August 26, 2016 by IdealisticRebel

Women’s Equality Day

womensequalityday

Cops: Husband Beheaded Texas Woman

A 23-year-old Texas man was charged Friday with first-degree murder after he reportedly confessed that he beheaded his wife and stashed her head in a freezer in their mobile home. Davie Dauzat was ordered held in McLennan County Jail on $500,000 bail in the death of 21-year-old Natasha Dauzat. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Bellmead Police Sgt. Kory Martin said officers first responded to the mobile home early Thursday after reports of a disturbance, but left once nothing was found amiss at the suburban Waco scene. Two hours later, police returned after a family member called and said they believed Davie had murdered Natasha. The couple was in the trailer with their 1- and a 2-year-old at the time of the incident, Martin said. Local media reports said Davie Dauzat was covered in blood when he finally emerged and surrendered to authorities after a 30-minute standoff. “We located a deceased female. We have a suspect in custody who did have blood on him, and we were able to talk him out of the home,” Martin told the Waco Tribune-Herald. “It is believed that he did kill that female, but we are still investigating that to make sure and confirm that information is correct.” The children were turned over to child protective services.

— Olivia Messer, the Daily Beast

BJSquiggel

How Congress Can Improve the Lives of Women and Girls – the Leadership Conference

womenandgirls

Congress designated August 26 as Women’s Equality Day in 1971. Forty-five years later, lawmakers can and should do more to make that notion a reality.

We recognize there are women and girls within and across all of the communities we represent — African-American, Latino, Asian American, LGBTQ and Native American people, immigrants, people with disabilities, people of faith, working families, and low-income people — and that all of the issues we care deeply about are issues that greatly impact the lives of women and girls. We could list hundreds of policies still needed today to improve women’s equality, but in honor of Friday’s anniversary of the 19th Amendment, here are 19 things Congress could do right now:

1. Ratify CEDAW.

President Carter signed the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) more than 36 years ago, but the U.S. Senate still hasn’t ratified it. A campaign to implement local CEDAW ordinances is underway across the country, but it’s time for the Senate to finally ratify the international human rights treaty and affirm that women’s rights are human rights.

2. Ensure equal pay for equal work.

Lawmakers reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act in March 2015 to help narrow the gender pay gap. Seventeen months later, the bill is languishing in both chambers of Congress — with just one Republican cosponsor.

From AAUW’s Spring 2016 edition of The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap.

3. Pass comprehensive nondiscrimination protections.

Congress should modernize civil rights protections in employment as well as public accommodations, housing, access to credit, and other areas of life through legislation like the Equality Act.

4. Prevent pregnancy discrimination.

In June 2015, Congress reintroduced the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to require employers to make reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers and prevent employers from discriminating against pregnant women in the hiring process. Both Senate and House versions have bipartisan support but remain stalled.

5. Raise the minimum wage.

It’s been more than seven years since the federal minimum wage rose to $7.25 per hour. That needs to be increased, and the subminimum wage for tipped working people — which has been frozen at $2.13 per hour now for a quarter century — needs to be eliminated.

6. Provide paid family and medical leave.

Congress should pass legislation, like the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act, to create a national paid family and medical leave insurance program and build on the success of programs in the states. The United States is the only industrialized country that doesn’t guarantee paid family leave — and that needs to change.

7. Ban all forms of discriminatory profiling.

The latest version of the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) adds gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation as identity categories that law enforcement shouldn’t rely on in their enforcement practices — a recognition thatdiscriminatory profiling takes on gender-specific forms. The bill was reintroduced in Congress in April 2015 and hasn’t budged since.

8. Make sure everyone can vote.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in June 2013, states across the country have made it more difficult to vote for people of color, low-income people, students, and older voters — and that, of course, includes a lot of women. Congress should restore the VRA by passing the Voting Rights Advancement Act and restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated people by passing the Democracy Restoration Act.

New Voting Restrictions in Place for 2016 Presidential Election, Brennan Center for Justice

9. Reform outdated and unfair sentencing laws.

The population of women in prison grew at nearly twice the rate as men between 1977 and 2007, and women are more likely to be in prison for drug and property offenses (while men are more likely to be in prison for violent offenses). Congress can help by passing meaningful sentencing reform legislation.

10. Pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Executive actions taken by President Obama — which a hamstrung Supreme Court deadlocked on in June — are no substitute for comprehensive immigration reform. Congress still needs to pass legislation creating a realistic path to citizenship, protecting the rights of immigrant and citizen workers alike.

11. Diversify the federal bench.

This is the first time three women have sat on the U.S. Supreme Court, and President Obama has appointed more female judges than any other president. But there are currently more than two dozen women awaiting votes in the Senate to fill judicial vacancies, including nine women of color. Confirming them won’t just help to further diversify the federal judiciary — it will help alleviate the nation’s judicial vacancy crisis.

This is the First Time Our Judicial Pool Has Been This Diverse, via the White House.

12. Open up employment opportunities.

One in three Americans — or 70 million people — have an arrest or conviction record. That includes millions of women who, as a result, face barriers to employment for the rest of their lives. Congress should pass legislation like the Fair Chance Act to ban the box and stop forcing so many Americans to the margins of society.

