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- Interviews of, Articles & Videos About Sonia
Interviews of, and Articles about, Sonia Pressman Fuentes
Articles about Sonia are also contained in the section on Belgium.
- On March 14, 2013, the Veteran Feminists of America (VFA), an organization dedicated to recognizing the pioneer feminists of the second wave of the women’s movement, announced the revamping of its website at www.vfa.us. Sonia is mentioned throughout the website.
- On February 21, 2013, the Women’s Herstory Initiative, Words of Women, International Women’s Day, based in Dallas, TX, announced that the essay of seventeen-year-old Talia Weisberg about Sonia on the subject “The Most Influential Woman in My Life” won the Words of Women Essay contest.
- The book, Jews of Sarasota-Manatee, by Kim Sheintal (Arcadia Publishing, Feb. 2013), contains a 2002 photo of Sonia in front of a sign about the Jewish Genealogical Society (JGS) of Southwest Florida (p 25). Sonia gave a talk to JGS on March 2002. To see Sonia’s photo, go to arcadiapublishing.com. You will see a photo of the book cover. Under that are the words "Search Inside," click on that, then type in “Sonia Pressman Fuentes.”
- “Boston Commons,” by Talia Weisberg, was published on January 8, 2013, in Fresh ink for Teens, an online newspaper sponsored by the Jewish Week in New York City.
- "Groundbreakers or Ground Takers?" by Talia Weisberg, was published on December. 8, 2012, in Fresh ink for Teens, an online publication sponsored by the New York Jewish Week.
- By Tyler Whitson, "Women's Rights Pioneers Strive to Influence and Inspire a New Generation," Sarasota News Leader, November 16, 2012. (Visit the Sarasota News Leader Web site.)
- "Women’s Rights Pioneer Sonia Fuentes Speaks at Law School," enewsletter of the Cornell University School of Law, Oct. 31, 2012.
- By Deborah Carney, "Sonia Pressman Fuentes Interview About Feminism and Her Memoir," October 8, 2012.
- Interview with Sonia Pressman Fuentes as a Featured Writer on authormepro.com, August 30, 2012.
- By Nick Friedman, "Neighbors: Sonia Pressman Fuentes," July 4, 2012.
- Jewdayo, June 30, 2012, Sonia as a founder of NOW.
- Sarasota Observer, June 28, 2012: Sonia presents copies of her memoir to prizewinning young women students at Booker Middle School, Sarasota, FL.
- RTIRonline asks Sonia to comment on the death of Nora Ephron, June 28, 2012.
- Website devoted to Sarah Palin calls Sonia a “so-called feminist” (presumably under the theory that forty-seven years of fighting for women’s rights isn’t long enough to qualify one as a feminist). (June 25, 2012)
- Is Laura Bush feminist enough for Alice Paul Award?, Washington Post, June 20, 2012.
- Who Will Speak Out Against an Outrageous Insult to Former First Lady Laura Bush?, The Huffington Post, June 19, 2012.
- Laura Bush’s fight for women, Washington Post, June 19, 2012.
- Sewall-Belmont House draws fire for honoring Laura Bush, Washington, DC’s The Examiner, June 18, 2012.
- Sonia initiates campaign to protest the National Woman’s Party/Sewall-Belmont House & Museum’s plan to give the Alice Award to Laura Bush, Washington Post, June 18, 2012.
- Cary Franklin, “Inventing the `traditional concept’ of sex discrimination,” Harv. Law Review, Vol. 125, # 6, p. 1307 (2012), Univ. of Texas Law, Public Law Research Paper #219.
- "Eva Alexandra Countess Kendeffy, Sonia Pressman Fuentes and Rabbi Jonathan Katz", Longboat Key Observer of March 11, 2012. This picture also appeared in the Sarasota, FL, Jewish News (April 2012, p. 14B).
- By David Beard and Bethonie Butler, "The keys to a better life? Everyone has an opinion," February 21, 2012.
- Interview of Sonia by Talia bat Pessi, a high school student, that went online on Feb. 9, 2012.
- Feb. 5, 2012, Interview with Cyrus Webb, editor of Conversations Magazine.
- By Paul Berger, "When 'Savior of Jews' is Deeply Flawed," January 09, 2012. (Article includes a slide show about Sonia.) The article, which deals with Sonia’s request to The Righteous Among the Nations Department at Yad Vashem in Israel to remove Robert de Foy from those recognized as Righteous, was picked up by newspapers in Belgium, Canada, and France. An article about the same subject appeared on Feb. 8, 2012, in Dutch in Joods Actueel, a monthly newspaper directed to Jews in Belgium. By letter of Feb. 4, 2013, The Righteous Among the Nations Department advised Sonia that “after painstaking examination,” her request was denied.
- "Jean Faust, First President of the First Chapter of NOW," December 8, 2011.
- By Abby Weingarten, "Feminist Revisits Her Birth Country," November 9, 2011 (Online version | Photocopy)/Sonia with Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger
- Generations of the Shoah International Newsletter, October 2011
- "NOW Conference: Action, Inspiration and Connection," Now National Times, Fall 2011
- "Sonia Fuentes, writer, speaker, and feminist activist, tells us about her life," HavaMAG Life, Issue 4, September 2011 (To access the article: Click on the arrow to the right until it takes you to the Table of Contents on the left. Next, click on the first item in the Table of Contents, which is the article about Sonia, on page 10. When you come to the article, double click on each page to make the type readable.)
- "Featured Author," Published by Sonia's publisher, Xlibris Corp., in a newsletter and on its website, July 27, 2011.
- By Slavica Monczka, “Feminist Sonia Pressman Fuentes. Her Passion for Women’s Rights,” appeared in the e-zine, Inspirational Woman’s Magazine, on July 24, 2011, and was written by Slavica Monczka.
- By Slavica Monczka, "Something Beautiful is Happening," seductivelyfrench.com, July 5, 2011
- "Blending motherhood and working: Moms work by choice — and also out of necessity," Deseret News, June 26, 2011
- "Second Wave Founder" by Sonia Fuentes, girlscantwhat.com, June 9, 2011
- The CHJ Connection (Vo. XIV, No. 9, May-June 2011)
- Sonia’s March 3, 2011, letter to the editor of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune is discussed in “Religious Rehab at Florida Jail Sparks Protest,” Church & State (Vol. 64, No. 4, Apr. 2011), the magazine of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The letter is included and can be read in the Letters to the Editor section of this website.
- The Jewish News of Sarasota-Manatee (Vol. 41, No. 2, Feb. 2011): article about the Red Star Line Museum opening in Antwerp, Belgium, on Sept. 27, 2013, which will have a permanent exhibit about Sonia and her family.
- The CHJ Connection, the newsletter of the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in Sarasota, FL, December 2010
- TILES, the newsletter of the Jewish Museum of Florida, December 2010
- 2 million passengers, 2 million stories, The Red Star Line Museum, October 10, 2010
- By WomensRadio Staff, October 12, 2010.
- By Cathy B Stucker, sellingbooks.com, September 8, 2010
- Column called “WorkWise BlogTip: Know when to be direct” by Dr. Mildred L. Culp, which appeared in the Modesto [Calif.] Bee of Sept. 6, 2010
- Radio-TV Interview Report, "Elena Kagan—Fifty and Fabulous," July 7, 2010
- By Joan Collins, The Sullivan County Democrat newspaper on June 18, 2010
- By Joan Collins, The Sullivan County Democrat newspaper on June 11, 2010
- Author Spotlight, Xlibris, June, 2010
- By Andrea Kay, USA Today, May 17, 2010
- By Nancy Gibbs, "Love, Sex, Freedom and the Paradox of the Pill, A Brief History of Birth Control," April 22, 2010
- By David Ball, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, February 20, 2010
- By Tamar Burris, published on the Web site, Story of My Life, January 19, 2010.
- Added as a Luminary on inspiremetoday.com, October 2009
- By Marita Meegan, akgmag.com interviews, August 2009
- By Corie Russell, She Knows, July 2009
- By Meigs Glidewell, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, June 30, 2009
- By Heather Dunhill, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, June 4, 2009
- By Veronica I. Arreola, Viva la Feminista, April, 2009
- By Amanda Joe, The Cornell Daily Sun, April 23, 2009
- StopGap Magazine, the members’ magazine of the Fawcett Society in the UK, Spring 2009
- Sonia, who graduated from Monticello High School, in Monticello, NY, was profiled in the October 2008 issue of the newsletter of the Monticello Central School District and is on the district’s website.
- By Kristen J. Tsetsi, Journal Inquirer, March 31, 2008
- By Evelyn L. Moya, The Docket, February 2008
- By Linda Jimenez Glassman, "English Corner" Radio Sefarad interview, August 2007
- By Ruth Lando, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, July 1, 2007
- By Steven A. Bibb, Passages, Summer 2007
- By Marsha Fottler, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, May 12, 2007
- By Erica Brody, National Council of Jewish Women Journal, Winter 2006 (pdf. file)
- Featured Author, Xlibris, November, 2006
- By Adam Levin, Washington Jewish Week, June 29, 2006
- By Susan Weidman Schneider, The Reporter (Spring 2006, Vol. 55, No. 2, p. 10), a publication of Women's American ORT
- The Barrister, the University of Miami (FL) School of Law alumni magazine, Winter 2005
- By Debra Rubin, "The f-wordOnline exhibit features local Jewish feminists," October 27, 2005. Sonia is one of six Washington, DC, area women included in the exhibit of the Jewish Women’s Archive called Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution.
- By Jacqueline Sternberg, Washington Jewish Week, April 28, 2005
- By Ken Millstone, The Potomac Almanac, October 13-19, 2004
- By Jeanette Friedman, Lifestyles Magazine, Fall 2003 (pdf file)
- By Sylvia Danovitch, Women in Judaism: Contemporary Writings, June 2003 (This interview also appears on the website of Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary Journal, on whose consulting board Ms. Fuentes serves.)
- By Sheri' McConnell, National Association of Women Writers, May 2003
- By Michael Pollick, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, November 25, 2002
- By Magdalena Ball, The Compulsive Reader, July 2002
- By the Editor of WomenWriters.net, June 2002
- By Phil Fink, radio interview on Shalom America, WELW 1330 AM, Cleveland, Ohio, Feb. 3, 2002 (not available on the www)
- By Norman Simms, Chadashot, August 2001
- By Bill Adams, The Senior News, July 2001
- By Jenna Glatzer, WriteRead University, May 14, 2001
- Publishing Success Magazine, May 2001
- By Lisa Katz, "The Making of a Jewish American Feminist: Sonia Pressman Fuentes." This is a seven-part piece about Eat First and Ms. Fuentes.
- By Barbara Ruben, Senior Beacon, October 2000
- Cornell Chronicle (Vol. 31, No. 31, April 20, 2000)
- By Lynn Laframboise, Word Wrangler Publishing, February 2000
- Shalom, newspaper for the Reading, PA, Jewish community, February 2000
- By Linda Eberharter, Bridge Works Publishing, January 2000
- By Marlena Thompson, Washington Jewish Week, December 16, 1999
- By Linda Davis Kyle, "Writers Around the World," August 1998
- By Eva S., "Evenings with Eva," July 21, 1998
- By Ellen Joan Pollock, Wall Street Journal, May 1998 (This article is a follow-up to a 1975 Wall Street Journal article by Mary Bralove.)
- By Risa Molitz, "Fuentes' lecture leads to talk on uniting women," University of Virginia's The Cavalier Daily, October 22, 1997.
- By Frankee Nesta, West Coast Woman, May 1997
- By Sylvia Danovitch, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), December 27, 1990
- By Betty Friedan, It Changed My Life: Readings on the Women’s Movement, 1976
- By Mary Bralove, Wall Street Journal, May 13, 1975
- Excerpt from Betty Friedan’s article, “Up from the kitchen floor,” NY Times Magazine (March 4, 1973), crediting Sonia with giving her the idea to start an organization to fight for women like the NAACP fought for its constituents.
- Courier-Times, Bucks County, PA, June 25, 1970
- By Dorothy Gilcrest, Anniston (AL) Star, October 21, 1969
- Courant, Hartford, CT, December 7, 1966
- By Louise Hutchinson, "U.S. Hearings To Weigh Sex in the Skies." Sonia drafted the first EEOC decision in these cases finding that airlines violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when they terminated or grounded stewardesses for reaching the age of 32 or 35 or marrying.
