Excerpt:

This is a story about a young and impressionable female intern in the White House — a virgin, with girlish dreams about princes and presidents. Young girls are trained to marry the wealthiest or most powerful man on the block. When the prince comes calling, few young girls can resist this opportunity.

However, they are not the ones who are abusing power and betraying both youth and a wife. That would be the prince or president himself.

And no, I am not talking about Monica Lewinsky in the Clinton White House.

I am talking, sadly, about the recent revelations by a former intern, Mimi Alford, in the Kennedy White House.
Alford is no Marilyn Monroe, who was reputedly the mistress of both John F. and Robert F. Kennedy. Nor, is she Judith Exner, who was reputedly the “Mata Hari” connection between President Kennedy and Sam Giancana, a Mafia operative. These were adult women who chose to use their sexuality to further their careers.

Read the complete original version of this item…

When Suffragettes demanded our right to vote, to own property, to earn a living, to get an education, to live independently, and to control our financial security women were told that the power to control these rights should reside with those who had the physical power to fight for those rights — men. When Feminists demanded our right to equal opportunity, equal pay and sexual freedom, we were told women didn’t have the mental competency and stability to deal with these freedoms like men.

So we set out to prove to those manly keepers of institutional power that they were wrong.  And we became the best mental and physical competitors of men we could be. We were determined that when we finally broke that glass ceiling… when we finally made it to the top… when we finally got enough women to make it count… we’d show them what it is to be a woman.

Over the decades our world slowly changed. We now live in a country where:

51% of personal wealth in the US is held by women (1)
83% of consumer purchases in the US are made by women (1)
30% of non-farm small businesses in the US are owned by women (2)
53% of college educated population in the US is women (3)
59% of all bachelor degrees in the US are earned by women (3)
61% of all master’s degrees in the US are earned by women (3)
50% of all law and medical degrees are earned by women (3)
47% of the US workforce is women (3)
40% of US managers are women (3)

By 2018, female owned small businesses are projected to create 33% of new jobs.  (2)

And even now, when given the chance, we make a huge positive impact to the bottom line.  Companies with the highest representation of women in their top management team achieved significantly higher return on equity (35.1 %) and return to shareholder (34%).

Yet we sit in 2012 atop our towering achievements as some of the most well educated and financially independent women in the world and we are still barred from entry into the hallowed halls at the top.

Only:

16% of Federal Congressional office holders in the US are women (4)
24% of State Legislators in the US are women (4)
12% of  State Governors in the US are women (4)
8% of Mayors of the 100 largest cities in the US are women (4)
16% of Fortune 500 corporate board officers are women (3)
3% of Fortune 500 company CEOs are women (3)
22 % of all new business startups in 2011 in the US were by women (3)

And most telling of all – Ninety (90) countries have more women office holders at the national level than the US.

How can this be?

We fought our way up every step on that ladder to success.  We were convinced that if we’d just contort ourselves enough we could make it to the top. If we could just jump higher, fit in better, tough it out longer, made our voices lower, stepped forward more, wear our emotions less… We did it all and more.  And still that glass ceiling held us down.

So we point our fingers at “those men.”  The ones at the top.  They were the ones who built the glass ceiling to begin with.  The lack of women leaders at the top must be their fault.  Shame on them. We’ve done our part. What else can we do? Or we point at the women still climbing the ladder.  If only they would somehow suck it up and bridge “the gap” between us and those manly heights.  How can we reach the top when they are just not ambitious enough, persistent enough, forceful enough…

But here is the thing, leading isn’t about competing. Leading is about people. It’s about building coalitions. It’s about bringing people together over shared ideals. It is about being able to influence others to achieve goals. It’s about being willing to listen and inspiring others to follow. It’s about forging new paths.

Influencing others and getting things done is what women have always excelled at. Our competitive “weaknesses” are really our leadership strengths.

Women need to stop following in man’s footsteps and stop jumping through man’s hoops. We have proven everything we never needed to prove in the first place.  We are capable of great thought and great learning. We are stable and dependable and competent. We can manage people, money, conflict and stress.  But none of these issues were the reason for our exclusion, they were the excuse.   So why are we still trying to prove it?

