Are you afraid on your daily commute? Leering glances. Unwanted physical contact. Harassing, suggestive derogatory comments thrown at you while you are just minding your own business on the bus, train or simply walking down the street. Are you fed up in having to always be on your guard when you are just trying to live your life? Talk to most women and these experiences are ones that have caused not only fear for your own personal safety but also a sense of deep outrage.

In this week’s She’s Doing It, I couldn’t be prouder to highlight Emily May, co-founder and Executive Director of Hollaback! as someone who has taken the global problem of street harassment and embraced Power Tool #7: Create a Movement with both arms and mobile technology!

PHOTO: NWPC CA President and National Vice President for Board Development Teray Stephens and I checking out the Good Guy Awards.

I had the honor of emceeing the National Women’s Political Caucus 40th anniversary convention Good Guys Gala July 30th in Washington DC.

The Caucus started giving “Good Guys” awards back in 1971 as a way of recognizing and encouraging the then-rare men who joined in efforts to get women elected and appointed to political positions. Later, the great feminist and late Congresswoman Bella Abzug (D-NY) created an award to memorialize her supportive spouse, Martin–the Martin Abzug Supportive Spouse Award. I’m proud to say that my husband Alex Barbanell received this award a decade ago. In his acceptance speech, he revealed that he is my chief cook, bottle washer, and sex slave…

When I was told by my good Midland TX friend Dr. Norman Gould that the congregation I belonged to when I lived in West Texas had hired a woman, Rabbi Holly Cohn, as its first fulltime spiritual leader, I knew instantly that I wanted to write about her for this “She’s Doing It” column. I found her optimism and devotion to her calling inspiring. And I was also struck by how women are playing an ever-larger role in religion and religious observance.

This piece was originally published on the Sisterhood Blog of the Jewish Daily Forward. “Rabbi Holly in Mojoland” was my original title. I’d love to know your reactions. And whatever your religious persuasion, what have been your own experiences as women have been taking on increasingly significant roles as members of the clergy?

It’s been quite a week between the lawmakers in Washington taking the debt-ceiling deal to the 11th hour and yesterday being one of the worst days in the financial markets since 2008. Yet despite all the chaos, this Friday’s Round Up is going deploy Power Tool #5 ‘Carpe the Chaos’ and keep marching forward to highlight some of the good, not just the bad and the ugly – we’ve had quite enough of that…

This week’s She’s Doing It features popular blogger ‘PunditMom’ Joanne Bamberger. She is not only illuminating women’s clout and influence both online and in the political realm but uses her voice to get out the message of the importance of political motherhood and mothers in politics. Joanne is an amazing example of No Excuses Power Tool #8, “Employ Every Medium”…

This week, I’ve been preparing to emcee the National Women’s Political Caucus “Good Guys” Gala at the Caucus’s 40th anniversary convention. Emcees are supposed to be somewhat humorous, and I got to thinking about how some people (remember when the curmudgeonly Christopher Hitchens lobbed the idea in Vanity Fair?) like to say women aren’t funny. Especially feminists. So this week’s Friday Round Up is devoted to women who make us laugh…

Did you know women are the fastest growing group of armed forces veterans with estimates of growing from 1.8 million in 2010 to 2.1 million by 2036? I didn’t until I read some recent reports.

Women have made great strides throughout the U.S. Military, serving in almost every position now. This is a big change in an organizational culture designed by men for men. Change as we know, can create chaos, or at least the feeling of chaos. This week’s “She’s Doing It” celebrates those brave women in uniform, and looks at how they are using No Excuses Power Tool #5, “carpe the chaos” when Janie comes marching home.

July 19th was the 163rd anniversary of the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention that is generally regarded as the start of the women’s movement in the U. S. So this week’s roundup has to be about power tool #1: Know your history and you can create the future of your choice.

Sandy Magnus and three other (male) NASA astronauts returned to earth early Thursday morning aboard the final flight of Atlantis. Magnus, 46, is an engineer and a veteran in space exploration since joining NASA in 1996. She now has the distinction of being the last woman ever to fly on a NASA space shuttle which is being retired after three decades of service. And she has a sense of history, and the historic nature of her own work.

In Part Two of this “She & He are Doing It” series, I spoke further with both Earl and Suzanne de Berge to learn more about the incredible work Seeds for the Future (Semillas para el Futuro) is doing in rural Guatemala and the challenges they face there.

Suzanne and Earl de Berge

This week’s “She’s Doing It” column features both a he and a she: a couple who have worked together throughout their adult lives in their Arizona-based business and now are devoting their skills to amazing community development work in rural Guatemala. First of a two-part series.

Suzanne and Earl de Berge founded the public opinion research firm Behavior Research Center in 1965, with Suzanne running the business end and Earl the research end. Politically independent, I met them when BRC began doing opinion research for Planned Parenthood in Arizona in the early 1980’s. They were usually correct in their recommendations, helping us win ballot initiatives and score some big wins in a tough political climate. Here’s Earl’s description of what they are doing now, why this is their dream, and how they are leading–not following–it.