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Catherine Read

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by Catherine Read

Code Girls – Liza Mundy

(Feb 2018) People in her family knew Dot [Dorothy Braden Bruce] was doing something for the war, but they assumed it was secretarial and low-level. She could not even tell her mother. But even as she admired the Navy women’s outfits, it never occurred to Dot that the WAVES might be engaged in the same war work that she was, endeavoring – just as she was – to beat back the fascist menace and break the codes that would bring the boys home.

I’m familiar with the wonderful writing of journalist and author Liza Mundy. A long time resident of Arlington, VA, she attended North Cross School in Roanoke, VA, before going on to earn degrees at both Princeton University and the University of Virginia. She is a talented writer who brings to life this amazing story of the thousands of women who helped the Allies win in World War II.

My aunts, Maggie Catasca and Madeline Catasca, left their home in Roanoke to join the war effort as well. Aunt Maggie was a WAVE and Aunt Madeline had a civilian job and they shared an apartment in Arlington, VA, along with another roommate. My Aunt Mary Jane recalls that she and my mother went up to visit them over the summers while they were there. I recalled that my mother told me Madeline had worked on the code team that decoded the Japanese surrender. When I asked her daughter, my cousin Maggie, what her mother did during the war, she responded, “She never talked about what she did in the war. Neither did my father. I think it was secretarial.”

All the women who worked on code breaking teams were sworn to secrecy. Even roommates did not talk about their work with each other. And ALL OF THEM were told to say they did secretarial work.

On the eve of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army had 181 people working in its small, highly secret code-breaking office in downtown Washington. By 1945 nearly 8,000 people would be working stateside for the Army’s massive code-breaking operation, at a much-expanded suburban Virginia venue called Arlington Hall, with another 2,500 serving in the field. Of the entire group, some 7,000 were women. This means that of the Army’s 10,500 person-strong code-breaking force, nearly 70 percent was female. Similarly, at the war’s outset the U.S. Navy had a few hundred code breakers, stationed mostly in Washington but also in Hawaii and the Philippines. By 1945, there were 5,000 Naval code breakers stationed in Washington, and about the same number serving overseas. At least 80 percent of the Navy’s domestic code breakers – some 4,000 – were female. Thus, out of about 20,000 total American code breakers during the war, some 11,000 were women.

And they were sworn to secrecy. Which may account for why the children and grandchildren, parents and siblings of these 11,000 women had no idea what they did in the war. This story NEEDS to be told! The comparison to Hidden Figures is justified – why did it take decades for these stories to be told? There is a whole generation of girls who grew up with no idea that women were mathematicians, scientists, technology pioneers . . . and war heroes.

In 1942, only about 4 percent of American women had completed four years of college. Both the Navy and the Army recruited these young women right out of their college classrooms in a highly secretive mission where they themselves were not certain of what they had signed up for. They next set their sights on recruiting school teachers from all over the country, as they too showed an aptitude for code breaking work. But as the war progressed and more and more women came to Washington and Arlington, they discovered there was no way to really predict who would be good at this type of work.

Administrators were finding to their chagrin that there often was not a correlation between a person’s background and how well that person would do at breaking codes. Some PhDs were hopeless, and some high school dropouts were naturals. There was a stage actress who was working out wonderfully, as was a woman with little formal education who had been a star member of the American Cryptogram Association, a membership group for puzzle and cipher enthusiasts. Code breaking required literacy, numeracy, care, creativity, painstaking attention to detail, a good memory, and a willingness to hazard guesses. It required a tolerance for drudgery and a boundless reserve of energy and optimism. A reliable aptitude test had yet to be developed.

The research here is excellent and captivating. The personal stories of these women really shine a light on what it was like to live and work in such an intense time where the lives of their husbands and brothers hinged on how well they could do this work. Liza Mundy did extensive interviews with Dorothy Braden Bruce, a native of Lynchburg, VA, and a long time resident of Richmond, VA. Dot saved the many letters that were sent and received while her future husband, Jim Bruce, was overseas and that contemporaneous account of that era is priceless.

