Becka Wall, Program Assistant

Becka Wall is the Program Assistant for the Communications Department. Prior to joining the Center, Becka interned at organizations such as The White House Project, Media Matters for America, the Newseum and the National Council for Research on Women. She graduated cum laude from American University with a degree in Communications focusing on the relationship between Media & Government in May 2011. In her spare time, Becka enjoys volunteering around DC, blogging about women's rights and baking up a storm.

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My Take

Seth McFarlane’s Oscar Trifecta: Sexism, Racism, and Tastelessness, Oh My!

Posted by
Amy Tannenbaum, Program Assistant
Becka Wall, Program Assistant
| Posted on: February 25, 2013 at 03:58 pm

NWLC’s water-cooler talk this morning was completely dominated by one thing: the Oscars. Program Assistants Amy Tannenbaum and Becka Wall were particularly fired up by a few things – namely, the sexism, racism, and general objectification of women that was prevalent throughout and decided to hash it out via blog post, below:

Amy: Watching the Oscars last night was such a roller coaster. There were some great moments – but overall I felt like women lost, in more ways than one.

Becka: Agreed. First of all, with the exception of Best Supporting and Best Actress, there was a serious dearth of women nominated – a notable snub was that of Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty, an intense movie that captured not only the 12-year manhunt for Osama Bin Laden, but also the depth of human emotion that came with it.

Amy: Can we talk about the boob song, with Seth MacFarlane highlighting the times that actresses have appeared topless in film? It was like sexual harassment in front of an audience of millions. Charlize Theron and Naomi Watts looked disgusted and uncomfortable. Women in Hollywood are already judged too heavily on their looks. This song further moved emphasis away from what the Oscars is supposed to be about – celebrating talent and film – and turned it into a kind of sexual harassment. Plus, it wasn’t even funny!

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Tags: Racism, Sexism, Television & Media | 23 comments

Puking on Cue: Why we need to pass the Violence Against Women Act ASAP

Posted by Becka Wall, Program Assistant | Posted on: February 20, 2013 at 01:04 pm

Rape commentary has been blowing up the Twitterverse, and as per the usual, not for reasons we should be too thrilled about. When I logged in yesterday, I was disturbed to find that “#LiberalTips2AvoidRape” was a trending hashtag, with gems such as these:


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Tags: Rape Culture, Social Media, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), A Women's Agenda | 1 comment

Girls love Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. We just need to let them show it.

Posted by Becka Wall, Program Assistant | Posted on: February 15, 2013 at 02:25 pm
Zora Ball
7-year-old Zora Ball (Photo courtesy Harambee Institute.)

This past week, at age seven, first grader Zora Ball became the youngest person to create a mobile application video game. First off, talk about impressive – when I was seven, a successful day included dancing to the Spice Girls on my bed in my pajamas and Dunkaroos in my lunchbox (preferably chocolate). Go Zora!

More importantly, however, let’s use Zora as proof of something really important: that girls can love math and science and be passionate about it, and that programs to show girls that Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) can be fun and interesting are vital.

Ball is a first-grader at Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter School in Philadelphia, PA. She (and the other students in the STEMnasium learning academy) attend class every Saturday and love it – they even come voluntarily on weekends! The program is even currently teaching students Mandarin Chinese – with the idea that students will complete transactions in Philly’s Chinatown. IN MANDARIN CHINESE.

Zora is proof that when little girls are turned on to STEM, they get into it. Take the toy Roominate – it’s a buildable toy house that kids design and wire themselves.

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Tags: Education and Schools, STEM, Education & Title IX | 1 comment

Google Gets It: Honoring Mary Leakey

Posted by Becka Wall, Program Assistant | Posted on: February 07, 2013 at 04:32 pm

Whenever I open up Google and there’s a new Google Doodle waiting for me, I’m always a little excited – clicking on it always takes me to a short little game to play, or a fun animation, or information on an awesome historical figure I’ve never even heard of.

And this week was no exception – Wednesday brought me this adorable Doodle, honoring Mary Leakey:

Mary Leakey Google Doodle

Image couresty of Google

Mary Leakey was a British archaeologist and anthropologist who discovered the first fossilized skull of Proconsul, an extinct ape now believed to be an ancestor to humans, among a number of other really cool things.

As a kid, Leakey had an adventurous spirit. Her interest in archeology was sparked at a young age, when her family visited Les Eyzies where another archeologist was excavating a cave. When her family moved to France, she found a mentor in Abbe Lemozi, the village priest, who toured caves with Mary to view prehistoric paintings.

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Tags: Education and Schools, STEM, Education & Title IX, A Women's Agenda | Add new comment

Crunching the Numbers: Why We Need More High School Data

Posted by Becka Wall, Program Assistant | Posted on: February 06, 2013 at 05:42 pm

National Girls and Women’s Sports Day is a day to celebrate all the successes that girls and women have had so far, but it’s also a day to think about the obstacles we face. One of those is the lack of data surrounding girls in high school athletics – so I sat down with our own Title IX expert, Neena Chaudry, and our data whiz, Kate Gallagher Robbins, to get a better understanding about what we’­­­­­re missing.

Becka: When I e-mailed Kate to talk about sitting together to chat, she joked, “I could do the interview right now – in short, we need more data!” What is the number one aspect you each wish you had more data on?

Neena: I have a list! But the number one thing I wish we had was data for each individual school. Only some schools have data available from the U.S. Department of Education, but many don’t. I’d love to get participation rates broken down by sub= groups – particularly to see the numbers of girls of color on high school teams.

Kate: I would really love to dive even deeper and get some individual-level data. The school has the numbers – how many girls who are playing sports are also taking AP Classes, et cetera. More detail would help us determine some interesting correlations and where the gaps are.

Neena: Could we get that? Aren’t there privacy concerns?

Kate: There’s a way to do it while respecting privacy – it would be a different data set. Information about the individual, but without any specifics – for example, Becka would be student number 379 in this region of the country, and I would know that she played lacrosse and took AP Literature, but if I met Becka, I would have no idea she was student number 379.

Becka: Gotcha – so a deep level of anonymous detail.

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Tags: Athletics, Data, High School, NGWSD, Title IX, Athletics, Education & Title IX | Add new comment