I have been assigned two papers this semester. One for my Feminist Theory class, and another for my Int'l Women's Studies class. I would like your help in selecting interesting and focused topics for each, as well as your aid in finding reliable and recent sources (this may include articles, videos, and films as well as books). I'm considering writing about Cuban Women/Feminism, (my parents are Cuban) but I am at a loss for sources-any ideas?

Your help would be greatly appreciated. Yours, Aleida

Thanks so much for your note to Feminist.com and for asking me to help with your paper. For your Feminist Theory Class, I have such a hard time with the word "theory" because I feel that what we should be focusing on is "practice," so my proposal is that your paper focus on "how to move from theory to practice" and in this focus on a specific focus area such as "women in the workplace." It's nice to theorize about how to change the status of women in the workplace, but why not pick one specific example of how to actually change it and follow through on that proposal.

More specifically, we now have many examples of women who have "broken the glass ceiling." However, if you look at any profession that is more than 70% female, it is a low-wage job. Is the solution to have more men in these jobs? One, I doubt we could convince them to take them and two, if we did I bet they's become more respected and valued jobs. (For some more on this, you might want to look at Gloria Steinem's article: "Revaluing Economics" found in her book Moving Beyond Words. In this article she references the work of Hazel Henderson, Marilyn Waring, Vandana Shiva. All are great resources--if you choose this path.)

For your second proposal on Cuban Women/ Feminism--I think this is a great proposal--and there have many recent acts by U.S. feminists toward the Cuban people. For instance, the organization MADRE (based in the U.S.) has led several delegations to Cuba to bring relief to the Cuban people. There is also an article by Alice Walker about her recent trips there--see her book, Anything We Love Can Be Saved. Also, there a few recently published books to the effect of "women writing about Cuba." See your local bookstore or the Feminist.com bookstore.

I hope this response helps.

—Amy