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Feministe Feedback: Finding Information on Feminist Orgs

Jill

Feministe Feeback

I’m graduating in May with a journalism degree. When I started school, I didn’t think about what I really wanted to do, but the more I learn about feminism, the more I want to make a difference, especially in younger women and budding feminists. So I’ve been thinking about going to grad school for Women & Gender Studies, but I really haven’t made up my mind yet since I’m not entirely sure what I want to do with that degree either! (I mostly want to do it to learn more about feminism at an advanced level.)

My question is… do you know any particular organizations or groups looking for someone like me, who is interested and passionate about women’s issues and is interested in writing? Since I’ve only recently started looking for other feminists, I don’t know a lot about the other organizations and what they’re trying to do. Is there a website that lists or explains them? How do I find out more about feminist groups across the country and around the world?

Suggestions?

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17 thoughts on Feministe Feedback: Finding Information on Feminist Orgs

  1. WATER!

    That is, the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual. It’s a DC-based small nonprofit. I interned with them a couple summers ago and really enjoyed it. They’re a great resource for anything feminism and spirituality related, but they also have connections to pretty much anyone, especially if you count their connections’ connections. They can be found here. Don’t be put off by the “his.com” domain – it’s an unfortunate irony in their hosting process. They’re fabulous people and can probably help you find something, especially if you’re at all interested in the religion/spirituality part of things.

  2. You might be interested in checking out the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership (www.woodhull.org). We do work on women’s leadership development and raising women’s voices in public debate. Plus, we have a program just for college women titled, “Oops, I graduated.” And there are over 2,000 women in our alumnae network across the country. (Full disclosure – I work here!)

  3. You may wanty to check out the Feminist Career Center at http://www.feminist.org/career/, offered by the Feminist Majority Foundation. It’s not a clearing house for feminist organizations, by any means, but it *does* tell you who’s hiring, and what jobs are available. Idealist.org is good for this, also.

  4. A great place to look for job listings for a more liberal leaning job is Idealist.

    Though, I was thinking about minoring in Women’s Studies while getting my Masters in School Counseling… but decided not to cause i was scared it wouldn’t actually help me get a job. My certificate in expressive arts therapy will be more helpful… I hope. It makes me a little sad… but I’m tired of not having a job. (I majored in psychology and minored in gender studies in undergrad.)

  5. I was about to suggest Idealist and the FMF, but low and behold, 2 people already did.

    You can also call local feminist organizations (ie: NOW) and see if they know of anything that is available.

    You’ll have much more luck applying as a journalist with an interested in “women’s issues” at larger places than as a women’s studies student applying at feminist organizations.

  6. …is this me?
    Seriously, I am about to graduate with a magazine journalism degree…and couldn’t be more conflicted in what I want to do. I orginally got into this major b/c I wanted to be one of the first popular female rock journalists (pshhh) or maybe get into a women’s magazine like Cosmo and try to change it from the inside out or start my own women’s mag one day.

    Well, the more I think about feminism and its issues, the more I want to do something a little more…radical? I am trying to Teach For America…mostly because I know that there are little boys and girls out there being denied education on the basis of race and class, and I can’t stand it. And, as a feminist, I am also concerned with issues of race and class, and I feel that breeding solutions to these problems begins with an education–a basic human right.

    That said, I hope to go to law school eventually and get involved with rape and/or domestic violence cases.

    I am sure that didn’t help you at all… 🙁

  7. Please, please don’t go to graduate school in Women’s Studies/Critical Gender studies and get an M.A. just to learn more about feminism. The only reason to get an M.A. in Women’s Studies is as part and parcel of a Ph.D. in Women’s Studies so that you can be a college professor, and that is a long road to hoe, with no promise of fruit, that you should think really, really carefully about.

    Everyone else’s suggestions are much awesomer.

  8. Echoing Laura, paying for any kind of a masters is usually a bad idea – they’re mostly a cash cow for the universities. Find a like-minded group of people to form a book/discussion group and you’ll learn more and have more fun.

  9. Most non-profits (Planned Parenthood, etc.) have Marketing departments that need writers. It may not be kick ass articles they have you write all the time, but more press releases, newsletters and brochures. You might be the big fish in a little sea depending on the sophistication of the agency – but that’s not always bad.

