Action Project - Women's Issue - Thursday, February 21, 2019 - The Daily Cardinal

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Action Project Issue, February 2019

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“...the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”

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Action Project Issue, February 2019 dailycardinal.com/projects/persistence-the-womens-issue

The Daily Cardinal would like to recognize

The Evjue Foundation, Inc. (the charitable arm of The Capital Times)

for providing the funds to make the Action Project possible.

From 1970 to 2019: Women’s persistence, efforts to remain integral moving forward

By Sammy Gibbons and Samantha Nesovanovic MANAGEMENT TEAM

In 1970, The Daily Cardinal published a women’s issue under the direction of a female editor-in-chief, Rena Steinzor. Nearly 50 years later, two women are at the helm of the paper, leading a predominantly female staff. With that, and in the wake of 2018’s Year of the Woman and the ongoing prominence of the Women’s March, there’s no better time for us to revive the issue with a modern take.

To do that, we talked with some women who paved the way

for current female editors. Eileen Martinson Lavine served as one of the Cardinal’s first female editors, holding the position in 1944 to 1945. At 94-years-old, she still edits a magazine. Allison Hantschel carried the Cardinal into post-grad years, where she wrote a book about the paper’s 100-year history, detailing the months during her tenure that the Cardinal ceased production. Of course, we brought Rena back to rewrite an editorial published in the 1970 issue, but with a 2019 lens. We wouldn’t be writing these words if it weren’t for these women, and the many other

female Cardinalistas, that came before us.

While women are triumphing — running major universities including ours, heading police departments like UW-Madison’s police, leading STEM research, thriving in athletic departments, advocating for social justice — 2019 is also a difficult time to be a woman.

Lavine said when she attended UW-Madison, sexual assault didn’t happen, or at least wasn’t discussed and certainly not reported on. Now, it’s alarmingly common to hear stories of assault typically against college-aged women.

Women’s rights, ranging reproductive health and pay rates, still fall short and are a highly politicized issue rather than a human one. Though the climate for women has drastically improved in the past 50 years since the original women’s issue published, there are still many hardships and circumstances that haven’t evolved with the times that we want to acknowledge.

We recognize that the issues facing women spike for our LGBTQ+ peers, particularly those falling along or outside the gender spectrum. That’s why we recognize the

“women’s movement” is not just for cisgender women. Gender as a concept is shifting and the fight for equal rights is fought by all historically marginalized identities. This issue — the strength and struggles we share — is for all of you.

Enjoy words from women who’ve seen it all, and young women emerging in society as equal footing gets closer. Read about the strong women leading our world, and the issues persisting since 1970.

Women are powerful; we’ve persisted throughout centuries.

Now listen to what we have to say.

Snapshot: Front page of ‘Women Reborn,’ SUMMER ON YOUR TERMS! The Daily Cardinal’s SUMMER 101 INFO SESSION debut women’s issue Feb 25, 6pm | Symphony Room | Upper Gordon

Join Summer Term and University Housing at this Q&A to learn about summer opportunities. Free pizza will be served. summer.wisc.edu

THE DAILY CARDINAL ARCHIVES

The 1970 issue underscored women’s economic, political and social struggles.

In partnershiip with University Housing

flock foundations Equity a Half-Century Later

Action Project Issue, February 2019

dailycardinal.com/projects/persistence-the-womens-issue

By Rena Steinzor CARDINAL ALUMNA

Nearly five decades ago, in the passion of my youth, I wrote an essay for this newspaper entitled “women and capitalism” (lowercase letters in the original). I cared deeply for the former and had little use for the latter. The piece discussed the financial equity gaps for white and black women, and those chasms were outrageous. In 1970, women earned 59 cents for every dollar men earned, and this nasty reality prevailed despite the passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963.

The sight of them dressed in suffragette white ... brought tears to my eyes, not least because I gave up on my youthful dreams of a just workplace and fair economy many years ago.

By 2010, women overall (without regard to race or ethnicity) earned 77 cents for every male dollar, meaning that the wage gap had narrowed by less than half a percent annually. By 2017, it was 80 cents. These disparities are far worse for women of color. In 2017, African American women earned 61 cents for each dollar earned by white men.

These numbers are more than grossly unfair, even enraging. They threaten the future of the entire population by making it impossible for many mothers to care for their kids. Children remain the poorest age group in the U.S. Nearly one in five — about 13 million total — were poor in 2017, and 45 percent of those children lived in extreme poverty, or less than half the poverty level of $12,140 per person. One-third of American Indian/Alaska Native children and more than one-fourth of African American and Hispanic children are poor, compared to one in nine white children. Fully 70 percent of poor children are children of color.

In 2009, President Obama led an effort to pass the Lilly

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Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which Fairness Act, introduced a few glommed on to the potential of social safety net and extreme overturned a 5-4 Supreme Court weeks ago to close the gaps attacking Ocasio-Cortez, who inequality limited by progresdecision that severely restricted left by the Equal Pay Act of is a self-declared democratic sive taxation. They want us to the time limits for filing com- 1963 and the Lilly Ledbetter socialist. “Tonight, we renew look like Denmark or Norway, plaints about wage discrimi- Act of 2009. Among other our resolve that America will not Venezuela.” nation to 180 days after the things, the bill would prohibit never be a socialist country,” he Krugman’s observation employer issues a discriminatory retaliation against employees intoned with typical pompos- brings us back to where I paycheck. (Lilly Ledbetter was who disclose their salaries or ity at the State of the Union. started. If President Trump the plaintiff who had been paid seek information about sala- The president should be ner- and his ilk continue to defend much less.) A six-month period ries and pay disparities. Toni vous because a majority of the shameful gaps between the is so short that women had scant Van Pelt, the president of the young people now say that they one percent and the 99 perchance of discovering, much less National Organization for believe in socialism, although cent; if they continue to talk stepping forward to challenge, Women (NOW), told the crowd no one has asked them exact- trash about people of color from discriminatory pay. The law was assembled for the roll-out ly what the concept means to [insert vulgarity] countries; and a significant step forward but it of the legislation: “If closing them. Pulitzer prize-winning if they govern as if Wall Street does not solve the difficult and the wage gap continues at its economist and New York Times and furiously fearful nationalcrucial problems of proving the agonizingly-slow current rate, columnist Paul Krugman had ists are all that matters in this disparity and finding representa- men and women will not reach this useful definition: country, they may well bring tion to take recalcitrant employ- wage equality until 2059. That “What Americans who sup- on the modest revolution we ers to court. Nor does it protect is 40 years too long.” Actually, port ‘socialism’ actually want dreamed of when I was young. the federal Equal Employment sister, it’s way too much longer is what the rest of the world Steinzor was the editor of Opportunity Commission, the than that. calls social democracy: A mar- The Daily Cardinal from the agency responsible for interpretNeedless to say, President ket economy, but with extreme spring of 1970 until the spring ing employment discriminaTrump has hardship limited by a strong of 1971. tion law, or the Department of Justice from the acute partisan hostility toward women and people of color brought to Washington by President Trump and rightwing Republicans.

For these and related reasons, the 2018 midterm elections produced an exceptional “Year of the Woman” that saw the election of 36 new female members of the House of Representatives.

Most replaced men who held these seats before them. They joined 66 female incumbents for a total of 102, or close to one-fourth of the chamber’s 435 members. The sight of ABBY FRIDAY /THE DAILY CARDINAL them dressed in suffragette white at President Trump’s State of the Union harangue brought tears to my eyes, not least because I gave up on my youthful dreams of a just workplace and fair economy many years ago.

Alexandria OcasioCortez, D-NY, is the most visible of the incoming House class. Everything about her, from her clothes to her bank account to her boyfriend, has been picked apart by social media hostiles, and President Trump appears to be running against her when he is not attacking the most powerful woman in America, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, COURTESY OF BADGER YEARBOOK 1944 D-CA. Ocasio-Cortez is a sponsor of the Paycheck From 1944 to 2019, the copy desk still stands strong ­— much like the female leaders holding up the Cardinal.

It didn’t end with them: Cardinal women take the lead

By Allison Hantschel CARDINAL ALUMNA

Women’s leadership roles on the UW campus date back to the university’s founding, but during the Second World War, female students took on tasks far beyond their studies or campus jobs. Male enrollment dropped by two thirds during the war, and the women who had been working alongside them picked up their work.

Including their work at the Cardinal.

Many student newspapers either shut down or drastically reduced publishing during the war, which they viewed as a natural consequence of the male staffers leaving. The Cornell Daily Sun, the

Harvard Crimson and many others shut their doors. At the Cardinal, the women simply stepped into place, doing everything from covering the war effort on campus to selling ads for the paper.

The Cardinal’s first female editor took over in 1942. Dorothy Browne grew up in Madison and started out as a copy desk girl, setting headlines and reading type. She typed up the handwritten announcements campus organizations brought in and took the typewritten pages to the linotype operators.

Soon she found herself next in line for the top job at the paper.

Browne’s father ran a weekly newspaper on the east side of Madison, and had always encour-

aged her to enter the profession, regardless of any disadvantages her gender might confer. She took the post with confidence, thinking she would be nothing more than a “caretaker, keeping the business going.”

