Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation moderated the town hall with Tina Tchen. Tchen is the Executive Director of White House Council on Women and Girls and the Chief of Staff for First Lady Michelle Obama.
“This is the hardest working White House I have ever seen.” -Eleanor Smeal
Tina Tchen first met FMF President Eleanor Smeal organizing for the Equal Rights Amendment What a great example for all the young feminists at NYFLC that are meeting hundreds of fellow feminists, many at campuses near them.
“We have to make sure that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) stays the law of the land.”
Tchen talked about how much misinformation exists with the ACA. Under 26 and still on your parent’s health insurance? That’s ACA!
Tchen also discussed many issues that we held workshops on at NYFLC, including immigration reform and what it means for women.
“We are the closest we’ve ever been [on immigration reform] and we are determined to get it done.”
Tchen also talked about the importance of VAWA, especially when it comes to sexual violence on college campuses.
We were so lucky at NYFLC to have had Tina Tchen take questions from all those attending NYFLC, as well as all our digital viewers at our Ustream and on Twitter. The line for the mic to ask questions was almost out the door!
Questions from our conference attendees ranged from questions about campus activism all the way to activism on a national level. Some attendees picked Tchen’s brain… What is the POTUS really like?
Tina Tchen said that one of her proudest moments in her job was when President Obama signed the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
We love that Twitter can make cyberfeminism a true avenue of activism. Stand Up for Women North Dakota asked:
(StandUp4WomenND tweeted:)
@feministcampus Does Tina Tchen have any advice for women living in#ND? we have rallies planned 4Monday 3/25#reproroghts#rallyND
(FeministCampus tweeted:)
@StandUp4WomenND “Don’t get disheartened!#Personhood may be on the ballot but we defeated it in#MS. We can do it again!” – Tina#nyflc2013
Tina Tchen on rape and consent “We have to keep educating men and young boys on sexual assault and consent.”
We had so many young feminists with questions to ask Tina Tchen, that we ran over nearly thirty minutes!
If you missed the Town Hall, you can watch the video on our Ustream channel: http://bit.ly/nyflcTV
Coming up on Ustream tomorrow, March 24, 2013, at 9:45AM to 11:15AM: The Fight for Women’s Rights & Health Worldwide