CHIPS. Vol. LXI, No. 10/June 2017 SPRING FLING WED. JUNE 7TH AT 5 PM ST. ANDREWS GOLF CLUB HASTING ON HUDSON!

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1 MISSION: AAUW advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research. VISION: AAUW will be a powerful advocate and visible leader in equity and education through research, philanthropy, and measurable change in critical areas impacting the lives of women and girls. VALUE STATEMENT: By joining AAUW, you belong to a community that breaks educational and economic barriers so that all women have a fair chance. In principle and practice, AAUW values and seeks a diverse membership. There shall be no barriers to full participation in this organization on the basis of gender, race, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or class Branch Officers Co-Presidents Diona Koerner (914) Linda Swann (914) Program Co-Vice Presidents Sandy Flank Stephanie Lemnios Membership Co-Vice Presidents Phyllis Hirth Pam Margand Recording Co-Secretaries Marge Kingsley Natasha Rose Corresponding Secretary Adie Shore Co-Treasurers Carol McMillan Jane Pendergast CHIPS Editor Sue Lambert, slamb47@aol.com Circulation-Jean Havens Branch Web Site westchester-ny.aauw.net State Web Site National Web Site Facebook at AAUW Westchester NY The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund provides funding and a support system for individuals seeking judicial redress for sex discrimination. The AAUW Educational Opportunities Fund provides fellowships and grants to aspiring graduate women scholars in the US and around the globe. Vol. LXI, No. 10/June 2017 CHIPS The monthly newsletter of the Westchester Branch of the American Association of University Women, Westchester County, New York State SIXTH ANNUAL RUNNING & WINNING WORKSHOP 2017 By Mary Logan On April 27th, the latest Running & Winning workshop was held at the White Plains YWCA. It was co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Westchester, AAUW-Westchester, and the White Plains YWCA and funded by the Westchester Community Foundation along with a grant from AAUW-Westchester. The goal of the workshop is to educate and interest high school junior and senior girls in community involvement and public service including encouraging girls to run for public office by telling them if you re interested, don t wait to be asked to run, consider being chosen to attend this workshop as being asked. Forty students from 22 schools across Westchester attended the workshop. Elected officials were represented by four city councilors, two town supervisors, one mayor, five Westchester County Legislators, and one each from the NY State Assembly and NY State Senate. The officials introduced themselves, described what their jobs consist of and shared with the students what inspired them to run for office. Next the officials rotated among nine tables allowing the students to ask one-on-one questions. One of the many questions on the girls minds was finding out what issues the politicians were passionate about. After listening to the elected officials comments, the students planned and then presented a mock political campaign including a speech and a poster with a slogan. Students each chose a role to play: candidate, campaign manager, speech writer, fundraising manager, or publicity director. The theme of the campaigns was centered on an environmental issue, and many of the girls researched their topics on their smart phones. I think we were successful in giving the students a realistic understanding of the possibilities of public service and politics, said Cheryl Feldman, Running & Winning Chair. 1 SPRING FLING WED. JUNE 7TH AT 5 PM ST. ANDREWS GOLF CLUB HASTING ON HUDSON!

2 Two Bills Endorsed/Supported by NYS AAUW Now in New York State Legislature for Your Advocacy Attention: Submitted by Jane Pendergast I.! Ban the Salary History Question - A.6707 (Galef) / S.5233 (Carlucci) The American Association of University Women of New York State supports legislation that would prohibit employers from requiring potential employees to disclose their previous salary. Forcing candidates to disclose their salary history unfairly targets women, minorities, and people with disabilities, who are, on average, paid less than their counterparts. This practice perpetuates instances of income disparity and unfairly targets those who have previously worked in lower income positions. II.! New York Health Act - A.4738 (Gottfried) / S.4840 (Rivera) NYHA Single payer healthcare like Canadaʼs, government administered, like Medicare, organized around councils formed to guide in areas of service. Financed by automatic deductions from payroll, payments by self-employed, based on ability to pay. Care will be paid for at 80% level, provided by private medical professionals or clinics covers everything covered by ACA, plus dental, glasses, etc. Designed to produce cost savings through administrative simplification. Insurance companies will not participate except through possible supplemental policies as with Medicare. Economic savings are predicted to reduce healthcare costs through influence of single payer structure on drug and device costs and treatment costs. Provision for economic aid for disruption of current employer administration-related and insurance-related employment structure retraining assistance to qualify those displaced for new but related healthcare employment. Please see the upcoming issue of The Focus newsletter of AAUW NYS for more information on both these bills. REPORT FROM THE AAUW-NY STATE CONVENTION by Marilee Scheuneman 2