“I mean, there was no reason a woman couldn’t do it just as well or better than a man.”

Dorothy Browne first female editor The Daily Cardinal

The reaction to her appointment as editor surprised her.

“There was so much hoopla,” she said. “The Milwaukee Journal ran my picture, with a headline, ‘Woman takes over the Cardinal.’

To me that was nothing. I mean, there was no reason a woman couldn’t do it just as well or better than a man.”

The staff of fifty became a staff of fourteen, all female except for one freshman who’d been admitted early to the UW and was too young for the draft.

Marilyn Johnson, the paper’s “military editor,” remembered working seven hours a day at the paper and another five at a part-time job to put herself through school, then walking home to do another half a dozen hours of coursework.

“It didn’t seem simple at the time,” she said, “but it was.”

Their work paid off. At the end of 1944, near the end of the war, the Cardinal was rewarded with a prestigious award from the national Associate Collegiate Press, lauding the Cardinal’s campus news and war coverage, features and editorials, front page makeup and even sports coverage — short-handed staff and all.

There were six daily newspapers honored with the Associate Collegiate Press award in 1944.

The Daily Cardinal is the only one still publishing.

— Excerpted from “It Doesn’t End With Us, The Story of the Daily Cardinal” (Heritage Books, 2008)

life&style Women from the state who influence, lead

4 • Action Project Issue, February 2019 dailycardinal.com/projects/persistence-the-womens-issue

An independent student newspaper, serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison community since 1892 Volume 128, Issue 21

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News Team News Manager Sydney Widell Campus Editor Jenna Walters College Editor Robyn Cawley City Editor Jon Brockman State Editor Jessica Lipaz Associate News Editor Will Husted Features Editor Grace Wallner Opinion Editors Izzy Boudnik • Kavitha Babu Editorial Board Chair Jake Price Arts Editors John Everman • Lauren Souza Sports Editor Cameron Lane-Flehinger Almanac Editors Samantha Jones • Kellen Sharp Photo Editors Kalli Anderson • Tealin Robinson Graphics Editors Max Homstad • Channing Smith Multimedia Editor Ethan Huskey Science Editor Tyler Fox Life & Style Editor Colleen Muraca Copy Chiefs Dana Brandt • Kayla Huynh • Emily Johnson Copy Editors Haley Mades • Mary Beth Baker • Olivia Poaches Social Media Managers Zoe Klein • Abby Friday Special Pages Haley Sirota • Erin Jordan

Business and Advertising business@dailycardinal.com Business Managers Daniel Devkalis • Kyven Lee Advertising Managers Ally Moore • Daniel Tryba Nicholas Dotson The Daily Cardinal is a nonprofit organization run by its staff members and elected editors. It receives no funds from the university. Operating revenue is generated from advertising and subscription sales.

The Daily Cardinal is published weekdays and distributed at the University of WisconsinMadison and its surrounding community with a circulation of 10,000.

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All copy, photographs and graphics appearing in The Daily Cardinal are the sole property of the Cardinal and may not be reproduced without written permission of the editor in chief.

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Complaints: News and editorial complaints should be presented to the editor in chief.

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Letters Policy: Letters must be word processed and must include contact information. No anonymous letters will be printed. All letters to the editor will be printed at the discretion of The Daily Cardinal. Letters may be sent to opinion@ dailycardinal.com.

Editorial Board Sammy Gibbons • Sam Nesovanovic Izzy Boudnik • Samantha Jones Savannah McHugh • Kavitha Babu Haley Sirota • Jake Price

By Kisa Sow STAFF WRITER

This year, I encourage all to actively think and evolve into the strong and powerful woman that you can be. It is as simple as a mental change, and ladies, I invite you to ask yourself “What would Tammy Baldwin do?” or, “What would Mary Lansdchinger do?”

Wisconsin is home to many women that you could emulate.

Women who are changing the course of history, and who also happen to be from our own backyard.

Tammy Baldwin.

You might already be familiar with Tammy Baldwin. What you might not know is that she is the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate.

Baldwin chose to focus on issues like healthcare that are more representative of the people’s needs. Not only is she a smart,

resilient and passionate politician, but she also encourages other women to be involved in politics and well-informed citizens.

Mary Laschinger.

A former UW-Eau Claire Blugold Mary Laschinger is one of Wisconsin’s leading female CEOs, sitting as chief executive officer of a logistics company called Veritiv.

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Laschinger had immense amount of willpower to go from living on a dairy farm all her life to owning the largest packaging and distributions company in the U.S.. Her bravery shows women that leaving your comfort zone and taking risks is the only way to succeed. Progress isn’t made when you’re staying the same and remaining comfortable.

Greta Van Susteren.

If there is one person we can count on to show us that you should never settle, it’s our very own Madison

alumni, Greta Van Susteren.

In 2016, Van Susteren was listed as one of Forbes’ “Most Powerful Women” for the sixth time. Although she retired from being a ground-breaking news anchor and commentator, she has since written a book and released her own app.

Van Susteren’s ambition is much of what we need in 2019. With the new year comes innumerable opportunities for women around the world. We cannot wait around for something to happen — we must take control of our own lives.

By looking up to these women who defied the odds and ignored statistics, it encourages you to take more risks. This year, embody Baldwin’s selflessness, Van Susteren’s independence and Laschinger’s ambition.

Most of all, use your successes and failures to empower and live what you believe in.

Empowering women starts with loving and believing in yourself like these women did. Learn from these strong women, take risks, accomplish your dreams and don’t underestimate your own strength.

Three easy ways to support other women

By Elena Cata STAFF WRITER

Our current social climate seeks to capitalize on competition between individuals and, in the process, encourages the act of tearing others down for personal success. This can be observed in situations ranging from social media cyberbullying to spreading vicious rumors.

This epidemic is very prevalent among women in our society, and it is important that we all take a moment to identify ways to lift others up, rather than tear them down.

While there are countless ways to do so, these three simple tips are things you can do to support the women around you.

Give her a unique compliment.​ Society places such importance on physical appearances that causes women to believe their value relies solely on how they look. Instead of complimenting your friend’s hairstyle or outfit, tell her how impressed you are with her work ethic or the way that she cares for others. Surface level compliments are not worthless,

but compliments directed toward a woman’s character can change the way she views herself.

Celebrate her success.​ Instead of viewing the success of others as a personal failure, praise their efforts. The next time your friend gets an A on a paper or gets the job they have been wanting, buy her a celebratory coffee or write an encouraging post-it note and stick it on her notebook. Small acts of recognition can go a long way.

Catch yourself before making a snide comment.​ Whether it is about an Instagram post or someone’s outfit, tearing other women down only degrades your own character. Even if that insult never makes its way to her ears, it perpetuates a norm that talking behind the backs of others is acceptable. Be the woman among your friends who breaks that norm.

Being a woman that supports other women will only lead to a successful society for all. Build up other women in these simple ways and see the impact you make.

Board of Directors Herman Baumann, President Barry Adams • Sammy Gibbons Phil Hands • Don Miner Nancy Sandy • Jennifer Sereno Scott Girard • Alex Kusters Sam Nesovanovic • Josh Klemons

© 2015, The Daily Cardinal Media Corporation ISSN 0011-5398

For the record Corrections or clarifications?

Call The Daily Cardinal office at 608-262-8000 or send an email to edit@dailycardinal.com.

MICHAEL MAKOWSKI/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Follow the example set by these amazing women; believe in yourself.

KALLI ANDERSON/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Support other women in genuine and unconventional ways.

MAX HOMSTAD/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Celebrate the Year of the Woman every year, not just 2019.

Why every year should be the Year of the Woman

By Katie Arneson STAFF WRITER

Why was 2018 dubbed the Year of the Woman? Well, for starters, women reclaimed their voices and bodies with the “Me Too” movement, which brought attention to sexual assault and sexual harassment via social media.

Election time brought a wave of female candidates, and winners, in many positions in the U.S. government. As of now, women make up about 23 percent of the total U.S. House of Representatives. 2018 truly was a year full of women, but why should it be considered the only year?

Women have been doing amazing things since the beginning of time. They have ruled civilizations, led armies and redefined societal norms for centuries. Cleopatra ruled over Egypt for 21 years and is considered one of the most power-

ful, wise and beautiful women in history, and trust me, she lived long before 2018.

Joan of Arc led the French army to victory in the 15th century, an action that shocked many as war was considered a masculine task. Fast forward to relatively more recent years when courageous women led the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the U.S., leading to a societal change that was created by women, for women.

All I’m saying is that women have been doing groundbreaking things since the dawn of time. Why should we expect current years to be any different? Women will continue to break barriers and change societal norms in the years to come.

I urge you to stop letting one year be dedicated to women’s achievements when women have been successful since long before 2018, and make every year “The Year of the Woman.”

news Gender justice: A fluid movement Action Project Issue, February 2019

dailycardinal.com/projects/persistence-the-womens-issue

By Grace Wallner FEATURES EDITOR

women’s movements.

Queerness: A historical perspective The word “queer,” which had derogatory connotations in the past, is now used as a more inclusive, positive term. Similarly, pronouns other than “she” and “he,” such as “they,” are being used more and more by trans and non-binary people who might not feel that male or female best describes who they are.

The concepts behind these words aren’t new, although Little says they have heard some people called “transtrender,” implying they identify as queer just to be cool.

On the contrary, queer and trans people dot the pages of history, from Shakespeare’s gender bending sprite Ariel in The Tempest to Sappho, a greek poet who lived around 600 B.C.E. and wrote about her love for women.

The prefixes “cis,” meaning someone whose gender identity matches the sex that they were assigned at birth, and “trans,” meaning someone whose gender identity is different than the sex they were assigned at birth, are actually Latin words originating around 80 B.C.E.

In a small, brightly lit room at one end of a long table, I sat with Alex Nelson, a UW-Madison violence prevention specialist. We discussed the fluidity of gender, the challenges that queer and transgender people face and the multitude of ways LGBTQ+ communities have been at the forefront not only of women’s movements, but social justice movements that are distinctly their own.

During my conversation with Nelson, they brought up the idea that “it’s not just women,” meaning the women’s movement should never be exclusively made of people who identify as female, rather it should center on the needs of other gender minorities as well.

Others — like Sylvia Johnson, an activist and musician, and Alex Little, a graduate student staff member at the Gender and Sexuality Campus Center — echoed the idea that movements championed and formed by trans people, women of color and queer people have supported and shaped modern women movements.

Indeed, many people at UW-Madison and around the world do not conform to a gender or sexual binary and may face oppression due to societal backlash.

For example, at UW-Madison, 69 percent of LGBQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning) students felt safe or welcomed on campus, and 50 percent of transgender and non-binary students felt the same way, compared to 81 percent of cisgender students and 83 percent of heterosexual students, according to the 2016 Campus Climate Survey.

Similarly, 51 percent of LGBQ and 35 percent of trans and non binary students felt like they belonged on campus, compared to 71 percent of heterosexual GRAPHIC BY CHANNING SMITH students and 69 percent of cisgender students.

The survey was completed by 21 percent of the student population.

“The campus climate survey is not particularly surprising, given the rise of the far right, the attacks on trans and gender non-conforming people,” said Johnson, an alumni of UW-Madison and an advocate for trans and queer rights.

Little said they were not surprised by the results either. They also brought up wariness about an article exploring queer justice being couched within a Women’s Issue.

“As important as it is to elevate marginalized voices, it’s important to analyze how we frame those discussions and break up how we’ve normally presented it,” Little cautioned.

Nelson explained that it is crucial to remember and honor how queer and trans people have been at the forefront of gender and

In the United States in 1884, C.C. Converse made headlines for an invented pronoun, “thon,” which was meant to describe a third gender.

And singular uses of the pronoun “they” date back to the 1300s, according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary.

“It’s not quite as newfangled as it seems: we have evidence in our files of the non-binary they dating back to 1950, and it’s likely that there are earlier uses of the nonbinary pronoun they out there,” explains the dictionary’s website.

Merriam Webster also states that it might be confusing for some people to use non-binary pronouns, however it’s important to do so and includes resources to learn more.

“This might sound intuitive, but a good rule of thumb is that when somebody tells you who they are, we

“When somebody tells you who they are, we believe them.”

Alex Little staff member Gender and Sexuality Campus Center

believe them,” said Little.

Johnson commented on how heralding back to social justice movements in the past can help people organize in the present.

“I think a great point of entry is through anti racism,” Johnson said. “We need to see the radical histories that fused the struggles of black and indigenous women with black and indigenous trans women. I always tell people to educate themselves on radical history.”

Similarly, Nelson mentioned how the anti-rape and #MeToo movements were formed and sustained by black women. They also described how the queer movement was led by trans women of color, including Latinx trans woman Sylvia Rivera, who was a founder of the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance.

A t U W-Mad i s o n , there are many organizations focusing on queer justice and inclusion, including the Gender and Sexuality Campus Center.

The center was formed in 1991

by Alnisa Allgood.

“There weren’t a lot resources for lesbian and gay students of color,” Allgood said. “We wanted to make sure that the campus center was not just increasing LGBT visibility, but also [supporting] ethnic minorities and other disenfranchised communities within the LGBT community.”

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Being Queer on campus Seeing data like the Campus Climate Survey, and seeing what changes need to be made, is helpful said Little.

Despite knowing changes that need to be made, there are ways in which queer and trans students’ lives are made difficult on campus. For example, queer people are twice as likely to experience sexual assault, according to Nelson.

And, though UW-Madison is unique in that it offers transition health care to students, it is sometimes a difficult process to go through, said Johnson.

Johnson also described how different it was to be a cisgender man on campus than it is now to be trans on campus.

“When I look back on how I was treated, it’s very different. Back then, I could just do whatever, I didn’t really think that much of how I came across. I didn’t catch a lot of stares, I didn’t catch a lot of people exhibiting hostility towards me,” Johnson said. “But, I feel a lot more powerful and able to do things now that I’m transgender.

Which is not what a lot of people’s conception of what that narrative can look like.”

Johnson noted that every trans and queer person has a different experience. They also brought up the ways in which the women’s movement does and should include queer and trans people.

“I know a lot of cisgender women who, when they say women’s movement that includes trans women, that includes non-binary people,” Johnson said. “Lots of people have settled on the gender justice movement, which I think is great.”

Johnson also stressed that if someone isn’t “woke” or wellversed in gender issues, it’s not helpful to isolate them, but rather to help them find ways to get there.

There are many resources on campus to learn about gender and sexuality, to feel included, and to even become active in social justice movements.

The GSCC offers a space for queer and trans people and their allies, as well as programs and workshops year round, said Little.

Nelson mentioned that UHS tries hard to offer counselors who can reflect students’ identities, as well as offering GetWise workshops on sex, dating and sexual violence prevention and advocacy.

These workshops include iterations that are community specific, so that students can learn in an environment where they are represented and listened to.

“Listening to someone is so powerful … it’s vulnerability and connection and that will enhance any relationship,” Nelson said.

Johnson stressed that community is key, and can give queer and trans students a sense of safety and belonging on campus.

To queer and trans students, Little would say this: “You deserve to feel safe.

There are pockets of community and they are supportive and loving and you’re deserving and worthy of feeling connected to that support.”

6 • Action Project Issue, February 2019

dailycardinal.com/projects/persistence-the-womens-issue

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The state of women’s reproductive health and sex education in Wisconsin ters, like Pregnancy Helpline in Madison, have increased by 200 percent over the past four years, according to their executive director Stephanie Ehle.

Pregnancy Helpline, located just off UW-Madison’s campus, is a care facility offering services like maternity clothes, diapers and information for pregnant people. The organization is funded by churches, private donors and pro-life organizations.

Although Pregnancy Helpline mostly caters to postbirth needs, they belong to an international organization and directory of many other crisis pregnancy centers attempting to provide before-birth medical services without having properly regulated licenses or credentials.

Rather, their facilities are run by trained volunteers, not doctors, who offer blood tests, ultrasounds and support, rather than sexually transmitted infection testing, condoms or birth control options.

Many centers have 24/7 emergency call lines for all pregnancy needs, often promoting this hotline for people considering an abortion, or wanting to hear about options. However, none of the centers provide abortions or will give information about where to get one, even if getting one would be in the person’s best interest.

Doctors and researchers Amy Bryant and Jonas Swartz wrote about this breach of choice in “Why Crisis Pregnancy Centers Are Legal but Unethical” in the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics.

“As nonprofit organizations, crisis pregnancy centers have the right to exist,” Bryant and Swartz wrote.

“However, as we have seen, they also employ dubious communication strategies — withholding information about abortion referral, not being transparent about clinically and ethically relevant details, or using inflammatory language to scare women and dissuade them from having abortions.”

However, the article also mentioned the value centers like Pregnancy Helpline can have by supporting clients with financial incentives.

In this way, Ehle said those centers are filling the gaps.

Higgins blames the weak social safety net neglected by the state government more than the crisis pregnancy centers themselves.

“Even though I think it’s easy to get frustrated and angry because of the way in which they market themselves or the falsehoods that they convey to people about abortion, in terms of how many people they are actually deterring from getting abortions is few,” Higgins claimed. “Most crisis pregnancy center clients are people who are needing help and financial support during pregnancy and birth because they are not getting what they need from the state.”

Where Wisconsin abortion policy lands and why Under current legislation, including the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, pregnancies can be terminated up to 20 weeks if the person is able to access care and complete required protocol.

However, as a trigger state, if the U.S. Supreme Court were to roll back Roe v. Wade, all abortions in Wisconsin would immediately become illegal, includi n g

How the partnership of church and state shaped women’s reproductive rights

By Jessica Lipaz STATE NEWS EDITOR

Guided by economic incentives to promote a pro-life agenda, legislation has strained accessibility to abortion and other reproductive services across the state.