13. Eliminate health disparities in all populations.

We must ensure and protect women’s timely access to trusted, quality women’s health providers so they can access comprehensive health services. Congress should pass the Health Equity and Accountability Act, which would provide “federal resources, policies, and infrastructure to eliminate health disparities in all populations, regardless of race, ethnicity, immigration status, age, ability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or English proficiency.”

14. Keep all students safe.

We need legislation to ensure students attend school in a safe, nurturing and welcoming environment, free of bullying, harassment and assault, discrimination, or harsh disciplinary practices. Right now, Black girls account for 20 percent of female enrollment in America’s public schools, but they represent 54 percent of girls receiving one or more out-of-school suspensions.

15. Improve access to broadband.

High-speed Internet today is vital to accessing job opportunities, health care, social services, and education. But for millions of low-income and minority Americans — the people who are in most need of the advantages of broadband — such service is simply out of reach. Recent research suggests governments should prioritize providing women with broadband access because of the link between digital fluency, educational attainment, employment, and workplace equality.

16. Expand access to early childhood education.

Access to high-quality education is a civil and human right. Congress should pass legislation, like the Strong Start for America’s Children Act, which would increase access to quality critical early learning opportunities all children regardless of race, color, or ZIP code.

17. Protect older workers.

A 2009 Supreme Court decision made it more difficult for workers to prove they’ve been discriminated against because of their age. Congress should strengthen nondiscrimination protections for older workers by passing the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act.

18. Make work schedules more predictable.

Women are more likely than men to have nonstandard work hours. The Schedules That Work Act would promote economic security and help workers meet the demands of their jobs and their families.

19. Ratify the disability rights treaty.

There’s another international human rights treaty the Senate still needs to ratify: the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It’s modeled after the Americans with Disabilities Act but — now more than seven years after President Obama signed it — the Senate hasn’t gathered enough votes to ratify it.

BJSquiggel

As you can see there is a lot of inequality to being a woman. I also realize there is a lot to being any type type of minority. White males are privileged here in America and in many other countries. Just as Black Lives Matter, Women’s Lives Matter and none of us will give up. We will fight as hard and harder as the early Suffragettes did to win the vote. White supremacists are going to have to learn they are like everyone else; they are white men — white men who need to get over themselves. ALL of us are equal under one God, living in one country, part of one glorious world. We, the minorities, don’t want to take anything away from white men , but we won’t be second class any more. What do we want? Equality! When do we want it? NOW!

February 29, 2016 by IdealisticRebel

Equal Pay for Women

Women all over the world face inequality when it comes to pay. It’s not just in the United States.

It shouldn’t be that way. We make strides — for a while — but it never lasts.

Each of us needs to determine, in our own minds, what we are worth. Then we need to stand up and clearly declare our value as a Person, not just as a Woman.

Traditionally, women devalue themselves — we are taught to do so — but we are NOT worth less than men. We are not “weaker” then men, we are not less smart, we are not less capable.

Genitalia do not equal worth. The willingness to work, the intelligence to work, that is what matters in the work place. It should be all that matters. But, until we, as women, value ourselves, our employers will not.

Below is a TED talk that helps illuminate the problem.

TED Talk Published on Jul 22, 2015

Veronique sheds light on her efforts for the past 10 years to ensure equal pay for females in the workplace. As an advocate, a business-leader, a mother, and a wife, she shares how the threads of her efforts have been intertwined and effected by these elements in her life.

bjwordpressdivider (1)

August 19, 2015 by IdealisticRebel

Are You a Feminist?

domesticviolence_logo What makes people decide to be a feminist person? For me it was reading about the witch trials in Europe and how women who understood the healing power of herbs and were in attunement with animals were called witches and killed in various horrible ways. Millions of women, men and children were killed for being witches. It was a mass hysteria which took over most of Europe and England. As always, there were sexual favors that might save your life. But torture was always a part of it and men were usually the jailers, guards, judges and executioners. Add to that the abuse from my childhood, and feminism was what made sense to me in this crazy world, though this was the seventies. We still live in a harsh, unjust and often uncompassionate world.

I got involved with Domestic Violence. And I was proud and excited to be able to help women and children; to be a feminist. “Feminist” is the only tag I will tolerate wearing. Many women live feminist lives and just don’t label themselves as such. I have known women who just never thought of themselves in these terms; but they lived it and passed it on to their children.

Feminists are like trees in a woods. We come in all sizes and shapes. Some are intensely passionate, as I was, and marched and picketed for women’s rights and children’s rights. Some quietly lived their lives without giving a thought to what kind of woman they were.

Every woman who has taught her sons never to hit a woman is a feminist, whether they use the term or not.

Every woman who has taught her sons that “no means no” is a feminist.

Every woman who insists their family functions with justice for all members is a feminist.

Every mother who teaches her daughters how to take care of themselves is a feminist.

A feminist isn’t a weird aberration of what a woman is. A feminist simply believes that all human beings are equal, regardless of sex.

He or she believes that women’s work is as important as a man’s, and they should be paid equal wages for equal work.

Feminists believe that no one should be owned. We do not believe that marriage means that one partner now owns the other. A couple, married or not, should be equal partners, each with their own set of strengths and weaknesses: a compliment to each other.

Feminists believe that no one should have control over a woman’s body except herself. Doctors and the government do not even try to tell men what to do to/with their bodies, yet it is acceptable for them to do so with a woman. Not to a feminist.

