Heidi Li's Potpourri

International Women's Day: Women - the Forgotten 51 Percent Minority

This picture from the 1970s, reprinted in a March 8, 2009 story in the New York Times, is heartbreaking. It is heartbreaking  because even though such a picture today would, I fervently hope, show women more diverse in age and rage, it would be easy enough to find women - millions of them - who came out of the 2008 Presidential election cycle realizing that women are the forgotten majority in this country.

Women are the people who can be called anything for supporting another women's bid for higher office; indeed a woman governor who runs for vice-president can publicly be called a c*nt and absolutely no member of the punditry nor any politician in high office of either party denounces this. Imagine if photos of young people wearing shirts that called our current President a n*gger had circulated widely during the last election. The media and politicians would have been absolutely up in arms. They would have been right to have been, too. But what many women are only realizing now, after surviving the dashed hopes of seeing Hillary Rodham Clinton given a fair shot at the nomination in Denver (instead the Democratic Party held a rigged process where pledged delegates were pressured to change their votes for the first ballot and superdelegates were pressured, starting in June, to act as if they had already voted for a candidate to lead the Democratic ticket) is that the entire political and cultural situation in this country not is stacked against them, but that almost no progress in the fight for political and economic equality has been made since the "Women's Liberation" movement of the early 1970s. The wretched and persistent wage gap persists; no Equal Rights Amendment has been added to our constitution; and despite the de jure legality of abortion, women's reproductive rights generally cannot be vindicated by actual individual women, at least not without hardship.

Our current President had his inauguration blessed by a pastor who believes in "wifely submission" and has retained as his chief speechwriter a man who blithely posed for a picture depicting himself metaphorically groping the most powerful person in the president's own Senate - a person who happens to be a woman, Secretary of State Clinton. This same President has ignored calls for a Presidential Commission on Women modeled on John F. Kennedy's 1961 - 1961! - Commission on Women; and has displayed zero interest in creating an even stronger institution, one that would be on par with the President's Advisory Boards on Intelligence (spying) and Economic Recovery.

The other day I was reading and listening to Mario Cuomo's address to the 1984 Democratic Convention. Well into a classic speech, Cuomo delivers this message:

We speak for women who are indignant that this nation refuses to etch into its governmental commandments the simple rule "thou shalt not sin against equality," a rule so simple -- I was going to say, and I perhaps dare not but I will. It's a commandment so simple it can be spelled in three letters: E.R.A.

In 1984, the Democratic hall went wild when Cuomo added this apparent ad lib. The crowd chanted over and over E - R - A.

Thou shalt not sin aginst equality, thou shall pass and ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Can you imagine a keynote speaker from either major political party today uttering these words at its presidential nominating convention?

The closest we came in 2008 was Hillary Rodham Clinton's convention speech, which included this declaration:

And I know what that can mean for every man, woman, and child in America. I’m a United States Senator because in 1848 a group of courageous women and a few brave men gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, many traveling for days and nights, to participate in the first convention on women’s rights in our history.

And so dawned a struggle for the right to vote that would last 72 years, handed down by mother to daughter to granddaughter – and a few sons and grandsons along the way.

These women and men looked in-to their daughters’ eyes, imagined a fairer and freer world, and found the strength to fight. To rally and picket. To endure ridicule and harassment. To brave violence and jail.

And after so many decades – 88 years ago on this very day – the 19th amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote would be forever enshrined in our Constitution.

My mother was born before women could vote. But in this election my daughter got to vote for her mother for President.

This is the story of America. Of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.

How do we give this country back to them?

By following the example of a brave New Yorker , a woman who risked her life to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad.

And on that path to freedom, Harriett Tubman had one piece of advice.

If you hear the dogs, keep going.

If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.

If they're shouting after you, keep going.

Don't ever stop. Keep going. (emphasis added)

Although the convention applauded wildly it should be noted that in 20 years the Democratic Party went from demanding the Equal Rights Amendment to reminding women that when they hear the dogs, they must keep going.

Many women and women understand that women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights. They demonstrate this knowledge in this country and around the world as they keep going. Some make small contributions, financial and otherwise, to new organizations like 51 percent (disclosure: the author of this post is the president of 51 percent), WomenCount, and The New Agenda - organizations formed in direct response to the unresponsiveness of the Democratic Party to American women's dreams and hopes for their emancipation and autonomy. In other countries, too, women take action on the local level. A friend from Europe decided that she would mark International Women's Day (a holiday not recognized in the U.S.) by protesting a local piece of artwork that, however unwittingly, depicts a woman in a subordinate and demeaned posture compared to her male coworkers (the art is meant to celebrate rice harvesting). Here is the artwork as it looks on an ordinary day:

 But on International Women's Day, the woman sweeping wore a placard that, translated, read:

"I feel enslaved in this humiliating posture next to the two strapping men standing up. I demand equality."