While the popular opinion that abortion should be legal to at least some extent remains intact — with 63 percent of Wisconsinites in favor, according to a recent Marquette poll — the growing power of life-affirming organizations fuels discussion about whether this topic is a public health or political issue.

About 40 percent of births in Wisconsin, a percent as high as any other state, take place in a religiouslyaffiliated institution, according to UW-Madison gender and women’s studies professor Jenny Higgins.

While there are many different religions associated with health care systems, the rise in Catholic and Christian institutions, in particular, is significant.

What is notable about these clinics, hospitals and health centers is how their ideology limits the services offered to patients.

“Religiously affiliated health care centers do many types of health care well, however, they do many aspects of reproductive health care poorly or not at all,” Higgins said. “This does not only refer to abortion, but also to things like tubal ligations, being able to get postpartum contraception, miscarriage management … and other aspects of reproductive health care.”

Higgins believes many Wisconsinites who want reproductive health care help are not receiving necessary support from public institutions.

The National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws — also known as NARAL Pro-Choice America — found data supporting this lack of access, revealing that 67 percent of people in Wisconsin live in counties with no abortion clinic.

Growing distance from clinics challenges more than abortion accessibility Although located in high population centers, only three cities in the state have health centers offering abortion services: Milwaukee, Madison and Sheboygan. Three out of four total locations are Planned Parenthoods.

These clinics have strict regulations about what days of the week abortions are permitted, the type of procedure allowed, the necessary protocol for a pregnant person to be approved for the procedure and more. Wisconsin law also requires doctors to show those considering an abortion a sonogram, as well as describe the fetus to them.

“In Wisconsin, anyone seeking an abortion needs to make two trips separated by 24 hours,” Mel Barnes, the legal and policy director at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said. “That is not for any medical reason, it is solely because of state law that we require that.

They have to arrange transportation, maybe getting off work, maybe child care and all of that stuff twice.”

However, abortion is not the only service Planned Parenthood offers, and due to an extraction of federal funding under former Gov. Scott Walker’s first budget, many locations were forced to close.

P l a n n e d Parenthood provides primary

care for many patients, 10 percent of whom are men, Barnes explained while discussing the lack of general health care providers in the state.

“In 2011, we were forced to close five health centers in rural communities due to a loss of state funding, and we know that in those communities, no other providers have stepped in to take our place,” said Barnes.

Data from the Wisconsin Policy Analysis Lab gathered by UW professor Jordan Fletcher, showed how these closures exacerbated the distance of the closest abortion-providing facility for Wisconsinites.

In 2010, the proportion of counties within a 30-mile radius of an abortion clinic was 24 percent. By 2017, the number decreased to 13 percent. Accordingly, the proportion of counties between 90 to 120 miles increased from 18 percent to 29 percent for the respective years.

“In 2011, we were forced to close five health centers in rural communities due to a loss of state funding, and we know that in those communities, no other providers have stepped in to take our place.”

Mel Barnes Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin legal and policy director

The complicated rise of crisis pregnancy centers While the number of pro-choice clinics has decreased, crisis pregnancy cen-

rape-induced pregnancies, unless they are performed to save the mother’s life under state statute 904.04.

This statute also criminalizes physicians who perform abortions with felony charges.

Yet, 63 percent of respondents were in favor of abortion in all or most cases, compared to 29 percent who oppose it, according to a 2018 Marquette Law School Poll.

Pro-choice Rep. Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, believes the reason women take the back seat in regard to reproductive options and health care funding is because there are so few women in charge of drafting and passing policy.

But the disparities do not end there.

Rep. Sargent said she believes that the disconnect between moderate and liberal Wisconsinite views on abortion compared to many other conservative legislators is swayed by the powerful economic backing of organizations that are life-affirming.

“There’s a lot of money behind the pro-life policies and those folks get on the front lines and support people when they are running for office and help them win their races. Then when they get in the Capitol building, they are reminded of how they got there, and it has an influence on policies that are put forward,” Rep. Sargent said. “So, what we see in the legislature are actually people who are a bit more extreme than the ordinary people in our communities, and that creates the disconnect.”

During the 2018 midterm election, there were 37 Wisconsin candidates endorsed by the Pro Life Wisconsin Victory Fund political action committee who are considered 100 percent pro-life. Only six of these legislators were women.

“Religiously affiliated health care centers do many types of health care well, however, they do many aspects of reproductive health care poorly or not at all.”

Jenny Higgins UW-Madison gender and women’s studies professor

It is unclear how new legislation will change Wisconsin’s stance on reproductive rights. However, due to the deeply rooted moral conflicts of this issue, it is likely that compromise is not nearby.

“I think if we could get to a place of [doing] everything we can to support folks in preventing pregnancies they don’t want to have, having healthy pregnancies when they do want to and getting access to termination as well as birth services,” Higgins said. “That is a crucial part of the fabric of public health.”

GRAPHIC BY MAX HOMSTAD

GRAPHIC BY CHANNING SMITH

By Sonya Chechik STAFF WRITER

Sex ed evokes different memories for different people — some may recall putting condoms on bananas or having a teacher reminiscent of Mean Girls’ Coach Carr who warned, “Don’t have sex because you will get pregnant and die.” For some, memories of sex ed may be absent because it wasn’t provided.

Some teachers, like Madison West High School’s Scott Maier, are trying to broaden sexuality education’s (sex ed) traditional script. For one day each semester, Maier brings the Gay Straight Alliance into his health classroom to talk about sexuality.

Despite Maier and other teachers’ efforts at expanding curriculum, sex ed often lags behind, leaving some students without proper education.

Wisconsin’s sex ed varies largely across the state, according to Cindy Kuhrasch, a faculty associate in the UW-Madison Kinesiology Department which includes the health education minor. Course length and content depends on the educator and influence from outside forces, like school boards and review committees, she said.

Additionally, Wisconsin high schools are often limited to teaching an abstinence-only curriculum. Wisconsin state law only requires HIV education, not sex ed, and outlines that abstinence should be stressed as a means of protection.

“Someone could have a wonderful sex education and 30 miles away someone could be taught that their gender and sexuality is completely invalid and not worth discussing in class,” said Madison Neinfeldt, a facilitator at UW Madison’s Sex Out Loud, an organization that promotes safe, healthy sexual practices on campus.

Neinfeldt explained it is not uncommon for students to come to college having missed the proper sex ed for their gender or sexuality, or, like her, not received it altogether. Her own lack of education was one reason Neinfeldt joined Sex Out Loud, and she hopes the organization helps other students reflect on their own education and think about their current relationship with sexual knowledge, health and orientation.

UW-Madison students look back on sex ed Izzy Owza is a UW-Madison sophomore who attended James Madison Memorial High School. She said her sex ed covered all kinds of contraception and addressed men and women similarly, but was skewed to place more responsibility on women.

“Anything that was protection-oriented was focused on the girl, so we didn’t really talk about a man’s responsibility in being safe,” she said.

Neinfeldt said men and women often hear different messages in sex ed, as there is a gendered societal reaction to being sexually active, with women typically taught in a way that devalues their body.

She said curriculums that stress abstinence can disproportionately implicate women because they value women who wait to have sex while devaluing women who lose their virginity.

“I’ve had friends who have had their bodies compared to a chewed-up piece of gum,” she said.

Almost everyone has some gaps in the sex ed they received, especially for queer students whose identities weren’t addressed as fully, Neinfeldt said. She said this can be dangerous because these students aren’t getting the tools to understand how to be safe with their bodies and other peoples’ bodies.

“They’re also kind of being, in a more undercover way, being taught that their sexual preference and way of living is less valuable and not as valid,” she said.

Maier said he wishes he could do more, like having GSA visit his classroom for a week instead of a day, but there isn’t enough time when students are only required to take one semester of health.

However, he said health education is constantly evolving through continuous conversations about gaps and improvements.

Sex ed reform: Campuswide, statewide and worldwide Last February, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) updated their recommendations for how sex ed should be taught to

align with the idea of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). CSE moves beyond HIV prevention to reaffirm sex ed within a framework of human rights and gender equality.

There is significant evidence that sex ed has positive effects — it increases knowledge and improves attitudes regarding sexual and reproductive health and behaviors, according to UNESCO. Echoing the work being done at the international level, Sex Out Loud is trying to remedy students’ high school sex ed by providing sexpositive, pleasure-focused sex ed to UW students through peer-to-peer facilitated programs and other events, Neinfeldt said.

While she recognizes Sex Out Loud’s education model is difficult to apply in high school education, she said schools can still take steps to destigmatize conversation around STIs and contraception.

Kuhrasch said that health education within Wisconsin is undergoing its own shift — away from content-based learning toward skillbased learning. Instead of being presented with information, students will learn to assess its accuracy and analyze influences that factor into health decisions.

“This is one of the things I like about Wisconsin — even if it is getting kind of wonky in terms of being politicized — it doesn’t matter really what the politics are as long as we maintain a strong commitment to the skill development for these students,” Kuhrasch said.

Maier said West High School is more progressive than surrounding schools and has adopted skill-based learning, but because it isn’t mandatory for schools to follow the standards, there are “inconsistencies” in Wisconsin’s health education. Despite this, he believes progress has been made.

