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In the corporate world, there still are very few African-American women who rise to the position of CEO. In fact, at the Fortune 500 firms while there are currently six black CEOs, only one of them is a woman. Here is a look at African-American female CEOs — past and present — of some of the country’s major companies and organizations.

State Sen. Nina Turner in her tee (right). Via @JoIngles Twitter page

According to Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner (D-Cleveland), “GOP” doesn’t stand for “Grand Old Party.” It stands for “Get Out of my Panties.”

State Sen. Turner made her statement via t-shirt; one she wore recently to protest Ohio Republicans’ renewed efforts to de-fund Planned Parenthood. The press conference was organized by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio in opposition to a bill that would put Planned Parenthood at the bottom of the state’s priority system for federal family planning funds, reports The Huffington Post.

The provocative slogan was used by Turner to highlight a disregard for women´s rights by the Republican party. She declared  at the conference, “If they continue their pursuit to condemn women, we will not stand for it,” she said.

African-American women often turn to Planned Parenthood for affordable health care. So much so, in fact, that the organization even has a section of its site dedicated to black patients —“ African Americans for Planned Parenthood.”

Turner, who confirmed she may run for Ohio Secretary of State in 2014, is known as an advocate for women’s reproductive and healthcare rights. She introduced a protest bill earlier this year that would restrict men’s ability to get a Viagra prescription.

“The Ohio state Legislature may also reconsider during its lame duck session the so-called ‘heartbeat bill,’ which would ban abortions after the fetal heartbeat is detected, with no exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother,” according to the Huffington Post.

What do you think of the t-shirt? Too much or just right?

Source: Shutterstock

“If I always remember, then I’ll never forget and make the same mistake twice.”

Elise*, 22, paused for a moment, staring at nothing and no one in particular as she recalled the moment she was having an abortion performed. While visiting family in New Jersey, she was introduced to a guy through her cousin. The two hung out a lot, resulting in them sleeping together.  She left New Jersey to return home to Maryland, before starting college in Miami, only to find that she was pregnant at 18 years old.

“I knew what I had to do. It wasn’t one of those things you think about more than once,” she says, with a heavy sigh. “I was scared, but there was no turning back, you just do it.  I was squirming at first, and the doctor told me, ‘If you squirm again I can’t take this out.’ I laid still and just beared with the pain as he sucked it out. When he was done, I watched him pour it down the drain.”

She opted to stay awake during the operation, in order to teach herself a lesson.

Elise’s story is not unfamiliar to many young women. According to Abortion.org, 50% of women obtaining abortions in the U.S. are younger than 25: women aged 20-24 obtain 33% of all abortions; teenagers obtain 17% and girls under 15 account for 1.2%.

Women’s rights has taken center stage in the current presidential election. And, with that, the controversial issue of abortion has become an incessant point of conversation.

While President Barack Obama fully supports a woman’s right to choose, his opponent does not. Softening his initial, aggressive stance, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he would back laws in support of protecting life. Earlier in the presidential race, he said he wanted to cut funding for Planned Parenthood and appoint judges to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

When Elise had made her decision, she went to Planned Parenthood to have her abortion performed. The procedure cost around $300. Elise says Planned Parenthood is a good resource for those who need it, and even believes the abortion numbers would be higher if taken away.

“It’s not your decision,” says Elise, referring to the constant debate between politicians over a woman’s right to an abortion.  “If I had kept my child, I would not have been able to go to school, to better myself, and provide a life— and then I would have been a statistic. My parents would not have helped me, and then I would have been looking around—mad at the world, when it was my fault.

“They’re not the ones who are quick to be a statistic,” said Elise, about the Republican party’s stance on the issue.

According to The Alan Guttmacher Institute, the most common reasons women receive abortions are due to interference with school, work, not wanting to be a single parent and not being able to afford a child.

Though this happened years ago, there are times when Elise is reminded of her decision.

“Every now and then I get a baby killer text message or phone call,” she says in reference to the guy who impregnated her. He wanted her to keep the child, but offered no assistance in wanting to help raise their child.

She now takes birth control pills and whenever she is in a relationship, she always uses protection. As of now, she’s undecided about whether she wants children someday.

Elise resides in Maryland and is finishing her last year of college. She hopes to own her own event planning business in the future.

*Name has been changed.

Jasmine Berry is a senior majoring in journalism at St. John’s University. Follow her on twitter @signedjas and her blog.

Image via Twitter

Author, professor and MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry joined a panel on Saturday for The New Yorker Festival’s discussion of “The Fifty-one Percent,” the effort to win the female vote. Touching on topics including women’s health, “the war on women,” and the speeches delivered by First Lady Michelle Obama and Ann Romney, the conversation veered into economic territory when it turned to healthcare and discrimination.

