JBMTI Blog

To have and to be able to maintain healthy and supportive relationships throughout life is central to growth and well-being for persons and society (J. B. Miller, 1986). However, when persons or societies assert patterns of interaction based on inequality and devaluing differences, marginalizing and oppressing those they consider "less than", persons and societies are harmed.

Such is the case with human trafficking. Human trafficking is a violation of human rights (Art. 4 United Nations Human Rights) and an extreme form of social injustice. It is perpetuated by dominant-subordinate attitudes that condone violence, resulting in significant suffering for individuals, and harm to societies.

The conference will mutually explore the challenges facing the international community to address human trafficking. The goals of the conference include: increased insight into the needs of trafficked victims and their communities, comprehension of the complexities of international cooperation, support for a collaborative path forward to care for those affected, and renewed resolve to help put a stop to violence and exploitation.

Conference Style

• 3-day International Conference
• Theory and Practice Oriented - involving experts in academics/ research and service providers
• Open to the public with educational credits available for ongoing training for students and professionals
• Main speakers and workshops

Conference Target Groups

• Researchers and (Higher) Education Instructors
• Professional Service Providers: Criminal, victim-service providers, NGOs, international organizations , church organizations, social service agencies, women‘s and men‘s organizations, health services, etc
• Students
• General public with interest in this issue

Sponsors and Supporters

• European Information Centre of Lower Saxony (Europäisches Informations-Zentrum Niedersachsen)
• European Commission
• Hans Böckler foundation
• HAWK Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen, Office for Gender Equality
• HAWK Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen, IIW
• HAWK Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen, Faculty of Social Work und Health, Hildesheim
• HAWK Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen, Faculty of Management, Social Work, Construction, Holzminden
• HAWK Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen, International Office
• Centre for interdisciplinary women’s and gender studies (ZIF)

Learn more

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation has rejected charges that its decision to discontinue funding for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America was politically motivated.

In a statement posted on its website and a video on YouTube late Wednesday, Komen said its action had been "mischaracterized" so the organization needed to "set the record straight."

In the video, Nancy G. Brinker, who founded and leads the organization, said that the decision was made as part of a broad effort to use donations more efficiently.

The foundation regretted the impact of its new policy on groups such as Planned Parenthood, Brinker said. But she denied politics played any role and called accusations against Komen "scurrilous" and a "dangerous distraction" from the battle against breast cancer.

"Susan G. Komen will always fight for and serve the poeple who need us the most. We won't rest until every woman — rich, poor, insured or uninsured — can face a life without breast cancer," said Brinker, whose sister died from breast cancer. "That was my promise to my sister and my promise to you."

The foundation, known for its pink ribbon campaigns and Race for the Cure fundraisers, is a powerhouse in the world of breast cancer in the United States, raising billions of dollars for breast cancer research, care and advocacy. (Excerpt from www.wbur.org)

Read the full article

Everyone agrees the United States needs to improve its education system dramatically, but how? One of the hottest trends in education reform lately is looking at the stunning success of the West's reigning education superpower, Finland. Trouble is, when it comes to the lessons that Finnish schools have to offer, most of the discussion seems to be missing the point.

The small Nordic country of Finland used to be known -- if it was known for anything at all -- as the home of Nokia, the mobile phone giant. But lately Finland has been attracting attention on global surveys of quality of life -- Newsweek ranked it number one last year -- and Finland's national education system has been receiving particular praise, because in recent years Finnish students have been turning in some of the highest test scores in the world.

Finland's schools owe their newfound fame primarily to one study: the PISA survey, conducted every three years by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The survey compares 15-year-olds in different countries in reading, math, and science. Finland has ranked at or near the top in all three competencies on every survey since 2000, neck and neck with superachievers such as South Korea and Singapore. In the most recent survey in 2009 Finland slipped slightly, with students in Shanghai, China, taking the best scores, but the Finns are still near the very top. Throughout the same period, the PISA performance of the United States has been middling, at best. (Excerpt from the article, "What American Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success, in the 12/29/11 Atlantic)

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Workers are dropping out of the labor force in droves, and they are mostly women. In fact, many are young women. But they are not dropping out forever; instead, these young women seem to be postponing their working lives to get more education. There are now — for the first time in three decades — more young women in school than in the work force. 

“I was working part-time at Starbucks for a year and a half,” said Laura Baker, 24, who started a master’s program in strategic communications this fall at the University of Denver. “I wasn’t willing to just stay there. I had to do something.”

