Interviews with Fatima Goss Graves and Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel at the National Women's Law Center

The National Women's Law Center has started a weekly series interviewing bloggers at Womenstake, their blog. Most recently they interviewed Fatima Goss Graves, Senior Counsel with NWLC. She works for greater gender equality in education, through litigation, drafting legislative policy, and public education. Highlights...

I come from a long legacy of civil rights activists. My father and aunt were the named plaintiffs in a significant post-Brown Supreme Court ruling that desegregated schools in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the height of the civil rights movement.

...

Q: Over the years, the civil rights movement and the women’s rights movement have coincided and sometimes clashed. As a woman of color, do you ever feel torn between your loyalties as an African-American and as a feminist?

[T]hese are movements that have benefited from and fostered each other. And these movements continue to work in strong coalitions together; I work with many civil rights organizations on a regular basis and our work often overlaps.

That said ... feminists have to ensure that their advocacy takes the needs of all women into account, not just white women.

Previously Womenstake interviewed Jill Morrison, another Senior Counsel at NWLC. She litigates and drafts policy to ensure access to health care. If you are interested in nonprofit, public interest legal careers or looking for a dose of inspiration, the series looks like something to check on Fridays!

Social networking for women NGO activists and their clients

PulseWire is in beta testing, open for women who are working in the fields of human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and water sustainability. Could that be you?

[More after the jump]

Hanging out my own shingle: what being Ms. JD means to me

My summer internship is over. I spent 10 weeks totally immersed in public interest law, and as a result I have completely changed what I had so carefully planned to do after graduation. No longer do I plan to remain an academic, nor do I wish to pursue a job at a large firm. More than likely I will open a solo practice so I can do public interest law.