Profile: Marie Collins

It's space and astronomy week at NewMoonGirls.com!

As the first female to pilot a space shuttle, female astronaut and pilot Marie Eileen Collins is an example of a woman who achieved her dreams despite childhood obstacles. Born in upstate New York, her family often struggled to make ends meet while she was growing up. Inspired by early woman pilots such as Amelia Earhart inspired her, she dreamed of one day becoming a pilot herself.

After completing high school she attended and put herself through a local community college and then graduated from Syracuse University with an undergraduate degree. After graduation, she entered training to become an Air Force pilot. Like fellow astronaut Sally Ride (who we featured earlier this week!), she later earned a graduate degree from Stanford University.

Marie has travelled to space four times during her career at NASA. She became the first female pilot in 1995 aboard shuttle STS-63 and on a later mission aboard STS-93 she became the first female commander of a space flight. Her most recent and last trip into space was in 2005. She retired from NASA in 2006.

Marie has received a long list of awards for her accomplishments from the U.S. Military and NASA. She was also awarded the French Legion of Honor and has been inducted into the women's hall of fame.

This week, check out stargazing tips, read stories written by other girls, and articles about other women who have worked with NASA at newmoongirls.com.

Female medical students less confident than male students

According to a recent study, female medical students tend to be less confident and more anxious than male students of equal education when interacting with patients. The male students also tended to over estimate their own competency, while the women underestimated their competency. The study also found that the females appeared less confident to the patients they were treating, and that the male students better identified with the role of being a doctor than the female students after graduating.

Why do you girls think this gender difference might exist? What are some reasons you think the female students might feel less confident than the men? Do you think that gender expectations influence how medical students think they might be perceived by their own patients? Do you think there's more pressure (self or external) on female medical students to live up to expectations because of their gender?

Radical Women Conference

Feminist organization Radical Women, based in the California Bay Area, hosted their 41st annual conference this past weekend. The theme of this year's conference, which took place at the historic Women's Building in the Mission district of San Francisco, was "the Persistent Power of Socialist Feminism."

We interviewed Marit Knutson, a former New Moon reader who works with Radical Women. Read on to learn more about the organization and conference.

New Moon: How did you get involved in this organization?
Marit: I was familiar with Radical Women since in my hometown, Seattle, there is a very large and active branch. However when I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, I met up with organizers at the branch in San Francisco and found it to be the perfect place to organize around many, many issues of concern for me. There was something empowering and special about an women-led, women-organized group. For the last two years, I've been organizing and learning leadership skills and it's been AMAZING!

What is the background on the conference and what is its mission?
The conference is 41 years in the making - Radical Women came out of the 1960s student movement and has lasted throughout the decades. We are very proud to be hosting the conference, titled "The Persistent Power of Socialist Feminism," in San Francisco, at the historic Women's Building. The building is completely covered in a beautiful mural of historical freedom fighters and feminists. We hope that after the conference, women and men will leave feeling prepared to build a strong feminist movement, that has young women of color in the leadership.

What issues does the conference discuss?
We will be talking about a lot of issues, and are delighted to have international feminists from China, Australia, Costa Rica, Israel, as well as Lynne Stewart, who is an activist lawyer. Mainly we'll be looking at women's leadership, how to organize across racial and ethnic lines, organizing around reproductive rights issues, discussing the election, how to stop the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, how to help support immigrant communities as they are under increasing attack, struggles around gender and sexuality, and much much more!

Do you have any advice for young New Moon readers?
The world is a little chaotic so it's important for young girls to be involved in shaping their futures, by keeping plugged in to what's happening. Also, keep reading New Moon. It was an extremely empowering tool for me when I was 10 years old, up until I was a teen! I felt like I was part of something big. As girls turning into young women, we have a lot of challenges in front of us, with sexism and racism, people telling us what we can or can't do with our lives, others trying to tell us what sort of jobs we SHOULD have. But ladies, we CAN do anything! I encourage all of you to learn more about feminism and its impact on the lives of your mothers and grandmothers. We have all benefited from its gains, and we still have a lot of work to do!

Do you have any advice for girls who want to become more involved with feminist issues?
Consider finding some books about strong women who really rocked! For example, Girls Who Rocked the World : Heroines from Sacagawea to Sheryl Swoopes by Amelie Welden (Author), Jerry McCann (Illustrator). Or girls know best By Michelle Roehm, which has a few volumes now. These books help us realize, just like New Moon, that we have a lot of work to do together, working together and sharing stories, but also organizing so that we can band together and fight back if we need to. Also please check out Radical Women's website, www.radicalwomen.org ! We have a lot of articles and resources available for use.

Profile: Sally Kristen Ride

It's Space and Astronomy week at newmoongirls.com!

Today we're profiling an outstanding woman in science and technology, Sally Kristen Ride. In 1983, Sally became both the first American woman and the youngest American to travel into space.

Born and raised in California, Sally went on to complete all of her education in-state. After high school, she briefly attended Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania but graduated from Stanford University with degrees in English and Physics. She continued on to receive her PhD in physics from Stanford as well.

Sally joined NASA in 1978. She traveled as a crew member aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger for STS-7 in June of 1983, and rode into space again in 1984. During her years at NASA, she worked on numerous projects and also founded NASA's Office of Exploration. She has been inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame as well as the Astronaut Hall of Fame for her many accomplishments and contributions to science.

Currently retired, she founded and is the president of the Sally Ride Science program which she designed to encourage and empower young girls who are interested in science, math, and technology.

Harley dealer sued for gender bias

According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Harley-Davidson dealer Dudley Perkins Co was recently sued by one of their former employees for gender discrimination. Female mechanic Bowen Dean had dreamt of being a motorcycle mechanic since a young age, and after completing a year long mechanic training course got hired by the dealer as an entry-level technician.

However, instead of working as a mechanic, Dean was assigned to tasks such as book keeping and customer service. The dealership proceeded to hire two less-qualified men to work as mechanics at the company. Dean filed a discrimination complaint in response, which prompted the company to fire her. Although she has applied for mechanic positions at other Harvey-Davidson dealers, she has yet to be hired anywhere.

What are are your reactions to this article? What initiatives should be taken to raise awareness for women working in male-dominated professions?

Myra Sadker Student and Teacher Awards

Hey girls! The Myra Sadker Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting gender equity. Each year they had out monetary scholarships and awards to support educational initiatives that promote the goals of the organization. Student, teachers, undergraduates, and doctoral students are all eligible to apply.

Visit www.sadker.org if you're interested in learning more about this opportunity or applying for one of the awards.

Banned Book Week is September 27-October 4

Did you know that the books Winne-the-Pooh and Charlotte's Web have been banned from some libraries in the past? This week marks the 27th anniversary of Banned Books Week. According to the American Library Association, over 1,000 books have been challenged since 1982. You can find a list of the most commonly challenged books in 2007 here on the ALA website--there were nearly 400 of them! Other books that have been banned or challenged in the past include classics such as Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. More recently, popular books such as Harry Potter have been challenged as well.

Books are banned or challenged for many reasons. One of the main motivations is to protect children from being exposed to difficult subject matter. Content that often causes a book to get challenged includes topics such as racism, profanity, homosexuality, and other controversial issues.

Banning books is a form of censorship that impacts our right to choose. During this week, celebrate your right to choose what books you read and what issues you expose yourself to.

What are your thoughts on this week? Do you support censorship of some book titles in libraries? Do you think it matters who the library's main audience is. For example, do you think that elementary school libraries should be more conscious of what books they have available? Have you read any of the books that are listed as having been challenged or banned?