3 ART INTEREST GROUP CURRENT ISSUES GROUP CURRENT ISSUES IN EDUCATION GROUP POETRY INTEREST GROUP STEM INTEREST GROUP NEW INTEREST GROUPS? "Exploring Shakespeare"Adult Debate Team AAUW BOOK GROUP MEETINGS! DAYTIME LITERATURE GROUP TUESDAY MORNING LIT GROUP EV ENING LIT ERAT URE GROUP 3

4 SPRING FLING!! Help us Celebrate This Year and Look Forward to You are invited to the Spring Fling that will take place in a beautiful setting in the clubhouse of the St. Andrews Golf Club at 6 PM on Wednesday, June 7th. St. Andrews is located very near the Jackson Avenue exit of the Sprain Parkway at 10 Old Jackson Avenue, Hastings on Hudson, N. Y. (phone ). It is five miles south of 287. There is ample parking. Our celebration offers good friends, fine food, and fun and an opportunity to learn about and honor our three Westchester Community College scholarship recipients! The cost is $55 per person. Please make checks out to AAUW Westchester, and send to Carol McMillan, 14 Lyon St., Rye Brook, NY If you have any questions or special dietary needs, please call Selena Barron at or selenabarron@optonline.net AAUW SUMMER ACTIVITIES Tuesday, July 11 10:30 a.m. Farm tour, Mt. Kisco noon - Lunch Please contact Carol McMillan: McMillancar@cs.com, Sunday, August 13 at 3:00 p.m. - an afternoon of theater in downtown Ossining Please contact Elaine Hartel for more information: elaine_hartel@msn.com, or

5 PUBLIC POLICY WOMEN S ISSUES IN THE WORK FORCE AND IN THE PROSECUTOR S OFFICE -by Selena Barron On May 6th in the NY Times on the first page of the Business Section an article by Binyamin Appelbaum reported on Janet Yellen s speech at Brown University in which she advocated for helping women join the work force. On May 7th in the NY Times an article by Deborah Cotton entitled Don t Punish Crime Victims, reveals what is happening to women who refuse to testify against their assailants. In the same period that the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified before a Senate committee, it would have been easy to miss these articles. However, each article is of vital importance to women, and because women do not live in isolation, to their families and to all Americans. Janet Yellen, spoke at her alma mater, celebrating the 125 years of Women at Brown Conference. The title of her 18 page speech was So We All Can Succeed: 125 Years of Women s Participation in the Economy. Ms. Yellen is the first woman to head the Federal Reserve Board and it s hard to imagine Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, or Paul Volker making this speech. Ms Yellen said the title of her speech was based on a quote from Malala Yousafzi who said: We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back. Ms Yellen pointed out that our work force is aging and that almost one fifth of our workers will reach retirement age by Our present productivity is very slow. Our Gross Domestic Product was only seven tenths of one percent for the first three months this year. Ms. Yellen argued that the United States was missing a growth opportunity by failing to adequately address the needs of female workers. In April only 75 percent of women ages 25 to 54 were either working or looking for work, while the percent for men was 88.6 percent. Since the 1990 s our work force participation by women has dropped and we are now 17th compared to 22 other developed nations. A research study at Cornell University found that our decline from 6th position can be traced to government policies. Other countries provide more paid maternity leave, affordable child care and flexible work schedules. Ms. Yellen also listed the pay gap between earnings for men and women, discrimination against women, and women s domestic responsibilities as barriers to women joining and climbing up the ladder in our work force. Ms. Yellen cited a recent estimate that raising women s participation to the same level as men s could increase the nation s annual economic output by five percent. The article, Don t Punish Crime Victims, was written by Deborah Cotton a month before she recently died from wounds suffered four years ago as a result of a shooting at a mother s day parade in New Orleans. Two young men shot into the crowd and 18 others were also wounded. Ms. Cotton was a journalist covering the parade for a local New Orleans paper. The article was prefaced by a statement from Robert Rhodes, vice president of the Alliance for Safety and Justice, an organization that gives crime victims a voice in public policy. Mr. Rhodes worked with and praised, Ms. Cotton s desire for solutions to crime that prioritized safety and economic investment in the community, rather than ineffective tough on crime, approaches. Ms. Cotton wrote that everyday people are shot, raped, robbed, beaten or hurt in New Orleans. If you are black and from the community, do you pick up the phone and report the crime?...what will the prosecutor do if you don t cooperate? The office of the district attorney of Orleans Parish is arresting and incarcerating victims who get scared and refuse to come to court. A report shows that in 2016 six victims were arrested. Four of these victims survived murder attempts, one victim was a rape survivor and one had a gun pointed at her head. The district attorney s office tried to arrest nine other victims, but couldn t locate them. Ms. Cotton wrote 5

