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Today's Featured Biography
Eleanor Marie CUTRI Smeal
11/16/19:
https://www.goerie.com/news/20191115/smeal-receives-honor-as-crusader-for-womens-rights
Eleanor Smeal, a leader in the American feminist movement, visited Erie to speak at a Jefferson Educational Society Global Summit XI speaker series event.
Eleanor Smeal says she can trace a lot of what she learned about human rights and justice to her upbringing in Erie.
Smeal, 80, is a co-founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation and served three terms as president for the National Organization for Women. She has spent decades working as a lobbyist, activist and grassroots organizer crusading for women’s equality as a major leader in the American feminist movement.
“I’m a first-generation Italian-American and I’m very proud of that,” Smeal said during her Global Summit XI speaker series appearance before a crowd of more than 500 at the Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy auditorium.
Smeal was honored on Friday evening as the recipient of the Jefferson Educational Society’s Thomas B. Hagen Dignitas Award, which is presented annually to an Erie citizen who has made a significant contribution to the vitality of American democracy.
“At one time, my parents were discriminated against and I have a real compassion for immigrants,” said Smeal, who resides in Virginia. “All of us have done all we can to make this a better society. A lot of my family came today. I still have a lot of relatives in Erie. I see fighting for human rights and immigration, women’s rights, gay and lesbian rights as all the same. Human beings should be treated fairly.”
Smeal, a 1957 graduate of Strong Vincent High School, recounted her decades-long fight for women’s equal rights in her Global Summit XI presentation, “An Evening with Eleanor Smeal.”
“I just want people to know that they can make a difference, too,” Smeal said. “I am still emotionally attached to the kind of education and the leadership chances I had here. I went on to college at Duke University and had a lot of opportunities. This event and this award are very meaningful to me.”
Smeal reflected on her career and the accomplishments she is most proud of.
“I started being active in the women’s movement in Pittsburgh,” she said. “We sued the Pittsburgh Press for eliminating male and female want ads and we won that case with a Supreme Court decision by only a 5-4 decision. We’ve sued a lot of companies and we’ve opened doors for women. By we, I mean the collective women’s movement.”
Smeal coined the term “gender gap” in 1980 to denote the difference in how men and women vote by political party.
She authored a 1984 book titled “How and Why Women Will Elect the Next President,” which identified the gender gap in politics.
As the nation gears for the 2020 presidential election, Smeal said she is encouraged by the number of women who hold elected office.
“Political leaders have to speak to women as well as men, and women have to be at the decision-making tables,” Smeal said. “The feminist movement is not endorsing any presidential candidate yet because there are lot of people running and it hasn’t jelled yet. But we’re very encouraged by the fact that far more women are running for the presidency and for all offices. The thing I’m very proud of is that most women who are running are for women’s rights. We have far more strength among women candidates.”
Smeal described President Donald Trump’s administration as “hostile to women’s rights, and it’s all kinds of rights.”
“The current administration has been unraveling women’s rights if they can,” Smeal said. “Some of the laws they can’t touch yet. It’s been very hard and there’s been constant attacks on basic human rights.”
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President at Feminist Majority Foundation
From Wikipedia...
Born July 30, 1939
Ashtabula, Ohio
Nationality: United States
Alma mater; University of Florida
Duke University
Known for: Founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation
Served as president of the National Organization for Women
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Eleanor Smeal (born July 30, 1939 as Eleanor Marie Cutri in Ashtabula, Ohio) is a feminist activist, political analyst, lobbyist, and grassroots organizer. Smeal is also the president and founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation and has served as president of the National Organization for Women twice.
Smeal has appeared frequently on television and radio and testified before Congress on women’s issues. As one of the major leaders of the modern-day feminist movement, Smeal has organized numerous events around, and given speeches on, the concepts of feminism, equality, and human rights as they pertain to people inside and outside of the United States.
She is of Italian ancestry, born to Peter Anthony Cutri and Josephine E. Agresti. Her father emigrated to America from Calabria, Italy and became an insurance salesman. After graduating from Strong Vincent High School in 1957, Smeal attended Duke University. At the time, Duke was not integrated and women made up only 25% of the enrolled students.
Smeal participated in the fight for integration at Duke and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1961. She also holds an M.A. in political science and public administration from the University of Florida. Since 2001, Smeal is also the publisher of Ms. magazine which is owned and published by the Feminist Majority Foundation. Is related to Alexis E.Smeal of Arizona.
Political Activism
Eleanor Smeal joined the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1970 and served as president from 1977 to 1982 and again from 1985 to 1987. During this time, Smeal led the first national abortion rights march which drew over 100,000 activists to Washington, DC.
After leaving NOW in 1987, Smeal saw a need for a new feminist organization that combined research, educational outreach, and political action. A 1986 Newsweek/Gallup poll reported that 56% of women in the US self-identify as feminists. Smeal reconciled her vision of a new feminist organization and the task of empowering women and men who support equity in the Feminist Majority Foundation.
Several legislative measures bear Smeal’s imprint including the Free Access to Clinic Entrances legislation (influenced by Madsen v. Women’s Health Center) that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994, the unsuccessful attempt to defeat of Proposition 209 in California, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Equal Credit Act, the Civil Rights Restoration Act, the Violence Against Women Act, theFreedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the fight to amend the Equal Rights Amendment.
Smeal also played a major role in the integration of Little League, eliminating gender-segregated help wanted ads, the fights to make Social Security and pensions more equitable to women via a feminist budget, close the wage gap, achieve pay equity, and to legally enshrine a right of abortion on demand.
Smeal was strongly critical of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which places limits on taxpayer-funded abortions in the context of the November 2009 Affordable Health Care for America Act.
Recognition
Eleanor Smeal and the Feminist Majority Foundation have received national and international recognition for their work. Smeal is the recipient of several awards for her work for feminism and human rights.
World Almanac chose Smeal as one of the most influential women in the United States (1983). Time Magazine chose her as one of 50 Faces for America’s Future (August 6, 1979). U.S. News and World Report chose her as the fourth most influential Washington lobbyist.
In addition to these accolades, Smeal has appeared on The Today Show, Nightline, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, and Crossfire. Her 1984 book How and Why Women Will Elect the Next President successfully identified a “gender gap” in politics. This “gender gap,” evident in the election of 1984, appeared again in the 1996 elections. Smeal’s term “gender gap” is now commonly used in the analysis of political elections.
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