This is one of those books that needs to be a “must read” for those who believe they know the history of World War II. That knowledge is incomplete without understanding the contributions of 11,000 women whose stories have never been told. Their contributions to victories like the Battle of the Midway and other pivotal battles of the war,  saved the lives of countless U.S. soldiers and sailors. They are truly unsung heroes, many of whom went to their graves committed to keeping the secret of their work as they promised. I highly recommend this book to everyone who can read.

Filed Under: Good Books, Virginia, Women Tagged With: Arlington Hall, Code Breakers, Liza Mundy, WAVES, women, WWII

by Rachel Simon

Virginia Menstrual Equity – Holly Seibold of BRAWS

(Jan. 3, 2018) Catherine Read interviews Holly Siebold, founder of Bringing Resources and Aid to Women’s Shelters (BRAWS), and Shaheen Khurama, head of the BRAWS Advocacy Committee. They are a non-partisan coalition, composed of groups and individuals with interest in menstrual equity. They believe that access to safe menstrual products is a matter of human dignity and public health.

Shaheen KhuranaThe advocacy committee, notes Khurama, has a mission to support public policy initiatives that have three main objectives. First, they want to expand access to menstrual products in schools, women’s shelters and correctional facilities. Second, they aim to make menstrual products more affordable by making them tax-free or allowing the products to be included in Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) Benefits, and by adding eligibility of these items for refundable tax credits. Lastly, they aim to make the products safer by requiring manufacturers to list the materials used in the products.

Author Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, in her book Periods Gone Public, coined the term “menstrual equity”, where she talks about the stigma of openly talking about menstrual cycles. She also notes that women and girls do not have equal opportunities for success in cultures throughout the world because of how they are treated or isolated during their menstrual cycles. This book caught on with female grassroots activists in the US. Although women don’t face many of the obvious problems that occur in other world cultures, female advocates did find parallels and wanted to start a grass roots movement to change the culture around menstrual cycles.

In an effort to educate girls about this issue, Seibold shares that BRAWS has started a teen leadership council, where girls from Elementary, Middle and High Schools come together and learn how to talk openly about periods. They are then ambassadors, as they return to their home schools and hold conversations about periods with their peers. BRAWS aims to educate the next generation and take away the stigma about periods, using proper terminology, as well as having free products available in bathrooms and clinics at schools. BRAWS has heard from girls who have had to leave school because they get their period and don’t have access to products to manage their menstruation. This is something that can and should be addressed.

In the upcoming Virginia Legislative session, there are three bills being introduced to address the goals of BRAWS. Del. Kaye Kory is introducing HB 83, which would require correctional facilities to provide feminine hygiene products free of charge to inmates. ( update: since the interview this bill has passed through both the House and the Senate and is awaiting signature from the Governor).

Del. Jennifer Boysko introduced two other bills designed to provide tax-free purchases of sanitary products, HB 24 and the complementary bill HB 25. HB 24 would make them permanently tax-free, and HB 25 would make products tax-free during the back to school tax-free holiday (update: both of these bills failed to make it out of the House).

The Virginia Menstrual Equity Coalition has brought together women’s advocacy groups from around the Commonwealth. These are not partisan groups, they are simply women from all across the state who want to advance the agenda of de-stigmatization of menstrual cycles and increased access to feminine hygiene products.   BRAWS encourages women to contact their legislators (state and federal) to help advance their goals to make these products safer and more affordable. The coalition is thrilled to have the support of Gov. Ralph Northam, and hopes that with his medical background he can help raise the profile of these issues.  On the Federal level, Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) has legislation moving through Capitol Hill to require ingredient labeling for feminine hygiene products. You can follow the progress of all of this legislation on the BRAWS website and on the Facebook page of the Virginia Menstrual Equity Coalition.

Filed Under: Political, TV Shows, Virginia, Women, Your Need to Know Tagged With: BRAWS, BRAWS teen leadership council, Bringing Access to Women's Shelter, Delegate Jennifer Boysko, Delegate Kaye Kory, feminine hygiene, Flexible Spending Accounts, FSA, Governor of Virginia, Grace Meng, grass roots, HB 24, HB 25, HB 83, Holly Seibold, Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, menstrual cycles, Menstrual Equity, Periods, Periods Gone Public, Ralph Northam, Shaheen Khurana, tax free feminine hygiene, Virginia Menstrual Equity, Virginia Menstrual Equity Coalition, women

by William Zuhl

Network NoVA with Stair Calhoun – Your Need to Know

(Dec 6, 2017) Catherine Read interviews Stair Calhoun, founding member Network NoVA. Dedicated to involving women in politics, Network NoVA was founded by Stair Calhoun, Katherine White and other activists who had participated in the Women’s March of January 2017. These grassroots activists organized women in support of Democratic candidates for the Virginia House of Delegates election of 2017.

