Amy Tannenbaum, Program Assistant

Amy Tannenbaum is the Program Assistant for Education and Employment. Prior to joining the Center, she worked at the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs in their EEO Project. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Hamilton College in 2010 with a degree in comparative literature; her thesis explored how women have used writing and performance to address sexual assault. Outside of her work with the Center, she volunteers with several women-focused projects in the D.C. area and runs half-marathons.

My Take

Gender Discrimination on Primetime: Suits

Posted by Amy Tannenbaum, Program Assistant | Posted on: February 04, 2013 at 12:40 pm

I’ve been a longtime fan of the USA network TV show Suits – it’s set at a (fictional) law firm in New York, Pearson Hardman, and focuses on the exploits of a witty college dropout who has never been to law school and the firm partner who had the audacity to hire him as an associate. Last Thursday night’s episode featured Pearson Hardman taking on a class action lawsuit accusing a fictional company, Folsom Foods, of gender discrimination: they failed to promote qualified women. One of the lawyers on the case noticed that when women were denied for promotions, the company used the following descriptors to justify the choice: “high-strung,” “sensitive,” “aggressive,” and “abrasive.” These women were being passed over for promotions for reasons unrelated to their performance or their ability to fulfill their job responsibilities – but rather due to stereotypes about women in the workplace.

Surgery as a response to sexual harassment? Try Title IX.

Posted by Amy Tannenbaum, Program Assistant | Posted on: January 24, 2013 at 04:22 pm

In this week’s round of “are you sure that’s not from The Onion?”: a school in Missouri has told the mother of a middle school student that she should consider a breast reduction to escape sexual harassment.

After her thirteen-year-old daughter faced bullying and harassment due to her large breast size, Tammie Jackson called the school to ask for help. The school official she spoke with suggested that her daughter could transfer to a different school, then stated that in her opinion, her daughter would face the same sexual harassment at any school due to her physique.

This classic victim-blaming rhetoric puts the blame on Jackson’s daughter, rather than on the students who are sexually harassing her. It tells a thirteen-year-old girl that the problem is her body, rather than the attitudes and actions of others. Furthermore, under Title IX, a response like this could be against the law.

What if Kate Middleton Were a Prison Guard?

Posted by Amy Tannenbaum, Program Assistant | Posted on: December 06, 2012 at 03:17 pm

Kate Middleton

Photo Credit: Pat Pilon

When I saw the headlines recently about Kate Middleton being rushed to the hospital for treatment of hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe pregnancy-related complication, I immediately thought of my mother.

When I was three and my mom was pregnant with my brother, she was very sick. I was too young to really understand it, but I did know that she was throwing up nonstop and that every day a woman came to give her an I.V. What she was suffering from was more than morning sickness: it was hyperemesis. The I.V. my mother got prevented her from becoming too dehydrated or malnourished while her body literally could not keep down any food, and she was on bedrest for months.

Although we didn’t have the same resources available to Kate Middleton, whose hyperemesis is currently making international news, my mother was still luckier than many women who are diagnosed with this condition. She worked at a medical school library, and her supervisors accommodated her need for leave and gave her a reduced schedule once she was able to return to work. Women like Saonarah Jeudy have not been so lucky.

Jeudy was working as a prison guard when she became pregnant. Not only did she suffer from hyperemesis, she also had painful fibroid tumors.

5 Reasons NWLC is Recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Posted by Amy Tannenbaum, Program Assistant | Posted on: October 25, 2012 at 11:11 am

In addition to being Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month (affectionately known as DVAM). If you want to raise awareness for these causes, I hope you have a lot of purple clothes – last Friday was Spirit Day where LGBTQ individuals and allies were encouraged to wear purple to take a stand against bullying, and today in D.C., it’s Purple Thursday. Check out this picture of NWLC staff decked out in their violet best!

Domestic Violence Awareness Month began in 1987 as a way to connect communities working to end domestic violence, to honor survivors and remember victims, and to educate community members about the effects of domestic violence and how to prevent it. To do our part to spread awareness, we wanted to share five somewhat unexpected ways that domestic violence affects women and girls and intersects with NWLC’s work.

Tags: Domestic Violence, A Women's Agenda | Add new comment

Debate Wrap-up: The Unanswered Questions That Matter to Women Voters

Posted by

Amy Tannenbaum, Program Assistant

Emily Martin, Vice President and General Counsel

| Posted on: October 05, 2012 at 12:50 pm

A few themes have dominated the media after Wednesday’s first presidential debate: was the moderator any good, who “won,” and Big Bird’s future employment prospects. But here’s the question that we have been asking: where was the talk of women? In a piece for The Nation that also asks this question, Bryce Covert points out that the economic issues at hand have critical implications for women, but women are still seen as a special interest group. She writes, “’Women’s issues’ often get lumped into ‘social issues’ and then sidelined as not being ‘core issues’ like the deficit or jobs.”

Covert is absolutely right to point out that the impact of these core issues on women deserved specific attention during the debate. As over 50 percent of the U.S. population, women are NOT a special interest group. In fact, according to the Center for American Women in Politics, women actually vote MORE than men: women have turned out to vote in greater numbers — and proportions — than men in every presidential election since 1980 (PDF). The topics of Wednesday’s debate — the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Social Security, taxes, education, jobs and the economy — all offered the candidates a chance to articulate what their plans would mean for women. Neither took advantage of that chance. Nor was there any discussion whatsoever of a host of other domestic issues critical to women, from the wage gap, to women’s reproductive health, to child care, to protection against discrimination.

Amy Tannenbaum, Program Assistant

My Take

Gender Discrimination on Primetime: Suits

Surgery as a response to sexual harassment? Try Title IX.

What if Kate Middleton Were a Prison Guard?

5 Reasons NWLC is Recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Debate Wrap-up: The Unanswered Questions That Matter to Women Voters

How You Can Help

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Amy Tannenbaum, Program Assistant

My Take

Gender Discrimination on Primetime: Suits

Surgery as a response to sexual harassment? Try Title IX.

What if Kate Middleton Were a Prison Guard?

5 Reasons NWLC is Recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Debate Wrap-up: The Unanswered Questions That Matter to Women Voters

How You Can Help

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