At the Crossroads: Organizing the Next Generation of Feminists Online and Off

Published February 01, 2009 @ 08:52PM PT

Tomorrow is the Fem 2.0 conference at my alma mater, The George Washington University, where I'll be participating on a panel titled, "At the Crossroads: Organizing the Next Generation of Feminists Online and Off." For those who will be there, I hope you can stop by and say "Hello." But for those who won't be there, and want to share your opinions, please leave them here on the blog.

Panel description:

Women's rights has brought many people together to fight for or against various issues important to them, but in this digital age there are new ways to harness the energy of the movement. The women's rights movement needs to not only consider how to address the cross-roads of age, sexual orientation, class and racial diversity, but also how to apply tactics to organizing these groups within the online space and the offline world.

Tanya Tarr, Political Analyst for American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees. Besides working for the largest public employee and health care workers union in the United States, Tanya has been in politics for 10 years and she is a self-identified "data geek." Tanya will talk about what she calls the "women's conundrum" and how women have a lot of power in the market and in politics, but haven't always decided to leverage it. You can find her on Twitter @nerdette or writing at http://notmygal.com.

Cynthia Samuels, Partner at Cobblestone Associates LLP. Cynthia has been an internet and blog outreach consultant since 1995 after a 30 year career in broadcast journalism. In addition to being a blogger, she is going to be talking about her experiences as a baby boomer, and covering the issues that divide the feminist movement and what can brings the movement back together. You can find her on Twitter @csamuels as well as at her blog, http://dontgelyet.typepad.com.

Jennifer Nedeau, Editor, Women's Rights, Change.org. Jen is an online strategy consultant and political activist with a background in print journalism. She is going to talk about how to understand Generation Y and harness the power of young women to form the future of the feminist movement. You can contact her on Twitter @humanfolly or on her blog at http://womensrights.change.org.

Share this Post

Comments (3)

Interesting to consider. I am a baby boomer just retires who worked in female restricted jobs for year. Then went to medical school, thinking there was full parity there. HA! To some degree there is as payments for services are the same, but if you want to be in higher circles no way. So will certainly check in here often.Right now my main activism is STONEWALL 2.0 to garner fullequality rights for all, especially marriage. Course there is a big overlap here with that too, as you mentioned.

Posted by Lee Dorsey on 02/02/2009 @ 08:36AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Lee
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
I'm afraid of Fem 2.0 - the actual website - not the concept. From what I've seen, the regular posters are certainly not the brand of feminism I associate myself with. Since when did Feminism mean supporting everything that every other woman does, no matter how ill informed or detrimental to our own health and well being?

Like it or not, breastfeeding is a feminist issue and those who don't think so are still drinking the Man's koolaid. Maternity leave, education, and birthing rights are also feminist issues, but where are the women defending and supporting them? You have to look really hard to find them, and there haven't been any obvious ones hanging around Fem 2.0. If that's what "2.0" is... then consider me old-school.

Posted by Gina Crosley-Cor... on 02/02/2009 @ 11:52AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Gina
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
I think you have a very good idea here. I think the one thing that most women share is isolation. Trying to use technology to remedy this is great, but, there is also a need to communicate in a non-elitist way, so, women feel comfortable and not threatened by expressing their needs.

Posted by Nan Gaunt on 05/22/2009 @ 10:10PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Nan
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply

Add a Comment

For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

Comment

Check Spelling

Email me when there are new posts to this thread
Comment Policy

Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.

Author

Jen Nedeau is a social media consultant, progressive activist, feminist speaker and writer. She currently lives in New York City, where she works full-time as the Director of Digital Strategy at Air America Media. In August 2008, Nedeau was selected to be the Editor of the WomensRights.Change.Org where she facilitates daily discussion about the feminist movement. Additionally, Nedeau volunteers as the Chief Technology Officer for New Leaders Council, a non-profit that offers exclusive training for young leaders. You can follow her on Twitter @HumanFolly or learn more here: www.jennedeau.com.