Following the 2016 Presidential election local women, including Stair Calhoun, sought to find ways that they could make their voices heard in politics. Seeking to make the biggest difference possible, they organized themselves into Network NoVA. Their organization has since gone from strength to strength organizing a Women’s Summit in June of 2017 and backing Democratic candidates in the 2017 election. Dedicated to keeping local people involved, their summit was organized by a group of 7 women in less than 70 days, but still had hundreds of attendees, including 30 state delegates or delegate candidates and a number of sponsorships.

Stair Calhoun attributes their success to both their willingness to innovate and the inability to take no as an answer. Network NoVA’s newness aided them in providing a place to try new ideas without the inertia of the old. They agreed to back any candidate whom they believed best represented the women of their district, regardless of their perceived chance of winning, and tried new techniques to encourage women to vote. They involved children in making personalized reminder cards, which encouraged women to make voting plans in advance to support of their motto “When we vote, we win.” Further, they produced more than 17 different short videos in support of various candidates.

Currently, Network NoVa is working on contacting newly elected delegates to find out how to best support them, as well as creating plans to keep constituent pressure on legislators in Richmond on a range of topics including gun reform, the ERA amendment, Medicaid expansion and redistricting reform. To do this Network NoVa is creating VAPLAN, the Virginia Progressive Legislative Alert Network, a centralized way to keep people informed about what the state legislature is doing. They seek to create a system where people can check on what their legislators are doing on the issues important to them in an easy manner without being inundated with other information.

Network NoVA has partnered with a number of other organizations, including Democratic Promise, in order to try and reach out to rural Virginians. Democratic Promise is an organization based around the idea of reverse constituent services. They contact people in rural Virginia and seek to learn about the issues and problems they currently face, then put them in contact with the services that could solve them. They seek to keep politicians focused on local issues even between elections.

Going into the future, Network NoVA is seeking to expand their membership. They’ve already begun preparations for their 2018 Women’s Summit, and signups are already available. Topics at their June 23rd summit are planned to include how to get out the rural vote, Democratic Promise and the involvement of new technologies in elections. Network NoVA has also begun their initial planning for the 2018 congressional elections, where they seek to back Democratic candidates in the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 9th and 10th congressional districts, and even hope to support candidates in every district. Overall, they seek to get people involved in politics, while also seeking out the ways they can use Network NoVA to serve the needs of all Virginians.

To learn more about Network NoVA visit them at their website at networknova.org, you can follow them at Facebook, join their events via Meetup or email them directly at [email protected]

Filed Under: Blogging, Political, TV Shows, Virginia, Women, Your Need to Know Tagged With: Advocacy, Catherine Read, democrats, House of Delegates, Leadership, Network NoVA, northern virginia, Stair Calhoun, Virginia, Virginia Legislature, women, women in politics

by Catherine Read

The Women of Network NoVA – Inside Scoop

(Oct 23, 2017) Catherine Read talks with several women in the Network NoVA organization about how they found each other, how they came together around shared goals, the momentum behind the June 2017 Women’s Summit, and what they are doing in the final days of Virginia’s 2017 election cycle to get more progressive minded candidates elected to office.

In the first segment, Stair Calhoun and Katherine White discuss how they began to organize for the Women’s March shortly after the presidential election of 2016. They knew each other previously and worked together to organize transportation (including water taxis) for women in Northern Virginia who wanted to attend the march. They organized volunteers into teams and created opportunities for women to make pins and buttons for the march as well as selling 1,500 beanies and march t-shirts. It was a collaborative effort from the beginning. Meetings in basements and restaurants, attending Huddle meetings, hosting their own meet-ups and building a network of other women willing to do the same. It has been a learning process for many women who have never engaged in political activism and are focused for the first time on the importance of statewide elections. It was also about shared trust and risk-taking to make things happen.