“The health education that I walked into 13 years ago at West High School was horrendous, and I’m really proud of where we’ve come from,” he said.

Owza said she was thankful her high school presented sex ed in an unbiased way, giving students the information to use how they please in future decisions.

“I guess my big takeaway is it’s just important to make sure everyone has all the resources but not [to] have your own moral or social dispositions [while teaching],” she said.

Gaps in Wisconsin students’ sex ed inspires improvement on and off campus

news

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8 • Action Project Issue, February 2019

GRAPHIC BY MAX HOMSTAD

When former UW-Whitewater Chancellor Beverly Kopper stepped down from her post, she recognized the predicament she was in: Allegations of sexual harassment against her husband, accusations of a hostile work environment under her leadership, a community demanding her resignation. But the question is, was it fair?

How gender dynamics, structural inequities affect women leaders

By Sydney Widell and Robyn Cawley THE DAILY CARDINAL

With a single sentence, Beverly Kopper resigned as chancellor of UW-Whitewater.

In the six months prior, her ability to represent her campus and protect her students had been scrutinized amid allegations that her husband perpetrated sexual misconduct.

Moreso, it is unclear if she knew about his behavior all along — or if she covered it up.

While many community members pushed for Kopper’s resignation, others paused to ask if the backlash against her is fair and what her departure means for female leaders in higher education.

“For how many generations have women never been given a title? It was just assumed that they knew how to pour a good cup of tea. But when it’s a man who is the spouse, they suddenly have to come up with an institutional role.”

Sarah Roberts University of Buffalo Social Studies Education Program Director Kopper’s resignation may illuminate structural inequities and gender politics ingrained in higher education systems that limit women’s ability to hold leadership roles, despite whether or not she facilitated her husband’s behavior.

“There are multiple levels at which gender power works. It works at the institutional level or systemic level, it works at the interpersonal or relational level, and it works at the level of identity,” said University of Buffalo Social Studies Education Program Director Sarah Roberts.

“Would a husband pay for the crimes of the wife?”

The first allegations against Kopper’s husband Pete “Alan” Hill surfaced in June. He was banned from campus immediately afterward, and by October, five women had come forward.

The women Hill harassed included former students and employees of the university. He had gained access to them through his unpaid, honorary role as “Associate of the Chancellor” — a position he received because of Kopper’s status.

For as long as three years, the women grappled with their experiences, while their assailant and his wife remained in top university positions. The claims they made against him were not publicized by the university until last September, after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel filed an open records request.

Following those revelations, campus and Janesville leaders demanded Kopper hand in her resignation.

Complaints included accusations that Kopper had known about her husband’s behavior all along. At the very least, many were outraged that she potentially tried to conceal the allegations against him until it was clear they would be published anyway.

A series of investigations followed — the details of which have not been revealed. Kopper faced mounting pressure to give up her role and accusations that she had created a “hostile workplace environment.”

She resigned amid these criticisms on Dec. 6, shortly before she was scheduled to give UW-Whitewater’s winter commencement address.

Her resignation letter was a singlesentence memo addressed to UW System President Ray Cross.

Kopper “had to go” because the allegations against her husband overshadowed her role of promoting the university, the Janesville GazetteXtra wrote in an op-ed. By appointing her husband to an honorary position, it said Kopper helped create a “toxic” campus environment.

Since the investigation hasn’t been made public, whatever criticisms have driven the outside analysis and debate to this point are distinctly speculative. And those speculations, Roberts said, are rooted in the deepseated gender biases that shape the expectations an institution places on the people who serve it.

“It does reflect what we understand of the university, which is that

it is, for the most part, still a maledominated institution,” she said.

“Even while he’s not the leader of that institution, it doesn’t matter because he still has the keys to the castle.”

“Social hostesses” to leaders Women have only emerged in higher education leadership roles within the last 20 years. Still, the percentage of women holding presidencies at colleges and universities stood at 30 percent in 2016, up just four percent from 2011, according to an American Council on Education report.

Before that, men held top roles while their wives, said historian Clara Lovett, acted as their “social hostesses.”

The “social hostesses” Lovett uncovered in her research were often young to middle-age, most with college degrees. If they had careers, nearly all put them on hold when their husbands took office.

There were no written duties for these women, but the role they served was a tradition inherited from the generations before them. These were the wives who sat on — but rarely chaired — special action committees. They were the ones who poured tea at faculty meetings.

Just as the rise in female leaders is a more recent phenomenon, so is the emergence of their male spouses — which doesn’t take into account the leaders without partners or those who identify as LGBTQ+.

“For how many generations have women never been given a title? It was just assumed that they knew how to pour a good cup of tea,” Roberts said. “But when it’s a man who is the spouse, they suddenly have to come up with an institutional role.”

Both Lovett and Roberts acknowledge the lack of clarity surrounding the unofficial spouse position, which extends well into the information — or lack thereof — that’s been released surrounding the investigation into Kopper’s husband.

Roberts reaffirmed that the qualities women are celebrated for are representations of weakness for men.

If roles were switched, Hill “might be

labeled effeminate and not in control of his household,” she said.

“The ‘president’s husband’ is often not an acceptable stand-in at an event, whereas the ‘president’s wife’ is,” the American Association of University Women Barriers and Bias report read.

Breaking into the “boy’s club” Inequality begins as soon as women enter their institution’s doors as professors, where they often take on larger teaching loads and lower salaries than their male counterparts. They also obtain tenure at a slower rate, according to the National Center for Higher Education Statistics.

Men who are confident, assertive and self-promoting are respected, while women who share the same qualities are suggested to be “inappropriate” or “undesirable,” according to the AAUW report.

These factors can prevent women from obtaining tenure, without which the doors to other leadership roles within universities begin to close.

“In tenure track positions, you find that men are married and have kids, their careers just skyrocket,” Roberts said. “Women who are married and also have children are actually much less likely to even get tenure.”

For Kopper, this meant serving as one of four female chancellors out of 13 in the UW System, which is consistent with the national average.

For aspiring women academics and leaders in the UW System and beyond, Roberts says that the hostile workplace allegations leveled against Kopper send a somber message.

“Unfortunately, they stand and they remain in people’s memory long after the person has walked away,” Roberts said. “Those memories become the basis on which a candidate is passed over for a future leadership position. They become empty rationale and rhetoric for why women aren’t in more leadership roles.”

But while others acknowledge that there are significant structural barriers preventing women from taking leadership roles —

and that undermine women’s credibility once they land them — they say Kopper’s case does not illustrate these problems.

“In principle, a woman or man should not suffer as a result of the actions of their spouse,” said UW-Madison Department of Gender and Women’s Studies Chair Aili Tripp. “But as the Kopper case suggests, the real world situation may be more complicated, especially given the prevalence of outmoded understandings of the roles and responsibilities of the spouse.”

Tripp does not think that any person should be held accountable for the actions of their spouse. However, if they try to hide those actions or don’t take action to remedy the situation, then they claim some liability.

And as long as the “outmoded model” of spouses as a team persists, Tripp said such problems can occur.

Both Roberts and Lovett are hopeful that redrafting institutional policies and defining spousal positions will empower women in academics.

For Lovett, the insurmountable grey area surrounding this case could be alleviated by crafting a proper outline of the spousal position at post-secondary levels.

Roberts stated the importance of cultivating a “new frontier” that would take a look at the gender identities that shape educational institutions, which would dive deep into the official policies that universities strive to uphold.

“It’s not enough to put women in power; it’s not enough to put people of color in positions of power, because there is something called an institution with a very strong history,” she said. “And with educational institutions, specifically, one thing that the research shows is that we’re very slow to change. It is a very static institution that is very difficult to transform. But, it can change.”

Read the full version online at dailycardinal.com/projects/persistence-the-womens-issue

arts Presenting media portrayals of female appearance as feminist, political arena

Action Project Issue, February 2019 • 9

dailycardinal.com/projects/persistence-the-womens-issue

By Lauren Souza ARTS EDITOR

Natural light peaks through the curtains, exposing stone and brick against light pastels and watercolors to create an elegant, cozy aesthetic. Self-portraits and floral images panel the walls at the Arts + Literature Laboratory.

The artist behind this creation — Yeonhee Cheong — created the “She Presents” exhibition to examine female presentation in different forms of media. The collection graced the gallery from Jan. 10 through Feb. 15.

“What is done or undone in one’s appearance expresses one’s own and society’s desire and power to position the person,” Cheong said.

There is a discrepancy between how the reader understands the wearer’s context, which might result in something unintended or cause self-reflection. Cheong explores this concept through “woman” in multiple portraits and media portrayals. Formerly a fashion designer now pursuing an MFA at UW-Madison,

Cheong’s inspiration for the collection stemmed from maturation into motherhood and the conditions of women’s lives.

The “Caption” letterpress The second series of the exhibit is series is the only series that titled “Letter P.” The video showcasfocuses particularly on other es Cheong seated in a chair with text women besides the artist. changing to the right of her. Each of the words contain the letter “p.”

