The Women's Wave Rocked the Vote!

Abigail Spanberger giving her victory speech 

after winning election to Congress from Virginia.

           

     Tuesday was a historic day! More women ran for office in 2018 than ever before and more women won! Voters were determined more than ever to elect feminists to positions of leadership. We have ushered in the most diverse Congress in history with huge wins for women, minorities and LGBTQ. Thank you to all who canvassed, made phone calls, wrote letters, protested, marched, walked out, showed up, voted and got up every day exhausted, but found the strength to go on.
Here is what happened:

More than 110 women are headed to Congress (some races still to be determined)
98 to the House and 12 to the Senate

9 female Governors elected: Gina Raimondo (D-RI); Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI); Janet Mills (D-ME); Kate Brown (D-OR); Kay Ivey (R-AL); Kim Reynolds (R-IA); Kristi Noem (R-SD); Laura Kelly (D-KS); Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM)

Two transgender women, Gerri Cannon and Lisa Bunker, elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

The first openly gay man elected as Governor in Colorado who is also the state’s first Jewish Governor (Jared Polis)

Chris Pappas is New Hampshire’s first openly gay member of Congress

Two Native American women elected to the House: Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe in New Mexico, and Sharice Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation in Kansas

The first lesbian Native American elected to the House from Kansas (Sharice Davids)

In Texas, the first two Latinas, Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia, elected to the House

In Massachusetts, Ayanna Pressley, the first African American woman elected to Congress, beat a 10-term incumbent

In Connecticut, the National Teacher of the Year 2016 Jahana Hayes is the first African American woman going to Congress

29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, a Latina from New York, became the youngest woman ever going to Congress

The first Muslim women elected to Congress from Michigan (Rashida Tlaib) and Minnesota (Ilhan Omar)

Safiya Wazir, an Afghan refugee woman, headed to New Hampshire State House


Ilhan Omar, a refugee, is the first Somali American to be elected to Congress

Rashida Tlaib is the first Palestinian American woman elected to Congress

Angie Craig, defeats anti-LGBTQ congressman in Minnesota to become the first lesbian mom to be headed to Congress from Minnesota

Former Dreamer, Catalina Cruz, a woman who was undocumented for 10 years, is headed to the New York State House

Two transgender women, Gerri Cannon and Lisa Bunker, are elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives

Democrats Susan Ruiz and Brandon Woodard become the first LGBTQ members of the Kansas state legislature

Zach Wahls, who defended his two lesbian moms before the Iowa House of Representatives in 2011, becomes a state lawmaker himself

Malcolm Kenyatta is the first LGBTQ black man elected to the Pennsylvania legislature

Teri Johnston is elected mayor of Key West, Florida, becoming the state’s first lesbian mayor

Massachusetts voters uphold transgender rights protections

Kate Brown, the country’s first lesbian governor, and Tammy Baldwin, the first LGBTQ senator, are re-elected

Kim Davis (yes, THAT Kim Davis) was defeated in reelection bid by the man she refused a marriage license to  

We have a lot to celebrate!  After the first Women’s March, many mocked us. They laughed at our protests and said we would never make a difference at the polls. One politician called us “silly girls”. On Tuesday, we proved them wrong!  It is astounding to think about how far women have come since the first women’s marches across the country the day after President Trump was inaugurated. Many of these 2018 candidates were considered long shots, but they organized and they won! We all resisted, we persisted and we won!
 
And persist we will, because the struggle is far from over. We must work even harder going forward. 2020 is just around the corner. Celebrate our successes, get some rest and get back in the fight. The National Organization for Women needs you. Join the chapter nearest you!  Together we can move full steam ahead and change the world.
 
Melba Evans, President
National Organization for Women, Charlotte

My Vision

   

I am so honored and excited to have been elected National Organization for Women Charlotte Chapter President. The Installation and champagne reception were very well attended. The Installation was done by our former Charlotte Mayor, Jennifer Roberts. Below is the speech that I gave at the Installation about my vision and goals for NOW Charlotte: 

Thank you for electing me and this outstanding slate. We are humbled and ready to get to work. Just a little about myself. I am the daughter of a minister and an educator.  Both of my parents were engaged in issues of equity and justice. My dad was a voice during civil rights and my mother was an advocate for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (which recently took a big blow). Both were very vocal about equity for women. Having grown up in this environment, I often tell people that activism for justice is in my DNA.  I was very blessed. I have spent my life in education while all the time advocating for the marginalized students.  I spent my career in high poverty schools.

     I was asked to share some of my vision for NOW.

First of all, let’s clarify feminism. I like the definition given by Bell Hooks in “Feminism is for Everybody.” She defines feminism as “a movement to combat systemic and institutional oppression. I like that definition because it is simple and it implies that all sexist thinking is a problem, whether those who perpetuate it are female or male, adult or child. It is also broad enough to include an understanding of systemic institutionalized sexism. Chimamanda, in “We Should All Be Feminists,” says her definition is that a “feminist is a man or a woman who says “Yes there is a problem with gender as it is now and we must fix it.” Love that! Simple and to the point.  The National Organization for Women is the largest organization of feminist grassroots activist in the US. NOW states as its mission to take action through grassroots activism to promote feminist ideals, lead societal change, eliminate discrimination, and achieve and protect the equal rights of all women and girls in all aspects of social, political and economic life.