Many economists initially thought that the shrinking labor force — which drove down November’s unemployment rate — was caused primarily by discouraged older workers giving up on the job market. Instead, many of the workers on the sidelines are young people upgrading their skills, which could portend something like the postwar economic boom, when millions of World War II veterans went to college through the G.I. Bill instead of immediately entering, and overwhelming, the job market. (Excerpt from NY Times, Instead of Work, Younger Women Head to School, 12/28/11.  Graph: Women Departing Labor Force, source Bureau of Labor Statistics)

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The Jean Baker Miller Training Institute will be on holiday break until after New Years. We will begin posting items to the blog again in January 2012.

Thank you to all of our amazing RCT practitioners and supporters around the globe. We had an wonderful 2011 and look forward to connecting with you in 2012.

Happy holidays, everyone. We hope you have a peaceful holiday season.

Too many suits: And not nearly enough skirts in the boardrooms

Nov 26th 2011 | from the print edition of The Economist

“PERHAPS WE WOMEN should just keep out of this male circus,” said one of the participants in a forum on “German Female Executives” run by Odgers Berndtson, a firm of headhunters. Gabriele Stahl, a partner in the firm’s Frankfurt office, recalls this comment because it seems to sum up the way many female managers feel about getting to the top of the corporate tree.

If they ever do. A study by Elke Holst and Julia Schimeta by the German Institute of Economic Research in Berlin found that in 2010 women held only 3.2% of all executive board seats in Germany’s 200 biggest non-financial firms. In the largest companies their share was even smaller. Financial institutions and insurance companies, where at least half of all employees are female, did no better than the rest, and state-owned companies were only slightly ahead. On the supervisory boards, the other component of Germany’s two-tier board structure, women are slightly better represented because some of the seats are reserved for employees, but last year they still made up only 11% of the total—and one-third of these boards had none at all. That list includes household names like Porsche, E.ON and Robert Bosch. The glass ceiling, like everything else in Germany, is pretty solid. (Article excerpt)

Read the full report

Enjoy a preview of Callie Crossley, moderator for this Thursday's colloquium, "Getting to the truths about race: The politics of connection in The Help," discussing the book and movie on her WGBH radio show. This episode originally aired August 18, 2011.

Visit The Callie Crossley Show's website

This is the second video in Mama Hope’s Stop the Pity, Unlock the Potential Campaign. This video represents a movement about humans and human dignity. With every school we construct, well we dig, orphanage we build, there are faces and names of people who are impacted; Lives that are changed.

Our latest video sets out to show the energy and potential of Africa and the interconnectedness we share. It is only when people are no longer seen through the stereotypes of poverty that we can begin to see we are not so different from each other. When the pity stops, the potential can be unlocked. This means more progress, but it will take all of us. This movement is our first step towards building a global society based on hope and connection. If you agree with us, join our movement and raise awareness! Join us in unlocking potential for a better future.

Directed by Joe Sabia and Bryce Yukio Adolphson
Shot and edited by Bryce Yukio Adolphson

Visit mamahope.org

Whether it's the rise of the Arab Spring in the Middle East or the killing of major Al-Qaeda figures – it's been a year of major changes on foreign shores. Staying on top of these sweeping changes has kept Secretary of State Hilary Clinton plenty busy. Clinton has been working aggressively behind the scenes to oversee the transition to democracy in the Middle East. At the same time, it's been a challenge to work within an administration headed by a former political rival.

Carol Costello speaks with Massimo Calabresi, who wrote this week's TIME Magazine new cover story on Clinton, to discuss the Secretary of Ctate's use of "smart power" – and her surprising obsession with social media. (From CNN.com - Photo credit: Time)

Hear the entire interview

By KEVIN FREKING, The Associated PressWASHINGTON (AP/The Huffington Post)-- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, struggling to form the words in her first extended interview since a January shooting rampage, said Monday she will not return to Congress until she is "better."

"No. Better," she said in response to a question about whether she wanted to return to Congress.

As she gestured as if to help her form the words, her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, completed the thought: "She wants to get better."

At that point, interviewer Diane Sawyer also tried to get Giffords to summarize her mindset, asking whether she was thinking she would go back to Congress if she got better. "And that's where you're at right now?" Sawyer asked.

"Yes, yes, yes," Giffords replied.  (Excerpt from Associate Press story on Huffingtonpost.com

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Does the Penn State molestation story ring any bells for you?

It does for David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.

"The parallels just go on and on," Clohessy said, talking about how in both the Catholic Church and Penn State University scandals, molestation allegedly continued for years because authorities didn't do enough to stop it.

And so a popular, respected institution, whose longtime football coach Joe Paterno was idolized for his commitment to character, integrity and morality, is now reeling as the truth comes out.

"You've got a very credible abuse report, an eyewitness with no ax to grind, and then you've got delays when they should have immediately gone to the police, but didn't," Clohessy said.