6 Arresting victims for failing to testify fosters a sense of powerlessness by further victimizing the person. And it is a show of aggression by our elected officials who are supposed to be the authorities we turn to so that our sense of stability in our community can be restored. The community doesn t trust the Orleans Parish police department that has been under a federal consent decree since 2012 for violations of civil rights bad enough to justify federal intervention. Often victims fear they will be murdered if they testify. Ms. Cotton pointed out that the district attorney in Harris County, Texas jailed a rape victim for not returning to testify again the next day. The rape victim had a mental breakdown when she was forced to testify. In her own case, Ms. Cotton wrote that she refused to testify because, I d finally clawed myself out of a pit of grief, despair and PTSD and I wanted to live again. Why should I risk my health to testify for the prosecution? She was not forced to testify because other victims and witnesses came forward. Ms. Cotton finishes by discussing necessary government policy changes. We need prosecutors who will work with us so that we can build trust. We must believe that our prosecutors see lasting public safety is the end goal, not jail. District attorneys must promise to listen to the needs and desires of crime victims and never ever arrest a survivor who is too scared to testify. These articles clearly illustrate that women still do not have an even playing field. There are government policies that now work against women, in the work place and in the justice system. Advocating for equal opportunity and for the end of the pay gap for women at work is important. Advocating for sensitive, trustworthy police and prosecutors is important. AAUW is working toward changing government policies to attain its goal of equality for women. As a member you are a woman making a difference. Membership News by Phyllis Hirth Marylou Green JOIN AAUW WESTCHESTER BRANCH 6

7 Join us at Cazenovia! AAUW-NYS Summer Leadership Conference July 21-23, 2017 Cazenovia College Cazenovia, NY Speakers: Cordy Galligan, AAUW VP for Marketing and Communications: Harnessing our Energy! Dr. Karen Pastorello, Professor: Labor Feminism Programming Small but Mighty: Simple projects for branch outreach Skillbuilding for Success: concrete skills for all leaders Participation: ALL AAUW members are invited Subsidized by AAUW-NYS $115 for the entire weekend (2 nights, 6 meals), $120 for paper registration Register NOW! Go to Calling all AAUW Members The world needs more women leaders. The world needs YOU! REMINDER OF DUES RENEWAL Membership in AAUW expires at the end of June so it's time to renew. $85 covers national, state, and branch dues. For those who are life members, the state and branch portion is $36. All but $3 of the national dues is tax deductible. Make checks payable to AAUW Westchester and mail to Carol McMillan at 14 Lyon Street, Rye Brook NY This year if you prefer to pay by credit card, this option will be available in the branch website. A $1 service charge will apply. 7

