Coming Together for Equal Pay

The three Zonta clubs on Long Island came together on April 9, 2013, to represent Zonta International (ZI) at the 3^rd Annual Equal Pay Day Breakfast hosted by Enterprising & Professional Women NYS in partnership with Suffolk County’s Executive Office of Women’s Services. Equal Pay Day draws attention to the wage gap that exists in most countries between women and men.


According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, women in the U.S. today are still paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men. And African American women and Latinas get even less.



As cosponsors of the event, the three Long Island clubs submitted the ZI logo and the following text for promotional materials:

"Founded in 1919, Zonta International works to advance the status of women worldwide through service and advocacy. With more than 30,000 members belonging to more than 1,200 Zonta Clubs in 64 countries and geographic areas, Zontians all over the world volunteer their time, talents and support to local and international service projects, as well as scholarship programs aimed at fulfilling Zonta's mission and objectives. Zonta International is active on Long Island from the east to the west through Peconic Bay Zonta, the Zonta Club of Suffolk County and the Zonta Club of Long Island. Learn more about membership in Zonta: http://www.zonta.org"

Peconic Bay had a special interest in supporting this event because one of the speakers was Vivian Stojanoff, a physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory and co-coordinator of Brookhaven Women in Science (BWIS). Peconic Bay has had productive collaborations with BWIS in the past (see April post on “A Celebration of Women”).


During her talk, Vivian recounted her experiences in the United States and in Europe about working as a scientist, especially in the male-dominated physical sciences. Several young women in the audience – recent college graduates in science – were eager to follow-up with one-on-one conversations with Dr. Stojanoff.

- photos by Jesus Rios, Suffolk County Executive Director’s Office of Community Services

A Celebration of Women

Peconic Bay Zonta teamed up with Brookhaven Women in Science (BWIS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory and with Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) at Stony Brook University to organize “A Celebration of Women” during Women’s History Month. On March 20, at Brookhaven Lab, five speakers from diverse backgrounds and in diverse jobs spoke to an audience of over 60 women and men. Kathy Walker, a Zontian and BWIS member, hosted the inaugural event, which she described as an inspirational conversation and gathering.

The speakers were:

• Carrie-Ann Miller, Director of Women in Science and Engineering, Stony Brook University

• Ann Hirsch, Musician and Music Educator

• Elke Aschenauer, Physicist, Brookhaven Lab

• Christina Swinson, Physicist, Brookhaven Lab

• Katherine Aguirre, Assistant Professor, Suffolk County Community College

Go here to watch a video of the event, recorded by Brookhaven Lab videographer Alex Reben.

Some background: Zontian Melina Carnicelli, who belongs to the Zonta Club of Auburn in New York, attended a Peconic Bay Zonta meeting in July 2012, as a guest of Liala Strotman. Melina described a program she first organized in 1994 in Auburn, inspired by the poem “A Room Full of Sisters.”

At that meeting and subsequent others, we had lively discussions about how Peconic Bay might adapt Melina’s "Room Full of Sisters" for our own group. The March 20 inaugural event with BWIS and WISE was the culmination of months of planning. Feedback was enthusiastic and positive, thanks to our five wonderful speakers!

Zontian Roxanne Neilson, Peconic Bay's Area 1 Director, came all the way from New Rochelle and gave the event a big thumbs up.

Top photo: Speaker Ann Hirsch (left) and Zontian Mona Rowe play a duet arrangement of a piece by Johannes Brahms. Ann shared historical facts about concert pianist Clara Schuman, who performed the original two-piano version throughout her career.

- Joe Rubino, Brookhaven Lab photographer

Bottom photo: Speaker Katherine Aguirre (center) with her colleagues from Suffolk County Community College.

- Joe Rubino, Brookhaven Lab photographer 

Congress Acts on Violence Against Women

The House just passed a Senate-approved version of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), sending the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement, "The Violence Against Women Act has long ensured that no women would ever be forced to suffer in silence in the face of domestic violence and abuse."

VAWA was originally signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and renewed by Congress in 2000 and again in 2005. The bill provides support and protection for victims of violence. In its current form, it extends abuse protections to gay, lesbian and transgender people, as well as to Native Americans and immigrants.

Peconic Bay Zonta's Advocacy Chair Barbara Pierce has stayed on top of this issue, emailing members with updates and encouraging everyone to contact elected officials to urge renewal.

Thank you, Barbara!

Happy New Year!

