Life

Jewish Filmmaker Tiffany Shlain Promotes Parity With 50/50 Project

Image by Tiffany Shlain – 50/50 Film

By Phoebe Maltz Bovy May 5, 2017

Tiffany Shlain, the fabulous Jewish filmmaker behind “The Tribe” and “The Making Of a Mensch”, has a new project: 50/50. As in, gender equality, and, as per the website, “not just politics and board rooms.” Excellent! More like this, please!

The multimedia, multifaceted initiative began with a film, which premiered in October, and is leading up to a big event on May 10th: 50/50 Day, with “over 9,500 events happening in 46 US States and 55 countries” already in the works. The Forward’s Editor-In-Chief, Jane Eisner, will be one of several speakers participating in the 24-hour global LiveCast Q&A. She will offer her perspective on how to get a more gender balanced world, specifically in journalism, business leadership and media representation and creation.

The events begin with screenings of the 20-minute film, embedded below. At just before the 17 minute mark, catch a glimpse of Shlain’s daughter’s bat mitzvah, complete with Talmud reference.

It doesn’t get more Sisterhood than that.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy edits the Sisterhood, and can be reached at bovy@forward.com. She is the author of “The Perils Of ‘Privilege’”, from St. Martin’s Press. Follow her on Twitter, @tweetertation

Phoebe Maltz Bovy is a former editor of the Sisterhood blog at the Forward. Her writing has appeared in several publications, including The New Republic and The Atlantic. Her book, “The Perils of ‘Privilege,’” was published by St. Martin’s Press in March 2017. She has a PhD in French and French Studies from New York University, and has read a lot of 19th century French Jewish newspapers for a 21st century American.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO