Women's issues have been near and dear to my heart since I was 18 years old and walked into the Women's Center of the UND campus to start my job there. I've worked with Crisis Pregnancy Centers and been a Domestic Violence Advocate.
It doesn't hurt that I've got a darned strong woman as a mother, either.
My sisters are gifted with talent, business acumen, creativity, and tenacity.
The four daughters I bore are now strong, loving, powerful women in their own right.
My grandmothers were amazing survivors of times we might not make it through - but they did. So did the generations before them.
Strong women have been my good friends for as long as I can remember.
So.
What are women upset about?
Well, I suppose the same old things: wages, inflexible or irregular work hours, single parenting, birth control, rape, child care, freedom to choose whom they love, marketing of women both figuratively and literally, the abuses of women (in some cultures atrocities against women are all too much the 'norm') ... you know, women's things.
Women are also plenty upset about the same sorts of things that men are upset about when it comes to conditions both local and global, but they've also got their own ^^^ objectives which, if properly addressed and corrected, might prove to go a long way toward the mending of a lot of other plagues that beset us.
Think about this for a minute.
There are all sorts of things that divide us as a people in general. Socio-economic standing, race, religion, lifestyles, politics ... you name it and it's a dividing factor.
When FINALLY the women of the west manage to get their act together, none of those things are going to matter a whit to them.
Not. A. Single. Factor. Will. Divide. Them.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it for a while.
Women make up fully HALF of the population of the WORLD.
In the United States alone there are well over 150,000,000 of us. A hundred and fifty million women, choosing to stand together for something or against something is going to have more than a little OOMPH to it.
Now, some of us remember at least part of the days of The Women's Movement from back in the day. Not the WAY back days of Suffrage, mind you, but the ones of the century just past. We are now the women of the Boomers and we are legion. Okay, more than legion but that's a phrase that has a specific sort of connotation of there being a LOT of something.
If you think that 'movement' was something, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Because a lot of us Boomers are still around, and the Millennials are even more plentiful.
And if you think we Boomers were enthusiastic about getting behind a 'cause', look at the Millennials. They CARE. Exactly what they care about, and whether or not we happen to agree with them or think them brats, the point is that THEY CARE AND THEY CARE DEEPLY.
So.
Let's give them something worth caring ABOUT, shall we?
No I'm not an old 'feminist' trying to resurrect something that's not going to be resurrected.
This is NOT about man-bashing or about avenging the wrongs of the past (and they too are legion, but we have to let them go).
Why?
Because there's more at stake now than probably ever before in the history of humankind, that's why.
The Women of the West HAVE to be confident in the wielding of their own power, folks. We soon aren't going to have any other option so we'd best start getting used to the idea.
We cannot correct the ills of our world alone; neither can the men. We cannot waste ourselves in stupid needless battles. We are needed and our men are JUST as needed. Granted, they haven't exactly set us the best example in general, but we cannot do this without them.
Do this? What 'this'?
The Dalai Lama nailed it back at that speech he gave in Canada a few years ago, people. It was in Vancouver in September of 2009 and a link is below if you're interested. He said that the Women of the West would have to save the world.
Western women (click to link) have something our more Eastern women don't seem to have quite as much of, and here we are griping. Really. We've got a freedom that many women of our world don't enjoy, let alone take for granted, let alone whine in spite of.
We can do what they cannot, and we'd best be getting on with it.
Because it's going to take a bloody long time just to clean up our own back yards, it behooves us to stick together and get that job done in a timely manner, because the rest of the world ain't gonna sit around watching us and waiting for us to finish what we start at home.
Since I'm an American and North America is my home, I'm talking of the Women of the West as my peers and colleagues here in the United States and Canada. Mexico too has a lot of powerful strong women, and here's hoping they will begin wielding their own power as well.
You see, we are the grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters of the land and we don't seem to be anywhere near as proud of that as we have the right to be.
And I'm not talking about women necessarily taking on political roles, although that certainly is a part of the whole thing if that's what they're called to do. We aren't all particularly suited for such things, and neither are our men for that matter. There are plenty of examples of both men and women ill-suited for that so we'll let it rest for the moment and focus on the vast majority of the rest of us.
Some of us are too old, or ill, to actively participate in what I'm talking about, but the input of their wisdom is incalculably vital if we're going to be making any headway at all. So first thing off the bat is consulting with our Elders. For one thing, it's good manners; for the main thing, they've got decades of experience in dealing with humanity that most of us don't. So ... go and ask them.
Being as I'm almost old enough to be consulted, and have known a LOT of women older than me, I have a fairly decent idea about what you'll hear. I'll tell you later if you want; for now there's a concept that needs to be presented.
Now, as the grandmothers, mothers, sisters, and daughters of our land, we kind of have a responsibility here. We've kind of been letting that slide for quite a while, but it's not too late to get to our feet and start raising a ruckus.
We don't need to be raising a ruckus about that list up there. Everyone is already long sick and tired of hearing it.
No.
