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Help Wanted - Female
by LeanneB, SheKos editor
Hey, you know that part of the current Democratic Party platform that talks about the party's commitment to preparing more Democratic women to run for public office? You don't? Well, it's positively criminal that SheKossacks should be in the dark about this. Let's rectify that right now.
Here's the relevant passage:
Huh. Guess there's nothing actually in the platform about party outreach towards fielding more female candidates. (For the record, the passages on grooming more minority and LGBT Democratic candidates are equally nonexistent.) Maybe it never occurred to anyone running any of the platform hearings that women might face more obstacles to becoming viable political candidates than men or that a mechanism for creating a pipeline of female political hopefuls needed to be addressed as part of the platform.
Regardless of the reasons the issue was left out of the platform, the need for such a program is clearly urgent. At the national level, women comprise just 17.5% of the House of Representatives and 17% of the Senate – despite being approximately 50% of the population. Even more disheartening for us Dem chicks is the fact that we make up less than 23% of Congressfolk within our own party.
Now, when you consider that tapping into our female base for political recruits would significantly expand our pool of Democratic candidates and therefore increase our chances of putting more Dems in office, it just makes sense to assume that something somewhere along the line is keeping women out of that pool and start building a network of locally-based programs that help women develop the necessary skills to become successful candidates.
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Enter Emerge America, "the premier training program for Democratic women." Emerge operates as a network of state-based affiliates, the first of which – Emerge California – was founded in 2002. Eight years later, there are eight additional affiliates, including Emerge Kentucky, launched just last year.
Emerge America's long-term goal is to launch affiliates in 50 states, with multiple Emerge affiliates in states whose geography merits that type of presence. Because we cannot go into all 50 states at once, we are prioritizing states based on a series of factors that include the benefit of Emerge to the Democratic party, organizational sustainability, and what we call "women friendliness."
The program is geared toward teaching aspiring women pols the skill set needed to get elected.
In April 2009, the fledgling Portland chapter began outfitting Northwest women with the group’s tool kit for effective campaigning. A campaign is a unique animal," explains Kathryn Firestone, Emerge Oregon’s executive director. "Our mission is about giving women the skills to compete in — and win — a race."
According to Firestone, who cut her political teeth with a bid for the Oregon House in 2004, great ideas, integrity, and leadership skills go a long way once you’re elected, but waging a triumphant campaign demands an entirely different acumen. Emerge trainees, she says, plunge headlong into campaign boot camp: six weekends of skin-thickening 10-hour workshops on public speaking (for instance, gracefully "pivoting" around probing questions); fundraising (prepping a donor for the big ask); collaborating with labor unions (learn the mission and be honest about your commitment); and, yes, even glad-handing (memorize names and faces; make eye contact!).
The best part of all this? It's effective. Of the more than 500 women Emerge Image may be NSFW.
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affiliates have trained, 41% have received local political appointments or run for office, and 60% of those who ran... won. In 2008 alone, half of the 82 Emerge grads successfully ran for office.
And as if this cake weren't sweet enough, there's yummy icing: 40% of Emerge's alumnae are women of color!
Tuition for the training program varies by state; California's is $500, Oregon's is $250. In true Democratic fashion, an effort is made to ensure that financial limitations don't translate into restricted opportunity – some financial aid is available. Eligible candidates are identified by a list of criteria: evidence of political leadership experience or potential, and meaningful involvement in workplace or community; demonstrated ability to bring together disparate groups to achieve a goal; demonstrated ability to inspire others, to name a few.
This year's class is already under way, but recruitment for the 2011 class will begin in July. So if you're interested in seeking political office – and live in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Wisconsin, or Kentucky – contact your state's Emerge program via the Emerge America website.
The Democratic party needs you, even if it's not yet savvy enough to tell you so.
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THIS WEEK IN WOMEN'S HISTORY: Women on the Leading Edge
by joedemocrat
- This Week in 1776, Abigail Adams wrote an assertive letter to her husband, the future President John Adams, and the Continental Congress saying:
"Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."
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The full copy of this important letter can be found here. Abigail Adams was a strong advocate of women's property rights and education. She was also very opposed to slavery.
- This Week in 1802, Dorothy Dix was born. In America, she was the 19th century’s strongest voice for improving conditions for the mentally ill and for prisoners. In 1841, she conducted a prayer devotional in a local prison. She found the mentally ill were chained in dark enclosed spaces, lying in their own filth, victims of physical and sexual abuse. She published her findings and presented them to the Massachusetts legislature. The State responded by expanding the state mental hospital. She took her crusade across the nation, and ultimately helped to open 32 new hospitals in a multitude of states.
- This Week in 1917, Jeannette Rankin of Montana took her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress, and when elected, women did not yet have the the right to vote. Rankin served only two terms: from 1917-19, and again from 1941-43. She voted against the U.S. getting into both World War I and World War II. She cast the only vote against U.S. entry into World War II. She also championed health care, working to increase funding for health clinics.
- This Week in 1934, Jane Goodall was born. She is a famous primatologist and known for her long career studying chimpanzees. She is credited with discovering that chimpanzees actually made tools. She is also a respected animal welfare activist.
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Clik here to view. SAGE AND SWEETGRASS: Sexual Violence Against Native Women, Part I: Background
by Aji
On April 1, President Obama issued a proclamation declaring April National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Included in the third paragraph was this sentence:
Native American women are more than twice as likely to be sexually assaulted compared with the general population.
At first, I thought it was a throwaway line. Then I got to the fifth paragraph:
At the Federal, State, local, and tribal level, we must work to provide necessary resources to victims of every circumstance, including medical attention, mental health services, relocation and housing assistance, and advocacy during legal proceedings. Under Vice President Biden's leadership, the 2005 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act included the Sexual Assault Services Program, the first-ever funding stream dedicated solely to providing direct services to victims of sexual assault. To further combat sexual violence, my 2011 Budget doubles funding for this program. Through the Justice Department and the Centers for Disease Control, we are funding prevention and awareness campaigns as well as grants for campus services to address sexual assault on college campuses. The Justice Department has also increased funding and resources to combat violence against Native American women. [Emphasis added]
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I also discovered that, in 2009, the Justice Department's Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) issued not only its usual grants to entities working to fight sexual assault, but issued grants funded by monies from the Recovery Act.
Dare I hope that we're seeing the beginnings of a fundamental change in how the government addresses violence against Native women?
To put sexual violence against Native American women in the larger context of crime in America, and crimes against all women, here are some facts:
According to the 2007 National Crime Victimization Survey of the United States, approximately 623,000 violent crimes–-554,000 against female victims–-were committed by an intimate partner and approximately 248,300 rape/sexual assault victimizations occurred in 2007. The 2007 BJS Report on "Homicide Trends in the U.S." revealed that about one-third of female murder victims were killed by an intimate [partner]. A study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that about 10% of students report being physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend in the last 12 months. Lastly, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Supplemental Victimization Survey on Stalking, an estimated 3.4 million persons age 18 or older were victims of stalking during a 12 month period. Alaska Native and American Indian women are more likely to experience sexual assault and domestic violence than are women from other racial or ethnic groups.
American Indians are twice as likely to experience sexual assault crimes compared to all other races, and one in three Indian women reports having been raped during her lifetime. [Emphasis in original.]
Sexual violence against women is epidemic in our Native communities, and the vast majority of it is committed by non-Natives who are not within the jurisdiction of tribal authorities. One of these days, I'll write a full-length diary on the subject. There are many aspects to covering this issue in depth. For now, interested folks can learn more at the following links:
Domestic Violence and Tribal Protection of Indigenous Women in the United States, by Gloria Valencia-Weber and Christine P. Zuni.
Maze of Injustice: The failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA
Sovereignty of the Soul: Exploring the Intersection of Rape Law Reform and Federal Indian Law, by Sara Deer.
The Tribal Law and Policy Institute's Bibliographic References for Sexual Assault of Indigenous Women in North America.
Along with education, of course, there is action. Daily Kos has a long history of supporting Pretty Bird Woman House, a shelter for women and their children on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. There are other groups around the country that offer similar services on behalf of Native women who are victims of sexual violence, and their numbers are increasing. Next week, I'll review some of those groups, and provide contact information for those who wish to get involved or to make a financial contribution.
Miigwech.
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Clik here to view. WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE: "We're Number 197!"
by earicicle, SheKos editor
As progressive feminists, we editors at SheKos believe all our regular contributors are entitled to a generous benefits package. (George Soros insists!) So while our regular "Women in the Workplace" columnist, pat of butter in a sea of grits, is enjoying well earned vacation time with the mini-pats, I’d like to highlight a SheKos diary she wrote last year on the generous modest okay absolutely craptastic state of family Image may be NSFW.
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and maternity leave benefits in the world’s richest nation. Umm...that’s us, BTW. Her statistics surprised even me. pat’s diary found that when it comes to Family leave--we’re even farther behind than you thought.
Please take a few minutes to read the whole diary. I didn’t realize, for example, how many categories of workers are excluded from the already-weak Family and Medical Leave Act (1993), which, after all, just mandates unpaid leave. Of course, it's appalling that there is absolutely no legal requirement for any American employer to give any woman a single day of paid maternity leave. But what absolutely FLOORED me was this stat. Only THREE other countries on the entire planet do not mandate paid maternity leave:
Liberia.
Swaziland.
Papua New Guinea.
So, out of roughly 201 countries on Planet Earth, that puts The United States of America in a tie for Dead Last. 197th. Liberia. Swaziland. Papua New Guinea.
American businesses rationalize and whine and wheedle their way out of giving better benefits and improving working conditions by claiming that it will hurt their economic competitiveness. Well, those are some mighty powerful economies to compete with! Don’t want the latest supercomputer developer in Papua New Guinea to get a jump on us because Mom in Microchips stayed home an extra week to BREASTFEED!