Feminists and Humanists believe that we are all brothers and sisters living on one planet together. We also believe that every child deserves a good education and corporate America should not benefit from these kids financially.

Feminists and Humanists believe that lives should be free from fear and violence. If you are in a violent relationship, get out. Call the hotline number on this blog and get the help you deserve.

It is time for a woman president. I strongly feel this. Men should not have all the power and control in governments and it is time to change this. There have been a few women leaders in countries around the world and now it is time for America to step into the future.

The time is way past the days of “the little woman at home, cleaning, taking care of children, and cooking dinners for the boss”. Those days, rightly, died out in the forties. They died out because of a man, Hitler who brought the world to the brink of destruction. Men were drafted to fight and push the Nazis back into Germany. So our government needed women to go to work. The icon of that age was “Rosie the riveter.”

Until the War, a woman had been told she only had value in the home, and then found out she had value in work outside of the home. Some even found out they enjoyed that work outside of the home; it made them feel needed and important. When WWII was over, women were forced back into the home to make jobs for returning vets. For some this was great. For some this chaffed like cheap wool on sensitive skin.

Then Betty Friedan wrote a book called the “Feminine Mystique” and the simmering pot boiled over. Many women wanted to work; others wanted to be home with their families. Many wanted to both have a job and family. Some women didn’t want to have children, and didn’t feel that made them incomplete, or less of a woman. None of this had to be an either/or choice. And suddenly, women began to realize that we do, indeed, have choices. We could be the woman we were meant to be. We weren’t less than men, and the choice we could make didn’t make us less of a woman, or more of a woman. Whatever we chose, we could be gloriously all we were meant to be, and all we wanted to be.

Progress is coming and women will be a part of it. We will partner in the future with feminist men and make this a better, fairer, kinder world. There will be equality for all lives. All lives will have quality. Hunger will end and disease will be cured not just for the wealthy but for the less fortunate also.

Whether you are a silent feminist, an outspoken one or not a feminist doesn’t matter. The future is coming and together we will make it be better than it has ever been.

Namaste, Barbara

Embrace your world and make it be whatever you want.

fgm11

August 18, 2015 by IdealisticRebel

Just What is a Feminist?

I chose my subject this evening because I read a social media comment which described a feminist as a woman somewhere between an angry alien and a rabid wild animal. Now, I did not respond to the individual because I continue to work for peace and compassion in the world and in my personal world.

In case you are not aware, I am proud to be a feminist. A feminist is a woman. Just like any other woman. There are some differences. Feminists are men and women who believe females are people just like any man is a person.

Feminists also believe in equality. They believe that both sexes are born equal. Not every man can drive a race car at 100 mph, and not every woman can turn out a perfect Beef Wellington. Feminists do look at the world and see what is wrong and unjust. Some people look and turn away because what they see is horrific. For all of the wonderful people in this world of ours, there are many who are evil.

A feminist looks at what is wrong in the world and sees it and then begins to look at how it can be changed. Whether a feminist man or woman, they will not turn away from the ugliness but will work, speak out, write, protest to change the wrong.

We, as women, have the vote because of women like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and hundreds of Suffragettes (feminists) worked to make Congress to give us the vote. They even went to the dire length of handcuffing themselves to the White House fence. They were arrested, and once in jail they went on a hunger strike and the media told the world and we got the vote. This is of course, a simplified version of the tale.

WeCon

I became a feminist in the seventies. Abuse was the issue that ignited my heart and passion. I do not believe that one person has the right to hit another. Women and children have the right to live without violence and fear. If a woman is the abuser, she needs to face the same consequences as any man who batters.

Women have the right to make their own decisions. To marry or not to. To pick her friends. Men have control over their bodies and the government would never think to tell them what to do with them. Even the man who hires the prostitute is usually protected from prosecution, while the woman is charged and will be in jail at least overnight. The government has repeatedly tried to control women’s bodies and how we choose to use them.

A feminist is a person who feels that women should receive equal pay for equal work. We have never had this in the USA. My sister found out she was making less than the men in her department. She was, justifiably, upset. She was doing more work than literally anyone in the company (when she left, her duties had to be spread over 5 people), yet she still made less than men with less education. Was that right? No.

Some feminists are wonderful wives and mothers, both stay-at-home mothers and working mothers. It is what they choose to be and that is great. I, myself, have nine grandchildren. I have also marched for Hard Hatted Women. Women who wanted the right to work in construction. It is their right to choose how to support themselves and /or their families.

So, like black lives matter, so do women’s lives. And for those who disagree, perhaps a long look in a mirror would be a good thing to try. Hugs, Barbara

everynineseconds

September 18, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

Your Vote is Your Responsibility

Here we are at the end of September. Elections are coming up. There is time to vote early or to mark you calendar with the notation to vote. The Republicans have just unanimously voted against equal pay for equal work. Today, a mom earns $.69 less than a dad earns for each hour they work. Is there a Republican war on women? Absolutely there is.

Women and men getting out to vote is essential this year. We have had a “do nothing” Congress for a few years now. Women need to get out and speak up for themselves. We need to tell Congress to start doing their jobs. We need pay equality. We need to be legally equal. Why is it that so many males don’t want us to be legally equal? We are the only citizens who are not legally equal. It is time to demand what we don’t have.