What we need to be raising a collective ruckus about are things like ... well ... like the stuff that's been going on in spades for a long time and seems to have intensified in the past couple of years.
You know what I'm talking about.
Riots, for one thing - and violent crimes - and people being threatened. You know darned well what all I'm talking about because it bothers you as much as it does me.
We might have to, at first, take on the troubles as women. But, knowing the strength of our men, we'll soon have them at our sides. Not behind us backing us, and not in front of us protecting us, but at our sides.
I'm not talking about all of us suddenly getting a radical hair up our backsides, you know. All I'm saying is that if something happens to be developing in your particular area, don't just yammer about it over coffee. Call all of the women you know and get yourselves together to confront it. Never try to 'go it alone' because you aren't going to get anywhere except probably hurt in some way or worse. Call people. Do something. Intervene by at least making your presence known and your Voices heard.
This million women march at Washington isn't exactly my cup of tea but it has gotten my attention. Most of us will not be there. We will be at work or at home. That doesn't mean we are not a part of the whole thing. It's very rare that anything happens on such a big scale; we aren't going to fret ourselves about the women who are ready, willing, and able to attend that big march. I for one am pleased that they're going to do what they're going to do (as long as they're reasonable about it and nobody gets mean). If I were one of the organizers I would ban political signs, and signs that have to do with any specific issues from the above list. I'd have everyone carry signs with one symbol on them:
And leave it at that.
It's the symbol of our gender, in case you were wondering. It means female.
Personally, I don't happen to think that much of any of this has much of anything in particular to do with women's rights or women's issues. I think it has to do with taking a stand against the things that are wrong in our world, our society, and our home towns.
For the record, women are not all innocents. There are as many horrible women as there are horrible men.
But I think there are enough of us who are not horrible, both male and female, to tend to those among us who are horrible.
I live in the country, but if I lived in town there would probably be ten or so women who feel the same way I do who lived on my block or cul-de-sac. In my neighborhood would be maybe fifty.
Fifty women standing together would be almighty intimidating to just about anyone.
Suppose, just as a for instance, you live in a town where there's going to be a protest of some kind. Women are justifiably notorious for their ability to spread the word about anything and everything in a heartbeat or less. Do that. When the protest starts, be there. Not as part of the protest, unless that's your thing, but just be there. If those are your kids out there protesting, or your siblings, or your friends or relatives, keep an eye on them - for their own safety and your own peace of mind. The very fact that you're there in big numbers might de-fuse what could otherwise get out of hand. If it does get out of hand, holler for whoever you might have in the protest, grab about twenty women to go with you, and go get your own the heck out of harm's way. Lock your arms together and go get them. Then don't step back. Instead, step up.
Keep in mind that women don't really have any 'boundaries' to keep them from working together. The women you're locking arms with might be of any color, any socio-economic status, any religion, any lifestyle choice. NONE of those things matter, not when it comes to 'mother' stuff. What binds us as women is by far more powerful than anything that might divide us. Believe it because it's the absolute truth. Even the females in the protest are going to feel it in a way they won't want to acknowledge but it will be there, as sure as the sun rises and the stars shine in the sky.
After a few times of all of us standing together, we'll have our numbers doubled because our men are going to be standing with us.
If random acts start up in your neck of the woods, gather yourselves together and make your presence known.
On college campuses, do what we used to do - never be alone and never leave anyone behind. If they want to have a rendezvous with somebody, that somebody had better have passed the test of being closely scrutinized by a large group of women before we trust them with one of our own.
On a less dramatic front, use that incredible communication system to do good things, to help people who might need a hand. If you happen to know of somebody who needs food, clothing, or shelter, make your calls, spread the word, and tend to the needs of that person, that family, in a way that they will be able to accept and not feel like crap about it. Just gather the stuff they need and get somebody to go and give it to them with a note that only has that symbol on it, you know the one:
Another tack to think about:
A lot of us would truly love to help those from outside our own country who are in desperate need of help. We'd love to offer help to the refugees who really do need a safe place.
That's another reason for us to get ourselves pulled together to tend to the business of cleaning up our back yards. We cannot offer a safe place to others who are in need if our back yards aren't even safe for US.
We who are the Women of the West do not need to choose any particular 'issue' to step up to the plate for, to go to bat for, to take our swing at, and to maybe hit a grand slam out of.
Every 'issue' affects us as women. That is our strength. As women we can take a stand about anything and everything. Because we're mothers, or will become mothers, or at the very least we HAVE mothers.
Our issues, as Mothers, are Justice and Mercy and Peace. It's as simple as that.
If you're female, you're automatically one of us, no matter what.
And the thing about the 'Mother' identity is that (surprise) you can't have a Mother without there also being a Father involved.
So our fight is NOT against the males of our world.
Our fight is about those things I just mentioned:
Justice
Mercy
Peace
Because all men also have mothers (duh) they too are equally invested in the whole thing and will figure that out in their own (slow but sure) time. They've had several millennia in which to do their thing. Now it's our turn, but we aren't going to do it alone. We're going to do it together, the way it's supposed to have been all along.
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