     My vision for NOW Charlotte can be summed up in 3 words. The first is intersectionality. The term intersectionality is an academic term coined by Kimberle Crenshaw that has made its way into the mainstream. Though acceptance is increasing, that does not automatically translate into implementation. Intersectionality dictates that different identities, race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, etc. cannot be put into separate little boxes because they are all interconnected. We all have multilayered facets of life that challenge us. There is no one size fits all in feminism. All injustice and inequity are intertwined. Intersectionality demands that we discuss how all these identities affect experiences with oppression. Truth telling must happen. People who have been victimized and marginalized and excluded and oppressed must be given a platform to speak and to lead. We must create a listening space because if we haven’t created an opportunity for people who are the victims of bigotry to have a voice, then our solutions will not be very informed. And sometimes, as we listen and become more enlightened, we find we need to change our own behaviors. Audre Lorde said “What woman here is so enamored of her own oppression that she cannot see her own heel print on another woman’s face?”  Intersectional feminism is understanding that when we are told women make an average of 77 cents for a man’s dollar that it is even worse than that. Latino women make 54 cents, Afro American women make 64 cents and Native American women make 59 cents.  My vision for NOW is to take real strategic action to become more intersectional. We must all reach out to our marginalized sisters.  Above all, we must listen, acknowledge and validate their voices and bring their challenges to the forefront.

     The second word is inclusive.  Along the same lines of intersectionality, there are certain identities of which feminism has recently strived to be more inclusive. Inclusivity means intentionally creating safe spaces for people of marginalized identities. It means the blending of different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. It means respectfully and actively listening to people of groups to which we do not belong. We must step back, listen and learn. Inclusion recognizes what we have in common as it makes room for the differences among us. We must be inclusive of all races and of our non-binary and  transgender community. And I hope we will bring more men into the movement. Please note that we are National Organization FOR Women, not OF women. We have and encourage male membership. The best feminist I have ever known was my father. He is why I stand here today. Research shows that most men don’t really understand what the gender issues are today, so we must work toward demystifying the feminist movement  

And have you seen Black Panther? Wakanda refers to the “allyship” as “an empty, neoliberal concept that rarely results in transformational change.”  They say they do not want allies. They want co-conspirators in solidarity. That is exactly what we need. We need co-conspirators in solidarity in our movement. Feminism will better succeed with collective effort.

     Finally, the last word is social media activism. And this one will be a real challenge for me, but I know all these young feminists are going to help us all with social media.  Many people find an online community through twitter and other social media. Friends are made on social media. Some of you are here tonight because we met on fb and became friends. Support and education takes place on social media. Social media has been integral in the Blacks Lives Matter movement. The first Women’s March in 2017 that brought millions of women across the world together in solidarity was organized on social media. The internet allows activists to find community and understanding as well as exchange stories and ideas. Over the last few days, I have communicated with Now chapters in LA, Houston, Pittsburg and Baton Rouge through social media to exchange ideas and find out what their chapters are doing.  Even those of us with limited social media knowledge, can share NOW meetings and events on our own fb pages. We all need to check our NOW fb page regularly for updates and opportunities. Just as we strive for inclusive and intersectional justice, we must continue to change with the times.  Social media is vital to modem feminism. 

    And on a final note, we especially need all our members to show up for events and volunteer to help table an event. This is an important election year and we need everyone engaged and everyone to volunteer to go and help with events.  We will post opportunities on our facebook page and have signups at all our meetings as well as send out emails. There are events during the day that our employed members cannot attend, so our members who are not employed, we really need your help. Once you have done it, you will find how fun and energizing it is to talk to other like minded people.

     I heard a story about a farmer who found an abandoned eagle egg and brought it home for his hen to sit on.  The hen sat on it and the eaglet was born. The eaglet tried to walk and act like the other chickens on the farm. Then one day he looked up and saw an eagle in flight. He thought how wonderful it must be to fly like that and wished that he could soar like the eagle. He never knew that he could.  We may not know what we are capable of as an organization, but I believe we can soar and change the world. We may not feel powerful alone but when we come together we are a mighty voice. There is an old saying that as individuals we are a drop but together we are a mighty ocean. If we work together with the strong conviction that we are in this together and nobody can get there unless everybody gets there, we can make a difference in Charlotte, in Mecklenburg, in North Carolina, in our country and in the world.  Again, Thank you for this wonderful opportunity. Thank you!  

