Women and Girls Foundation

No place for women: PA County Jails

Heather Arnet — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 18:35:15 +0000

WGF grantee in the news! The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette applauds a recently released report by 2011 WGF grantee, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, on the reproductive health care needs of incarcerated women. WGF has been a leader in investing in advocacy efforts to ensure that incarcerated women have access to full, fair, and comrehensive reproductive health care since 2005. From our first grant to Lydia’s Place in 2005 to help ban shackling of pregnant women in our Allegheny County Jail, to follow up grants to support research to make the case, and grants to support the development of a state wide coalition to successfully pass legislation, WGF – donors have been at the lead of this important issue.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12048/1210722-192.stm#ixzz1ml78EAkO

WGF’s Response to PG’s Top 12 Influential ‘People’

Tara Simmons — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:44:54 +0000

On Sunday, January 1st, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published its list of “Top 12 Influential People in Business” of 2011. We thought this list had some omissions – specifically, it contained NO women or people of color. Click here to read the letter to the editor that the PG published in response by WGF’s CEO Heather Arnet.

As our first call to action of the new year, WGF asked you, our friends and supporters, to let the P-G editors know what women and/or people of color you would have included on this list, so that they would have lots of good ideas for next time. WGF supporters also posted a ton of fantastic ideas on our Facebook and Twitter pages and tell US your thoughts, too!

Hey PG, what about one of these influential women?

Superheroes Fighting Breast Cancer

Heather Arnet — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:47:44 +0000

Wonder Woman’s breasts are a real attention-getter, that’s for sure. That’s one way to promote breast cancer awareness. Throw in Catwoman, She-Hulk, and Storm, and you’re bound to get people talking. That’s the intention of a breast cancer awareness campaign launched in Mozambique. If these powerful heroines take breast cancer seriously, you should, too.

The ads read: “Nobody’s immune to breast cancer. When we talk about breast cancer, there’s no women or superwomen. Everybody has to do the self-examination monthly. Fight with us against the enemy and, when in doubt, talk with your doctor.”

When you’re trying to educate people about a health issue, getting their attention in the first place is the hardest part. This campaign is already generating conversation.

“There is some controversy in the medical world about the value of breast self-exams. Even if it’s not the best way to detect cancer (mammography or thermography can “see” more than your hand, and many if not most lumps that can be felt are benign), I think more awareness and more data is generally a good thing. Even for superheroes.” — Xeni Jardin on Boing Boing

“…maybe Susan G. Komen for the Cure or another women’s health organization should see if Marvel and DC would be willing to collaborate on similar campaign in the United States. It seems like there could be some real mutual messaging there: women as supeheroines, superheroines as accessible women” — Alyssa Rosenberg on ThinkProgress

Climate Change’s Impact on Women Globally

Heather Arnet — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:49:20 +0000

On the heels of multiple attacks on family planning efforts in the Unites States, WGF’s CEO Heather Arnet and the CEO of Population Action International, Suzanne Ehlers, write an op-ed for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette articulating the impact climate change is having on women globally. We must start thinking about our moral responsibility to extend family planning options and accessibility to more women nationally and internationally as women are struggling to surivive economically and raise healthy children across the world.

Read the full article on the PG site here

“Odelia Escalante Zuniga carefully scoops water out of a large plastic barrel with a tiny bowl. She’s careful not to use too much, as she doesn’t know when the water truck will come next. Odelia moved to Lima four years ago, after changing weather patterns brought crop failures and food scarcity to her rural Peruvian village. While she hoped for a brick home with a real kitchen, her family, like many migrants, lives in slums on the margins of the city with no running water or electricity.

With four young children, Odelia cannot work outside the home, and her husband earns little as a day laborer. Odelia says her husband used to want more children, but after seeing the harsh reality the family faces, she now protects herself by getting contraceptive injections.

“If I had more children, what would I do?” she asks. “What would they eat?”

Read the full article on the PG site here

Work continues on County Wage Equity Audit

Heather Arnet — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:48:38 +0000

The Women and Girls Foundation, lobbied Onorato and the council to conduct the audit. Heather Arnet, CEO of WGF, said she’s optimistic that Executive-elect Rich Fitzgerald, who takes office in January when Onorato’s term ends, and state Rep. Chelsa Wagner, D-Brookline, who was elected controller, will complete the study. Fitzgerald said he plans to complete the audit after he takes office. Wagner did not return calls for comment. “We don’t want it to just get completed,” Arnet said. “We want to ensure that it was done well.”

WGF CEO on PCNC “NightTalk”

Heather Arnet — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:29:43 +0000

Heather Arnet on PCNC live Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM on “NightTalk: Get to the Point”

Host: P.J. Maloney, KQV Newsradio

Invited Panelists:

Nick Kotik ( D ), PA State Representative, District 45

Heather Arnet, CEO, Women and Girls Foundation

Dawn Meling, Commonwealth Foundation

The program is telecast LIVE on Friday, 10/28 from 8:00-9:00 PM; in addition there are encores that Friday late night 2:00AM and on Monday, 10/31 from 5:00 – 6:00PM. Additionally, Friday’s show may be telecast as the “Best of NightTalk” on Sunday, 10/30 at 10:00PM.

GirlGov Participant Blogs About Her Experience

Jonathan — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:48:14 +0000

On Monday evening, young women from the southwestern counties of Pennsylvania milled into the Hilton Garden Inn at Southpointe for GirlGov 2011, a program sponsored by WGF. During the “welcome” dinner and orientation, the ladies learned about the history of WGF. Soon after, the young women were introduced to the story of GirlGov.

Click Here for Full Blog

WGF Addresses State Education Cuts

Jonathan — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:13:01 +0000

Superintendents, teachers unions, education advocacy groups, parents, and youth outreach programs gave testimony to the House Democratic Policy Committee in the Green Tree Municipal Center on October 21, 2011 about how a loss in state funding to education has impacted the schools — and people — in their districts.

Click Here for Full Article

Click here for Channing’s Testimony

School Officials Testify Against Budget Cuts

Jonathan — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:41:55 +0000

A dozen school administrators, teachers, parents and representatives of nonprofit groups shared their perspectives at Friday’s Pennsylvania State House Democratic Policy Committee hearings in Green Tree.

Clike Here for Full Article

High School Girls Learn the Ropes in Harrisburg

Heather Arnet — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:34:06 +0000

Essential Public Radio

10/19/2011

Southwestern Pennsylvania High School Girls Learn the Ropes in Harrisburg

100 girls from Allegheny, Washington, Green, and Fayette counties spent Tuesday at the state capitol, shadowing lawmakers from their home districts. It’s part of the second annual GirlGov effort aimed at attracting more Pennsylvania women to …
… and a great way to start is by engaging more girls in civics,” said Heather Arnet, CEO of the Women and Girls Foundation, which created GirlGov. Each of the 50 participating lawmakers had two girls shadowing them. Not all of the elected officials involved were …

Click Here for Full Article