Women's Rights

Rebecca Chernin

Rebecca Chernin used her own experience as an Orthodox teen in an abusive relationship to counsel other survivors and raise awareness about domestic violence in the Jewish community.

Elana Brownstein

Representing a new generation of women activists, Elana Brownstein advocated for countless causes, ranging from body image to AIDS orphans, while still in high school.

Renee Brant

As a founding member of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Renee Brant became a voice for those who could not speak for themselves.

Diane Balser

Diane Balser worked to change how women relate to stereotypes and helped grow support for peaceful solutions to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Joanne Alter

When she challenged Chicago politicians to put a woman’s name on the ballot, Joanne Alter never expected the name would be her own.

Ruth Abrams

The first woman to serve on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Ruth Abrams upheld the rights of women and minorities throughout her career.

Death of Anti-Violence Activist Andrea Dworkin

April 9, 2005

Andrea Dworkin: “I'm a radical feminist, not the fun kind.”

March 10, 2014

From School House Rock to Seneca Falls

George Kelley

My first Women's History Month Event took place in the spring of 1985. I was a college student in Syracuse, New York and yet I was unaware of the importance of Seneca Falls, just down the highway. Lucretia Mott was the name of a woman I heard on School House Rock.

Topics: Women's Rights, Jewish History

Beatrice L. Levi

Activist, innovator and visionary, Beatrice L. Levi has created educational opportunities for Baltimoreans of all ages.

Senator Rosalie Silber Abrams

The first Jewish woman elected to the Maryland State Senate, Rosalie Silber Abrams was an energetic and activist legislator who oversaw the passage of nearly 300 bills during her seventeen-year career in the Maryland General Assembly.

Bernice Stern

A native Seattleite born in 1916, Bernice Stern was the youngest National Council of Jewish Women officer elected at the national level, and first woman elected to the King County Council. She attended the University of Washington from 1932–1935, leaving to marry Edward Stern. Mother to two young boys, Bernice began volunteering at home, working on behalf of the blind, and on John F. Kennedy’s Women’s Conference on Civil Rights in 1961, and served on the Washington State Women’s Civil Rights Committee in 1963. She was named Outstanding Public Official in 1979 by the Municipal League of King County. Bernice Stern died on June 29, 2007.

January 21, 2014

Rosa Parks at the Wall

Eden Marcus

For as long as I can remember, Rosa Parks has been the star of every social studies lesson. In third grade, we learned about the nice lady who worked as a seamstress and boarded a bus to go home from work. In eighth grade, she was the strong woman who stood up for herself and played a significant role in the civil rights movement. In eleventh grade, we learned that her historic refusal to give up her seat was not random, but planned by civil rights leaders.

But the message of Rosa Parks goes beyond the classroom.

Topics: Civil Rights, Feminism, Women's Rights

Chicago Women's Liberation Union Rock Band

Naomi Weisstein

Why not see what would happen if we created visionary, feminist rock?

Savina Teubal

‘Question Authority.’ Those two words did for me what the burning bush did for Moses: they changed my perception of reality.

Lynn Sherr

Anthony's home in Rochester—the centerpiece of this clip—remains a living symbol of the first stirrings of feminism in America.

Women from an NGO Forum on Women at the Great Wall of China, 1995

Joan Roth

Standing on top of the world, with a true and equitable representation of its women, seemed a harmonious interchange between dreams and actions, work and belief.

Preview Issue of "Ms." Magazine Front Cover, Spring 1972

Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Our goal at Ms. was to make such lives visible, to honor women's work, and to expose the legal, economic, and social barriers that stand in the way of women's full humanity.

National Conference on Jewish Women & Men Poster, 1974

Cheryl Moch

That mythical portal had been revealed exclusively to women at the '73 conference: now we'd partner with our brothers and walk through together.

Rivka Haut

While these attempts did much to increase knowledge about agunah agony, this unjust situation is still widespread.

Lynn Gottlieb

We who seek liberation from the oppressive structures that deny us the same economic, educational, and spiritual opportunities as the privileged among us need each other.

Letter from Paula Rachlin Gottesman to Temple Shomrei Emunah Ritual Committee, 1974

Sally Gottesman

Like my mother and her father, my grandfather, I was both a committed Jew and a feminist.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The demand for justice runs through the entirety of Jewish history and Jewish tradition.

Jewish Women Ensuring the Future: Identity, Money and Change Symposium Program, November 1995

Barbara Dobkin

[T]he needs of Jewish women and girls in both the U.S. and Israel are still not high priorities for our community.

Draft of Statement by Joyce (de Terra) Antler for Mayor Lindsay, March 2, 1970

Joyce Antler

Besides they told me, ‘only bad girls get abortions.’

August 23, 2013

Celebrating My Right to Vote: Women's Equality Day

Jordyn Rozensky

With Women’s Equality Day just around the corner, voting has been on my mind.

And, I’ll admit it, voting isn’t usually on my mind—especially during August. But Women’s Equality Day, which celebrates women’s right to vote, has me thinking about voting.

I’m a pretty civic-minded person—fast to roll my eyes at people who tell me they don’t see the point in voting. While I’m not usually thinking about voting, it wouldn’t be entirely accurate to say that I take voting for granted. In fact, I can’t imagine not being able to vote. Voting, expressing my views and taking a stand, is so central to my belief system that it’s hard to imagine not being able to vote.

Topics: Voting Rights, Women's Rights

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