“She Presents” contains a third series that consists mainly of selfportraits of Cheong and her family. Cheong describes how there is rich visual vocabulary in botany and how meta-reality exists when wild “weeds” and flowers are used in paintings.

“As a woman, whose gender is often referred to as ‘flowers’ at their ‘prime,’ I understand the lives of flowers (more accurately the plants with flowers) personally, thus tell

‘Broad City’ leaves behind strong legacy

ARTS EDITOR

The Overture Center off State Street has long been considered a high-quality establishment to see a high-quality show. Some of the biggest acts in the performing arts have made their way through Madison and made a stop at the Overture.

In short: It means a lot to a lot of people.

And it is now headed by a very smart and accomplished woman who wants to make sure everyone from every corner of the city can find a way to enjoy it as well.

For Sandra Gajic – the chief executive officer and president of the Overture Center – taking the opportunity to come to Madison to lead such a prestigious arts facility came down to one internal question: “Why not?”

Since taking the job in September of last year, the native of the former Yugoslavia has set-

references locations where something devastatingly unfortunate “Broad City,” the beautiful has happened to Abbi. brainchild of comedians Abbi When “Broad City” announced Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, will it would be entering their last seacome to a close after the current son, I was both heartbroken and fifth season. The show centers confused. After five seasons, the around the female duo who play show has attracted a loyal fan base, exaggerated versions of them- as well as an assortment of notable selves as they struggle to pay New guest stars. Abbi and Ilana continYork City rent, ue to rise to fame with the make the most recent publishof their 20s and ing of Abbi’s smoke maybe book, “I Might too much weed.

Regret This,” The show and Ilana’s began as a featured role web series, in film “Rough and when Night.” season one Since the aired on first season, Comedy “Broad City” Central in has empow2014, the ered women premise to be just was groundthat: women. breaking.

Beneath all Never before the insanity had two is the fundafemale characters mental truth GRAPHIC BY CHANNING SMITH been so sex-positive. that women should be Abbi and Ilana’s relationships are free to be who they are. We’ve not fairytale romances. They are come a long way since 2014; this regrettable one-night stands and isn’t a groundbreaking premise awkward makeouts with cowork- anymore. “Broad City” has served ers. They are polyamorous and us well, combatting sexism and bisexual, but that doesn’t mean judgment on mainstream televithey are promiscuous. The show sion while disguising it as humor. works to portray these women According to a study by positively when it comes to the flu- Boxed-In, women made up idity of sexuality. only 27 percent of all creators, The series succeeds because directors, writers, producers, of the refreshingly real and gritty executive producers, editors characters against an absolutely and directors of photography surreal setting. The assorted working on broadcast netbizarre characters that Abbi and work, cable and streaming Ilana come in contact with make programs in 2017-18. “Broad the city itself a running joke. City” employed women in all Despite this absurdity, the show of these positions, including is inherently relatable by their two strong women as the faces unbashful, unique personalities. of the show.

Abbi and Ilana deal with some This is why it’s okay that of the very unglamorous prob- “Broad City” is ending. It’s not lems women deal with day to to say we are done diversifying day. Beyond that, the show really and balancing out the television is written for the fans. “Broad and film industry, but it’s a start.

City’s” use of callbacks, easter The novelty of the loud-spoken, eggs and running gags acts as a spunky girls has faded, but the homage to long-term, die-hard show’s legacy inspires others fans, making it that much more just like them. satisfying and hilarious. The To read Channing’s full story, more you watch, the more you go to dailycardinal.com/projects/ notice — like how Ilana always persistence-the-womens-issue

By Channing Smith GRAPHICS EDITOR COURTESY OF YEONHEE CHEONG

Surrounded by flowers is a watercolor self-portrait of the artist.

Overture’s first woman CEO/president strives to make arts accessible for all

By John Everman

my life stories through them from the perspective as the subject rather than as the object that [is] controlled by others,” Cheong said.

This is just the beginning of Cheong’s work. Nothing is ever finished. The presentation and representation of people is continuously evolving. The patriarchy continues to dominate the art world, but that does not mean new forms of feminist efforts are not created. Feminist art is gaining traction and refuses to stop for anyone.

To read Lauren’s full story, go to dailycardinal.com/projects/persistence-the-womens-issue

tled into her new role which she views as one of great privilege and responsibility, but one that comes naturally to her.

“I love what I do. I’m here most of the time. I love to see the magic on stage, I come to see performances, I usually work seven days a week … whatever hours. For me, this is life and it’s a balanced life.”

As the first woman to hold the position of CEO of the Overture, there wasn’t much else for Gajic to prove in her professional field. As the director of the Vancouver Civic Theatres and spending 16 years in Toronto before then, among many other credentials, it should be clear to everyone that she is as qualified as a person gets.

Yet, in what she referred to as a “global industry” where women are vastly outnumbered by men, she still feels pressure and a need to prove herself.

“I believe there is a harder-

COURTESY OF DANIEL KLUGMAN

Sandra Gajic is the first women CEO of the Overture Center.

edged lens on some [women] that are breaking barriers. We are under more scrutiny … women professionals, especially earlier in their careers, feel they aren’t good enough,” Gajic said. “Gaining that self-confidence that is outside gender or whatever other labels we put on people and just be who you are as professional takes some time and support.”

She went on to express a deep sense of responsibility to leave a legacy of succession to where the industry can close these gaps, transcending differences and allowing for an equal, even professional playing field for all.

Gajic feels that inclusion is the key to success. She views the performing arts centers of major cities as being a place where anyone should be able to come and enjoy live shows and cultural displays from all walks of life.

She also wants to open the doors to anyone who might want to work or volunteer at the Overture Center, but currently experiences difficulties with transportation, applying or other obstructions. As she put it, “Our job is to remove the barriers … and that the community sees us as a natural place to come, where they feel comfortable.”

This has led to the creation of positions specifically designed to implement new policies and an organizational platform rooted in fairness and full inclusion.

Arts administration is not an easy job. It is also not a common expertise — an area Gajic believes higher education needs to take more seriously.

But as far as who is out there in the field of this global industry, the Overture now has one of the best in the world.

To read John’s full story, go to dailycardinal.com/projects/ persistence-the-womens-issue

cardinal view Gender equity within majors is important 10

l

Action Project Issue, February 2019

view Cardinal View editorials represent The Daily Cardinal’s organizational opinion. Each editorial is crafted independent of news coverage.

“Being underrepresented in your major can impact you in a lot of ways.”

Madeline Juillard, a UW student studying Computer Science, isn’t the only female student to feel that she is being impacted by the gender disparity in her major.

While UW-Madison has awarded women bachelor’s degrees for 150 years, the patriarchal history of education has rippling effects to this day, particularly in the hard sciences and maths.

It comes as no surprise to anyone that men are overrepresented in STEM fields. And unfortunately, UW-Madison isn’t a break from this norm.

The College of Engineering’s undergraduate student body is only 25 percent female, and this representation diminishes further as the college is broken down into specific engineering disciplines.

“It’s harder for women to join study groups or find programming partners because other students don’t necessarily see women as being smart in STEM fields,” said Juillard. “I’ve talked to female students that told me they care about promoting gender diversity in tech, but they also just want a good job.”

Yet, this disparity is not on a university-wide basis, with nearly 95 percent of Human Development and Family Studies as women, 88 percent of Nursing and 77 percent of Psychology, it is clear that the university has some work to do to ensure that all students — regardless of gender identity — feel welcome pursuing the program of their choice.

This phenomenon is not exclusive to the computer science and engineering hubs, however.

According to Susan Hering, an undergraduate advisor, the economics student body is now 30 percent female. “And that is an alltime high,” she says. “We’re seeing women go less far in math and not take as much.”

This disparity isn’t exclusive to the student body, but rather can be extended to all of academia.

“There are very, very few women of color on the engineer-

ing faculty, and that can be a little difficult sometimes with accessibility,” said Emilie Wille, a member of the Society of Women Engineers.

Mia Hanson, a mathematics major at UW, discussed how the lack of woman professors has led to her and other female students to band together in their classes.

“Currently all my professors are men, and not one of them has treated me with the same level of respect as a male student. But my peers are probably the worst part,” said Hanson. When her all-male group mates consistently doubted her answers last semester, Hanson relied on her female TA heavily. “I started calling over my TA asking if my answer was right, and she would confirm my answer in front of them. She had my back,” said Hanson.

Luckily for students like Hanson, some male-dominated departments are now recognizing how the lack of professional and academic women in the field is impacting their retention rates in majors such as economics.

“As we’ve researched why we do have this gender gap in our students, we’ve found that a significant part of that is women in our department have few role models or have had few role models,” Hering says.

So how do we help counter these disparities, and offer support for women in such fields?

Student organizations specifically for women in these fields, such as Women in Finance and Accounting or the Association of Women in Agriculture, are helping non-male-identifying students build networks and support systems in their departments, as well as gaining support from faculty and staff. “[SWE] gives so much visibility to women in engineering because you see this giant group of people and think, ‘Wow, these are all women and they’re all engineers,’” Wille said. “It makes others outside of SWE and engineering see that we are a powerful force, and we exist and do great things.”