Dones endavant! (Translation: "Put women forward!")

I believe that 2008 will be remembered not as a year of defeat for women, but as year of galvanization. Despite the wretched economic uncertainty that plagues men and women today, those who want to see the majority-minority - women of the world - put forward, are banding together and one placard or one donation or one blog post at a time these men and women realize that we must renew the fight against oppression and for emancipation of women everywhere.

To read Secretary of State Clinton's 2009 International Women's Day statement on the importance of advancing the interests of women throughout the world, go here.

These days Barack Obama seems increasingly like Lyndon Johnson

Before Lyndon Baines Johnson became President he was a critic of the northeastern establishment, a son of Texas, and a devotee of bipartisanship.  Barack Obama has been in political life for a much briefer time than Lyndon Johnson was before Johnson was elected to the presidency (after he first ascended to the office upon John F. Kennedy's death). Yet the parallels to LBJ are there. Prior to winning against John McCain on November 4, President-elect Obama critiqued the Washington establishment (including Democrats who had spent more time in office there than he ever has); both during and after the general election, he has operated from Chicago, thereby emphasizing his adopted mid-western mantle; during the primaries and the general election he campaigned as critic of partisanship.  Now President-elect Obama is joining hands across the aisle in an unprecedented manner, reappointing a sitting Cabinet member of the other Party's outgoing President. Not just any member of the Bush 2 team, either. Mr. Obama has selected  Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense and Gates has agreed to the appointment.

Seems a hawkish move. Very in keeping with the Lyndon Johnson style.  LBJ represented the right wing of the Democratic Party when it came to foreign policy. During the mid-1960s, Johnson escalated the Vietnam War, a believer in the need to contain Communism by force. Ultimately, Johnson's hawkishness lost him the support of rank and file Democrats, leading him to decide against seeking the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 1968.

I am not suggesting that President-elect Obama will not attempt to get U.S. troops out of Iraq. Historical parallels aside, the Gates appointment makes clear that Senator Obama meant what he said during the general election: he does not oppose U.S. troop presence overseas or using military force to fight terrorism; nor does he oppose Republican foreign policy in a blanket way. What Senator Obama wants to do is redeploy U.S. troops, not bring them home. That is, he plans to shift troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, to beef up  Operation Enduring Freedom, George W. Bush's other post post-9/11 war. (Sweeping redeployment, removing virtually all troops from Iran, seems destined to take at least another two to three years.) Whether the U.S. has learned enough about post-conventional warfare for it to make sense to use more troops in Afghanistan remains to be seen.

Do not get me wrong. Lyndon Johnson did some admirable and amazing things as President - including making sure that the Civil Rights Act of 1965 got passed and signed into law. So being like Lyndon Johnson is not necessarily a bad thing, at least from an overall liberal point of view.  Let us note, however, that President-elect Obama has not made any bold Great Society-like moves yet. He has created a new presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board, but this is not a New Deal or Great Society descendant. It is modeled on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, created by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. No President's Commission on Women  seems forthcoming; although, actually, now I have my sights set on a President's Advisory Board on the Status of Women in America. Really, I do.

POSTSCRIPT

Hillary Rodham Clinton is the most genuinely liberal or progressive person President-elect Obama has reportedly asked to join his Cabinet. Senator Clinton: supporter of the view that womens rights are human rights; proponent of genuinely universal healthcare, early advocate of direct relief to mortgage holders. Whether Senator Obama's offer is made official or is accepted remains to be seen.  Wherever Senator Clinton ends up come January she will be to the left of those around her. I  hope she influences whoever she can to move her way.

Given my druthers, I, along with hundreds of others I know of, would prefer to see Senator Clinton become Senate Majority Leader. So would Marie C. Wilson, head of The White House Project. But whatever Senator Clinton decides to do, given her options, I have confidence she will indeed move those around her to progressivism and liberalism.

Seven to one: not so promising

 So far the Obama administration has announced eight high level appointments to the executive branch (John Podesta, serving as co-chair of the transition team says he will not hold a position in the new administration). Of these seven are men and one is a woman. President-elect Obama has held a meeting with John McCain, and the two announced a hope "to work together to together in the days and months ahead on critical challenges like solving our financial crisis, creating a new energy economy, and protecting our nation's security."

I certainly agree that these issues are pressing. But a disturbing pattern is emerging. Neither by virtue of his appointments nor his statements is President-elect Obama indicating that he is taking heed of the concerns of millions of people that this election cycle exposed just how much misogyny and sexism pervades this country. And putting that issue on the back burner is not warranted just because there are other important issues facing the country.

