Planet of the Savage DKos Feminist Supervixens, Episode 8: Who are You Calling a Women’s Issue?

by righteousbabe

Thu Aug 10, 2006 at 07:01:20 PM PDT

Your token fifteen-year-old feminist here, (tokenism? WHAT?) back from debate camp and blowing her cute-but-immature-snark cred with an unfunny rant that’s likely to piss off at least half of the people who read it all the way through. And it’s about language and labels, out of all the pressing topics in the world right now. Ah, well. At least I’m not out vandalizing stop signs.

Some background:

Welcome to the Planet!  ”Feminist Supervixens,” of all sexes, are invited to come and participate in this discussion of feminism and anything even tangentially related.
This is a regularly-occurring “Feminists’ Circle” for Daily Kos. Everyone is free to bitch (yes, BITCH!) and moan - this forum can be “What’s Your Fucking Feminist Problem?!” if you’re in that frame of mind - but humor, fun, happy stories and congeniality are encouraged.
Notice to anyone who is NOT a feminist and wants to come here and complain about how bad feminism is, the problems inherent in feminism, etc.: go write your own diary on the topic. That’s not what this one is for.

 

• righteousbabe’s diary :: ::

Does anybody in the world have a clear understanding of what the phrase “women’s issues” is supposed to mean? I don’t. Are they reproductive rights? The ERA? Tampons?

It seems that the phrase “women’s groups” is supposed to mean Planned Parenthood and NARAL and… that’s it. Certainly, reproductive rights are an entirely crucial part of women’s advocacy. I would never claim anything otherwise.

But I don’t think it’s justifiable to reduce an entire sex to one issue. What message is sent to women who, for any reason, are incapable of becoming pregnant, when we identify reproductive freedom as the only “women’s issue?” That the issues facing their lives aren’t of concern? That they aren’t real women?

Doesn’t it play into the wingers’ framing that a woman’s only worth comes from the ability to become pregnant?

Maybe not, but it certainly does a disservice to all of the far-reaching work that “women’s groups” do every day.

Consider this front-page post from last week. (No, I don’t want this to become a “Markos is teh stoopid!1″ post, it’s just a convenient target and representative of a mindset that a lot of many people demonstrate.) It states:

 

Who was looking out for the middle and lower class during the bankruptcy debate? No one, except the bloggers. The women groups were AWOL, as were the environmentalists, the gay groups, labor, and just about every other progressive issue or constituency group.

 

It may very well be that the reproductive freedom groups didn’t lift a finger to oppose the bill. But the National Organization for Women, the largest and most well-known American feminist organization, has been a vocal opponent of the bankruptcy bill. From their website:
Action Item: Stop the Disastrous Bankruptcy Bill
Bankruptcy Bill Awards Huge Payoff to Credit Card Companies
NOW Condemns Congressional Efforts to Pass Discriminatory Bankruptcy Bill
Bankruptcy Bill Puts Women’s Economic Status and Reproductive Rights at Risk

Sample quote:

“Once again George W. Bush and his Congressional enablers have chosen to reward their corporate allies at the expense of low- and middle- income working people, women trying to collect past due support, single mothers, people of color, families hit by high medical bills, veterans and the elderly,” said NOW President Kim Gandy. “This law further shreds the safety net, even for people brought to financial ruin by illness or divorce.”

 

NOW is continually referred to in the same breath as NARAL. Except that reproductive rights are only one of the several feminist causes the National Organization for Women (see that? It says  for women, not for reproductive rights, as in comprehensive advocacy on behalf of half of the population which includes, but is not limited to a single issue) fights for, from “fighting racism” to working against domestic violence to disability rights to “economic justice,” including Social Security, welfare, “mothers and caregivers economic rights,” and universal single-payer health care. NOW also “is committed to fighting discrimination based on sexual orientation in all areas, including employment, housing, public accommodations, child custody, and military and immigration policy” and advocates for equal marriage rights. (When was the last time the Human Rights Campaign argued for reproductive choice?)

NOW also promotes peace as a feminist issue, with an agenda that states:

-      Expose the Bush administration’s exploitation of the tragedies of September 11, 2001 to advance a right-wing political agenda
-    Expose the stifling of political dissent by the Bush administration through policies such as the USA Patriot Act
-    Call for an end to the U.S. campaign of militarism and corporate profit that has contributed to anti-American sentiment around the world
-    Call for an end to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East that exacerbates the plight of women and children in these countries, including U.S. military aggression
-    Expose the connection between militarism and violence against women, including domestic violence and military-sponsored rape
-       Support international law and internationally accepted standards for human rights beginning with U.S. ratification of CEDAW

A little more than one issue there, huh?

 

And if you go to NOW’s website right now, the top action item is for an increase in the minimum wage. They’ve been sending their members emails arguing for the minimum wage increase for months.

Since May, NOW has supported Ned Lamont’s candidacy, unlike most of the other “traditional constituency groups.” I’d like to believe that it’s because they ARE so much more than a single-issue group, and are able to look at the entirety of how a candidate’s policies affect women, instead of checking off a list of policies. I’m sure their decision had to do with Lieberman’s denial of Plan B for rape victims. But the email I got back in May explaining their endorsement also talks about how he sold out women’s rights by supporting Social Security privatization. And as it says in their statement celebrating Lamont’s victory, “Peace is a feminist issue and the Iraq war has been a key issue in this campaign. Because of the actions of the Bush administration, the national economy is in a shambles, our civil rights are being eroded, and the nation’s standing in the world community has been seriously compromised.” And, says Pres. Kim Gandy, “He understands the issues that concern women every day - from education to health care to reproductive rights to the war in Iraq - and he’s strong enough to stand up for those principles despite enormous pressure from the extremists and the hawks in Congress.”

Got that? Reproductive rights, racism, disability rights, equal marriage, Social Security, welfare, domestic violence, universal health care, exploitation of 9/11, Patriot Act, militarism, war profiteering, human rights, the minimum wage, education, and Iraq, all simplified into one easy-to-swallow pill of “women’s issues!”

What about other “women’s organizations?”

What about Equality Now, a global feminist organization whose areas of concern include “rape, domestic violence, reproductive rights, trafficking of women, female genital mutilation, and the denial of equal access to economic opportunity and political participation?”

Or the Feminist Majority Foundation, who advocate for an increased presence of women in law enforcement, “to improve police response to violence against women, reduce police brutality and excessive force, and strengthen community policing?”

Or Equal Rights Advocates, who “enforces family and medical leave and pregnancy protection laws, and is active in the effort to establish paid family and medical leave?”

Or the Ms. Foundation for Women, which “funds community-based organizations using a range of strategies–from advocating for better wages and working conditions to promoting programs and policies that foster women’s business development–to enable low-income women to support themselves and their families,” and “supports businesses in low-income communities that have limited access to capital?”

Or their Women and Labor Fund?  

Labor unions play a crucial role in gaining higher wages, improved working conditions, and benefits for working people. Union leadership, however, has traditionally been male-dominated, often excluding women’s voices and perspectives at the bargaining table. The Ms. Foundation’s Women and Labor Fund supports organizations that build women’s leadership in unions, and highlights the link between women’s leadership in unions and positive change within the labor movement.

 

Or their Women & HIV/AIDS fund?

The Ms. Foundation for Women created the Women and AIDS Fund (WAF) in 1996. This fund is the first, and remains the only, national fund that supports advocacy and self-determination for women living with HIV/AIDS. By funding organizations that are led by or have significant leadership of HIV-positive women, the Ms. Foundation acknowledges that these women know best what they, their families, and communities need. The Ms. Foundation for Women’s Call-to-Action Plan urges lawmakers to pass legislation which will:
1.    Allocate 25% of all Ryan White CARE Act funds across all titles to community-based organizations that currently and historically have been led by and for HIV-positive women.
2.    Expand representation on local Ryan White Planning Councils and other decision-making bodies to include women living with HIV/AIDS.
3.    Increase funding for medications that treat AIDS-related illness such as medication-induced diabetes.
4.    Increase funding for microbicide research and development of tools that enable women to protect themselves without relying on the cooperation of others.
5.    Provide access to both HIV-related and non-HIV specialty care for women living with HIV/AIDS.
6.    Provide funding for research into how HIV affects women.
7.    Fund research on woman-to-woman transmission of HIV.
8.    Provide greater access to health care for women and children, including medical care with unlimited OB-GYN services.
9.    Promote economic stability through educational and vocational training.
10.    Ensure that all data collection methods (Ryan White and CDC) encompass HIV as well as AIDS incidences to benefit women living with HIV/AIDS.”