    I felt similarly when I graduated from undergrad – I had a liberal fine arts degree that felt a little useless with my new social justice self. I went back for a Master’s in Public Health. The difference (referred to by the other posters) is that MPH is a terminal master’s degree. It’s intended for two years to be sent on developing professional skill sets – same with MSW, MPP, MBA. But MA in a general topic is a little mushy and won’t have as many applied skill sets taught in the program (to my knowledge).

    Hope that helps, good luck.

  11. I’m afraid I don’t have much in the way of advice, but I can tell you that if you’re a US citizen studying in the US and you want funding for an MA, a great option can be trying to get a FLAS fellowship, which pays for your education and gives you a stipend. With a FLAS, you have to study in your degree program at the graduate level (for example, it might be women/gender studies) and you also have to study a foreign language and take a course each semester related to an area of the world where that language is spoken. It’s easier to get funding if you work on less-commonly-studied languages.

    The fellowships are competitive, so you can’t count on getting one. But I do think it’s a good idea to learn more about other parts of the word, anyway, and to improve foreign-language skills. It’ll definitely improve your employability–give you more options when you’re applying for things. And working on it in conjunction with women’s studies should hopefully make it easier to avoid some of the pitfalls of feminisms that pretty much focus on certain kinds of privileged women.

  12. I’m afraid I don’t have much in the way of advice, but I can tell you that if you’re a US citizen studying in the US and you want funding for an MA, a great option can be trying to get a FLAS fellowship, which pays for your education and gives you a stipend. With a FLAS, you have to study in your degree program at the graduate level (for example, it might be women/gender studies) and you also have to study a foreign language and take a course each semester related to an area of the world where that language is spoken. It’s easier to get funding if you work on less-commonly-studied languages.

    The fellowships are competitive, so you can’t count on getting one. But I do think it’s a good idea to learn more about other parts of the word, anyway, and to improve foreign-language skills. It’ll definitely improve your employability–give you more options when you’re applying for jobs. And working on it in conjunction with women’s studies should provide lots of interesting areas to study and hopefully make it easier to avoid some of the pitfalls of feminisms that pretty much focus on certain kinds of privileged women.

  13. A career after a women’s studies degree is possible, but I can’t think of a job that requires one. However, I have a good friend with a MA in Womens Studies who is a Director of Youth Programming for a non profit who got her start working with youth in a women’s organization. In some cases a masters is a masters is a masters for many positions that don’t require certain skills (like a MSW or a Counseling degree or the professional degrees above).

    In addition to marketing as SecondLastWish suggested, most non profits have Development departments which with someone who writes and coordinates the grants. There are both writing and research aspects to this job. Many women’s or girl-serving non profit would look favorably on a Masters in Women’s Studies. These jobs are not that well paying at entry level, and don’t require a Masters.

    If you are not sure what you want to do and aren’t independently wealthy, I would recommend working for at least a year, if not more, before persuing a Masters. It will help inform which direction to go in.

  14. This isn’t a recommendation for an organization where you can get a paying job, but if you’re interested in radical feminism, you should check out http://www.redstockings.org. Redstockings was one of the first feminist groups in the country in the 1960s and they were responsible for a lot of the feminist theory of the past several decades. They’ve reorganized as a think-tank and are an incredibly valuable source of information. They have several activist groups in NYC that do more direct outreach, too. I cannot recommend this resource enough. These are second wave pioneers and current activists.

  15. Your degree, any degree, will simply get you in the door at the bottom level of most any non-profit organization, so that you can then work your way up. I would suggest, as other have, to not spend the time and money getting a masters in feminist study, but to instead start applying for jobs. Or, better yet, start your own organization.

    I would suggest finding a smaller organization, that you can help grow. There are some wonderful feminist speakers, who started their careers working with smaller organizations that they have helped build into nationally known groups.

    As someone who started by working for a national women’s group, if I had it to do over I would start small with a smaller group, and work to build that organization (and my reputation) to a national level.

    BAC

  16. If you do want a Master’s in WS for higher-level academic feminist work, consider programs in Canada, especially York (Toronto) and Western (London, ON). Canada funds Master’s students and often offers Teacher’s Assistant jobs, which will pay the bills for 10-15 hrs of work a week. I am graduating with a Master’s in theory and criticism from Western and I TA’s for Women’s Studies these last 2 years. I do plan to do a PhD, but if you did just want the advanced work, try Canada. Western’s is 1 year, new, but good, and York has an excellent program as well. The visa, etc. process isn’t that hard, so it’s worth a look!

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