Our leadership problem isn’t a lack of skills or opportunities. Women have always been leaders. We’ve always had the ability to influence others. And our lives have always revolved around the ability to get things done when it was for the well being of others.  Our problem is that we’ve fallen into the man traps of getting distracted by goals over issues and by things over people and of thinking that power is force and comes down from on high.  At the same time, we’ve held on to our woman trap of being unwilling to use our leadership capital to benefit ourselves.

Throughout history, women’s rights have only made significant movement forward when we were uniquely positioned to provide something needed or valued for the greater good. We are now poised for just such a time.  Change is coming.  And women will be the key. We are innovators. We are adapters. We are enablers.  Look at all we have gained in the last 40 years.  We now have the resources, the power, and the influence to shape those changes to reflect the needs and priorities of women as well as men.

It’s time to forget about the fabled glass ceiling above us. There is an iron gate standing in front of us. It may be barred from the inside and rusted from disuse, but we are neither invisible or silent behind it.  There are men who want out and want change as much as there are women who want in and want to help.  We have the power to unite both sides.

It’s time for a new game with new rules.  And it’s time for women to play our leadership card for the good of our nation and future generations.

(1) Fast Company, The Case for Girls, Anya Kamenetz
(2) Women on Business, Women Small Business Owners Are America’s New Job Creators, Susan Gulenius
(3) 8 Keys for Transforming Business Culture, Jane Perdue & Dr. Anne Perschel
(4) Women in Politics Institute, Men Rule, Jennifer Lawless & Richard Fox

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.

Amy Siskind’s speech at Rutgers University’s “The Girlfriend’s Guide to Making It in the Real World” was one of the most empowering and unique speeches I’ve ever heard.  Thanks to the economy, most of the buzz around graduating and getting a job has been negative.  All I’ve heard recently was how I was not going to make it in the real world- that I was going to be part of the 85% of college graduates that move home, paying back historic levels of student debt, and be part of the growing number of unemployed college graduates.

Needless to say, these numbers have taken a huge toll on my confidence in graduating this May.  I found myself resolved to the idea that I am going to have to take a job like waitressing or babysitting once graduating.  And this after having three unpaid internships and a bachelor’s degree!  I started to rethink and almost regret my decision to double major in English and Women & Gender studies.  While I love these majors, the only people I saw getting decent jobs were those in the math and sciences.

Amy’s speech, however, was a wake-up call.  She made me realize that my destiny was not laid out for me because of statistics or other college graduates experiences.  While it is true that these barriers exist, I learned to see them as challenges that should not be the reason for me to give up or worry.   Amy stressed that to be successful, I need to brand myself to make any employer be devastated not to have me as their worker.  No matter what the statistics say, hard work is needed and valuable in any kind of economy.  This I know I have in me.

Even my major choice was not a barrier according to Amy.  While my majors suggest that I will be led into gendered jobs, Amy said that she has worked with people of all different major backgrounds on the trading floor at Wall Street.  “College, at the end of the day, teaches you how to think,” she said.  While my heart is still set into non-profit work, it is comforting to know that I am not automatically disqualified for corporate work- whether because of my education or because of my gender.

Gender is definitely a factor in what college graduates are being told about the real world.  From my experience with my peers, men are not worrying or resigning to the idea they are going to have to take jobs that underutilize their skills.  Perhaps it is the privilege of their gender that they have more opportunities to advance despite the economy.  However, programs like The Girlfriends’ Guide give young woman like me hope that we will one day be as equally economically empowered as men.

As a Women & Gender studies major and intern at various women’s organizations, I have learned how important women connections are.  Amy shared how powerful networking is for the real world- “Women can build their brands through mentorships while keeping good relationships with peers” she said.  The New Agenda’s The Mentor Exchange  is a valuable tool to gain these networks, brands, and knowledge.  I am one of the lucky Pioneer Mentorees, and am very excited to talk to my mentor, Jean Kilbourne, this month.  Imagine my awe when I saw her name on the mentor list after watching a documentary of hers in class!

I hope that this blog post can be read as a thank you note to Amy and the New Agenda for helping women like me.  I am more confident graduating this coming May, and am going to do whatever it takes not to be another statistic thanks to their words of wisdom.