The one bright spot since pat’s diary dropped in early December is actually on the, um, breast-related front. The 2010 Healthcare Reform Act actually amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to require employers to give employees reasonable break time and a private place--not a bathroom stall!--to express breast milk. The time is unpaid, of course...a paid break would be way too socialist. And businesses with fewer than 50 employees can exempt themselves from the rules if giving Mom time to pump food for Junior causes them "undue hardship."
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Clik here to view. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
by Oke
- In "Dad, I've been meaning to ask you: What's a 'sl*t'?", the national gadfly writes of a time when a question, asked in innocence by a young child, offers an opportunity for reflection about matters of gender and the power of words. The diarist notes that "In Image may be NSFW.
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those awkward, uncomfortable moments between people - there is an opportunity for honesty and relatedness." - In Wilma Mankiller has died, sjcyoung notes that the loss of a strong female voice for the Native American community marks the end of an era, and the loss of the only woman to "hold the Cherokee Nation’s highest office."
- In Congressional Problems are DC Problems, Too, cabaretic talks about the problems involved in getting complex issues, such as gender inequality, handled organizations which are, in many cases, more into "making a name for their builders."
- In Happy Birthday Birth Control Pill, maggiejean honors the 50th anniversary of that icon of the 1960s, the birth control pill. The birth control pill was not intended to "free women," though it ended up having that effect. In the early days, the pill was only available to married women, maggiejean reminds us. A good diary to help us remember where we've come and how far we have to go.
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Clik here to view. RECOMMENDED READING: Magnificent Memoirs
by earicicle, SheKos editor
Memoir, as a genre, is hot, hot, hot in the literary world. A narrative that is true forges a powerful bond between the writer and the reader...if it is a good story, well told. Here are two of the best memoirs I've read in a long time. And they couldn't be more different.
Love Junkie: A Memoir (2008), by Rachel Resnick, is an unsparing look at the author's addiction to falling in love. With one Mr. Really, Really Wrong after another. Resnick's priority is honesty--refreshing, funny, even brutal, at times. She entirely skips self-pity, although she does gradually fill you in on the eye-popping details of her childhood. Parental neglect? Image may be NSFW.
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Well, um...OMFG. (Middle-class stepmom doesn't like her, so: off to foster care!) Rachel's sense of self-deprecating humor and remarkable perspective about the predicaments she finds herself in also make the tale an incredibly absorbing--dare I say, addictive?--read. I devoured it in one sitting!
Stephanie Saldana's The Bread of Angels: A Journey of Love and Faith (2010) recounts the author's year in Damascus, Syria, as a young Fulbright Scholar. It's a deeply personal book: Saldana is nursing a broken heart in a strange land, and studying academic religious issues while starting to question her own faith. But in September 2004, as the Iraq War rages, she lives in an ancient Middle Eastern melting pot--the city's old Christian Quarter--while learning Arabic amid a sea of foreign students from around the world. Politics and world affairs intrude on minute aspects of daily life, in unexpected ways.
I promise to write a future SheKos feature about Bread of Angels just to share Saldana's amazing insights on women and Islam. (She studies the Quran with a female Imam, who eventually invites Saldana to teach English to Muslim girls at her mosque.) But I thought I'd recommend it to you now. It's a captivating read, and a beautiful window onto an important part of the world.
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Clik here to view. GLBT NEWS THE KAT DRAGGED IN: True Colors
by KentuckyKat
Cyndi Lauper has been very vocal in her support of the GLBT community, but it is her latest project that has caught my heart this week...so, I want to share it with you. Much has been written on the staggering proportion of homeless youth who are GLBT. In fact, last week's WGLB diary focused on just this issue.
"The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force reports that there are between 15,000 and 20,000 homeless youths in New York City, and, of that number, roughly 3,000 to 8,000 of them identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.
Lauper has been moved to action by the struggles faced by these youth. She stated that "[k]ids are coming out in greater numbers as they see themselves accepted and represented on TV and in movies, but they’re still being kicked out of their homes or running away and living on the streets. We need to make sure we’re taking care of them. This is the next generation of the LGBT community."
The True Colors Residence, which is slated to open in 2011, will offer a safe haven for LGBT youths between the ages of 18 to 24 who need a place to stay while they get back on their feet. It will be the first permanent residence in Manhattan for LGBT homeless young adults. The $11 million of funding for the six-story building, which will "contain 30 studio apartments, communal space, a library and a computer room" will come from Lauper's True Colors Fund, the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development and some additional corporate, city and state sources.
All I can say in response to this article and Ms. Lauper's action is THANK YOU. Thank you for all of the lives that you will save. Thank you for the love that you will share with those who need it most.
And to all of you reading, if you feel moved to help make The True Colors Residence a reality, please follow this link.