WLRN's Thistle Pettersen got to sit down with Riane Eisler, a prominent scholar who influenced Ms. Pettersen's thinking greatly in her youth. Dr. Eisler contributes much to conversations past and present about the status of women and how radical and lesbian feminists are on the cutting edge of the movement for a more humanitarian and just society. 

Riane Eisler is an eminent social scientist, attorney, and women’s human rights activist who pioneered the recognition of women’s rights as human rights. She is best known for her writings, including the international bestseller, The Chalice and The Blade, translated into 26 languages and now in its 57th US printing, with a new epilogue. She founded the first center on women and the law in the United States, wrote the Equal Rights Handbook on the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, and is the author of other award winning books as well as hundreds of articles and book chapters. 

Dr. Eisler is president of the Center for Partnership Studies (www.centerforpartnership.org) and editor in chief of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies housed at the University of Minnesota. Her book The Real Wealth of Nations was hailed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu as “a template for the better world we have been so urgently seeking,” by Gloria Steinem as “revolutionary,” and inspired the Center for Partnership Studies’ Caring Economy Campaign (www.caringeconomy.org) which offers online leadership training and has developed new Social Wealth Economic Indicators that demonstrate the enormous economic value of the work of care still largely performed by women worldwide. 

She consults to business and government about the partnership model introduced by her work, keynotes conferences worldwide, and teaches online courses about cultural and economic transformation.  She shows that the women’s movement is the leading edge of the partnership movement, and, as summarized in the title of talks she gave at platforms such as the US Department of State, that what’s good for women is good for the world. She has received many honors for her work for women’s and children’s rights and peace, and is the only woman among 20 great thinkers, including Hegel, Adam Smith, and Marx, included in Macrohistory and Macrohistorians in recognition of the lasting importance of her work. Contacts: www.centerforpartnership.org; www.rianeeisler.com; center@partnershipway.org 

Some of her pertinent works include: 

Riane Eisler. (2015). “Preventing Violence against Women: Four Strategies.” In Women, War, and Violence: Typography, Resistance, and Hope, Volume 1. Mariam Kurtz and Lester Kurtz, editors. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

 Riane Eisler. (2015). Nurturing Children’s Humanity: Partnership Education.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies, 2 (2) Fall, Article 5. http://pubs.lib.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=ijps

Riane Eisler. (2015). “Can International Law Protect Half of Humanity? A New Strategy to Stop Violence against Women.” Journal of Aggression, Conflict, and Peace Research, 7(2), 88 - 100.

WLRN extended interview with Riane Eisler

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WLRN extended interview with Riane Eisler

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