- By Sylvia Porter, Post-Crescent, May 28, 1963
- B’nai B’rith Women’s World, November 1959
- By Susie Marbey, The Miami Hurricane, May 10, 1957
Sonia Pressman Fuentes
Interview By Ellen Joan Pollock
May 1998
This interview is from "Doubling Back: Some '70s Pioneers Make Headlines Two Decades Later" by Ellen Joan Pollock, Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, and is a follow-up to a 1975 Wall Street Journal article by Mary Bralove. From The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition.
Sonia and Zia Fuentes
Several weeks ago, Sonia Pressman Fuentes, 70, got a phone call from her daughter in Chicago. Zia, 26, told her mother not to try to reach her over the weekend because she would be visiting friends in Michigan. "Who knows whether she'll even remember my birthday," Ms. Fuentes remembers thinking.
The relationship between the two has been rocky nearly from the start. Sonia, a lawyer, married late and had Zia when she was 43. "I was bored to the gazoo staying home with my baby, although I loved her," she says. "My husband sent me back to work after a five-week maternity leave. I was driving him crazy."
Says Zia: "She's 'Type A' to the nth degree."
In 1975, Sonia was a senior attorney at GTE Corp. in Stamford, Conn., and her husband had a government job in New York. "The woman at home and the husband at the office are living two different lives," she told the Journal. "We're living more the same kind of life, and we're closer for it." A few years later, her marriage was over, and today she finds it hard to believe she once said that.
So does her daughter.
Back then, Sonia had a lot on her plate. Not only was she one of the most senior women at GTE, but as a founder of the National Organization of Women, she was active in the women's movement. Zia was being raised by a succession of housekeepers. "I managed everything for her, but that's not the same as spending time with her," Sonia says. "I should have given her more priority. She was really like a little doll that I could show off."
Sonia's marriage was also a contest of wills. She felt saddled with running the household; unhappy with his job, he wanted to move. "I said to him, 'I'm not leaving Stamford,' " Sonia says. "I had an important corporate job, and I wasn't going to leave that. But also at that stage, I didn't have enough trust in him to let go of my career and follow him." They split up. Eventually he returned to Puerto Rico, where he was from. (He died in 1995.)
Sonia moved in 1981 to Cleveland to take charge of TRW's equal-employment-opportunity and affirmative-action programs. She later took a job at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and moved to Maryland. The relationship between mother and daughter degenerated until they were at war, with Zia in full rebellion by the time she was 12. Sonia told her daughter to move out when she was a teenager, but at the last minute backed down. Friends told Sonia, "You have to wait, she'll get older. I said, 'Listen, I can't live forever.' "
For Zia, resentment was a slow burn. "She couldn't make every school play, and she couldn't make every piano lesson or doctor's appointment," she says. "I expected her to have all the time in the world because other moms did. I never got what I wanted from her. I felt she didn't know me as well as other moms. She didn't have the time." By high school, Zia had made a decision: She would never have children. "I'm very career-oriented. Those are values that I get directly from her," says Zia, who is a manager of sales support at Ameritech and is studying for her M.B.A. "And understanding the way I felt as a child, I really feel that if I was going to be a mom, I would want to stay home because I missed that so much."
Her mother hopes she will change her mind.
Sonia is now happily retired and trying to find a publisher for her memoirs. As for Sonia's 70th birthday, she planned to attend a poetry reading at the headquarters of the National Woman's Party in Washington. But when she arrived, she found that poetry wasn't on the night's agenda. Instead, she found about 45 family members and friends waiting to wish her well. Zia wept when her mother entered the room. She had spent almost a year planning the party, designing elegant invitations and a memory book for her mother.
"It was a great experience for me because I realized how much closer we'd become," says Zia. She realized when the invitations were ready how she had come to value her frequent phone conversations with her mother: "It began to hit me that not being able to tell her [about them] was a gap for me," she says.
Sonia was beside herself. "There's no way to express such a thing," she sputtered shortly after the party. "What it means to me that she did this is that she really loves me... . It's wonderful, but it took 26 years to get there."
Wall Street Journal, May 1998