1975) help to unravel important requirements for modern communication. Early introduction to computer science (1966) trumps them. It's payback time. She's been "entitled" so long she hopes to find some good coming off the keyboa...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Margaret BassettMargaret Bassett is an 86-year old, currently living in senior housing, with a lifelong interest in political conumbrums. She hopes to hold out for one more presidential election. Bachelors from State University of Iowa (1944) and Masters from Roosevelt University (1975) help to unravel important requirements for modern communication. Early introduction to computer science (1966) trumps them. It's payback time. She's been "entitled" so long she hopes to find some good coming off the keyboa...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Power & Authority

Thanks, Meryl Ann. As we think of women and power, of people and power, how can we address the confluence of power and authority? And of how sometimes they don't "confluence."

I address a subject common to MBA textbooks. When one has power, the next step is to know how to use it in order to gain authority. For example, voters can empower a person to become President, but once in office he/she must exercise judgment to gain enough authority to carry out his goals. (GW Bush probably slept in the day they discussed this.) Seriously, the question is what style of leadership will bring the results citizens (Board, in commercial terms) asked for.

I relate this to women in positions of authority, whether military, political or cultural. Take Ann Wright as an example. From being a girl in Arkansas, she grew into an officer in the Army and then into an American representative to other nations. She had some power, but she used it with real authority when she told her superiors that if they pulled out of Afghanistan to meddle in Iraq they would live to regret it.

I question women (men, if they want to be included) who believe having a woman in the White House will change dynamics of culture. I must confess I used to think so when I was barely out of college. If women were presidents there would be no war. Then I learned about Nehru's daughter, Golda Meir, and Benazir Bhutto....and I grew up.

Hillary's hand on the red phone did not console me. In fact, it made me a little apprehensive. Was it the same politics of fear we were working to overcome? I liked her better when she was working with Marion Edelman. However one saw the Clinton campaign, I think we learned that the hormonal divide exists. I'm just don't know which Clinton I am talking about.

A great enterprise, Meryl Ann, to put women and their possibly unique issues before the world. Thanks again.

by Margaret Bassett (25 articles, 1651 quicklinks, 29 diaries, 996 comments) on Monday, July 21, 2008 at 9:39:20 AM