Brenda Feigen, feminist activist, attorney, constitutional scholar, and film and television producer, will speak at Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara’s 17th Annual Celebration Luncheon: Girls Have the Right! Sept. 27 at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort.
Feigen can be seen in the critically-acclaimed CNN documentary, RBG, about the legal legacy of friend and colleague Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Feigen co-founded Ms. Magazine with Gloria Steinem, and co-founded the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project with now Justice Ginsburg, with whom she supervised more than 140 lawyers overseeing sex discrimination cases around the country.
Feigen and Ginsburg were honored by the ACLU in 2010 for their groundbreaking work. Feigen also was national vice president of NOW, and a co-founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus.
“It’s important that girls stake their claim,” said Feigen.
“I think it’s fantastic that there is an organization that reaches out to girls who might otherwise not be exposed to opportunities to learn how to assert their rights and own their power to move forward in the world. That’s what Girls Inc. is about,” she said.
Feigen is an experienced entertainment attorney, and directed Entertainment Goes Global, a joint project of USC’s Annenberg School and the Pacific Council on International Policy that focuses on the Americanization of films around the world.
She produced the 1990 big budget film, Navy Seals, and is currently developing a television series project.
A Harvard Law School graduate, Feigen was a featured speaker at the HLS Bicentennial in 2017, and a panelist at Harvard Law School’s Women’s Leadership Summit.
She maintains a consistent media presence on shows like 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, and on CNN. Her articles on women in the law and entertainment industries have appeared in Vogue, Ms. Magazine, The Village Voice, and Harvard Women’s Law Journal.
She is the author of Not One of the Boys: Living Life as a Feminist (Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), a memoir of her history as a leader in the Women’s Movement.
Like 5.2 million other people, Feigen participated in the 2017 Women’s March, calling it one of the most empowering and inspiring experiences in her life.
Feigen will share her life experience as a leader of the women’s movement and activist for women and gender equity at the 17th Annual Celebration Luncheon, benefiting Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara. Tickets are $130 each, and can be reserved online or by calling 805-963-4757.
— Kristen Weaver for Girls Inc.