Authorities in Dallas, Texas were also aware of a possible influx of prostitution during the Super Bowl last year, warning that police would be vigilant about cracking down on traffickers selling children for sex.  In response, a writer for Dallas Observer News wrote a lengthy article on the “fallacy” of the sex trade during the Super Bowl. He wrote that fans have already paid through the nose for tickets, airfare, and hotels, leaving them little to no money for prostitutes. He cited a study conducted for the Dallas Women’s Foundation as the sole resource for the “hype” over sex workers at the Super Bowl. The author questioned its validity because the researchers asked one hundred adults it to look at the girls’ pictures and estimate their ages to determine how many girls are being sexually exploited on websites and in internet classified ads.

Near the end of the two-page article in the Dallas Observer, the reader finds the following: “Disclosure: The Dallas Observer and Backpage.com are owned by the same parent company,Village Voice Media Holdings.”  Jim Larkin, one of the men who controls Village Voice Media, views this as an issue of free-speech. The New York Times interviewed him and wrote,

“We have always had a very libertarian approach to advertising,” said Mr. Larkin, adding that classifieds represented 30 to 35 percent of their business. “We don’t ban cigarettes, we take adult advertising. We take ads that sell guns.”

Village Voice Media, makes more than $22 million per year from sex ads. Since Craigslist removed sex ads from their website (replacing it with the word “censorship“), Backpage.com has become the number one source for sex ads. A letter was written in December, 2011 to Jim Larkin and Village Voice Media calling on them to shut down their adult services ads. The letter outlines Village Voice Media’s acknowledgement of their part in the child sex trafficking industry and was signed by numerous human rights, women’s rights, religious, and anti-trafficking groups. It quotes a letter from the Attorney General, saying,

“In a meeting with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, Backpage.com vice president Carl Ferrer acknowledged that the company identifies more than 400 ‘adult services’ posts every month that may involve minors.” Furthermore, during the first eight months of 2011, Backpage.com reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) 1,595 cases of suspected use of juveniles in sex ads, as NCMEC has publicly stated.

Recently, a 13-year-old victim  was rescued when she bravely knocked on a random apartment door (instead of the john’s) while her pimp waited in the car downstairs. The ad for her was on Backpage. Knowing this, however, Village Voice Media refuses to remove the ads, citing Section 230 of the Federal Communications Decency Act of 1996, which protects them from punishment for criminal wrongdoing if the ads on their site promote illegal activities. Even Google’s hands aren’t completely clean: they have been applauded for donating $11 million to anti-trafficking charities, yet a search on Google still yields thousands of ads for prostitution and porn.

The U.S. Department of Justice reports that “the Internet has also facilitated the recent rise in child sex tourism by providing a convenient marketing channel.”  Diana Scimone of Orlando, Florida is an author and journalist who founded Born 2 Fly International, an organization dedicated to the prevention of child sex trafficking.  According to Scimone, the internet “makes it easier to advertise, buy, and sell.” She says, “It’s not just the Super Bowl, though there is a huge spike in ads on Craigslist and Backpage the week of the event. Any time there is a large event with a party atmosphere, there will be trafficking. And it doesn’t have to be a sporting event.”

National Human Trafficking Awareness month is over. Trafficking of young girls, however, will continue throughout the year. Despite the many measures taken to crack down on prostitution on Super Sunday, there will likely be a spike in young girls trafficked.

The Super Bowl is Sunday, February 5. Here are a few “Pre-Game Stats” from credible sources to consider:

• The average age at which girls first become victims of prostitution is 12 – 14; for boys and transgendered youth it is 11 – 13 (US Dept. of Justice).
• The sex trafficking industry is the 3rd largest illegal industry in the word, following very closely behind sales of illegal narcotics and firearms (Ibid.).
• 1 in 5 pornographic images is a child (Washington State Office of the Attorney General)
• 55% of child pornography comes from the United States (Ibid.).
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials estimate trafficking of human beings as slaves brings in roughly $9.5 billion per year (MSNBC).
• UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children worldwide are trafficked for sex every year.
• The U.S. State Department reports that 80% of trafficking (sex and labor) victims are females, and 70% of them are trafficked into the sex industry (Ibid.).
• This does not just happen in other countries. The FBI estimates 293,000 children are at risk in the United States for becoming victims of human sex trafficking.
• Victims of sex trafficking can be very difficult to rescue because they develop “Stockholm Syndrome” after having been abused over such a long period of time (FBI, Diana Scimone). The younger a girl becomes involved in prostitution, the more likely it is that she comes from a background of sexual abuse (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).
• Girls who are sexually abused are 28 times more likely to be arrested for prostitution (Ibid.).

As a woman, I often wrestle with this conception of perfection. In the middle of a sleepless night, in the department store dressing room, in the aisle of a grocery store, I wonder whether I am “enough.” Blond enough. Tall enough. Thin enough. Smart enough. Funny enough. Pretty enough. I compare myself to these perfect images time and again. And I find myself wanting. Not perfect enough.

On the eve of my forty-second birthday, I’ve decided that it’s enough. Enough criticizing. Enough comparing. Enough of living under some delusional belief that perfection is attainable. Only statues — ivory, bronze, or plastic — can be perfect. And they’re perfect because they’re not alive. Not breathing, they miss both the joy and the tears that come with life. They touch nothing and nothing touches them.

Paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson, it’s high time “to throw off” this tyranny of perfection and declare my independence. The video linked to below talks about how and why this tyranny of perfection is damaging to girls and women. I hope you’ll watch and then decide to join me in founding a “new republic,” where women help each other accept ourselves and compliment – rather than criticize – ourselves and each other!

Earlier this week, just a day after the US Women’s National Soccer team won their Olympic qualifying tournament, a devastating blow hit the women’s sports world. Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) announced it was canceling its 2012 season due to a legal dispute with one of the teams’ owner, Dan Borislow. This decision came just a few weeks after the league has received approval from the U.S. Soccer Federation to play their season with only five teams rather than the usually require eight to be considered a first division professional league provided that they increase the number of teams to 8 by the 2014 season. The league has essentially become a regional league with all teams based on the east coast after teams in the Midwest and west coast had folded in earlier seasons. The 2012 season would have followed the American team’s second place finish in the 2011 World Cup and in the midst of the 2012 Summer Olympics—which many of the league’s stars would be participating in. In other words, this 2012 season would have come when interest in women’s soccer is at its peak. As ESPN commentator and former women’s national team player, Julie Foudy, writes:

The thing that saddens me most is the league was coming off such a high from the summer. It was entertaining, competitive and showing signs of a potential fan base post-Women’s World Cup. Sure, sustaining a league at a local level is a much different task than supporting quadrennial international tournaments, but I argue there is a loyal women’s soccer fan base that could support a pro league. And there are owners out there who could sustain losses for longer stretches and watch it turn a corner. There is a business model that could work.

Some attribute the season’s cancelation to the aforementioned team owner, Dan Borislow’s renegade actions and brash persona and league leadership’s reaction to his action. Wherever the blame ultimately lies, the cancelation of the season begs women’s professional sports to be looked at in a broader context. Had a similar situation happened in an established men’s league, would it cause the season to be canceled? Would it put the league’s future in potential jeopardy? Likely not on both accounts. This is not an explicitly an issue of gender disparities, although, it wasn’t until forty years ago that girls had equal opportunity in athletics in high school and college through Title IX legislation. The success of women’s professional athletics, especially among team sports, may be a lagging indicator of the additional opportunities in sports afforded to women at an amateur level. The question remains as to if and when women’s professional sports will become a sustainable endeavor. Will the right combination of business savvy, initial investment, creativity, team location, and fan interest ever be achieved to make women’s sports leagues sustainable over the long haul?