Two topics were on the agenda for Peconic Bay Zonta's January 8 meeting:

- Continued sponsorship of an ESOL scholarship at Suffolk County Community College in Riverhead
- Options for a new activity, including a career day for middle-school girls and a networking event for East End women's organizations

We had a lively discussion over a dinner of chicken wings from Spicy's, a favorite BBQ spot in Riverhead. Mmm mmm good!

Peconic Bay Connects with Girl Scouts

Instead of taking a holiday on Columbus Day, October 8, 30 Girl Scouts from the Mastic/Shirley and Shoreham/Wading River service units came to Brookhaven National Laboratory to explore the nano world, where things are measured between 1-100 nanometers (1 nanometer = 1 billionth of a meter). At the nanoscale, materials behave in different and unexpected ways, which may lead to novel applications in energy, medicine, consumer products, etc.

The girls did hands-on activities under the theme "Nanotechnology - Tiny Things Bring Big Change," offered by the Lab's Office of Educational Programs; they toured the Center for Functional Nanomaterials; and they met and talked with two women scientists at the nanocenter. The highlight of their day was the nano-sized Girl Scout logo revealed by an atomic force microscope.

Peconic Bay Zonta was pleased to co-sponsor the day with Brookhaven Women in Science. We look forward to a notice of the event in "Happenings," a newsletter published by Girl Scouts of Suffolk County.

Enjoy these photos by Roger Stoutenburgh, photographer at Brookhaven Lab.

Stats from Around the World

At our August business meeting, in honor of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, we added the flag of Great Britain to our tabletop collection.

Our advocacy chair Barbara Pierce, presented statistics on birth, infant mortality, fertility and literacy rates for the United Kingdom, and we compared them with a growing list of countries around the globe. Here are the numbers for countries we have talked about this calendar year. They say a lot about the status of women and girls in different parts of the planet.

Birth (births per 1,0000)

• India - 20.6
• Ireland - 15.81
• Italy - 9.18
• Liberia - 37.25
• United Kingdom - 12.27
• U.S. - 13.68

Infant mortality (deaths per 1,000 live births)

• India - 46.07
• Ireland - 3.81
• Italy - 3.38
• Liberia - 74.52
• United Kingdom - 4.56
• U.S. - 5.98

Fertility (children born per woman)

• India - 2.58
• Ireland - 2.01
• Italy - 1.39
• Liberia - 5.13
• United Kingdom - 1.91
• U.S. 2.06

Literacy (percent age 15 and over can read and write)

• India - 73.4 for males, 47.8 for females
• Ireland - 99 males, 99 females
• Italy - 98.8 males, 98 females
• Liberia - 73.3 males, 41.6 females
• United Kingdom - 99 males, 99 females
• U.S. - 99 males, 99 females

President's Report, June 2011 - May 2012

This was our year at the movies. Peconic Bay Zonta co-sponsored the showing of "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" . . .

. . . in August 2011, at Brookhaven National Laboratory, a science research center,
. . . September 2011, Greenport Public Library,
. . . and in March 2012, Riverhead Public Library.

Our movie series actually began the previous Zonta year, in March 2011, when Peconic Bay partnered with Brookhaven Women in Science at Brookhaven Lab and with the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Suffolk Community College to show Abigail Disney's documentary at the college's Riverhead campus. This was the film's premiere on eastern Long Island, Peconic Bay territory. Even as we were planning this event, we were already seeking other audiences with whom to share the remarkable story of a group of Liberian women who banded together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their country.

How could we have predicted that in October 2011, two of the women in the film -- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee -- would share the Nobel Peace Prize? Thrilling news!

Through this activity, we have met other women in the community and started to build relationships with certain individuals who are now interested in the service and advocacy work of Zonta International.

As the Zonta year ended, we held our second yard sale -- thank you to the Long Island Club for tips. This event was to raise scholarship dollars for an ESOL female student attending the local community college and for our contribution to the Zonta Foundation. Goals achieved!

Footnote: A month into the 2012-13 Zonta year, Peconic Bay gained a new member: Liala Strotman. That's a 12.5 percent increase in membership! Liala's journey to Peconic Bay started with Gloria Wristen, Zonta International Finance Chair in 2010-2012; then Lisa Fraser, District 3 Governor last year; then Kathy Rau, former Area 1 Director in District 3.

The Zonta network . . . WORKS!

This report from Peconic Bay Zonta will be delivered at the District 3 conference September 21-23, 2012, in Trenton, New Jersey.