  

Being Ladylike Does Not Require Silence

     Tuesday, April 4 was Equal Pay Day, a reminder that American women are paid less than men at work. It’s shameful that it still takes an extra three months, 94 days to be exact, for a woman working full time to earn what a man makes in a year. On the average, women make just 80 cents to the dollar of what their male counterparts earn. In NC, women make 82 cents to a man’s dollar. What's even more infuriating is that for women of color, the gap is even larger: Black women make just $0.63 compared to white men with the same job, while Hispanic women make just $0.54. When women aren't paid fairly, it doesn't just shortchange them. It hurts their families, their children and our economy.

Leave It To Beaver

Growing up in the 60s and 70s, I have seen and personally experienced a lot of progress. My childhood female heroes were the housewives in Leave it to Beaver,

Ozzie and Harriett and Father Knows Best, women whose career goals were getting the kids off to school and serving dinner on time. During those years, my own mom was a “stay at home mom.” I even walked home from school for lunch to find my mom waiting at the door and lunch on the table. A working woman as a role model didn’t come along until the late 1960s and early 1970s when shows such as Julia, where Diahann Carroll starred in the first nonstereotypical role for an African-American woman as Julia Baker, a single mom who worked full time as a nurse and The Mary Tyler Moore Show in which Moore portrayed Mary Richards, a career-oriented single woman who was a news producer for a TV station in Minneapolis. By this time, my own mom, a well-educated woman, had joined the work force as an administrator in the school system. My vision of my future began to change as I watched her go to work every day and command respect. I was also blessed to have a well-educated dad, who never spoke in terms of “If” but “When” I would go to college. Both parents encouraged me to get an education and a career and to “always be able to take care of yourself.” However, girls in that era were still expected to enter a career of one of the five ‘Cs’ – caring, catering, cashiering, cleaning and clerical work. That made nurses, teachers and secretaries the acceptable careers for females. The high school home economics and typing classes were full of females preparing for their futures. Then in 1966, the National Organization of Women was formed and Gloria Steinem became a household word, although not always in a good way, along with Ms Magazine. But the first woman who got my attention was Betty Ford. Betty Ford made no secret of her support for women’s rights, abortion rights or for the ERA. I recall watching her on television as she made shockingly bold statements about her children, her breast cancer, her addiction problems, premarital sex and marijuana use. When the 1980 National Republican Convention in Detroit was deciding whether or not to keep the ERA in its platform, Betty Ford walked out of the convention and marched in the National Organization for Women's protest through the streets of Detroit past the convention center. Betty Ford then traveled as the NOW-ERA countdown co-chair across the country kicking off more than 170 rallies in 42 states. She led marches, rallies, walks, fund-raising dinners and events. She stood firm against the push back she received from the conservative Republicans strongly opposed to her liberal social views.           

    

     Yes, we have come a long way, but we still have so far to go. Women dominate nursing, but men make more. Male janitors earn more than female maids and housekeepers.  When females enter a male dominated field, all salaries begin to drop. The US women’s national soccer team could have their winningest season and the men have their worst season and the men would make more. The gender pay gap increases as women climb the corporate ladder, get more education and more experience.  On March 27, Trump took women’s rights backwards again and revoked the 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order.  By overturning the Fair Pay order, Trump has further made women more vulnerable to work place abuse and salary discrepancies 

Betty Ford

     In an October 1975 speech, Betty Ford said: "Many barriers continue to the paths of most women, even on the most basic issue of equal pay for equal work…the wage discrepancy between men and women is a problem for our whole society, not just the individual woman…. The first important steps have to be to undo the laws that hem women in and lock them out of the mainstream of opportunities…My own support of the Equal Rights Amendment has shown what happens when a definition of proper behavior collides with the right of an individual to personal opinions. I do not believe that being First Lady should prevent me from expressing my views. I spoke out on this important issue, because of my deep personal convictions. Why should my husband's job or yours prevent us from being ourselves? Being ladylike does not require silence."    

     On Equal Pay Day, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine joined U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) to reintroduce the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, legislation to address the gender pay gap and strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 guaranteeing that women can challenge pay discrimination and hold employers accountable. In March, Nevada approved the ERA, bringing us two states shy of finally ratifying the amendment. We cannot be silent. We must contact our legislators in support of both these legislations. The National Organization for Women has chapters in every state with 70 local chapters. They need you. Men and women are both welcome as members. Women’s March groups have formed across the country to address a wide range of issues. Now is not the time to be silent. As Helen Reddy sang in the 70’s, “hear me roar", we must be heard. And Happy Birthday to Betty Ford, born this day, April 8, in 1918. Thank you for inspiring a generation of women to stand up and be heard. We will not be silent.

Useful Websites:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/upshot/as-women-take-over-a-male-dominated-field-the-pay-drops.html?_r=0 

https://www.bustle.com/p/8-wage-gap-statistics-to-shut-down-any-haters-48441?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=owned&utm_campaign=feminismbustle

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/01/racial-gender-wage-gaps-persist-in-u-s-despite-some-progress/

http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-nevada-backs-equal-rights-amendment-decades-after-deadline-2017-3