Women from across the state gathered at the longest running women’s networking event in the u-s.
The 28th annual ‘I Believe Anita Hill Celebration’ drew hundreds of influential women to the Bull Street district Tuesday night.
This years event centered on moving forward, not back, pushing for pay equality and the fight against sexual harassment and sexual assault as Anita Hill did. Read more>>>
The enormous marble-walled Senate Caucus Room buzzed with activity amid the rush of a phalanx of Washington DC reporters and political journalists. Eager photographers jockeyed for space and positioned their cameras for the key shot of the witness at the green-clothed rectangular table. The entire room had been literally humming with anticipation until the chairman’s gavel sounded loudly and the witness rose from her seat to be sworn in. Beneath the glare of powerful klieg lights, and with the entire nation watching on television, a slender, attractive young African American woman faced the chairman and raised her right hand and swore to tell the truth. Impeccably coiffed and groomed and wearing a modest, crisp, teal-blue suit with parallel rows of golden buttons, she simultaneously and unwittingly took the oath — and her unique place in history. Read more >>>
The impact of sexual harassment in the judiciary
In October 1991, Anita Hill testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee that she was sexually harassed by now-Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, her superior during her time at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. After three grueling days of nationally televised hearings during which the all-male Judiciary Committee tore apart Hill’s character, Justice Thomas was narrowly confirmed to the Supreme Court. Twenty-seven years later, history seemed to be repeating itself when Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee that she was sexually assaulted by now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Despite the enormous controversy associated with its decision, the Senate confirmed Kavanaugh by a razor-thin majority.
Source: American Progress
These days I sometimes struggle to find the words to share about the progress we are making as women.
When I struggle, I remember what Anita Hill told me last year at our first ever Power Women Summit in Los Angeles. I asked how she has persevered year after year since her testimony against Clarence Thomas was doubted and ultimately ignored by the Senate. She said: “Because I knew it wasn’t the end. I knew it was the beginning.”
Source: The Wrap
Anita Hill forever became a household name when she testified that the now Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her during the time she worked with him ten years prior at the age of 25. During the hearing Hill was asked several questions, some leading, and some outright offensive; however, she remained steadfast in the face of the highest court of the United States and shared her truth. Today, Hill is still fighting for the right for people to live a life free of sexual harassment and violence through her work as a professor, researcher, and writer.
Conversations about the prevalence and devastating emotional, physical, and economic effects that sexual violence and reporting sexual violence can have on a person — and how these effects disproportionately devastate lower wage working women of color — have reached a national level in the United States.
Source: BeLatina
Since her days testifying for Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearings, Anita Hill has become a fierce advocate for sexual assault survivors.
The professor recently gave the commencement speech at Wellesley College and discussed how sexual assault deniers enable men to keep doing what they’re doing.
She told the graduating class,
“There are those who would have us believe that the stories and statistics, showing the prevalence of sexual misconduct are a hoax. They prefer to believe in their own myths, often misogynist, about the behavior.” Read more>>>
Joe Biden knew Anita Hill was going to be an issue for him. So a few weeks ago, as he prepared for his presidential announcement, he reached out to her through an intermediary and arranged a telephone call, hoping to assuage her.
It did not go how he had hoped.
On Thursday, the first day of his presidential campaign, the Biden camp disclosed the call, saying the former vice president had shared with Ms. Hill “his regret for what she endured” 28 years ago, when, as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he presided over the confirmation hearings in which she accused Clarence Thomas, President George Bush’s nominee to the Supreme Court, of sexual harassment. Read more>>>
Biden had called Hill earlier this to express his regret over the 1991 Supreme Court hearings where Hill accused Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.
Anita Hill has spoken on Joe Biden‘s call to her that he made earlier this month where, according to a spokesperson for the presidential candidate, he expressed his regret over “what she endured” while testifying against Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991.
“They had a private discussion where he shared with her directly his regret for what she endured and his admiration for everything she has done to change the culture around sexual harassment in this country,” Kate Bedingfield, the deputy campaign manager for Biden, said according to the New York Times.
Hill, however, said that she was unsatisfied with Biden’s call and “declined to characterize his words to her as an apology.”
Source: Washington Post
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Anita Hill and Katy Perry will be honored for their feminist workwith Diane von Furstenberg awards at the Brooklyn Museum Wednesday night.
The 10th annual DVF Awards will celebrate five women at the Brooklyn Museum, where Hill, now a professor of law and women’s studies at Brandeis University, will be awarded The Lifetime Leadership Award for her work fighting sexual harassment after she famously testified against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas at a U.S. Senate hearing. Read more>>>
Last March, former Vice President Joe Biden was the keynote speaker at the It’s On Us rally at the Watsco Center. The It’s On Us movement is a social movement geared towards spreading awareness about sexual and gender-based violence. Along with other speakers, Biden spoke of his experience with trying to end sexual violence against women.
His speech was powerful and transparent; he seemed to be wholly committed to addressing sexual assault on campuses and informed about the topic. He talked about consent and how sexual abuse is more about power than it is about sex. He left us in awe at how capable of a leader he was. Yet, Biden has always had this shadow of allegations and events following him that doesn’t quite match up with the Biden that spoke to students at the University of Miami. Read more>>>