Give Her a Platform: A 1-1 with Jen Mandelblatt

By Allie Lerner

On Thursday, June 13th, I attended Platform Advocacy Day where I lobbied (for the first time ever) for The Women’s Health Protection Act. I was so impressed and intrigued by the experience that I decided to sit down with Jennifer Mandelblatt, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Platform, to discuss her organization, how she became involved in civic engagement as a career path, and the importance of being an advocate.

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The Young Women's Leadership Network Watch Moment of the Month

Each month, we’ll feature one incredible woman from across a Network across the country to highlight the amazing women in our growing national community. We’ll be sharing information about them as well as some highlights from interviews with them, covering things from their favorite female role models to the best budgeting tip they’ve received.

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Bachelorette & Bodily Autonomy: Q & A with JWI's Ariella Neckritz

By Allie Lerner

After last week’s episode, there was a lot of backlash in Bachelor Nation and within our office. Because JWI advocates for the rights of women and girls, especially promoting healthy relationships and bodily autonomy, I decided to interview one of our very own Ariella Neckritz, Manager of Prevention and Training Programs, to discuss her thoughts on last week’s episode.

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Meet Our Newest JWI Staff: Rachel Evans

In case you haven’t heard, our Young Women’s Leadership Network keeps getting bigger (did we mention we’re launching in SF in June?), doing larger events, and there are more women leaders than ever (have you heard about our mentorship program, now with 50 women involved?). It’s a great problem to have – really! But since even National Manager Sasha has to sleep sometimes, we realized we needed to ask for a little help. Enter: Rachel, our new YWLN Coordinator!

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PSA: Stop Asking Pregnant and Postpartum Women If They Plan on Returning to Work

By Emily Pevnick

As I prepare for a massive identity shift to “mom,” I am reading books about self-care, taking classes on transitioning to motherhood and talking to friends about their experiences. These resources prepared me for some intrusive questions about weight gain and breastfeeding, but they did not prepare me for questions about returning to work.

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Taking Action, Creating Change: Join JWI for Young Women’s Advocacy Day

By Megan Dorward

Every year, JWI brings young women from all over the country to capitol hill to meet with senior staff and key congressional leaders. As part of our dedication to civic engagement, we meet with more than 20 Congressional offices to discuss key legislative issues including the Violence Against Women Act, Reproductive Rights, gun violence prevention, and equal pay. Read more to learn more about one attendees experience and consider joining us on April 1st from 8:00am-1:00pm.

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Purim Round-Up

There’s so much to learn from the Purim story - and the writers on the JWI blog have scratched the surface. Before you commence your Purim festivities, we encourage you to curl up with some hamentaschen and reflect on the varied lessons to be pulled from this joyous holiday.

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Helping Women from Menstruation to Menopause: A Conversation with Vagipreneur Rachel Braun Scherl

By Sue Tomchin

When you plug the word “entrepreneur” into Google you get 791 million results. Rachel Braun Scherl has carved out a unique and gutsy category within this mammoth realm. She calls herself a “vagipreneur™ —an entrepreneur focused on the business of female sexual health and wellness.

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How the Purim story teaches us about gendered appearance expectations

By Rabbi Richard Hirsh

Despite the hyperbole that is characteristic of the Scroll of Esther, this  gender-specific discrepancy in how much time must be allowed to prepare oneself for public presentation remains a conundrum in contemporary teen-age culture, inside the synagogue as well as outside. There remain significant discrepancies between Bar Mitzvah boys and Bat Mitzvah girls when it comes to "how to dress."

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Student D'Vars Bring New Perspectives to Ancient Texts

Our Change the Culture Student Ambassador Program empowers students to be activists, bringing conversations about healthy relationships to their campuses. One way they do this is through Healthy Relationship Shabbats - where students are brought together over dinner for activities and discussion on the qualities of a healthy relationship in a Jewish context. These student d’vars show how students are engaging closely with JWI’s work, and framing their college experience through ancient text.

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The Bachelor Franchise says “Me Too”

By Sasha Altschuler and Erin McMullen

Here at JWI, several of us identify as members of Bachelor Nation, and Caelynn’s disclosure to Colton about her experiences as a sexual assault survivor deeply resonated with us. One in five women are sexual assault survivors, which means one in five women watching the Bachelor are victims of sexual assault. Caelynn’s public confession is more than incredibly brave; it’s an opportunity to open a critical dialogue.

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Life-affirming lessons from Holocaust survivors

By Dara Biton

With their infectious attitudes, bubbly personalities, and overall joyful demeanors, Edith, Mary Bauer, and Martha Sternback, are the embodiment of “not letting them win.” LAMOTH’s L’Dough V’Dough program (a play on the Hebrew, L’Dor V’Dor--from generation to generation) brings together survivors with participants from local schools and organizations. They spend a few hours together braiding challah dough, and while the challah bakes, hearing the survivors’ powerful stories.

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