Now, employers want to be able to deny us the ability to use birth control. If they don’t want you to take it they will not pay for it. Just how many people are you willing to let control your body. Why should some corporation tell us what to do with our bodies. Why should anyone know about intimate information about our lives. We are adults, we are of sound mind, we are capable of making good decisions about our bodies and our lives.

Don’t let our lives be controlled by the government, corporations, churches or temples or cathedrals.

Women need to take back control of the important things in their lives. Getting out and voting is the best way to let America know what you stand for. Show the government that you know what you want and you aren’t afraid to tell them. Get out and vote in November!

Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2014

Sculptures of joyful women. Chautauqua New York. Photographed

and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2014.

September 6, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

5 Things You Need to Know About Women and the Economy

In this world there is much going on. A great deal of what is happening is terrifying and horrific. But there are good events happening too. The following report is evidence of positive changes. Employment for women is up as the report shows. This is good. Employment is up for everyone. There still needs to be more economic growth but we are gaining because of President Obama’s initiatives.

While more women are working, we still do not earn equal wages for equal work. It is important that gender not control the wages we earn. We must continue to push for equitable earning for all Americans, non-gender based wages.

I don’t want to take attention away from ISIL, and the beheadings and western people who feel marginalized enough to turn to barbaric acts to gain attention and money. But as we look at the big picture, we need also to keep our eyes on what is happening here in the United States. We need to pull Americans out of the status of being working poor. We need to prevent women and children from ending up as working poor due to the death of the primary male provider or to divorce or to there being only minimum wage jobs available to women.

We need equitable wages for the same work and it is important with the mid-term elections coming up, that while we continue to look at the big picture, we need to make life better for the citizens of America. Women are not second class citizens, just as African Americans are not second class citizens. Equality is for everyone. We can’t lose faith and give up, we must continue to work for equality for every American. We need to be the world leaders we say we are. I guess, you can say we need to walk our talk. I am good with that, are you? Then go out and vote in November. Make it a priority in November. Vote early by mail if you maybe too busy in November. Vote. Have a say in what is happening in our country.

Originally posted at whitehouse.gov/blog

Betsey Stevenson

September 05, 2014
03:37 PM EDT

Today’s employment report underscores the fact that the economy is continuing to recover, and employment is continuing to increase. Women have shared in these gains, with female employment increasing by 4.1 million jobs in the last 54 months, and the fraction of discouraged workers and workers experiencing long-term unemployment continues to fall. Across industries, women’s employment gains look relatively similar to previous periods of strong employment growth. To further support the economy, and to ensure the workplace works for the 21st century economy, the President is encouraging Congress to act and using his own executive action to support policies that support a fair workplace for all workers — including women.

KEY POINTS ABOUT WOMEN AND THE ECONOMY

1. Women’s nonfarm employment has increased by 3.8 million jobs over the last 54 months, and 1.2 million in the last 12 months alone. Women’s employment tends to be less cyclical than men’s, largely because women are less likely to work in industries where employment greatly fluctuates with the business cycle. The recent recession followed that pattern, and women lost far fewer jobs than men. Between December 2007 and February 2010 women lost 2.7 million jobs, while men lost 6.1 million. However, the unusual declines in state and local government during the recovery — a loss of 744,000 jobs between August 2008 and January 2013 were particularly tough for women who lost 65 percent of those jobs. Over the past year state and local government employment has stabilized and begun to recover adding back 123,000 jobs since January 2013. Since February 2010, women and men have recouped 4.1 and 5.9 million private sector jobs, respectively. This has raised the share of private sector workers who are women from 46.9 percent prior to the recession to 47.9 percent this past August.

2. Across multiple measures, women’s unemployment has declined. As employment has increased since 2010, the unemployment rate has also fallen. The female unemployment rate currently stands at 6.1 percent, the same as for the population as a whole, down from its peak of 9.0 percent in November 2010. The short-term unemployment rate (the fraction of the labor force unemployed for 26 weeks or less) has fallen to its pre-recession average, and while the long-term unemployment rate remains elevated, it has fallen considerably in the past year after more than quadrupling during the recession and its aftermath. Broader measures of labor force attachment also show a marked improvement. For example, averaging across the past 12 months, 0.4 percent of the female labor force is discouraged from seeking work, down from a high of 0.6 percent in early 2011. The share of people marginally attached to the labor force, or discouraged from working, or unemployed has averaged 8.3 percent this past year on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, down from 10.5 percent in early 2011.

3. In the recovery, women’s job gains have been concentrated in education and health services, professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality.During this recovery, many of the job gains have been similar between men and women, although men have gained more construction and manufacturing jobs, and women have gained more education and health services jobs. However, these patterns are not completely unexpected: women have traditionally held more than three-quarters of education and health services jobs, and about one-eighth of construction and less than one-third of manufacturing jobs. The last time the economy added jobs for 54 consecutive months was from November 1996 to April 2001. In general, women’s employment over the most recent period is similar to the previous period across most industries, although there are some notable differences. For example, compared to the previous period, employment growth has been slightly weaker in financial activities, construction, and information services. In contrast, women have gained some manufacturing jobs, while between 1996 and 2001, female employment in manufacturing fell by approximately 200,000 workers.