Though it still has a way to go in closing gender gaps in faculty, the university has also made strides toward hiring more women when trying to fill department vacancies to ensure better representation for current and prospective students.

“In trying to address the gender gap among our undergraduate students, we have necessarily turned to putting more women in front of them,” Hering says of the economics department’s recent hiring efforts.

Some departments, such as the College of Engineering and the Business School, have established Diversity Affairs offices to tackle the hefty job of being more inclusive and accessible for historically marginalized groups, including women, in their respective departments.

Other departments are focusing on outreach and recruitment to help retain and pull new interest for their respective fields, such as the Computer Science department’s acknowledgement that this disparity has deep roots before students come to college.

“When I go to SOAR in the summer, the vast majority of freshmen that I talk to interested in Computer Sciences are men. So, combating this disparity can’t just happen in college — by then it’s too late,” said Juillard, who also described a service learning computer science course meant to get elementary school students interested in the subject.

This type of outreach may help keep the recent rapid growth of Computer Science majors stable, and potentially bridge the gender disparity gap.

Debra Deppeler, a computer science professor, also discussed how this gendered notion of STEM is built into educational systems, specifically the requirements (or lack thereof) for students at the gen-ed college level and high schools.

“I do think that requiring math, science and computing of all students helps. There are always some who never knew how much they like solving problems this way,” said Deppeler.

While welcoming and encouraging women to go into STEM is largely a responsibility of society, and a necessary responsibility at that, the University should be more proactive and help initiate this shift through hiring more women faculty and staff.

Representation is key for making non-male-identifying students feel welcome in academic spaces, especially such male-dominated fields.

Having a female professor or TA could mean the difference between connecting with what’s learned in the classroom — knowing that female students’ ideas and questions are valid — and feeling marginalized and unvalued among their peers.

“Every one of the departments here who have a persistent problem with parity between men and women is working on it,” Hering said. “I think there are very many departments here that need to work on it, but I also think the university is working on it.”

MAX HOMSTEAD/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Large underrepresentation of women can lead to disinterest and frustration with STEM subjects.

dailycardinal.com/projects/persistence-the-womens-issue

BETSY OSTERBERGER/THE DAILY CARDINAL

All students deserve to feel safe walking on campus at night.

Nighttime campus safety needs attention What time are you going to leave?

Do you want to walk home together?

Should we just call an Uber? Text me when you get into your car. Let me know when you get home. Call me if you don’t feel safe.

Women say these things to each other all the time without a second thought. These are sayings — and associated fears — that have been passed down by generations of women. When we say these things, we also mean “walk as fast as you can,” “don’t wear headphones at night” and “don’t walk on the Lakeshore Path after sunset.”

But why?

In the daytime, men and women are peers; they walk with smiles on their faces as the sun shines down on the UW-Madison campus.

However, at night their roles drastically change. Suddenly, women face dangers incomprehensible to most men. As soon as the dim glow of street lights and brisk nightly chills hit, women are encapsulated by an instant sense of fear.

Avoid eye contact, take your hands out of your pockets, keep your head up.

What it’s like to walk alone on the UW-Madison campus at night is an experience that cannot be fully understood if one has never lived it for themselves.

At night, the sound of dry leaves on the sidewalk sounds a lot like footsteps approaching from behind.

Is that group of guys on the other side of the street laughing at a joke, or at me? Do I need to take a longer route home in order to avoid them?

Women’s safety on campus can no longer be trivialized nor marginalized.

This sounds like ridiculous paranoia, because it is. And while we want to believe that nothing bad could ever happen to us, there is no way of knowing if this is the time we won’t make it home safe. So we act this way every time — just in case.

Despite this constant sense of anxiety, women often times insist on walking alone. We are strong, capable women during the day, and those traits don’t disappear once the sun goes down.

However, this choice often leads to feelings of guilt and societal pressures begin to seep in as they dare to venture out on their own. When a woman is by herself and soon feels threatened by her surroundings, she also feels the heavy weight of not following advice from women in her life. Oh, the irony.

This problem has a few simple solutions — walk home in a group or call for a ride.

As women, we are so thankful to those who offer walking us home or to our cars at night. But the fact that we have to ask, like we can’t handle walking a few blocks by ourselves, not only presents us with the reality that we are not safe, but it’s also disheartening. We want to be able to roam around campus with the same worry-free attitude that our male peers have, but we cannot.

At night, women face dangers incomprehensible to most men.

Sexual assault, harassment, theft and attacks are not new to college campuses, and therefore not new to UW-Madison. Most often caused by the alcohol and party culture, cisgender women, along with transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming folks become vulnerable to unthinkable harms. According to the UW-Madison Annual Fire and Safety Report, over 2,200 liquor law violations occurred in 2017. In the face of 62 burglaries, 25 aggravated assaults, 25 rapes, 22 counts of stalking and 15 counts of domestic violence, how can anyone, women and marginalized communities especially, feel safe on campus?

Women on The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board even remark that being constantly exposed to local news of violence against women due to the nature of our jobs forces us to be intimately aware of such dangers.

So what can we do? At first glance, nighttime safety seems like an issue that has always been there and will continue to persist. But we are still hopeful for a better future. We can continue to make campus officials and local law enforcement aware of the unique dangers women and other marginalized populations face on campus. We can participate in student government, which has a powerful voice when it comes to issues like safety, and vote in local elections to ensure that only those who take student concerns seriously are elected to office.

Most importantly, we can all do the work of changing campus culture, which is an arduous but valiant task. Harmful components of college culture, like victimization, disbelief or disadvantaging stereotypes, must be unlearned.

Women’s safety on campus can no longer be trivialized nor marginalized. Campus attitudes and behaviors that actively perpetuate this culture of fear must change.

Systematic changes must be put in place for thousands of women and those across the gender spectrum at UW to lessen weight of a heavy heart every night of their time here.

almanac dailycardinal.com/projects/persistence-the-womens-issue

Action Project Issue, February 2019

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Being a Woman of Color at UW Our partners at Melanin Speaking have captured their experiences as women of color on the majority-white UW-Madison campus through harrowing testimonies, beautiful poetry and other creative outlets. To read more of their work outside of their partnership with the cardinal, visit their website at www.melaninspeaking.com GRAPHIC BY MELANIN SPEAKING GRAPHIC BY KELLEN SHARP

Sweet by Je’La Walton I was honey Not an entitled nickname But because you said my face reminded you of its raw taste Thick drips into tea Of which you regulate like water For you I became sticky Pink walls painted white I am pure To your fantasy In which you control Commenting on my curvaceous attributes and nothing else And to the reason of which I am loved, My body became your fruit Forced juices carbonating behind shivered skin You found a leak And with no intentions to patchwork You persisted to explore what was forbidden Chilled Fingers cutting through imperfections Raising your desire To which you would take a bite And you said I was sweet Like Orange Sorbet Yet Dowsed in cooled salt And like kindred beings You played with your fruit Using graveled fingers to widen crevices Filling them with whitened seeds You told me it was something about the way a colored girl smiles The way her naturally ombre lips separates when she speaks The way her sun kissed skin illuminates behind every creviced laugh line The way her pearly whites express every thing beyond beauty You said we were like roses Often glorified But more or less overlooked Picking off petals like you’ve stripped skin Revealing a bud stained with reddish tints Similar to the ones in which you’ve buried in whitened seeds And so you treated me like a rose

The one you always watered Yet never exposed to sunlight And with prayers to GOD to ask for your separation You continued to bite A repetitive repetized repetition Warmth from rancid drips Protected by ribbed shards You sank deeper And as you sank I lay lifeless Wondering How many stars would I have to pass to get to the gates of heaven How many cars would have to be on the road for Johnny to never come across How many bullets would have to pass in a 4-player game of Russian Roulette with a .17 pistol And with trying to reclaim consistency I became accustomed to discomfort Because while you were addicted to my fruit I was addicted to being your addiction And with masochistic intentions, I never said stop Because you called me beautiful You said my lips With intentions like venus Trapping you like flies Everytime you said you needed a bite And with sharp teeth in the dullest soul I became your chew toy But you called me beautiful You said my skin Reflective of the finest hershey intrigued your taste buds Salivating at the mention of my name You begged for a taste And like anything sweeter than sugar I was your natural honey And for me?

You were like a box of chocolates A delicacy for short period of time A slice you fathom over the last bite The last sip of colder cup of colored kool aid Simply put: You were sweet and

I was honey.

Questions for all the White women I wished I was

by Katie Chong

I once convinced myself that all my problems would go away if I was White.

I eventually grew out of that mentality.

Then, I convinced myself that all my problems would go away if I was pretty.

But I still thought that only White was pretty.

I eventually grew out of that mentality.

Finally, I convinced myself that all my problems would go away if a man loved me.

But he could only love me if I was pretty.

And I still thought that only White was pretty.

White women, Do you worry that your partner only likes you because of your Whiteness?

Do you fear that your partner is creating fetishized fantasies of you and your Whiteness in their head?

Do you have a “disease” named after you?