Women's Summit Flip VA BlueBarbara Jones and Holly Hazard joined the effort to move the momentum of the Women’s March forward into a grassroots effort around Virginia’s 2017 elections. Virginia is one of only two states with an off-year Governor’s race, and we are also electing a Lt. Governor, Attorney General and 100 members of the House of Delegates. Once the idea of hosting the Women’s Summit, Flip Virginia Blue conference was born, eight women put together the event in just 70 days. Held at the National Conference Center in Leesburg, it attracted numerous supporting organizations as sponsors, brought in 344 attendees and 30 candidates running for the House of Delegates from all over the Commonwealth of Virginia. Each candidate got to speak for a few minutes and each one was impressive in the stories they had to tell about why they were running for office. The idea of the initiative for The Blue Migration came out of that event as Network NoVA turned their attention to how to support candidates in rural areas with the manpower and resources available in Northern Virginia.

Robbin Warner talks about the concept of Postcards4VA that took off and spawned dozens of postcard parties at kitchen tables throughout the area. People hosted their own postcard parties which involved printing out the cards for specific candidates and then hand addressing them and writing personal messages on them. It was a massive effort resulting in over 136,000 postcards being printed, hand addressed and mailed with a stamp – all provided by individual volunteers. Efforts like this involved even the youngest of family members and resulted in a statewide civics lesson to many people who have not gotten involved in statewide elections before this year.

From the beginning, Network NoVA was about collaboration with existing organizations, using social media to meet people where they were already congregating and showing up to events with buttons and flyers to promote the Network NoVA events. Some events were fundraisers, many others were canvassing initiatives to door knock and phone bank for individual candidates and for the Democratic ticket. Ideas were welcomed from every source and resource and many were a triumph of will and ingenuity over any previous experience or know how. The white board video Why Virginia Matters 2017 is an effort to explain in the simplest terms possible why voters need to care about the elections taking place on Nov. 7, 2017.

We Vote We Win ButtonThe branding of “When We Vote We Win 2017” on buttons and t-shirts has become ubiquitous in the year’s campaign cycle – in Northern Virginia and across the Commonwealth. In the final days leading up to election day, Network NoVa is focused on activities to Get Out the Vote (GOTV) and all are welcome to join the effort. You can follow them on Twitter @NetworkVirginia, find them on Meetup,  join their Facebook group, or check the website for updates including the planning for The Women’s Summit on June 23, 2018.  Email them at [email protected]

Filed Under: Inside Scoop, Political, TV Shows, Virginia, Women Tagged With: Blue Migration, Candidates, Election 2017, House of Delegates, Network NoVA, Politics, Postcards4Virginia, Virginia, We Vote We Win, women, Women's Summit

by Catherine Read

Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear… and Why

Trainwreck - Sady Doyle (Jan. 2017) Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear… and Why is a fascinating book. It gives context – historical context – to well known “trainwrecks” from Mary Wollstonecraft, Charlotte Bronte & Sylvia Plath, to Billie Holliday and Marilyn Monroe, right up to Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.

Here’s the thing: What they have in common is they are remarkable, talented and accomplished women. We look at them and want to believe they must somehow be “flawed.” It makes me think of how people believe that poverty is also a “character flaw” and not situational or circumstantial. We should just be able to fix what’s wrong with us and then we would know success and acceptance!

Sady Doyle has done a great job in her historical research. I was fascinated to learn about some of these women whose life stories I was unfamiliar with. She also draws a common thread from the 17th century to the 21st century to show the similarity in how women are viewed – by the media, in the context of the social norms of the day and always through the lens of impossible standards.

One of the most interesting chapters is about Hillary Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. This book is not an academic endeavor. I believe her research is credible and adds so much to the subject she’s trying to illuminate. But at the end of the day, it’s meant to be a contemporary work about where we are right now and the women and stories that are making headlines. This book is meant to shift our paradigm – to show us the commonplace hostility toward women through a different plane of the prism. Doyle does a good job with that.

I highly recommend the book. In fact, I recommended it to my oldest daughter and she loved it! It is time well invested. We need to consider more thoughtfully the signals we are sending to every generation of girls who become women.