4. This month, women’s employment growth in manufacturing was particularly strong compared to performance since 2010. In other industries, women’s employment was within the range of the previous 54 months. This month’s employment growth was relatively weak in transportation and other services, and mirroring overall trends, women lost about 1,000 jobs in retail trade. Employment growth for women was particularly above average in construction and information services, and on a seasonally-adjusted basis, women gained more manufacturing jobs this month than at time since July 2000. Like the overall labor market, the pattern of female job growth across industries in August was slightly more divergent from recent trends than earlier this year.

5. Young women are increasingly staying in school, more than off-setting the decline in labor force participation among young women. Fewer young women are neither working nor studying compared to previous generations. Since students, even if they are working part-time, are not considered part of the labor force, only looking at participation rates misses the fact that more and more women are obtaining an undergraduate or graduate education. Since the mid-1990s, women have accounted for the majority of postsecondary students, meaning that they will account for the majority of our skilled labor force in the future. At the same time that young women are staying in school, however, both men and women are working longer: more than one-third of women 55 and older are working today, compared to less than one-quarter 20 years ago.

Betsey Stevenson is a member of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Equal pay for equal work for all American citizens.

Equal pay for equal work for all American women.

Ladies, get out and vote in November!

August 5, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

The Women’s Revolution

Gloria Steinem was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom last November. It is America’s highest honor for a civilian. Her work on behalf of women in the areas of equality and empowerment were the reasons for this prominent award. In her acceptance speech, she spoke about what remains to be done for women. She declared that there are still goals which need to be met. Ms. Steinem discussed equal valuing of women’s work, ending violence against women, recognizing reproductive freedom as a basic human right, and uprooting racism and sexism. This is a hefty list of goals. Comments of the GOP flow through my mind and I realize the enormity of this undertaking.

We also have some myths about feminism that we need to straighten out. One is that this movement, also called women’s liberation. womanism, mujerista, GRRLS, is only for white middle-class women. This is not true. I have black women friends who are feminists and women with less money, who are on fixed incomes and are involved with stopping this War on Women. A poll was conducted in 1972 by Louis Harris and Associates that revealed black women were almost twice as likely as white women to support these issues. Now I read Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and became committed to the issues. Black women read Shirley Chisholm, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou. These women inspired the dream in black women. The idea that feminism was designed only for white middle-class claim was invented to turn off women. It negated their need for change.

The second myth is that those of us who worked, protested, marched, demonstrated, and lobbied in the 70’s and beyond have accomplished all that can be done for women. Young women felt that our work was done. Women could now relax.

The reality is, we still have much to do. We need to be legally equal. We are the only citizens who are not legally equal. Once we survived the backlash against equality, we still need to work to be socially and legally equal. President Obama has signed an equal pay for equal work legislation. While this was huge and we are grateful, women still do not receive equal pay for equal work. Please note we do not want more pay than men earn for the same work, we just want equitable pay.

We are also dealing with the fact that many women and children in the work are living in violent situations. Women are still being battered at about every nine seconds. I repeat, every nine seconds. Battering can be mental,emotional or physical abuse. Physical abuse can include slapping, kicking , pinching, punching, pulling hair, punching where clothes will cover the evidence. Being pushed and shoved is battering. Being threatened with a knife or gun is abuse. The numbers of women and children who are living in violence is staggering.

In the modern world, most other democratic nations have more women in government positions than America. It is still unusual for American women to be elected. The United States is a modern democracy, and yet, almost alone among such nations, we don’t have some form of a national child-care system. The average cost of child care here has surpassed the average cost of college tuition. If this continues, people will have to have less children in order to give them a chance in life.

A woman’s ability to decide when and whether to bear a child is not a “social issue”. It is a human right, like the right to free speech For the female half of the world reproductive freedom is the biggest economic issue. Women who have children to raise, are less likely to get hired and and to be well paid. Nothing else is going to be equal until men spend as much time performing child care as women do.

As women, we often raise our girls the same as we do our sons. We seldom raise our sons the same as our daughters. To allow a son to play with “girl toys” or to go “girl things” like helping to clean or care for younger children, takes a lot of courage.

Being a woman today take a great deal of courage. There is a book out called Sex and World Peace, which proves that the biggest indicator of whether a country is violent within itself, or will use military violence against another country, is not poverty, natural resources, or even a countries’ degree of democracy. It is violence against women.

Only if each of us has a torch will there be enough light to create World Peace.

bjwordpressdivider

Motivation

Domestic Violence Stats

April 7, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

The Perfect Storm

animated.LoveYou

In the sixties, there was a perfect storm of hatred and violence and passionate pacifism. Folk singers like Peter, Paul and Mary, Pete Seger and Joan Baez sang the songs that started the fire that crossed America to get the Vietnam War ended. Hearts were set afire with music, poetry, sit-ins and marches. We watched the boys we knew going off to the war. There was a draft and I can remember sitting at the dinner table and listening for the numbers to be selected. You knew the numbers of your family and friends. The silence that would envelope a family when a son’s number was called was so opaque you could cut it with a knife. In addition to this being held like a human sacrifice by a Pagan world, some of these men fled and went to Canada. Very few returned, even when all was forgiven.

Thanks to President John Kennedy and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. whites and blacks moved together to bring his dream of equality to reality. Since the Civil War, the South had promoted and enforced strict segregation. This included separate restrooms, sitting in different parts of busses and not allowing interracial marriage. The very brave black youth who shared Rev. King’s dream began to protest and white Northern kids went South to help them. People lost their lives. The KKK lynched many young black men. The cowards who hid under white sheets were big shots when no one knew who they were. Many deaths were accomplished by the hand of the KKK.