Also on the panel: Kelly Ann Conway, an author and GOP pollster who worked for Newt Gingrich’s unsuccessful campaign for president; Margaret Hoover, an author and former adviser George W. Bush; and Cecile Richardson, the president of Planned Parenthood and former staffer to Rep. Nancy Pelosi. The panel was moderated by The New Yorker‘s executive editor Dorothy Wickenden.

Let’s start by pointing out that Kelly Ann Conway spent the entire time sighing at just about everything that came out of Cecile Richardson’s mouth, and made little comments under her breath when she disagreed with something one of the other panelists said. This isn’t to say that she doesn’t know her stuff, or that she didn’t make some perfectly fine comments. But it didn’t make her likeable at all. It was downright rude and frustrating for the audience to watch her time and time again dismiss her fellow panelists. Not cool Kelly Ann Conway.

But moving on. Most of the discussion revolved about women’s health and the role it’s been playing in politics over recent months. According to Conway, this idea of “women’s issues” is wrongheaded (“You don’t hear people talking about ‘men’s issues.’”) and the focus on women’s health issues, like birth control coverage, myopic. She said that, in her experience, there are other issues of greater importance to female voters.

“There is no issue more central… than the ability to control your own fertility,” said Harris-Perry. “You can’t separate economic and health care issues.” Both she and Richardson emphasized the significance of birth control to career, relationship and other life decisions. In this, we would have to agree.

The topic of money and lifestyle also came up when an audience member took to the microphone with her assertion that, as a lesbian, she isn’t a social issue; that the system is discriminatory in a number of ways, among them in an economic way. Because she can’t marry her partner in many places across the U.S., she can’t take advantage of the financial benefits that a marriage affords, which lowers her economic stability.

To this, Harris-Perry added a compelling argument: that without real change, discrimination will continue because “people are willing to pay a premium to discriminate.” For example, people will pay more money to stay away from those they consider unsavory. And bus companies during the civil rights movement went bankrupt to keep from integrating.

In other words, if someone doesn’t want you around, they’ll do everything in their power to keep you away.

On a much more upbeat note, there was the belief across the entire panel that, if President Obama is re-elected, there will be a number of women and men, including people of color, ready to run in 2016. We hope both of those things happen.

Feel free to take to the comments with your thoughts about women’s health as a political issue. Is it something you’ll be taking into consideration when you go to the ballot box in November?

by R. Asmerom

It has been a very rattling year for the Suan G. Komen Foundation – an agency that raises funds for cancer research and treatment. On the heels of its publcly criticized flip-flopping on the Planned Parenthood issue, the CEO of its New York affiliate Dr. Dara Richardson-Heron resigned today.

Earlier this year, Susan G. Komen for The Cure cut funding to Planned Parenthood in lieu of the fact that it was under congressional investigation for using federal funds to deliver abortion services.

Many in the public saw the Komen Foundation’s move as highly political and many protested its policy of cutting breast health programs. Amidst the backlach it received, The Foundation decided to re-fund Planned Parenthood.

The controversy however rattled the organization and strained its leadership.

Abigail Pesta of Newsweek and The Daily Beast reported on the recent resignation of Richardson-Heron who headed one of its most powerful affiliates in terms of fundraising. Although Richardson-Heron stated in a letter to constituents that she “made a personal decision to leave” and “to pursue new career opportunities,” it is believed that the recent controversy highly determined the turn of events:

Eve Ellis, a former board member of the Komen affiliate in New York City, said she believes Richardson-Heron’s resignation is tied to the Planned Parenthood controversy. “I can’t say exactly why she [resigned], but I can tell you that Dara was working behind the scenes before the decision to cut funds to Planned Parenthood, saying, ‘Please don’t do this.’ After the decision, she was working behind the scenes to reverse it,” Ellis told The Daily Beast. She added, “I have the utmost respect for Dara. I was on the selection committee when we selected her—she is an impressive force.”

 

The Foundation recently canceled two important fund-raising events in New York city due to “concerns about efforts to raise funds in the near term.” In recent weeks, two other high profile executives have also resigned and now there is pressure being put on Nancy Brinker, the founder of the organization, to step down in order to restore the reputation of the agency.  ”I really feel that she can salvage this situation by stepping aside,” Ellis told The Daily Beast about Brinker. “I don’t mind if she steps aside as a hero, saying, look what I’ve built, with the help of others. The mission is bigger than all of us. Go out a hero, a martyr. It’s in Nancy Brinker’s hands and in her board’s hands. They are not an independent board—her son is on it. They need to be an independent voice.”

Source: Margaret Doyle

The reproductive debate has been growing in intensity with each new bit of legislation introduced; from laws requiring transvaginal ultrasounds before women can have abortions to requirements over who should fund birth control, to personhood amendments that state rights start the minute sperm fertilizes an egg. For the most part, there have been two faces in this discussion: the white female protesters who will be damned if you take away the rights to procedures they supposedly only need in theory; and the black and Latina female victims who are said to stand to lose the most because they are the ones who need access to family planning services and procedures.

