Thursday Obama announced his pick to head the SEC: veteran regulator Mary L. Schapiro, who will be the first woman to chair the SEC on more than an interim basis.
Once dismissed by the head of the Chicago Board of Trade as a “blond, 5-foot-2-inch girl,” and dissed by then-New York state Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer (remember him, the guy whose career imploded in a call girl scandal, which led to his resignation as Governor of New York?), Schapiro has risen through hard work and tough, smart moves to …

In order to make the work more accessible to a wider audience, the member who created the “Where’s The Line?” slide show about campaign sexism has created a YouTube video of “greatest hits.”
The entire slide show, which was designed to be used as an educational tool, can be found in downloadable format here: Where’s the Line. Contact the creator at wherestheline@comcast.net

This is the second “Ready for Action” thread (see the first one here), and it will also be the last, because Violet has created a terrific new Grassroots section, with a special area dedicated to news and plans. Members are encouraged to post their ideas and activities there for easy reference.
This week, The New Agenda member Anna Brown had an op-ed entitled, “Groping Hillary Without Consequences: The Case of Jon Favreau” published at Pajamas Media.
Here’s an excerpt:
What Jon Favreau did was wrong. It was wrong because of the powerful symbol …

Beverly Neufeld, who was on Chewing the Fat with Ophelia on Monday night to speak about Fair Pay (see Goals), invited The New Agenda to sign on to a letter to the Obama Transition Team regarding job creation for women.
The New Agenda welcomes the opportunity to become part of the coalition of women’s groups addressing this important issue, and did not hesitate to become one of the signatories.
Here’s the letter:

Today, The New Agenda issued a press release titled The New Agenda Calls on Governor Ritter to Make History.
Colorado Senator Ken Salazar has been appointed as Obama’s Secretary of the Interior. The New Agenda issued to this press release to national newspapers, CO state newspapers, and of course to Gov. Ritter’s office. We will also be sending out an action alert to our members tonight if you want to be involved too!
The New Agenda co-founder Amy Siskind said:
Governor Ritter has an important obligation to the women of Colorado and America.  …

An almost all-male Cabinet. A speechwriter who thinks sexual assault is funny. A senior advisor who’s on record with his belief that innate inferiority, not discrimination, is what’s keeping women back.
And now, with another twist of the knife, President-elect Obama has invited Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the Inaugural.
Rick Warren.
Most of the outrage surrounding this choice focuses on Warren’s opposition to gay marriage and reproductive rights. But there’s something else about Warren, something the women of America might like to ponder as they …

Robert B. Kvavik, Ph.D., is Vice President of Planning and Professor of Political Science and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Minnesota. He is also, with his wife, a member of The New Agenda.
The 2008 presidential election brought good news and bad news with respect to women in politics. The good news is that a woman came close to being the Democratic Party’s nominee for U.S. president and a woman was the Republican Party’s V.P. nominee. The bad news is that the level of misogyny demonstrated by the actions …

The New Agenda had a seat at the table when the nation’s largest women’s organizations met in Washington on Monday to discuss nominations for positions in the Obama administration.
The groups — which included Business and Professional Women (BPW), Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW), the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and the National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) — met in Washington, D.C., to determine a process to put forward the names of highly qualified women for top level roles throughout every federal agency and policy-making body.
The constellation of organizations that …

A few days ago conservative syndicated opinionator Kathleen Parker wrote a column about the photo showing President-elect Obama’s senior speech writer Jon Favreau groping the breast region of a life size cardboard cut-out of Senator and Secretary of State Designate Hillary Rodham Clinton. She quotes me, though not by name, and mentions The New Agenda as well. My reaction can be found here. My awesome blogger friend Historiann also had a great response.
I don’t think anyone could fairly label me an Obamabot, because fandom and …

Beverly Cooper Neufeld is the Vice President of New York Women’s Agenda and Coordinator of the Equal Pay Coalition NYC. On Monday, December 15, she was the special guest on Chewing the Fat with Ophelia.
Following up on last night’s Chewing the Fat with Ophelia conversation about fair pay, I promised some resources, books, and ideas for how you and we can make a difference. There is so much we can do individually and collectively to create lasting solutions to the very real inequities that still exist …