In the seventies, my adoptive family lived in a small back water town in Indiana. They were the only Jewish family and there was one Black family. One night both families awoke to crosses burning on their front yards. The Klan had left its business card.

Women also participated in all of the changes going on in America. Rosa Parks got on a bus and instead of taking a seat in the back where black people were supposed to ride, she sat in the front of the bus. She was dragged off the bus and arrested but she is a heroine of the Civil Rights Movement. Feminists were out front and speaking up against the war and loudly demanding our civil rights. Women, make $.77 for every $1.00 a man made. We didn’t want to lose jobs if we had a child. Maternity leave was a subject that many businesses used as a reason not to hire women.

Women were being beaten by husbands and boyfriends, according to the FBI at a rate of one woman every eleven seconds. I worked hard with other women in my home town to begin a Domestic Violence shelter for women. We wanted to give them a safe place to go. We were a group of Jewish, Protestant and Catholic women who bought an old rotted dingy house with the help of the Sisters of Mercy. A penny was buried in the tree lawn and the Sisters prayed for the money to come to help the women in our community. Today, this shelter still exists and has over a yearly budget of over a half million dollars. But I remember the early days when we literally risked our lives for these woman and I would do it again.

Voting rights, economic rights and education are still not equal or just fifty years after the Civil Rights Act was passed. I thought that America had begun to change and we would just continue to move in the direction of fairness and justice. I was wrong. Very wrong. I didn’t realize until our President Obama was elected that the closet held more than homosexual people. It held people who still feel that human beings are not equal because of the color of their skin. This is such a travesty and must be corrected. We are one people who live with hearts beating as one despite color, education, who they love. We need to care as much for the babies who are born and need to be taken care of as we do for a woman’s right to decide what happens with her body. I saw a bumper sticker today on a car that said, “Save the whales, kill the children.”

The rich feel that their money gives them more rights than anyone else and it is getting worse every year. Is this a new situation? Not at all. It goes back very far in our history. During the Civil War, President Lincoln instituted a draft to have enough men to save the Union and free the slaves. The rich families were allowed to pay for their beloved sons not to have to go to war. So most soldiers were poor or middle class. They weren’t worth as much because their families had less money. Please don’t think that the rich looking down at the other 98% of our country. People need to select sides not parties. This mid-term election coming up is going to make it necessary for us to stand up and speak out. I encourage everyone do so and fight for justice in your particular country. As is often repeated, ” If you aren’t part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”

February 19, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

Speak UP

BJWordPressDivider

So often in life, we give others advice. Some of it is solicited and some not so much. Advice often comes in a small package of two words: “Speak Up”. I have even said it on my blog. I have been told to speak up, but usually, by the time some one tells me to, I already have.

So why are we discussing it today? I will explain. There are not many times when women have stood up and spoken. Since we were little girls, we were taught to be “ladies” and to stay clean and don’t be too loud. Actually, these admonitions have been around for centuries. The words were packaged differently but the ultimate meaning was the same.

By the 1800’s, many women had had it with the second class, stay-in-the-kitchen-and-keep-having-babies mentality that surrounded them. Women were treated like birds in a cage. They were to look beautiful and be charming and witty.

Long before the 1800’s, there was domestic violence in America. The Pilgrims brought it with them, and it came over with immigrants from England, and Scotland and Ireland and Germany — from everywhere, really, because it was at that time the norm to beat your wife. The first laws of this brand new country called America were based on English jurisprudence. It was considered legal to beat your wife, for correctional purposes, so long as you used nothing thicker than your thumb. It could be metal, but not thicker than your thumb.

In the 1800’s, as I have written about many times in the past, the Suffragettes came together and began to hold meetings because they wanted to be able to Vote. The men felt this was extremely funny, I have read diaries from women written in that time, talking about how hard it was to be woman living with a man who felt you were too stupid to know which candidate to vote for. Here job was to have the children, raise the children, feed the family, clothe the family (all with the man’s money) and, often, take care of the livestock and help in the fields. For more well-to-do married couples, there were servants to do many of these chores, but the only activity left for a woman was needlepoint, pianoforte, reading, and of course, being charming and witty.

Even after the end of the American Civil War and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, the black man was free but black women were in the same position as white women or Asian women or any other women. They were not allowed to vote; they were not equal citizens even to a greater extent than the black man was not an equal citizen.

Suzanne B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the women who lived in and around Seneca Falls, NY, and decided that they wanted the right to vote. They also put out a newspaper that referred to women’s issues of the time, which helped to prove that they had the intelligence to vote, as they had a higher level of literacy than many of the male voting public. Oh, and they found a way to use their own money to support all these efforts, not the money of the men in their lives, taking in washing and doing mending and other “womanly” chores to support their Women’s Cause. These ground-breaking women also get credit for women being allowed to wear trousers, called bloomers at the time; they got rid of corsets, which these women (rightly) believed to be bad for the health of women who wore them; corsets were a major reason for women “swooning” all over America and Europe because they simply could not get enough oxygen and passed out as a result.

If you are interested in more information about the Suffragettes and how they got women the Vote in America, I would suggest the book Founding Sisters and the Nineteenth Amendment by Eleanor Clift, one of the many books available on the subject at your local library, bookstore (brick or online) and e-reader source.

