Old school feminist to head our oldest university, like it or not

If “fellow” Harvard University academic Dan Kindlon’s surveys are accurate (he goes out of his way in his latest book, Alpha Girls: Understanding the New American Girl and How She is Changing the World—more than an overstatement-- to promote the thoroughness of his research), Drew Gilpin Faust, just-named president of the country’s oldest and most prestigious institution of higher learning, is an irrelevant anachronism, with both a CV and personal history his next-generationers of women disown as an embarrassment to their sex.

Dr. Faust is a historian, having devoted much of her academic life to teaching and chronicling women’s history as well as her own struggles for equality, not just for women, but for African Americans as well. Her biographies note that she grew up as a white southerner with priviledge, but who, early on and much to the consternation of her mother, began to question women’s role in southern society and who, when 9 years old, wrote a letter to President Eisenhower, asking him to end segregation.

The alpha girls of Dr. Kindlon’s book, aged 13 to 22, will be unimpressed, grousing that the struggle for equality of women, in the home, at school, in the workplace, is old hat; they’re tired of hearing their mothers’ “You don’t know what it was like out there when I was coming up,” and boast that their equality with, even superiority to, males is a no-brainer.

In an early Times news story, Dr. Faust’s “collaborative style and considerable people skills” were praised. At the same time, some male faculty members grumbled that this more feminine, if we may, management style was too feeble for the tough job of managing tough issues involving tough contenders. Kindlon’s alpha girls would agree. Their role models tend more to Hillary Clinton and Margaret Thatcher, advocating for a pro-active, tough-guy, take-no-prisoners approach to getting on in the world.

Stay tuned to the Women’s Village pages for a frontal lobotomy (wasn’t too difficult, as there wasn’t much grey matter to excise) on Coach Kindlon’s Warriors. Meanwhile, my hat’s (without the veil) off to Drew Gilpin Faust. You go, girl!

PepsiCo Elects CEO Indra K. Nooyi as Chairman

Move Effective May 2, 2007 Upon Steven S Reinemund's Retirement

From Feb. 5 Media Release by Pepsico:

PepsiCo's board of directors announced today that it has elected Indra K. Nooyi,
51, Chairman of the Board, effective when Executive Chairman Steven S
Reinemund, 58, retires on May 2, as he announced last August. Mrs. Nooyi is
currently Chief Executive Officer of the more than $32 billion global convenient
food and beverage company, a role she assumed on October 1, 2006.

Catalyst announces 2007 awards

A release by Catalyst.org has announced the winners of the organization's 2007 award "recognizing corporate initiatives that advance women and business".

The year's winners Goldman Sachs, PepsiCo, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Scotiabank will make presentations at a ceremony at the Grand Hyatt in New York City on March 21, 2007.

IWMF: Good Group Grants Good Women Awards

The International Women’s Media Foundation has granted three women its
yearly award for Courage in Journalism. Amongst them is Jill Carroll,
the Christian Science Monitor reporter captured and held for 82 days in
Iraq. Also awarded were May Chidiac of Lebanon and Gao Yu of China.

The organization gave a Lifetime Achievement award to Elena
Poniatowska, Mexican journalist, writer and social icon. Poniatowska
was born in Paris into Polish nobility (her full name at birth was
Princess Hélène Elizabeth Louise Amelie Paula Dolores Poniatowska
Amor), moving to Mexico during World War II with her family. Educated
in the States, Poniatowska returned to Mexico and eschewed her
privileged background. She has devoted her life to social justice
issues.

For most of her journalistic career, Poniatowska has written for Mexico
City’s prominent daily, La Jornada.

Perhaps of greatest import has been her book, La Noche de Tlatelolco
(Massacre in Mexico), which recounts the indiscriminate gunning down of
student protesters, their supporters and innocent onlookers and
passersby, during a march in the Tlatelolco district of the Mexican
capital. Estimates of civilians killed during the army massacre of the
afternoon and night of Oct. 2, 1968 range anywhere from 300 to several
thousand.

The International Women’s Media Foundation is a super group of women
journalists supporting women’s efforts for full participation in media.
They provide training and seminars to enhance women’s skills and
opportunities; liaise with and support women in perilous assignments
worldwide; and do research, issuing reports on the role of women in the
media.

The IWMF was especially helpful to me, providing invaluable contacts
while I worked on my article, Women on War, for the Women’s Village.

So, “Hats (or whatever) off” to all the worthy women of the group and
their awardees.