Yellow Fever. Jungle Fever.

Does it ever bother you that all your partner’s exes are also White?

Do you ever hear, “I would never date a White girl. I’m not racist.

It’s just a preference.”?

What is it like to be the most desirable to men of color?

Do White men feel like they’re settling for you because he’s dating a member of his own race?

Tell me. How does it feel to not have every sexist comment also be racist? Or every racist comment also be sexist?

How does it feel to be marginalized, discriminated against, mistreated, oppressed only on the basis of gender?

Can you see why I would want to be a White woman?

Then I would only have to worry about sexual harassment, catcalls, double standards, etc.

And doesn’t that sound so much easier?

We’re tired. White women, Black women, Yellow women, Brown women.

All of us. We’re tired of this bullshit.

“If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive.”

-Audre Lorde

IMAGE COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS

My Identity is Loud

by Chelsea Hylton

As a woman of color if I let other people’s standards of who I should be define me, I would not be where I am today. I have had to find the strength within myself to be able to be resilient and allow my identity to be a catalyst for my success. No sort of hate can silence me, not even the oppressive systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison can silence me. I make sure to occupy a lot of space so people are always aware of my presence in a room. I make sure to write loud.

Even though words on paper or on a screen often seem silent to the average person, I make my words loud.

Check out our Women’s Issue Sex Column from our partners at Sex Out Loud, as well as “An Ode to Being a Vulgar Woman” from past co-editors of Almanac, Savannah Mchugh and Sam Jones online at our Action Project website, dailycardinal.com/projects/persistence-the-womens-issue

At Almanac, we hope to capture the student experience, opinions, thoughts, jokes, and views of ALL students with ALL identities. If you are interested in contributing to Almanac, or if you have any question or concerns, email us at almanac@dailycardinal.com.

sports ‘Figure it out yourself’: Ex-Badgers face daily challenges in pursuit of pro careers

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Action Project Issue, February 2019

Cameron Lane-Flehinger SPORTS EDITOR

From the moment she stepped on the ice for Wisconsin in October 2013, Ann-Renée Desbiens played like one of the best goaltenders in the world.

She not just set, but obliterated records in goals against average, save percentage and shutouts.

In 2017 she received the Patty Kazmaier Award as the best player in women’s college hockey, just the second goaltender ever to win.

She graduated as arguably the best goaltender — of any gender — in NCAA history.

Two years later, the closest she gets to the ice is section one of Labahn Arena, where she can be found most weekends watching her former teammates compete for the Badgers.

Desbiens is just one casualty, although a recent and particularly striking one, of women’s hockey’s unstable professional landscape. She did not respond to a request to comment for this story.

“You make a switch to the pros and you get 10 bucks on the road and you gotta figure it out for yourself.”

Madison Packer forward Metropolitan Riveters

Even as the game continues to grow at the collegiate level, North America’s two professional leagues, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) and the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL), struggle to provide their players living wages — forcing some of the world’s best post-collegiate players to choose between their financial wellbeing and their sport.

Fourteen former Wisconsin play-

ers are currently playing on professional rosters, six in the NWHL and eight in the CWHL, along with two recent Wisconsin players who were drafted but never signed contracts.

Their stories paint a picture of a sport that, although on the rise, relies on tenuous financial situations at the league and individual levels.

The first thing they mention is the travel.

In college, a road weekend meant a mid-Thursday departure, with time for a class or two in the morning before a short chartered flight and a late-afternoon practice at the opponents’ rink. Come Friday’s game, the Badgers had no worries of “travel legs.”

Now, that same trip might involve a 5 a.m. alarm Saturday morning for a flight two hours later, landing in Calgary or Minnesota or Boston just in time for a quick bus ride to the arena before warmups.

“I’m very blown away by the way the league works. I wasn’t expecting really to travel the day of,” former Wisconsin defender and current member of the CWHL’s Toronto Furies Mellissa Channell said. “It’s a little hard on the body, I’m not gonna lie.”

Once the players have arrived, conditions don’t always get much better. Both the CWHL and NWHL have now committed to providing meals for players on the road, but some players still sport stories of finishing a game and being forced to find their way to a grocery store to keep themselves sustained. “[In college] there’s multiple meals provided every day at school and on the road and it’s good, quality catered food and nice restaurants,” former Badger and current Metropolitan Riveters forward Madison Packer said. “And then you make a switch to the pros, and you get 10 bucks on the road and you

CAMERON LANE-FLEHINGER/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Lauren Williams, first overall pick in the 2018 CWHL draft, gets home from semi-weekly practices at 1:00 a.m. after a full day of graduate classes.

dailycardinal.com/projects/persistence-the-womens-issue

CAMERON LANE-FLEHINGER/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Ann-Renée Desbiens set numerous collegiate records in her four years at Wisconsin, but you won’t find arguably the greatest goaltender in NCAA history playing professionally; instead she’s pursuing an accounting degree. gotta figure it out for yourself.”

Even with meals provided, the hectic travel forces players to eat numerous meals in airports and on the go, not an ideal scenario for professional athletes trying to stay in peak fitness.

The condensed schedule — all games and associated travel are limited to Saturdays and Sundays — is a requirement of the two leagues’ harsh economic realities. The CWHL provides teams a $100,000 salary cap, with individual salaries ranging from $2,000 to $10,000. The NWHL initially promised salaries up to $26,000 but quickly reneged on that commitment. It now pays players between $5,000 and $7,000 depending on experience. The US and Canadian Olympic federations support a select few elite players in their “Olympic pools”, but the majority of the league relies on a full-time job to pay for basic needs.

“It’s tough, especially since we have approximately 20-some Olympians in our league, so to think that we have the top-end players playing in this league and some of them have to have side jobs because they’re not able to support themselves, it’s kinda frustrating,” Channell said. “You want to put all your time and effort into hockey if that’s what you’re leaning towards doing but some people aren’t able to do that because they have to pay for living, they have to pay for housing, they have to pay for all that.”

Balancing a combination of graduate school, work and their professional careers, the sport’s best players live a lifestyle far from the popular fantasy of elite professional athletes.

Forget sports cars. Many players’ salaries barely cover the cost of gas to get to the rink for practices and games, Channell said.

Nightlife? Try nightly practices that can end as late as 10:30 or 11 p.m. even before the drive home, with another nine-to-five day of work the next morning.

Almost every player interviewed said the professional landscape is trending upward, and things are consistently better than they were

a few years ago. The CWHL’s attendance figures have increased in each of the past five years, while the NWHL has stabilized revenues since slashing salaries midway through its inaugural season.

“It’s tough when you’re trying to work a job and you can’t just focus on hockey ... it’s kinda tough to get back into it.”

Mellissa Channell defender Toronto Furies

The prospect of a merger and the creation of a single league with all of the world’s best players has been the light at the end of the tunnel for many players; the “one league” model has nearly unanimous support throughout the women’s hockey community.

Supporters claim that a single league could better pursue long-term financial sponsors. A lucrative partnership with the NHL could even be on the table.

“The CWHL has some things that are much better than our league, and our league has some things that are much better than their league,” Packer said. “It’s tough to get everybody to sit down and agree on who should be in charge and what’s the best way to go.”

“Knowing that little girls ... can now look up to us and say ‘I want to be playing in the CWHL or the NWHL’ ... is amazing.”

Lauren Williams defender Worcester Blades

NHL franchises and the league office have at times played an important role in promoting the expansion of women’s hockey, but currently the NHL has no official league partnerships. Asked about the possibility of supporting either league, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Associated Press “we don’t believe in their models.”

This piecemeal support has cre-

ated an uneven landscape for compensation, even as the total amount of money going to professional women’s players has increased dramatically in the last four years.

Canadian and American players who make their countries’ 30-member national team rosters can now expect consistent financial support: up to $71,000 for lesserknown American olympians, along with medal bonuses up to $20,000.

That money doesn’t trickle down to the many players outside that elite group who make up the majority of the NWHL and CWHL rosters.

“It’s tough when you’re trying to work a job and you can’t just focus on hockey if you’re not in the program,” Channell said. “If you’re outside looking in it’s kinda tough to get back into it.”

Despite the challenges, the opportunity to play professionally is something the players don’t take for granted. 10 years ago, players coming out of college had no league where they could ply their trade. 5 years ago, there still wasn’t a North American league offering salaries to players.

“I couldn’t have ever imagined when I was a kid playing outside the NHL,” Williams said. “And now knowing that little girls who are much better at hockey than I was at their age, I’m sure, can now look up to us and say ‘I want to be playing the CWHL or the NWHL when I’m older’ is amazing.”

Women’s hockey is growing at every level. USA hockey registration figures for girls in 2017-’18 were up at every age level from their marks five years prior. Total registration increased more than 20 percent.

The NWHL and CWHL are well-positioned to ride the rising tide of women’s hockey — even more so if they’re able to complete the merger so many fans and players have called for.

Professional women’s hockey’s future in North America is uncertain but bright, players said. No one knows what the landscape will look like when the next Ann-Renée Desbiens graduates college.

But with any luck, she won’t have to make a choice between her sport and her career.