51 Percent

On this week's 51%, we sit down with Dr. Alice Green, founder and director of Albany’s Center for Law and Justice, to discuss her new book We Who Believe in Freedom: Activism and the Struggle for Social Justice. Guest: Dr. Alice Green, founder and executive director of the Center for Law and Justice; author of We Who Believe in Freedom: Activism and the Struggle for Social Justice 51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It is produced by Jesse King. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. Follow Along You’re listening to 51%, a WAMC production dedicated to women’s issues and stories. Thanks for joining us, I’m Jesse King.  Our guest today is a longtime civil rights activist and icon in Albany, New York. Dr. Alice Green is the founder and executive director of the Center for Law and Justice, a non-profit organization that has called for criminal justice reform, including an end to mass incarceration and systemic oppression, since 1985.  Green herself has received several awards recognizing her activism in Albany, from organizations like NAACP, National Organization for Women, New York State Bar Association, and more. She earned her doctorate in criminal justice from SUNY’s University at Albany, as well as three master’s degrees in education, social work, and criminology. And late last year, she sought out a local Black press to publish her latest project: a part-memoir, part history of the city titled We Who Believe in Freedom: Activism and the Struggle for Social Justice. In it, Green examines her childhood in New York’s North Country, her activism in ...

Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Supreme Court Justice in 1981, but before that there was a long history of female candidates waiting in the wings. On this week’s 51%, we discuss the honors and limits of being shortlisted with the authors of Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court. We also take a look at President Biden’s shortlist, following his pledge to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. Guests: Renee Knake Jefferson and Hannah Brenner Johnson, authors of Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court 51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It's produced by Jesse King. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. Follow Along You’re listening to 51%, a WAMC production dedicated to women’s issues and experiences. Thanks for joining us, I’m Jesse King.  With Associate Justice Stephen Breyer set to retire, President Biden has said he will tap his nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court by the end of February. The Democrat has also said his pick will be the first Black woman to fill the role, more than 40 years after the nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court justice, in 1981. When we talk about women in the Supreme Court, we tend to start with O’Connor — but as our guests today will tell us, there’s actually a long, untold history of women being considered, but ultimately passed over, for the nation’s highest court.  Renee Knake Jefferson and Hannah Brenner Johnson are the authors of Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the ...

On this week’s 51%, we’re talking women in sports. Professor Amy Bass of Manhattanville College shares her thoughts on the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. We speak with two-time Olympian Tricia Mangan as she heads to the slopes, and Ithaca College Professor Ellen Staurowsky discusses the upcoming 50th anniversary of Title IX. Guests: Dr. Amy Bass, Manhattanville College; Tricia Mangan, U.S. Alpine Ski Team; Ellen Staurowsky, Ithaca College 51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It’s produced by Jesse King, our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is “Lolita” by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. Follow Along You’re listening to 51%, a WAMC production dedicated to women’s issues and experiences. Thanks for tuning in, I’m Jesse King.  We’ve got a great lineup of interviews for you today. It’s all about women in sports, and where else would we start besides the Olympics? We wrapped today’s show just before competition launched for the Winter Games in Beijing. It’s the second Games to be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, after the Tokyo Olympics last summer — but it comes with its own challenges to navigate.  Our first guest today is Dr. Amy Bass, a professor and author at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. She’s been a commentator for WAMC, but she won an Emmy for her work with NBC Olympic Sports on the London Olympics in 2012. Bass recently shared with me her thoughts about the latest edition of the Games.  “I think that apprehension is affecting teams right now. I think that one of the things that we learned in ...

On this week’s 51% — why is the beginning of the year such a big time for divorce? We speak with attorney Lauren Hunt to learn more about the divorce process and dispel some of the myths. We also speak with Sarah Armstrong, author of The Mom’s Guide to a Good Divorce, on how to keep kids at the forefront during the change. Guests: Lauren Hunt, divorce attorney; Sarah Armstrong, author of The Mom’s Guide to a Good Divorce: What to Think Through When Children are Involved 51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It’s produced by Jesse King. Our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is “Lolita” by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. Follow Along You’re listening to 51%, a WAMC production dedicated to women’s issues and experiences. Thanks for joining us, I’m Jesse King. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I hope I don’t sound like too much of a cynic by introducing today’s topic. Today we’re gonna talk about divorce, and what people of all genders can expect as they’re going through the process.  Just to get it out of the way, the common saying that “50 percent of American marriages end in divorce” is widely disputed. Tracking marriage data and coming up with a reliable divorce rate turns out to be a very tricky and debated process, but generally, researchers believe the number of U.S. divorces is on a decline, with “historic lows” right before the pandemic. How COVID-19 has impacted couples remains to be seen, but aside from an initial spike in those early lockdown months, some experts ...

On this week’s 51%, we hit the books. University of Virginia Professor Andrea Press explains how today’s media can better represent women in her book, Media-Ready Feminism and Everyday Sexism. And Dr. Sharon Ufberg speaks with Take the Lead’s Gloria Feldt about her latest title, Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take the Lead for Everyone’s Good. Guests: Andrea Press, University of Virginia professor and co-author of Media-Ready Feminism and Everyday Sexism; Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take the Lead and author of Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take the Lead for Everyone’s Good 51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It’s produced by Jesse King, our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and our theme is “Lolita” by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. Follow Along You’re listening to 51%, a WAMC production dedicated to women’s issues and experiences. Thanks for tuning in, I’m Jesse King.  We’ve got a pair of interviews with some fantastic authors today — and we’re going to start by getting a little meta and talking about the media. The media we consume can be a powerful thing: it can reflect the cultural and social norms of our time, make us feel heard and seen, and challenge society by exposing audiences to new ideas. So how is media faring when it comes to women? Well, if you ask our first guest, not too great — but it’s complicated in this digital age. Andrea Press is a professor of media studies and sociology at the University of Virginia, and her new book with Francesca Tripodi — titled Media-Ready ...

On this week’s 51%, we wrap our series speaking with women religious leaders and scholars. Dr. Sh. Haifaa Younis discusses her work at the Jannah Institute, an Islamic school for women. Uzma Popal, director of the Capital Region’s Muslim Soup Kitchen Project, shares how charity is a pillar of her faith. And Stanford University’s Dr. Amina Darwish challenges the perception of Muslim women in the U.S. (more…) ...