I am honored to have been asked to speak at the 2018 Charlotte Women's March on January 20 at First Ward Park at 11:30. The March begins at noon to Romare Bearden Park. I hope to see YOU there!
Remarchable Women, the anniversary of the Women’s March on Charlotte, kicks off with an amazing group of speakers in First Ward Park, Saturday morning, January 20th. This Speaker’s Forum, 10:00 to noon, represents Charlotte’s diversity and gives voice to our goal of equity and equality for all. Speakers will provide strategies for us to make a difference in our communities.
Vi Lyles, Julie Eiselt, LaWana MayfieldSpeakers will include Vi Lyles, Charlotte’s first female African American Mayor, City Council Rep and Mayor Pro Tem Julie Eiselt, and City Council Rep LaWana Mayfield, Charlotte’s first openly gay council member. Jan Anderson, President of Charlotte Women’s March, and Regina Stone-Grover, Community Activist and one of the coordinators of last year’s Women’s March on Charlotte, will introduce the speakers.
Additionally scheduled to speak:
Rev Amantha Barbee, Pastor, Statesville Ave Presbyterian Church and Chair, Charlotte Clergy Coalition for Justice
Join us Saturday, January 20 for Remarchable Women, on the Anniversary of the Women’s March.
For more information, sign up for email updates or click here for FAQs about the event.
One of my favorite women's rights activist of all time is Sojourner Truth. Sojourner Truth, who was born into slavery, became both an abolitionist and a women's rights activist. In 1851, she extemporaneously delivered a speech called "Ain't I Woman" in Akron, Ohio at the Ohio Women's Convention. Her short, simple speech was a powerful rebuke to many anti-feminist arguments of the day. It became, and continues to serve, as a classic expression of women's rights. Truth became, and still is today, a symbol of strong women One of my favorite parts of this courageous speech is "If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!" Indeed we can!
This week, Time Magazine named the "Silence Breakers" as person of the year. The cover of the magazine featured five women and an anonymous arm. The anonymous arm belongs to a woman in Texas, a healthcare worker and a mother, who still wishes to remain anonymous. She is in solidarity with all those women who have not yet been able to come forward. Let's not forget that the women on the cover are rich and famous, but there are so many women in small towns and lower paying jobs who can not afford to come forward. May we, our daughters, our granddaughters and our sisters continue to speak out and be united in one powerful voice and always speak for those who can not speak for themselves.
I Am Woman by Melba Evans 11/2017
I am WOMAN.
Never doubt that I will accomplish just what I say I will.
Never think that I am not wise or witty or shrewd.
I am fearless and will walk gently into the night unafraid.
I can do anything because I am all these things.
I am WOMAN
I am WOMAN
Do not think I cannot make a contribution to this world.
I will change the world.
Women have contributed to this world since the beginning of
time.
Women have been there in wars, in famines, in life and even
in death.
I am WOMAN
I am WOMAN
Never tell me what I can and cannot do.
I will take your hand when no one else will.
I will take the hand of a child till it is no longer needed.
I am a teacher, a giver, a lover, a healer and a truth
teller.
I am WOMAN
I am WOMAN
Do not tell me when I grow old that I am worthless to
society.
Do not tell me that I am used up because I am divorced,
widowed or alone.
I can leap in and out of life with great courage.
And in aloneness, I find my strength
I am WOMAN
I am WOMAN
Do not pity me for the wrinkles of time.
Time has created me through many wounded pieces.
I’ve survived strife and conflict and I wear these wrinkles
as a badge of honor.
A true woman’s beauty is in her courage, in her heart and in
her soul.
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.
The second
annual Women’s Symposium sponsored by US Congresswoman Alma Adams was a huge
success! Women comprise more than half of the population of Mecklenburg County
and our nation yet we are still having to fight for equal representation, respect
and rights. The symposium brought together a diverse group of women representing
education, healthcare, business development, entrepreneurship; a range of women’s
issues. I was there representing our local chapter of NOW of which I am the
newly elected Vice President.
Alma Adams
set a record the moment she took the oath of office. For the first time in
history, there were 100 women in Congress. Congresswoman Adams has a PhD in
art education, but she is perhaps best known for her collection of hats which
she wears in style.Congresswoman Adams ran
for Congress at the age of 68. When asked ‘Why run for Congress now?”,
Congresswoman Adams replied, “I’ve worked all my life and I’ve served all my
life, and I still felt as if I had a lot to offer. I had done 40 years as a
college professor. It was time for me.”
"Time for me." She wasn't talking about time to retire and sit in a rocking chair. She was talking about time for her to do something more to make the world a better place. Congresswoman
Adams doesn’t just talk the talk, she walks the walk. She is an inspiration and
role model for all of us. She is energetic and focused, yet warm and welcoming.Women could be a powerful force, but we must
stop making excuses and like Congresswoman Adams get in the game. We all need
to say, “It is time for me.” It is time for women to speak up and be heard. There is something that each one of us can do
to change the direction and move women’s issues forward. As we work for women’s
rights, we work for the common good.Women’s
rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights. It is imperative that we speak up and advocate
for the positive change we hope to see in our neighborhoods and across the
country. Thank you, Congresswoman Adams! We could not have a better
representative in Congress!