Filed Under: Blogging, Good Books, Women Tagged With: History, Sady Doyle, Trainwreck, women, Womens Studies

by Catherine Read

Friends of Guest House – Inside Scoop

(Dec. 5, 2016) Guest House in Alexandria, VA, was founded in 1974 to assist formerly incarcerated women with their transition back into the community. Executive Director Kari Galloway joins host Catherine Read in explaining the services provided to the residents of Guest House and their remarkable success in supporting over 3,000 women in the last 42 years. Joining them in the first segment is former resident Terry Garrett who now speaks to local groups on behalf of this non-profit. In raising awareness of this program, they hope to eventually expand their services to better serve the increasing numbers of women being incarcerated and released here in Northern Virginia.

Jessica Rodgers, the Residential Case Manager for Guest House, and a current resident of two months, Monica, join Catherine in the second segment to talk about the benefits of the three month residential program. There are numerous ways in which these women are supported in the first 90 days after their release, including how they support each other. There are three core programs: the one-year Residential-to-Aftercare continuum and the non-residential Outreach Program. Less than 10% of the women who come through Guest House return to jail or prison. Without such support, nearly 70% of previously incarcerated women will return to jail or prison.

Mariel Branagan, Volunteer Program Coordinator, and Noelle Moore, a volunteer with Guest House, discuss about how important it is for these women to be supported in ways both great and small. Many volunteers share their time, talent and skills in helping these women reconnect to their communities and to their families. Many are mothers, and helping them to reconnect with their children has benefitted more than 4,000 children of previously incarcerated women over the years. Those interested in volunteering can reach Mariel at [email protected]

In Northern Virginia, Guest House is the only group providing reentry support that is both comprehensive (housing, jobs, healthcare and family/community connection) and tailored to women’s unique needs. They continue to seek additional support from agencies, organizations and donors to help expand the services they can provide. Individuals can also support these women through a Target Registry set up to help supply them with basic necessities like toiletries.

Most of all these women need JOBS. Finding companies willing to give them employment opportunities is especially key to their successful reentry into our community and Guest House welcomes all suggestions in this regard.

Filed Under: Inside Scoop, TV Shows, Virginia, Women Tagged With: Guest House, Non-Profit, Prison, Virginia, women

by Catherine Read

The Future of Women in Virginia Politics – Inside Scoop

Virginia has a weak track record in electing women to office. Women make up less than 18% of the legislature, there are no women elected to statewide office (only one has ever been elected – Mary Sue Terry in 1989 as Attorney General), and there is only one woman Representative out of 11 Congressional Districts in 2016.

The first guest is Kate Hanley, former Chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, former Secretary of the Commonwealth, and a principal instructor for Emerge Virginia – a candidate training program for Democratic women.

Amy Laufer is the Chair of the Charlottesville School Board and the founder of the Women Leaders of Virginia PAC that supports Democratic women running for state office with early money and fundraising support.

Delegate Jennifer Boysko was elected to office in the 86th House District in November 2015. She previously ran against the long term incumbent in 2013 narrowly losing by 32 votes. This year she ran in an open seat. She was not endorsed by the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce or The Washington Post, but prevailed with nearly 60% of the votes cast.

Filed Under: Blogging, Inside Scoop, Political, TV Shows, Virginia, Women Tagged With: Amy Laufer, elections, Emerge Virginia, Jennifer Boysko, Kate Hanley, Virginia, women, women in politics, Women Leaders of Virginia

by Catherine Read

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg(July 30, 2013) This book is excellent. I have to believe the discussions it sparked when it was first published were among people who had not read it. Sheryl Sandberg hits the right note in the right tone in pointing out what we have to be conscious of as individuals in shaping our own future and how deliberate we must be in changing the culture.

She is speaking of both the work place and in the home, and it addresses both the expectations we have of women AND men. She concludes by saying that she hopes in the future it will be just as accepted for men to choose to stay home and raise children full time, if they choose to, as it is for women to choose big jobs and careers in addition to motherhood. The world would benefit a great deal if more people read this book and embraced a vision that is entirely attainable.

Filed Under: Good Books, Women Tagged With: gender equality, lean in, women, workplace equality

Catherine S. Read
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