You also may refer to one of the several blogs I have written on the subject of Suffrage for additional resources and information.

In the 1960’s and 70’s, women began to Speak Up again. A feminist woman named Betty Friedan wrote a book called The Feminine Mystique. As women across America read this book, more and more of them found that the book reflected their inner most secret feelings about being a woman — that basically, it was not a really great deal. Women’s place had stayed in the home, except during World War II, when they were sent to the factories to make war planes and ammunition when the men were sent to fight. Many women found this to be a heady experience of independence, being able to earn money on their own for the first time and to work outside the home. When the War ended, and the GIs came home to return to their jobs, women were sent back to the kitchen.

A lot of women who had tasted independence in the 1940’s had daughters in the 1960’s to whom they expressed their discontent at being still trapped in the home.

In the 50’s and 60’s women still wore a strand of white pearls, white gloves, a hat and a dress that was below the knee. When I was in high school in the 60’s the teachers measured the lengths of our skirts and if they weren’t long enough, you were sent home. In public school.

As the women began to deal with their discontent and the feeling that their minds were withering inside their skulls, small groups began to pop up across the nation, in every state; groups of women only, where women could talk about their experiences, how hard it was to have a college education and never be allowed to use it. They wanted more.

This was the beginnings of the last Women’s Movement. Women were not called Suffragettes this time. This time, they — we — were called Women’s Libbers or Feminazis, bitches or even lesbians because that, to men, was the worst thing you could say to a woman.

It was during this period of time that we were able to finally get Domestic Violence on the books as a crime which carried a fine and often a jail sentence. Shelters were opened across the country to help victims of domestic violence and, copying the successful Underground Railroad that, a century before, had moved black slaves to safety in the north, a new Underground Railroad was created to move women and their children to places where they can live in safety without fear of being found and further victimized by their abuser.

Traditional laws based on the British jurisprudence that our founding fathers adopted was no longer an acceptable defence for beating your wife or girlfriend, or sister or mother.

Rape Crisis centers were opened in the 70’s and women were trained as counselors in Domestic Violence and Rape. Women began returning to college and we began to stand up for our reproductive rights, something that never was addressed by the 19th century Suffragettes, even though Elizabeth Cady Stanton had 11 children.

We are now facing a time in the 21st century when an American woman is beaten every 9 seconds. Rape is on the rise and, once again, men are trying to blame the woman for his inability to “control his passions”, forcing him to rape her, when in actuality rape has nothing to do with sex: it is an act of power and control.

So, women in this country can vote. We have places to go when we are afraid and in danger from our domestic partners. Think how many years it that has taken.

Now the men want to take away our ability to control our own bodies and our own reproductive systems. They want to control their own sexuality (often through artificial means) as well as ours.

Last but not least, is the fact that women of any color who are citizens of the United States of America are not legally equal. If you think that begin legally equal is not of vital importance, ask the next black man you meet. Despite an increase in racism in our country, at least on paper, black men are equal. It is only women who are full citizens, often college educated, running businesses, teaching in Ivy League colleges, going into space, working to find a cure for cancer, who are not, in the eyes of the law, equal.

Once again, we women have our work cut out for us. And once again, I will say Speak Up. You can bring about changes. Writing, emailing, Twittering your Senators and Congressman, and the White House — these are all ways that you can Speak Up, even when your life is crazy and there are not enough hours in the day.

Do it in memory of your mothers; do it for your sisters; do it for your daughters and your granddaughters.

Let’s make Congress give us Legal Equality this time.

Speak Up. Settle for nothing less.

BJWordPressDivider

Betty Freidan, author of the Feminine Mystique

Alice Walker, feminist and author

303415_10151087412828273_307320933_a

Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the first ladies who was a feminist

Equality for women

Quote by Desmond Tutu

BJWordPressDivider

January 22, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

The Continuing War on Women

Women need to unite to regain our rights.

Despite the persistent gender gap in opinion polls and mounting criticism of their hostility to women’s rights, Republicans are not backing off their assault on women’s equality and well-being. New laws in some states could mean a death sentence for a pregnant woman who suffers a life-threatening condition. But the attack goes well beyond abortion, into birth control, access to health care, equal pay and domestic violence.
Republicans seem immune to criticism. In an angry speech last month, John Boehner, the House speaker, said claims that his party was damaging the welfare of women were “entirely created” by Democrats. Earlier, the Republican National Committee chairman, Reince Priebus, sneered that any suggestion of a G.O.P. “war on women” was as big a fiction as a “war on caterpillars.”

But just last Wednesday, Mr. Boehner refuted his own argument by ramming through the House a bill that seriously weakens the Violence Against Women Act. That followed the Republican push in Virginia and elsewhere to require medically unnecessary and physically invasive sonograms before an abortion, and Senate Republicans’ persistent blocking of a measure to better address the entrenched problem of sex-based wage discrimination.

On Capitol Hill and in state legislatures, Republicans are attacking women’s rights in four broad areas.

ABORTION On Thursday, a House subcommittee denied the District of Columbia’s Democratic delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, a chance to testify at a hearing called to promote a proposed federal ban on nearly all abortions in the District 20 weeks after fertilization. The bill flouts the Roe v. Wade standard of fetal viability.