8 DEDE EMERSON: AND, FOR MY NEXT ACT By Breann McKeon, West chest er AAUW Branch Int ern Je suis un femme libérée, the French translation for I am a liberated woman is what author Dede Emerson meant to say when asked at a party in Algeria why she was overseas without her husband. She didn t receive a shocked response due to her bold answer, but instead because she accidentally said that she was a prostitute. This was one of the many exciting and hilarious stories she shared at the AAUW Westchester Branch meeting on May 5th. Emerson, a fellow branch member, told the tale of how she was transformed from a small-town girl from Minnesota to a traveling jazz pianist. Emerson was raised in what she describes as a small and safe environment, but never allowed this to confine her unique aspirations. I always had a supporting mother and grandmother, she said, My mother always let me follow my bliss. Emerson began taking piano lessons when she was eight years old. Some of her earliest inspirations for piano, such as Nat King Cole and Dave Brubeck, stemmed from performances she saw when she was only fifteen years old. As her piano playing skills only flourished as she grew older, Emerson began catching the eye of some famous, and interesting individuals. While attending a house party with her piano teacher hosted by renowned inventor Sherman Fairchild, Fairchild addressed Emerson about her musical talent and asked for help editing tapes. There were all these models around and there I was in a dirndl skirt and sandals with no makeup, Emerson joked, I wanted to die. She then began working for him for an eight-year period. Emerson continued to play at night clubs in New York. She even had the chance to play on behalf of her idols, such as Brubeck and Nat King Cole s brother Freddy. A highlight of her career was collaborating with singer Johnny Mathis, whom she met through his manager who was a roommate for a summer. Despite the exciting opportunities Emerson took on as a pianist, she became exhausted with the nature of the music industry. I don t care if you re Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra or Johnny Mathis to that extent, she said, You re like a piece of chattel. She then used money she inherited from a favorite aunt to travel the world. She visited countries such as Pakistan and India, and says the poverty was nothing like she d ever seen. Inspired by this poverty, Emerson embarked on her next career path and applied to work at the United Nations. In her time working at the U.N., Emerson was determined to make a difference in the countries she visited. A highlight of working with the U.N. was fighting to have a Rape Crisis Center for women built in Trinidad. When they are raped a piece of their identity is lost, Emerson said, We have to help them find their strength. Beyond retirement, Emerson continued to play the piano. Returning to New York, she began walking the streets of Manhattan, which resulted in publication of her first book A Different Kind of Street Walker where she wrote captions under charming and idiosyncratic pictures taken of curious places from the top to the bottom of Manhattan. Emerson later wrote an autobiography about her exciting life titled And, For My Next Act: from Bebop to the United Nations and Beyond. 8

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10 c/ o Barbara Sarver 34 Scenic Circle Crot on on Hudson, NY JUNE /1 Thursday Bridge Group 1 p.m. 6/2 Current Issues Discussion Group Selena Barron s Home 10 a.m. 6/5 Monday Bridge Group 11 a.m. 6/6 Evening Literature Group Picnic Sue Lambert s Home 5 p.m. 6/7 Spring Fling St. Andrews Club 5 p.m. 6/8 Thursday Bridge Group 1 p.m. 6/9 Art Interest Group Chelsea Gallery Walk 6/12 Monday Bridge Group 11 a.m. 6/13 Tuesday Morning Literature Group Judy Walsh s Home 10 a.m. 6/14 STEM Interest Group Greenburgh Library 10 a.m. 6/14-17 AAUW National Convention Washington D.C. 6/15 Thursday Bridge Group 1 p.m. 6/16 Pay Equity Group Greenburgh Library 1 p.m. 6/19 Monday Bridge Group 11 a.m. 6/20 Financial Interest Study Group Sophie Keyes Home 10 a.m. 6/20 Poetry Interest Group Janice Rabinowitz s Home 1:30 p.m.. 6/21 Board Meeting Sue Lambert s Home 10 a.m. 6/22 Daytime Lit. Gr. Book Selection Mtg. Ossining Library 10 a.m. 6/22 Thursday Bridge Group 1 p.m. 6/26 Monday Bridge Group 11 a.m. 6/28 Current Issues In Education Group Greenburgh Library 10 a.m. 6/29 Thursday Bridge Group 1 p.m. 10