 

Or their Katrina Women’s Response Fund, which “provides strategic support to meet the immediate needs of women of color and low-income women in the Gulf Coast region and ensure that their leadership and priorities are central in both short and long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts. By making grants to organizations throughout the region, the Katrina Women’s Response Fund invests in the crucial infrastructure that promotes the health, safety, and economic well-being of women, their families and communities?”

Or Women Waging Peace or CodePink, “a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education and other life-affirming activities?”

Does that all fit under “special interest?”

When one or two concerns, and one or two concerns only, are set aside as “women’s issues,” the implication is that everything not under that heading is a “man’s issue,” separate and unrelated from women’s experience. Male is still assumed to be the default sex, unless implied otherwise. “Women’s issues” are, then, deviation from the male norm (which, to be fair, has some pretty deep roots.)

Maybe some of these organizations don’t have enough lobbying influence to count as organized issue groups, or maybe NOW is inept or its institutional structures put all of its emphasis and resources towards one or two issues. It certainly is a sketchy proposition to try to deduce an organization’s focus based on its website. But ultimately, it doesn’t have as much to do with any of the “women’s groups” as it does with the mindset that continues to dismiss women as a fraction of our importance and impact. Certainly everybody has read an analysis of the various constituencies that support the Democratic Party that goes something like, “Environmentalists… union members… civil libertarians… women…” And, if you’re anything like me, you read that and bang your head against your desktop and wonder, “How the fuck could anybody ever come to the conclusion that supporting environmental protections and being female were comparable?”

No, seriously. It hurts.

In 50 Ways to Improve Women’s Lives, an organizing guide in the same vein as MoveOn’s 50 Ways to Love Your Country, this time written by members of National Council of Women’s Organizations (which has 200 member organizations- gosh I wonder how they found anybody besides Planned Parenthood,) actions include “Preserve a Healthy Environment,” “Reform Welfare,” “Promote Financial Literacy,” “Mandate Responsible Gun Policy,” “Support Labor Unions,” and “Address the Unique Needs of Immigrant Women.”

See? The environment is a women’s issue. Gun policy? Women’s issue. Organized labor? Women’s issue. Immigration? Women’s issue. And as the latest cover of Ms. Magazine will tell you (excellent article, by the way,) oil is a women’s issue, too.

Men’s issues, also? Absolutely. And intersex issues, and transsexual issues, and gay and lesbian issues, and hetero issues, and parents’ issues and children’s issues, and issues that affect people of every race and ethnicity and nationality. Which goes to show you how stupid it is to label public policy items based on a particular demographic. Everything is everybody’s issue; some political issues just affect people of different groups more directly.

There are “human’s issues,” and there are varying degrees of relation. And there are certainly some issues that are crucial to any sort of sexual equality (if that is the impetus for the “women’s groups/ issues” label, I think “feminist issues” would be more appropriate.) But while NARAL is definitely one group whose advocacy relates to women most intimately, (but not only women- they provide accurate sex education and information, which should be the province of people of ALL sexes, not just females) the feminist groups out there are involved in others, too: fighting the feminization of poverty, or of HIV/AIDS, or how class and economic injustices feed off of gender inequalities, or rape and sexual assault as a result of war.

Actually, all of the different actions feminist organizations are involved in doesn’t look entirely different from what could probably add up to an effective Democratic party platform. Which proves that that’s what feminism is about: social justice, same as progressivism.

Shocker, that.

Of course analysis of how and why these issues affect various demographics differently is more than worth having. But the place to do that is with a discussion of sex and gender and race and class and orientation and how they affect peoples’ needs and lives, not with a roundup of various lobbying groups or campaign issues that manages to 1) reduce all of the far-reaching and diverse work of various feminist advocacy organizations to one policy, and 2) treat females as, say, one fifth of the pie, when we really make up more than half.

Because we aren’t a “single issue” or a “special interest;” we’re a majority of the world’s population. And a majority of people in the United States. And a majority of registered Democrats, and a majority of voters. We’re HUMAN BEINGS, capable of sentient thought and diverse opinions.  I don’t think it’s oversensitive (or shrill, or hysterical) to demand that we be referred to as such.