Seven states have enacted similar measures. In Arizona, Gov. Jan Brewer signed a law that bans most abortions two weeks earlier. Each measure will create real hardships for women who will have to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy before learning of major fetal abnormalities or risks to their own health.

These laws go a cruel step further than the familiar Republican attacks on Roe v. Wade. They omit reasonable exceptions for a woman’s health or cases of rape, incest or grievous fetal impairment. These laws would require a woman seeking an abortion to be near death, a standard that could easily delay medical treatment until it is too late.

All contain intimidating criminal penalties, fines and reporting requirements designed to scare doctors away. Last year, the House passed a measure that would have

Stop. Stop trying to control women

allowed hospitals receiving federal money to refuse to perform an emergency abortion even when a woman’s life was at stake. The Senate has not taken up that bill, fortunately.

ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE Governor Brewer also recently signed a bill eliminating public funding for Planned Parenthood. Arizona law already barred spending public money on abortions, which are in any case a small part of the services that Planned Parenthood provides. The new bill denies the organization public money for nonabortion services, like cancer screening and family planning, often the only services of that kind available to poor women.

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and the state’s Republican-dominated Legislature tried a similar thing in 2011, and were sued in federal court by a group of clinics. The state argues that it is trying to deny money to organizations that “promote” abortions. That is nonsense. Texas already did not give taxpayer money for abortions, and the clinics that sued do not perform abortions.

Last year, the newly installed House Republican majority rushed to pass bills (stopped by the Democratic-led Senate) to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood and Title X. That federal program provides millions of women with birth control, lifesaving screening for breast and cervical cancer, and other preventive care. It is a highly effective way of preventing the unintended pregnancies and abortions that Republicans claim to be so worried about.

EQUAL PAY Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, the epicenter of all kinds of punitive and regressive legislation, signed the repeal of a 2009 law that allowed women and others to bring lawsuits in state courts against pay discrimination, instead of requiring them to be heard as slower and more costly federal cases. It also stiffened penalties for employers found guilty of discrimination.

He defended that bad decision by saying he did not want those suits to “clog up the legal system.” He turned that power over to his government, which has a record of hostility toward workers’ rights.

President Obama has been trying for three years to update and bolster the 1963 Equal Pay Act to enhance remedies for victims of gender-based wage discrimination, shield employees from retaliation for sharing salary information with co-workers, and mandate that employers show that wage differences are job-related, not sex-based, and driven by business necessity.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Last month, the Senate approved a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, designed to protect victims of domestic and sexual abuse and bring their abusers to justice. The disappointing House bill omits new protections for gay, Indian, student and immigrant abuse victims that are contained in the bipartisan Senate bill. It also rolls back protections for immigrant women whose status is dependent on a spouse, making it more likely that they will stay with their abusers, at real personal risk, and ends existing protections for undocumented immigrants who report abuse and cooperate with law enforcement to pursue the abuser.

Whether this pattern of disturbing developments constitutes a war on women is a political argument. That women’s rights and health are casualties of Republican policy is indisputable.

—Excerpted from the New York Times

This is the second time we have picketed many of our issues

There are no doubts that there is a War on Women. There was one in the 60’s and 70’s. We protest to Take Back the Night. These protests are organized because women need to be able to be out at night without fear of violence, such as rape. 95% of rape victims are women. When a woman says no, it is no. Forcing sex on her is a crime. If a woman has too much to drink or has done some drugs, if she says no, it is no. A woman wears a mini skirt to a party? She is not advertising, she is being a fashonista. She has the right to say no. There is never a reason for a man to ignore a woman saying no. You wanting sex with a woman in these circumstances is not because you are a stud, she is too hot to leave alone. It has to do with the perp’s need for power and control. It makes you a sexual predator.

Domestic Violence is also a crime. There is never a reason to hit a woman. Abuse can be physical such as slapping, pinching, hitting, punching, kicking, or twisting limbs. Abuse can also be verbal and emotional. This includes demeaning words, telling a woman how stupid she is. It is telling her she is ugly and no other man will want her. It is manipulating her to do what you want her to do. Please refer to previous blogs that you will see in my sidebar for October, 2013. If you are being hit, save some money and keep it hidden well. Call your local hotline for your city. Leave and take your children and go to the shelter. You will receive all you need to be free. You never have to live in violence ever again. Women have legal recourse and you will have support getting a protection order or a restraining order.

Equal pay for equal work. People often think this is funny. But woman work as hard as a man and sometimes harder. Even with the Equal pay law that President Obama has signed and it is law women earn less. This is left over from the sixties and seventies. Corporations felt men where heads of households and if the wife was working, then she was just doing it for “pin money?” When we worked to get women the right to leave the house and go to work it was so that every woman had a choice. That she had the right to do what would make her happy. So staying home raising kids was fine and so was going to work.But our wonderful corporations made it almost necessary for a woman to work. Two incomes are needed to survive.

Sexual harrassment is a federal crime. If you have a supervisor or someone else and they want sex from you and you are not interested just say no. If he makes it plain that your job or salary or promotion are at risk you are being sexually harrassed. Go to Human Resources and file a complaint. It is your right. You can’t be fired because you said no. They may try to tell you that but it isn’t true. Get a lawyer.

Remember that being a woman is something to be proud of, just as being a man is something to be proud of if you are not sexist or racist. You have the right, as a woman, to live freely in a place where you or you and your children are safe from violence.