Other presidents, including at least one President-elect Obama has taken as a role model, have neglected to attend to the civil rights of certain groups claiming that other issues take priority. John F. Kennedy, for example, largely ignored the issue of black civil rights for the first two years of his administration, preferring to focus on the problems of the Cold War. What finally forced President Kennedy's hand was the increasing intensity of the nonviolent but direct actions led Martin Luther King Jr. and his compatriots. Although black Americans had been demanding full civil and social equality since at least the end of World War II and King's movement had begun in the 1950s, it was not until 1963, after outbreaks of serious violence by officials against nonviolent protestors, that President Kennedy gave an address on the issue of black civil rights and introduced legislation that was enacted after his death, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (source)

JImagine if President-elect Obama were to learn from President Kennedy's strategy of delay by showing right now an immediate responsiveness to an issue that may not have figured much in his campaign promises but figures large in the social consciousness. Imagine if his first eight appointments had been seven women and one man. What a powerful message that would have sent.

I have discussed the important of the petition drive being sponsored by WomenCount, seeking the appointment of a Presidential Commission on Women.

From WomenCount:

SOMETIMES THERE IS A WATERSHED MOMENT IN HISTORY WHEN IT BECOMES CLEAR THAT THINGS MUST CHANGE AND LEADERS MUST ACT. THAT MOMENT IS NOW FOR THE WOMEN OF THIS COUNTRY.

THE LESSONS OF THIS CAMPAIGN WERE ABUNDANT:

• As the economy became the single most critical issue in the election, the role that women play in our economic structure has never been clearer. Women are the backbone of the nation’s workforce and control 70 percent of its buying power.

• The candidacies of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, while inspiring women and girls around the country to imagine what can be, exposed extreme gender bias in the media and throughout our culture.

• Women, who make up 56 percent of the voting population, were targeted as never before as the critical bloc that would determine the outcome of the election.

Interestingly, the Commission sought by WomenCount is modeled after one created by President Kennedy in 1961. Below is a partial outline of the proposed Commission; the full version appears here.

• The 2008 election has been historic.  Women’s roles in the election, as candidates for president and vice president and as voters, have never been greater. In our 232-year history, Hillary Clinton is the first woman to have ever won statewide in a presidential primary and has won more votes in a presidential primary than any other candidate.  Sarah Palin is only the second woman ever nominated as a vice presidential candidate.
• This election has exposed extreme gender bias in the media, in politics, and throughout our culture.  This has demonstrated that although women in the United States have come a long way since the last Presidential Commission on the Status of Women in 1961, we still have far to go.
•  The current economic crisis highlights the increasing impact on single parents (one income households – mostly women), working couples (almost a necessity in lower, middle and upper middle income households), and minimum wage workers (mostly women).
• Women have been at the forefront of this campaign and our political discourse. WomenCount is committed to making sure that once this election is over, women stay there.
• We believe that now is the time for our country to have a national conversation to address the issues and discriminatory attitudes that women face, and to ensure a better future with respect and full human rights extended to all women.

[...]

•  There are hundreds, if not thousands, of studies published, books written, and organizations established that are directed at issues and barriers that women face in their lives, with numerous recommendations to improve the lives of women in our nation.
•  We need a vehicle to discuss and implement all of these thoughts, ideas and recommendations at the national level. (emphasis added)
•  We need to bring together the efforts of the many organizations devoted to women’s issues and causes, and create a common movement to benefit the future of all women.
•  We believe that it is time for a Presidential Commission on Women to serve as that vehicle.
•   A new generation can be positively influenced by the actions of such a Commission.
  

[...]

•     The commission will be composed of a bipartisan, diverse group of experts, policymakers, opinion leaders, members of the media, corporate leaders, and women of all walks of life who represent mainstream issues.
•     The commission members will address the overall attitudes about women in this country, as well as specific issues.
•     The commission will develop the substance and scope of its work.
•     The commission will hold hearings and issue a list of recommendations, and will also ensure that its recommendations are carried out.

My own view is that passage of the Equal Rights Amendment would be the most effective step to ensuring gender equality in this country. I might be wrong but the entire point of a Presidential Commission on Women would be to assess this issue, among others, and make recommendations to the President.

Thousands of women are willing to participate in nonviolent protest to draw attention to women's issues. As the black American civil rights movement taught us, however, even nonviolent protest can provoke brutality and backlash. Making women's wellbeing and equality an immediate cornerstone of the new administration could save resources, bloodshed, and even lives. Surely doing that is of signal importance to our country. Sign the petition.