He was referring to a grand jury report that a witness saw former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky molesting a child in the Penn State showers in 2002. The witness said he went to head coach Joe Paterno, who said he reported the incident to the athletic director, but now wishes he had done more.

How could he not have?

How is it that a priest, a Boy Scout leader or a coach can be told about the sexual abuse of a minor and not IMMEDIATELY dial 911, send up a flare and scream his head off until the matter is fully investigated and the children protected?

Because no one went to the police, Sandusky was able to continue molesting boys until as late as 2007 while running a charity based at Penn State. (Excerpt from Steve Lopez: Shades of Catholic Church in Penn State Scandal; Photo Credit Pat Little/Reuters)

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The Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) now has our own channel on YouTube dedicated to WCW programs, projects, and researchers. Below is one example: researcher Laura Pappano discusses women in sports. Stay tuned for additions from JBMTI:

Visit WCW's YouTube channel

Amy Banks, M.D. will return to present three webinars as part of the "Reclaim Your Connected Brain" Series which starts in January 2012.

• Brain Claims: What's Hype? What's Healing?
  January 20, 2012
  

• Spot Removing: Positive Strategies for Decreasing Social Exclusion in Your Life and the World
  March 23, 2012

• Reconnecting the Dopamine Reward System to Healthy Relationship
  May 18, 2012

Stay tuned for full course descriptions and registration information. 

Learn more about JBMTI webinars

The smell was unmistakable. I recognized it immediately – a fungating infection. It’s what happens when a cancer breaks through the skin and the puss oozes out and aerosolizes, producing an unsurprisingly foul odor. This is what late stage cancer looks like if left unchecked, like many cancers were 100 years ago or still are today in the developing world. But I encountered this case this month, and Yvonne, the woman who sat crying before me, lives in Los Angeles. She lost her job two years ago and when her insurance expired, she was too ashamed to seek help for a mass she felt in her right breast.  Now the tumor had replaced her entire breast and blasted through the skin. Being cared for now — so late in her illness — was surely not what she would have wanted; and just as surely, it could have been avoided. How did we let this happen in America?

I was volunteering at the CareNow Free Clinic in the Los Angeles Sports Arena, one of more than 700 doctors, nurses and health professionals who had turned out to serve the local community. CareNow is a nonprofit founded to bring medical care to underserved communities, and the Los Angeles event was organized by Don Manelli, indefatigable president of the group. He was aware of what we would see here today, as was I, having volunteered at similar clinics in Little Rock, Arkansas and in Moorsville, N.C. We also conducted our own clinic for The Dr. Oz Show in Houston in 2009 and saw over 1,800 patients in one day. But simply having been down this road before does not mean you’re ever fully prepared for it. (Excerpt from Time "Enough Is Enough" by Dr. Mehmet Oz. Photo credit Adam Taylor)

Read the entire article

Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2011 Introductory Institute this past weekend. We are always so energized by the amazing work RCT practitioners are doing in schools, agencies, and communities. We are grateful everyone had such a great time.

Stay tuned to the JBMTI website for more photos from the Institute as well as the video of the Jean Baker Miller Memorial Lecture.

We hope to see you all at the Intensive Institute in June!

Maurice Sendak, author of children's literature favorites Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen, recently gave a touching interview on NPR's Fresh Air with host Terry Gross. Sendak talked about his new book Bumble-ardy, life, and love. Below are a few interview highlights. Enjoy!

On his current writing

"I feel like I'm working for myself at this point. If it's publishable, fine. If not, it makes not too much difference. Because I claim that this time is for me and me alone. I'm 83 years old."

"I'm writing a poem right now about a nose. I've always wanted to write a poem about a nose. But it's a ludicrous subject. That's why, when I was younger, I was afraid of [writing] something that didn't make a lot of sense. But now I'm not. I have nothing to worry about. It doesn't matter."

On wishing he had children, sort of

"I would infinitely prefer a daughter. If I had a son, I would leave him at the A&P or some other big advertising place where somebody who needs a kid would find him and he would be all right. ... A daughter would be drawn to me. A daughter would want to help me. Girls are infinitely more complicated than boys and women more than men. And there's no doubt about that. We just don't like to think about it. Certainly the men don't like to think about it. I have lived my whole life with a dream daughter."

On not discussing therapy sessions with his late partner, a psychoanalyst

"It just seemed like, why? It just seemed inauthentic and incorrect to burden him with that. My therapy went on forever. My being gay was something of not great interest to me. The person I lived with — we lived together for all of those years so we make trips to our favorite places in Europe, so that we could read our favorite books, so that we could listen to music.

"I couldn't deal with 9/11 the other day. I couldn't bear it. ... That evening of 9/11, they conducted Mahler's 2nd Symphony. ... And I sat there and cried like a baby listening to the music."

