The Scholar and the Feminist XXII:
Our Families: A Feminist Response to the Family Value Debate – October 19, 1996

Conference Program (PDF, 384 KB)

Welcoming Remarks

Judith Shapiro, President, Barnard College

Introduction

Leslie J. Calman, Director, Barnard Center for Research on Women

Morning Plenary

A Feminist Response to the Family Values Debate
Bonnie Thornton Dill, Professor of Women’s Studies, University of Maryland, College Park and co-editor of Women of Color in US Society (Temple, 1994)
Paula Ettelbrick, Empire State Pride Agenda and Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School; formerly Legal Director of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
Martha Fineman, Professor of Law, Columbia University and author of The Neutered Mother: The Sexual Family and Other Twentieth Century Tragedies (Routledge, 1995)
Katha Pollitt, Associate Editor and columnist, The Nation and author of Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism (Vintage, 1994)

Morning Panels

1. The Attack on Welfare Families: Causes, Consequences, and Cures
   Mimi Abramovitz, Professor, Hunter College School of Social Work
   Greer Anne Boyd, Welfare Rights Initiative of the Hunter College Center for the Study of Family Policy
   Ruth Sidel, Professor of Sociology, Hunter College
2. Future Feminists: Gender Equity in the Pre-School Years
   Marjorie Goldsmith, Director, Rockefeller University Children’s School and Infant-Toddler Center
   Cynthia Pollack, Director, Tompkins Hall Nursery School and Childcare Center
3. Social Welfare and State Support for Families in Western Europe
   Mary Ruggie, Professor of Sociology, Columbia University
   Lars Tragardh, Assistant Professor of History, Barnard College
4. Family Values Rebutted: Divorce, Single Parenthood, and the State of the American Family
   Martha Fineman, Professor of Law, Columbia University
   Demie Kurz, Co-Director, Women’s Studies and Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
5. Managing Healthcare for Older Americans
   Martin Petroff, Esq., Lamson and Petroff, formerly with New York City Department of Aging
   Gloria Scherma, Gerontologist; consultant on medical and multidisciplinary services for older adults
6. Forming and Maintaining Lesbian Families
   Suzanne Goldberg, Esq., Staff Attorney, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
7. Choosing to be a Single Mother (Through Conception or Adoption)
   Jane Mattes, Psychotherapist, Founder and National Director, Single Mothers by Choice
   Constance L. Royster, Senior Counsel, Cooper, Liebowitz, Royster, & Wright, and single adoptive parent
   Andrea Troy, adoption consultant and board member, New York Singles Adopting Children
   ` Leni Goodman, Supervisor, rehabilitation and vocational counseling, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center
8. The Promise and Problems of Multiracial Families
   Shinhee Han, CSW, Barnard Student Health Services
   Judith Weisenfold, Assistant Professor of Religion, Barnard College
   Polly Wheat, M.D., Director, Barnard Student Health Services
9. Treating Women in the Alcoholic Family System
   Claudia Bepko, Therapist and author, specializing in family therapy and addiction
   Andrea Spungen, Coordinator, Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Program, Barnard College

Afternoon Panels

10. Ending Family Violence
    Alisa Del Tufo, Founder, Family Violence Project, Urban Justice Center and Sanctuary for Families
    Sally MacNichol, Advocate, Consultant and educator, The Family Violence Project, Urban Justice Center
11. Family Planning in Historical Perspective: Where We’ve Been, Where We’d Like to Go, and Where the Government is Taking Us
    Ellen Chesler, author, Women of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America (Simon and Schuster, 1992; Anchor Books, 1993)
    Ana Dumois, Executive Director, Community Family Planning Council
12. Choosing to be a Stay-at-Home Mom-And a Feminist
    Montana Katz, author of The Gender Bias Prevention Book: Helping Girls and Women to have Satisfying Lives and Careers (Jason Aronson Publising, 1993)
    Diane Walsh, national NOW board member and past President, NOW-NYC
13. Childcare and the State
    Sheila Kamerman, Compton Foundation Centennial Professor of Social Policy and Planning, Columbia University School of Social Work
14. The Psychology of Adoption: Mothers and Children in Open and Closed Adoption
    Betty Jean Lifton, author of nearly thirty books on adoption and psychology for children and adults, including Journey of the Adopted Self: A Quest for Wholeness (Basic Books, 1994)
15. Women of the Sandwich Generation: The Conflicts of Caregiving
    Kathleen D’Arcy has a Masters in social work
    Nina Shapiro, Coordinator, Hunter College Women’s Center
16. Working with Unmarried Adolescent Mothers
    Jan Abernathy, President and Founder, Dreams Into Action
    Gwen Parker Ames, Project Coordinator, World of Work Program: Dreams Into Action
    Kim Ramirez, Director, Liberty Partnerships Program, Borough of Manhattan Community College
17. Lesbian Parenting: Radical or Retrograde?
    Sondra Segal, playwright, poet, essayist, recently anthologized in Dyke Life (Basic Books, 1995); former Co-Artistic Director of The Women’s Experimental Theater
    Roberta Sklar, Theatre Director; formerly Associate Professor of Performing Studies at New York University; former co-artistic director of The Women’s Experimental Theater

Closing Keynote Address

Boundary-Crossing Leadership: A Twenty-First Century Reality
Jewell Jackson McCabe, Chair and Founder, The National Coalition of 100 Black Women; Chair, New York State Jobs Training Partnership council; and President, Jewell Jackson McCabe Associates, Inc.

Director and Conference Coordinator

Leslie J. Calman

Associate Directors

Allison M. Cummings and Isabel Ochoa

Student Assistants

Kate Drabinski, Sophie Fels, Jane Goldschmidt, Cindy Jeffers, Jennifer Samet, Aidan Smith, Chloe Teasdale