An interview with the director

Kelsey Norris
History of Women
Professor Allen

On March 30, 2006, I interviewed Dr. Judith Jennings, director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women. The interview gave me insights into the importance of working toward social change for women as well as the different ways in which a person can approach gender equality.

Growing up, Dr. Jennings was inspired by her mother from Appalachia, a woman who was socially and economically independent at a time when it wasn’t the norm. She was the only person in her class at school whose parents were divorced. Unlike many women in the 1950s and 60s who were trying to figure out how to be housewives and still have their own lives, Jennings’ mom didn’t have the option of staying home and had to work to support the family. When Jennings was growing up, there were not many females in the public eye. However, she remembers being exposed to Jackie Kennedy, a positive image of a woman serving as a public leader.

Jennings was the first person in her family to go to college; she attended the University of Kentucky and majored in history. In 1969, the history department at UK was male-dominated as there was only one woman professor in the entire department. Jennings attended graduate school at UK, where she was the only female in the branch of European history. She became aware of women’s roles in graduate school by the absence of women and with the fact that she was an oddity. At a graduate school reception, a professor approached Jennings and asked her which male student she was married to, refusing to recognize that a female was capable of attending graduate school.

In 1973, she received a scholarship to go to England and research the abolition of the British slave trade. As she was doing research in the Quaker Library in London, she came to the realization that the only names she was writing down were those of men. Jennings reveals, “I have spent the last five years just studying about men… where are the women?” Because of the absence of women in her history books, research, and University classes, she thought radical women such as Mary Wollstonecraft were lone voices. In her research, Jennings discovered several radical women who were well- known in the 1700s and 1800s; however, these women were frequently left out of historical records. She recognized an alternate discourse happening among women of all social classes, but she said “the absence of women affected me more than their presence.”

Jennings' first experience with feminism was through the observation of her mother, a politically active and independent woman; however, her mother did not believe in speaking out about gender issues. When Jennings was in graduate school, Gloria Steinem came to the University of Kentucky to speak on campus.

Jennings was inspired by Steinem, but was more focused on the anti-war movement at the time. She got married in 1970 and it didn’t occur to her not to change her name, or even not to get married. Getting married was the norm and girls were made to feel like old maids if they were still single after college.

In May of 1970, four days after the students were killed at Kent State, there was a large demonstration at the University of Kentucky because of the violence at Kent State, and also as a protest against the Vietnam War. An ROTC building was blown- up by a few anti-war students, and the National Guard, with rifles and tear gas, came to protect the campus. Jennings joined the protesters sitting on the grass as people spoke out against the war. The National Guard came over and tear- gassed all of the protesters. State troopers came in behind the anti-war demonstrators and violently attacked leaders of the group with clubs. This event drastically changed Jennings’ perceptions of the police, as well as provoked her interest in the anti-war movement and the protection of civil liberties.

Jennings later divorced her husband and continued to be active in the peace movement. Although she was interested in promoting gender equality, the feminist consciousness- raising group in Lexington did not appeal to her because it primarily consisted of married women who were trying to maintain their identity and interests as housewives. The group did not take into consideration the different lifestyles and needs of unmarried women or those of poor women, who could not afford not to work. Jennings believes that the women's movement is linked to other movements. She reveals that "focusing on women outside of social reform isn't as effective; women need to be part of movements that work toward justice for everyone."

From 1987 to 1991, Jennings served as the Grant Campaign Director and Humanities Consultant for Appalshop, Inc., a nonprofit media arts and education center in Eastern Kentucky. She worked as a historical consultant for “Fast Food Women,” a documentary film about women working in the fast food industry. Because jobs in Eastern Kentucky are scarce, many women work in fast food to support their families while receiving low pay and no insurance benefits. In 2000, Jennings co-produced the film, “Stranger With a Camera.” On the surface the film was about two dead men- a Canadian filmmaker who was shot and killed in Eastern Kentucky and the local resident who killed him. However, the filmmaker was a woman, Elizabeth Barrett, who ultimately served as the narrator and central character of the film. Jennings describes that “putting a woman’s voice in a story about two men really changed it and made it more accessible.” The film went to the Sundance film festival in 2000, where out of all the documentaries exhibited, there were only a handful directed by women.

Jennings has worked toward promoting gender equality in several ways such as through political and social reform, education, and currently through creative expression in the arts. She is interested in working with the arts because she believes that they have a unique power to make people look at things differently and interrupt an individual’s usual thought processes. They engage people on levels other than rational; she believes that in America, rationality is privileged and people do not recognize its limitations. While Jennings was attending a festival for the arts at Dartmouth College, she recognized the power of the arts to change people. In 1993, when she was working at the University of Louisville Women's Center, she received a grant to put on a performance festival at U of L that focused on women. This new interest and focus on the arts led her to accept the job at the Kentucky Foundation for Women, where she is encouraging Kentucky women artists to create art for social change.

The interview with Dr. Jennings helped me to recognize that each individual approaches gender issues in a different way. In addition, I learned that women's issues are inextricably linked to all concerns of social reform. I was also exposed to the changes in feminism over the past few decades. I admire how the work of women like Dr. Jennings has led to the further liberation and empowerment of women in society.