On being gay

"Finding out that I was gay when I was older was a shock and a disappointment. ... I did not want to be gay. It meant a whole different thing to me — which is really hard to recover now because that's many years ago. I always objected to it because there is a part of me that is solid Brooklyn and solid conventional and I know that. I can't escape that. It's my genetic makeup. It's who I am."

On his life

"I have nothing now but praise for my life. I'm not unhappy. I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can't stop them. They leave me and I love them more. ... What I dread is the isolation. ... There are so many beautiful things in the world which I will have to leave when I die, but I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready." (From Fresh Air's website)

Listen to the full interview

Trying to find a girl's costume this Halloween that doesn't include fishnet stockings or a corset?  It feels like it gets harder every year. With a little creativity, you can encourage girls to resist sexualization and enjoy Halloween on their own terms!  Here are a few tips from our awesome tip sheets:

This Halloween Let Her Creativity Sparkle (Not Just Her Costume)

1. Sit down with girls and listen to what they like and why.

2. If she is set on pink and glittery, let her pink and glittery DO something like take on a dragon or save the universe!

3. If she loves scary stories, let her go traditional and be a witch, monster, or ghost.  Encourage her to look as scary as she can!

4. Costumes labeled "for boys" are not off limits!  There are plenty of female police officers and fire fighters in real life.

5. If she is learning about amazing women from history at school, Halloween is the perfect opportunity to make learning fun!  Why not a Joan of Arc costume or a Mozart costume?  Be creative!

Visit the Hardy Girls, Healthy Women website for more info

JBMTI is pleased to announce that Callie Crossley, award-winning journalist and WGBH radio host, will be the moderator for the  upcoming colloquium," Telling the Truths About Race: Reflections on the Politics of Connection in "The Help," on December 1, 2011 at the Wellesley College Club.

Ms. Crossley is host of “The Callie Crossley Show” on Boston’s WGBH-FM, 89.7.  ‘Intelligent talk’ is the hallmark of the one-hour daily show which covers current events, local happenings, arts and culture and water cooler buzz.  The talk show is the latest chapter in the career of Crossley, who has been an award winning broadcast journalist, a documentary filmmaker, and a television and radio commentator. In addition to her radio program, Crossley offers regular commentary on media for Beat the Press, which airs on Boston based WGBH-TV, and for Fox25 TV’s Morning News Show. She appears occasionally on national news and information programs including CNN’s Reliable Sources, The PBS News Hour, and The Takeaway, and is a regular contributor to Tell Me More with Michel Martin.  

Crossley’s busy career includes public speaking and moderating. She is a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow guest lecturing at colleges and universities about the collision of old and new media, media and politics, media literacy, and the intersection of race, gender and media.  

For the last eight years, Ms. Crossley has served as Program Manager for the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard directing the speakers program.  

Prior to her current work, Ms. Crossley was a Producer for ABC NEWS “20/20” reporting health/ medicine stories. Crossley produced the Oscar® nominated hour of the acclaimed documentary series, Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954-1965.  “Bridge to Freedom” focused on the Selma, Alabama voting rights campaign. Crossley produced the film while working for Blackside, Inc., a Boston based independent film production company for which she also served as Senior Series Producer on the 2003 PBS documentary series “This Far By Faith: African-American Spiritual Journeys.”  

Crossley has won major film and television awards, including a national Emmy, a Peabody, a Christopher, an Edward R. Murrow award, and the top Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia award (Gold Baton), considered the Pulitzer Prize of broadcast journalism.   

She is the recipient of two Harvard Fellowships, Nieman Fellowship, and a Fellowship from the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is also the recipient of two honorary degrees from Pine Manor College and Cambridge College.  

She is a member of the judging Jury for the Alfred I. dupont -Columbia University Awards. She also sits on several Boston based Boards including the Ford Hall Forum, Cambridge Reads, and the Boston Book Festival.  

Crossley is also a wine enthusiast. She talks about wine on NPR, authors the wine blog “The Crushed Grape Report,” and is a member of the Boston Wine Writers.

Visit www.calliecrossley.com

Save the date! Please join JBMI Associate Director of Program Development Maureen Walker and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Christina Robb for a colloquium on the book and movie The Help on Thursday, December 1 from 7-9 p.m. at the Wellesely College Club.

Stay tuned for more event details and the forthcoming coming working paper.

Learn more

Marking the 17th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) helps us both appreciate the great strides that have been made in addressing all types of violence against women and recognize the fact that more needs to be done to create a society free from domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking. The Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) remains committed to addressing these crimes in a broad and comprehensive manner. (- Excerpt from The White House website)

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