(Newark, N.J., Feb. 27, 2008)  -- Women’s History Month isn’t just about the history of American women; it is dedicated to all aspects of women’s roles in modern life. The following experts at Rutgers University in Newark can discuss various political, economic, social, legal and health issues impacting women today.

ISSUES: WOMEN IN POLITICS, WOMEN AND POLITICS

Expert: PROFESSOR MARY SEGERS, political science, can comment extensively on issues of special importance to women such as abortion rights and the efforts by presidential candidates to reach out to female voters. 

Contact:  home, 908/522-1573, or e-mail msegers88@hotmail.com

 

Expert: PROFESSOR LISA HULL, chair, political science, can speak on most aspects of elections and politics, especially issues involving race and civil liberties. She can also comment on national politics, and in particular, the presidential election. She teaches courses in American government and public law.

Contact: office, 973/353-1548, home, 973/376-6648, or leave message with Department Administrator Beth Freda at 973/353-5105; email: eahull@andromeda.rutgers.edu, or eahull47@hotmail.com

 

Expert: JYL JOSEPHSON, director of the Rutgers-Newark Women’s Studies Program, is an expert in gender and public policy, American politics and political thought, and feminist and democratic political theory.

Contact:  201/533-1459 (home); 551/221-1232

 

ISSUES: WOMEN’S RIGHTS, HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

Expert: ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR Karima Bennoune can comment on women’s rights and international women’s human rights. She has particular expertise on women’s rights in the Muslim world, including the question of the legal regulation of headscarves. A member of the boards of Amnesty International−USA and the Center for Constitutional Rights, she has participated in human rights field missions to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Pakistan, South Korea, southern Thailand, and Tunisia. In 1995 she served as a Center for Women’s Global Leadership delegate to the NGO Forum at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. 

             Contact: 973/353-3375 or  kbennoun@andromeda.rutgers.edu

 

HISTORY OF WOMEN IN THE U.S.

Expert: ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR BERYL SATTER, chair of the Federated History department, is an expert on the history of women in the United States, 20th-century United States history, cultural history; and urban history.

Contact:  973-353-5410 ex. 36; Fax: 973-353-1193; email: berylsatter@mindspring.com

 

Expert: RETIRED HISTORY PROFESSOR NORMA BASCH is available to discuss the history of women in the U.S., women; historical perspectives on marriage and property; women and divorce in American history.

Contact: Phone: 941/953-5429, or 508/ 487-6268; email, nbasch@mindspring.com

 

FEMINISM, GENDER AND IDENTITY

Expert:  ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR FRAN BARTKOWSKI, English and women’s studies, is an expert on feminism, feminist theory, and gender and identity.

Contact: 973 353-5817, or email: franb@andromeda.rutgers.edu .

 

Expert:  ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR SHERRI-ANN BUTTERFIELD, anthropology and sociology, and acting director of the Women’s Studies Program, can discuss gender, race, identity and social class as they relate to ethnic and immigrant communities.

Contact: 973/353-5107/1027, or sbutter@andromeda.rutgers.edu

 

 WOMEN IN THE LABOR FORCE, WOMEN IN THE PROFESSIONS, WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT, CHANGES IN FAMILY DIVISION OF LABOR, WORK-FAMILY BALANCE, FEMALE ADVANTAGE IN THE MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

 Expert:  PROFESSOR NANCY DITOMASO,  management and global business, can comment on any relevant issues dealing with women in the labor force, including changes in how and where women work, the female advantage in management and leadership, work-family balance, household division of labor, and gender issues in the labor force.

Contact: Office (973) 353-5984 (direct) or home (908) 889-7457, or e-mail ditomaso@andromeda.rutgers.edu.

 

HEALTH ISSUES WITH SPECIAL IMPACT ON WOMEN

Expert: ASSISTANT PROFESSOR RACHEL JONES, Rutgers College of Nursing, can discuss issues confronting young adult urban women who are at the forefront of the risk of acquiring HIV infection.  Her research areas include HIV sexual risk behaviors in young, urban women and use of multimedia computer technology to enhance culturally based health promotion.  Jones and her staff have created soap opera-type video vignettes designed to reduce HIV sexual risk behavior in young women living in urban areas. This research was funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research, and the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.

Contact:  Miguel Tersy, College of Nursing, 973/353-5293, ext. 629; or 973/353-5326, ext. 507, or email: racjones@rutgers.edu

 

Expert: ASSISTANT PROFESSOR KAREN T. D’ALONZO, Rutgers College of Nursing, is conducting a special study of Latina women’s attitudes toward physical activity, to determine why many Latinas have a difficult time adhering to a program of physical activity. Her study, funded by a three-year $274,104 National Institute of Nursing Research at the National Institutes of Health grant, will utilize the services of specially trained “promotoras”, or community health workers, to implement a pilot activity intervention program for Latinas.  “The promotoras are Hispanic women from the same community and they can better understand and address some of the issues that keep Latinas from being physically active,” states D’Alonzo.

Contact:  Miguel Tersy, College of Nursing, 973/353-5293, ext. 629; or 973/353-5326, ext. 566, or kdalonzo@rutgers.edu