With any new business venture there are hiccups and setbacks. Investors and sponsors take a risk investing their money in an effort with unclear prospects and unknown sustainability. Attempts at creating sustainable professional sports leagues for women have been unsuccessful for the most part. The WPS is the second attempt at developing an American women’s professional soccer league. The Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the first. It was launched in 2000, but folded after only three seasons despite having solid corporate sponsorship. The WUSA had the opportunity to be launched in concert with the MLS—the men’s professional league—but opted a go-at-it-alone approach, which arguably contributed to the league’s eventual demise. On the other hand, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) celebrated its fifteenth season this past summer. In the summer of 1997, the WNBA and the American Basketball League (ABL) another women’s professional basketball league, both launched, but only the WNBA—and its ties to the men’s NBA league—sustaining long term viability. Today, seven of the twelve WNBA teams are independently owned, and their reach has expanded outside of NBA cities to cities like Uncasville, Connecticut, where the nearby University of Connecticut’s powerhouse women’s basketball program has created built in interest in women’s basketball in the area.

Other team sports, such as softball, have had spotty success in sustaining professional leagues for women over the years. As highlighted by the 1992 film “A League of their Own”, the All American Girls Professional League Players Association achieved short lived success in the 1940s and early 1950s. The league was created in part to help prevent Major League baseball franchises from collapsing during World War II when many professional baseball players were overseas fighting in the war, but it’s existence was maintained only a few years after the end of the war. Attempts to create women’s professional softball leagues re-emerged in the 1970s with the short-lived International Women’s Professional Softball League founded in part by tennis legend Billie Jean King. Other professional leagues were launched and failed in the 1990s and early 2000s. Now, the current professional softball effort National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) operates as a professional women’s softball league as an “Official Development Partner” of Major League baseball—another female sports endeavor supported by its male counterpart.

In 2009 alone, a record number of 3.1 million girls participated in high school athletics. Basketball, softball, and soccer were three of four most popular teams’ sports for girls. With more young women participating in athletics, a natural fan base is present for professional leagues in these sports. This interest along with the nationwide excitement created by this year’s upcoming Olympics provides opportunity for a spotlight to be shown on active women’s professional sports leagues. Provided that there are investors who continue to be willing to invest in women’s sports and that the proper business model and marketing approach is applied, there is ample opportunity for these leagues to become and remain financially sustainable. This will not only provide young athletes with older athletes to emulate, but also will give the chance to pursue their passion, not only as a hobby, but also a career.

If you would like host an event at your college or alma mater, please contact us at editor@thenewagenda.net.

Read the full article here:

Rutgers College - January 30th – Trayes Hall (see details)
TNA on Campus and Rutgers Career Services present:  A Girlfriends’ Guide to Making it in the Real World

Athena Film Festival - February 9-12 - Barnard College
The New Agenda is a sponsoring organization.  See the film schedule and trailer.

Cornell University - March 3 – TBD
TNA on Campus and Cornell Career Services present:  A Girlfriends’ Guide to Making it in the Real World.

Want a free ticket to Athena?
We are offering free tix to the Athena Film Festival to the first 5 members who respond!  Email us at editor@thenewagenda.net.

GIRLFRIEND, BUILD YOUR NETWORK!
Have you started to build your network at The Mentor Exchange?
No?  Sign up here right away!
Yes?  Tweet that you did with hashtags #MentorUp #WomanUp !

Watch our launch on Fox & Friends with Pioneer Mentor Gretchen Carlson:

Here is the trailer for the Film Festival.

Films have power: the power to create conversation, to reveal truths and to inspire. But for too many generations, women’s voices and women’s stories have not been appropriately represented in mainstream films. The stories of women as change agents and heroes who have made a difference in their countries and communities have the power to spur social change. When young women see role models on screen, they better understand their own potential to bring freedom and justice to their communities. When women activists witness remarkable women in action, they better understand that they too can change the world for the better.

The Athena Film Festival highlights the wide diversity of women’s leadership in both real life and the fictional world. Through feature films, documentaries, and shorts directed by both women and men, the Festival explores women’s leadership across race, class, and culture. More than that, the Festival serves as a forum for robust dialogue about women and leadership: what it takes to excel, collaborate, and lead.  The Festival was launched in 2010, is a joint partnership between Barnard College, The Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard and the acclaimed Women and Hollywood.  We know film is a medium known to almost all people in nearly every part of the world. And films have power. They create conversation. They reveal truths. They inspire. Through feature films, documentaries, and shorts, the Athena Film Festival will explore what makes a leader.  Please join us!