Between You and Me: We invite you to our kickoff podcast for Women’s History Month with our special guest

By Leah S. Dunaief

Women’s History Month is almost upon us. What is it all about? Named in 1978 by the schools of Sonoma County, California, “as a way of examining women’s history, issues and contributions,” according to the Encyclopedia Britannica on the internet, the celebration is throughout the month of March. Originally championed by the National Women’s History Alliance, “a variety of agencies, schools and organizations observe the month by focusing on the ‘consistently overlooked and undervalued’ role of American women in history.”

So do we.

On our podcast this week, we will have as special guest, Nancy Burner, who is a longtime local Elder Law attorney and who just expanded her practice by partnering with former judge, Gail Prudenti. We hope you will tune in, as we summarize the local news every week, to “the Pressroom Afterhour” and listen to what Ms Burner has to say about women in the law.

Hers will be the first of local female success stories that we plan to bring you throughout the month. 

You can hear us on our website, tbrnewsmedia.com and click on “Listen Now” at the top of the home page. Or you can catch up with the Times Beacon Record podcast on Spotify. There is a fresh one every Friday afternoon, and we archive the past ones for your listening pleasure.

There are some different stories on how the Women’s History Month came to be. One dates to a rally in New York City on March 8, 1857, of female garment workers demanding better working conditions and more pay. Although the police were said to break up the demonstration, several years later the women formed their own union.

Whether true or not, in 1908 a branch of the New York City Social Democratic Women’s Society declared the last Sunday in February to be National Women’s Day. The first was held on February 23, 1909. 

In 1911, International Women Day was observed on March 19, a creation of the International Socialist Women’s Conference, “to focus on the struggles of working women,” as opposed to a similar movement by the feminist “bourgeoisie.”

But the March 8 day from the mid-19th century, became the official date in 1921. Then in 1978, the Sonoma schools took it from there, naming it March Women’s History Week. The idea went to the United States Congress in 1981, where it eventually became Women’s History Month to be observed since 1987, snd further caught on in other countries.

Nancy Burner graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts from Stony Brook University and in the top 2 percent of her class with distinction from Hofstra University School of Law with her Juris Doctor in 1988. She created Hofstra”s first law school course in Elder Law in 2011 as an Adjunct Professor there. She has won numerous awards and distinctions over the years, including selection by her peers in Best Lawyers in America for Elder Law. She has also served as President of the Suffolk County Women’s Bar Association and was inducted into the Hofstra University Law Inaugural Hall of Fame, one of only 50 such inductees.

We invite you to join us for the next Pressroom Afterhour podcast for a summary of some of this past week’s local news and the kick off to Women’s History Month. If, after listening, you have questions or comments, we want to hear them Email us at [email protected]  or call at 631-751-7744. 

We encourage feedback and thoughts about local issues.