When you look at the facts thrown out about the womb being the most dangerous place for a black child, and then see white abortion rights advocates like Sandra Fluke taking a stand or Margaret Doyle shown here being removed from a General Assembly in Richmond, VA, because she’s so angry over the limiting of reproductive rights, you might ask, like Courtland Milloy did in a Washington Post article yesterday, “what does the white woman really have to be angry about?” As Milloy points out:

“She has the longest life expectancy in the country and, through sheer numbers, dominates the demographic landscape. Her power at the polls is immense. Her risk of falling victim to street crime is low compared with the risk faced by black women. She’s rarely exposed to the AIDS virus, and breast cancer is no longer the death sentence for her that it is for so many others.

“Relatively healthy, happy, safe and financially secure, she is the reigning queen of the ‘golden mean,’ the norm by which other women are measured.”

Yet, these are the women who, despite the fact that they supposedly don’t need the mammograms that Planned Parenthood will continue to fund through grants from Susan G. Komen, or abortions that will require prior ultrasounds in some states, or free contraception, are fighting tooth and nail to stop lawmakers from entering women’s wombs. Why are they so invested, because of an altruistic shared sisterhood or the idea that they want this right, even if everyone would have us believe they don’t need it? When Milloy asked the disgruntled activist what her motives were, she said this:

“To be honest with you, we are rattled because just a few years ago this nation was brought to the absolute brink and we nearly lost everything,” Margaret Doyle said. “If you were comfortable in your lifestyle, had your Colonial home with a picket fence and thought ‘this is my entitlement, I am supposed to have this,’ and then learn that it can all go away in a hot New York minute? And instead of creating jobs, helping us stay in our homes, improving roads and schools, these dangerous men are in the state legislature obsessing over our wombs.”

She certainly has a point about greater attention needing to be placed on far more pressing issues facing our country, but her use of the word entitlement causes Milloy pause in his summation on the differing visibility of white and black women in the debate. He writes, “For the white woman, perhaps, it is the fear of losing the rights that she’d come to take for granted that has led to the explosive displays of rage. For the black woman, thwarted in her drive to win some of those same rights, fear of not getting what she deserves is probably fueling a silent fury that will soon erupt as well.”

In other words, white women wouldn’t be taking a stand in this discussion now if they didn’t finally stand to lose something as well. Of course Milloy is using broad assumptions in making his points about the racial divide in the reproductive debate. There are likely as many white woman who need these services as there are black women who don’t, but the entire discussion reminds me of the black feminist movement and how an entirely new effort evolved among black women in the 1970s because they simply were not fighting for the same things as their white female counterparts. Is that what’s going on with the absence of women of color in this discussion today? Forty years ago black woman created their own movement because white feminists failed to acknowledge oppression based on race and class. Are white women now ignoring that the limiting of reproductive rights is as much, if not more so, about controlling poor women of color and their offspring, as it is women’s bodies in general?

Or maybe black women are largely silent on the national reproductive platform because as Milloy says, “the white woman decides who gets heard in such matters. By her own efforts, but also through her unique access to wealthy men, she builds institutions to support her causes.” When you think about it, would black and Latina women as the true face of this issue—whether that is legitimate or not—ever garner as much attention as it currently does? Or is it the power that the white woman holds and her ability to speak up in certain circles what commands attention from the government?

Thus far, Judy Eason McIntyre, the Oklahoma Senator who held up a sign during a protest at the state’s capitol that read, “If I Wanted the Government in my Womb, I’d F*** a Senator,” continues to be the sole black face in a sea of white ones taking a prominent stand on the reproductive debate. This begs the question of whether black women want to get in on the discussion or if they’ve been pushed out of it. It’s fine for white women to take a stand on this hot button issue but what shouldn’t happen is what Milloy suggests, “other women may sit at the table, but she alone speaks on their behalf.” If women of color stand to lose so much when it comes to reproductive rights, then we should have a voice in this as well.

Do you see the reproductive debate as an opportunity for all women to work together toward a common goal or are the agendas of white women and women of color too different to put up a united front?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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With Social Media, we virtually tell people what we’re doing and where we’re doing it every minute of the day, why not add sex to the mix—only if it’s safe, of course. That’s the aim of a new web-based campaign from Planned Parenthood called Where Did You Wear It.

Using scannable QR codes on the back of condoms distributed by Planned Parenthood, users can log on to a location-based site and share their protected sexual experience. A sample check-in would look something like this:

An under 20 girl and a guy whose relationship is all about love, and have already talked about safer sex and STDs, used a condom in the bedroom to prevent an unplanned pregnancy. It was ah-maz-ing — rainbows exploded and mountains trembled.

The approach seems to be that nothing’s wrong with safe sex so why not share it, although for some this is a bit TMI. There’s also an element of “see everybody’s doing it” but in a positive way. Maybe if people see how many other people are having positive experiences discussing and having safe sex, they won’t think twice about doing it themselves.

The site isn’t all about poking into stranger’s love lives either—although you can search who’s doing what by age, gender, orientation, and state. There’s also health information on STDs, proper condom usage tutorials, and a search engine to find the nearest Planned Parenthood health center. You can’t deny Planned Parenthood is thinking outside the box.

What do you think about the Where Did You Wear It Campaign? Will it really encourage people to have safe sex?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Just caught wind of a huge fart cloud coming from Bob Morris, an Indiana lawmaker who insists that the Girl Scouts–yes; those evil peddlers of mint chocolate cookies–are in collusion with Planned Parenthood to promote GASP!! abortion and homosexuality and is demanding an immediate investigation.

According to the Chicago Tribune, “Morris, in his letter to lawmakers, said some Christian conservatives who share his concerns have pulled their children out of Girl Scouts. He also pointed to a Colorado Girl Scout troop’s acceptance of a transgender child last month as another reason to leave the group.”

Can you imagine? Put folks like Morris in charge, and they’ll be raiding weekly merit badge meetings, and bringing in the SWAT team. They’ll enlist a special scientific panel to test girl scout cookies for birth control pills ground into flour and mixed inside. What’s next? Mandatory hymen checking, dudes?

For the life of me, I CAN NOT understand why Republicans are so obsessed with this, especially in a time when people care about whether or not they can pay their cable so that they can maintain the little sliver of joy they get watching Spartacus and Shameless.

This, combined with last week’s statement from a Rick Santorum supporter, who suggested women hold aspirin between their knees as a form of birth control is just beyond the Stone Ages. Leave these people in charge and we’ll all be wearing burqas soon.

Planned Parenthood rep, Betty Cockrum says that “On the national level, inflammatory and generally inaccurate claims about a partnership between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood have been promoted primarily by anti-choice lawmakers seeking to place pressure on organizations to disassociate or distance themselves from Planned Parenthood.”

Anyone else sniff a conspiracy? First the Susan G. Komen Foundation disaster, and NOW the Girl Scouts? Geez…this is getting CRAY CRAY for real.

*clears throat and puts on airs*

As the founder and organizer of No Wedding No Womb, an initiative to raise awareness and find solutions to the 73% out-of-wedlock rate in the African American community, I want you to know I am not some raving lunatic who advocates abortion as a form of birth control. But I’ll support an individual’s right to chose–to a point. As a mom of a two premature children, there’s no way I’m with late-term abortion, except in the case where the pregnancy is life-threatening to the mother or the child is so developmentally and physically handicapped that life would be a horrendous hardship for both parents and child.

That’s my position, and I’m sticking to it. I’m not all rah-rah for everything Planned Parenthood does, but it’s the best and most comprehensive organization we have. What  I am totally against is Girl Scouts wearing little green burqas whilst selling Thin Mints in front of Whole Foods.

Christelyn D. Karazin is the co-author of “Swirling: How to Date, Mate and Relate Mixing Race, Culture and Creed” (to be released May 2012), and runs a blog, www.beyondblackwhite.com, dedicated to women of color who are interested and or involved in interracial and intercultural relationships. She is also the founder and organizer of “No Wedding, No Womb,” an initiative to find solutions to the 72 percent out-of-wedlock rate in the black community.

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It only took breast cancer giant Susan G. Komen for the Cure, three days to have a change of heart—or get sick of the backlash—regarding it’s controversial decision to cut breast-screening grants to planned parenthood.

Komen CEO Nancy Brinker just released a statement outlining it’s reverse decision, saying in part:

“We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives…

“Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair…

“We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants,while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.”

Initially, it was assumed that the Komen Foundation withdrew its funding due to the fact that Planned Parenthood is under government investigation, but yesterday, the Komen Foundation said the real cause for their initial decision was that Planned Parenthood does not directly provide mammograms.  As the Washington Post points out, Nancy Brinker’s statement doesn’t address that concern at all, presumably leaving open the possibility that the foundation may reject Planned Parenthood’s future grant applications.

We’ll have to see if this latest decision sticks.

What’s your stance on the Komen Foundation? Were they wrong to withdraw funding in the first place? Do you think this reversal makes things right or are they still sketchy?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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I love being a mom–it’s absolutely one of the best things in my life. I have four, with age ranges from 14 and 2 years-old. My kids are hilarious, and so happy and optimistic about life and that makes me look at my own life anew. However there is a flipside: They are a lot of work. It’s impossible to be lazy if you’re going to do this whole parent thing well enough so that your kids won’t need a psychiatrist in adulthood. Gosh. I wish someone would have told me a few things about having kids before I started popping them out, such as…

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