Will You Join in the Crusade?

I’m an activist in thought but not in action. In other words, I’m a coward. To my shame.

Someone once said that if your children are not better than you are, you have lived your life in vain. I hope nieces and nephews, grand nieces and nephews; and great grand nieces and nephews count.

What are you marching for?

Karla Bennion Provo. Marching with my husband, two sons, daughter, daughter-in-law, and four grandkids. Marching in honor of Mother Earth and in solidarity with my feminist Mormon ancestors. Marching for affordable healthcare, immigrant rights, LGBTQIA rights, BLM, POC, and economic justice.

Karla and John

 Lindsay Hansen Park

Every woman that is saying today, 'I'm a woman and I don't need to protest because my life is great...' can go back in time and hug a feminist whose blood, sweat, and body made it possible for you to read and write to say this.

You were educated because there were movements that made it possible. Your life is good because we built our wealth on the backs of other bodies we deemed less. You don't need feminism because others suffer so you can be comfortable.

Sit on the sidelines and reap the benefits of the struggle, but learn your history first.

Samanta Martinez-Villarreal

I do not think a lot of people understand what the Women's March was about. I've seen memes from, "trying to figure out what rights women have lost" to people posting blogs about how feminism is wrong. Stop. Just stop. It wasn't about bra burning or to say women are better. No. It was a call to say, "Women's right are human rights." I think that's a statement most people would agree with. On top of that, a lot of people from all walks of life (obviously) felt threatened by the new administration and how their policies might negatively affect them. They were also concerned about things said during the campaign by the new President and how that might translate into policies/decisions. That's a valid concern.

It wasn't just about "feminism" as a lot of people keep posting about, the issues there ranged from immigration to Black Lives Matter. It was a peaceful protest and it was beautiful. Just because you don't agree with someone's reason for marching does not make their cause invalid. It was an amazing show of force. 

I keep thinking back to the Million Man March, which I'm pretty sure the Women's March just stole, but would you have opposed that? If FB was a thing back then, would you be posting about how protesting wouldn't fix anything?

More importantly, I think it was wonderful because in one week we got to see our Consitution work in so many ways. We saw a peaceful transition of power and then we saw march which protested that power. The Founders made that right number one so that if citizen's ever felt threatened by the ruling power, they could have a voice. I think we all remember how the Founder's protest went. In case you forgot, it developed into a war and gave us this country. The new President keeps saying that this new administration is for the people and these were the people exercising their First Amendment. So why are so many people trashing what these people women did, especially other women? I don't understand that. Tell me. Seriously.

Our beliefs are shaped by our experiences and sometimes, you have bad experiences. Maybe you had a bad experience with a feminist, who you thought was a little much but realize that one bad experience doesn't mean you can conflate it. It's like the statistics question, "If you flip a coin 10 times, what's the probability of getting heads on the 7th try?" It's always gonna be 50%. The previous experience has no effect on the outcomes that will come. Even then, when you get home, do a little research and find out why they believe what they believe. I don't agree with hardly anything that comes out of the Tea Party, but I took the time to talk with people from that political leaning, read up on what, and why they believe it. I don't fully understand everything because I don't believe what they believe, but it doesn't mean their beliefs aren't real. If you don't understand something, ASK. Don't just go find a blog post that resonates with you. Everyone is so afraid of confrontation and debate, but that's how the marketplace of ideas thrives.That's how we evolve as a society. That's how we keep moving forward.

Ask and listen. After listening you might get to say, "Okay, I see where you are coming from, but I don't agree with that." That's fine. Stop putting people down for having a different opinion or idea than you. Instead, lift each other up. Don't be a dick.

Unless you're the Westboro Baptist Church. I just can't with those people.

You Are Not Equal. I’m Sorry.

A post is making rounds on social media, in response to the Women’s March on Saturday, January 21, 2017. It starts with “I am not a “disgrace to women” because I don’t support the women’s march. I do not feel I am a “second class citizen” because I am a woman….”

This is my response to that post.

Say Thank You

Say thank you. Say thank you to the women who gave you a voice. Say thank you to the women who were arrested and imprisoned and beaten and gassed for you to have a voice. Say thank you to the women who refused to back down, to the women who fought tirelessly to give you a voice. Say thank you to the women who put their lives on hold, who –lucky for you — did not have “better things to do” than to march and protest and rally for your voice. So you don’t feel like a “second class citizen.” So you get to feel “equal.”

Thank Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul for your right to vote.

Thank Elizabeth Stanton for your right to work.

Thank Maud Wood Park for your prenatal care and your identity outside of your husband.

Thank Rose Schneiderman for your humane working conditions.

Thank Eleanor Roosevelt and Molly Dewson for your ability to work in politics and affect policy.

Thank Margaret Sanger for your legal birth control.

Thank Carol Downer for your reproductive healthcare rights.

Thank Sarah Muller for your equal education.

Thank Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Shannon Turner, Gloria Steinem, Zelda Kingoff Nordlinger, Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, Malika Saada Saar, Wagatwe Wanjuki, Ida B. Wells, Malala Yousafzai. Thank your mother, your grandmother, your great-grandmother who did not have half of the rights you have now.

You can make your own choices, speak and be heard, vote, work, control your body, defend yourself, defend your family, because of the women who marched. You did nothing to earn those rights. You were born into those rights. You did nothing, but you reap the benefits of women, strong women, women who fought misogyny and pushed through patriarchy and fought for you. And you sit on your pedestal, a pedestal you are fortunate enough to have, and type. A keyboard warrior. A fighter for complacency. An acceptor of what you were given. A denier of facts. Wrapped up in your delusion of equality.

You are not equal. Even if you feel like you are. You still make less than a man for doing the same work. You make less as a CEO, as an athlete, as an actress, as a doctor. You make less in government, in the tech industry, in healthcare.

You still don’t have full rights over your own body. Men are still debating over your uterus. Over your prenatal care. Over your choices.

You still have to pay taxes for your basic sanitary needs.

You still have to carry mace when walking alone at night. You still have to prove to the court why you were drunk on the night you were raped. You still have to justify your behavior when a man forces himself on you.

You still don’t have paid (or even unpaid) maternity leave. You still have to go back to work while your body is broken. While you silently suffer from postpartum depression.

You still have to fight to breastfeed in public. You still have to prove to other women it’s your right to do so. You still offend others with your breasts.

You are still objectified. You are still catcalled. You are still sexualized. You are still told you’re too skinny or you’re too fat. You’re still told you’re too old or too young. You’re applauded when you “age gracefully.” You’re still told men age “better.” You’re still told to dress like a lady. You are still judged on your outfit instead of what’s in your head. What brand bag you have still matters more than your college degree.

You are still being abused by your husband, by your boyfriend. You’re still being murdered by your partners. Being beaten by your soulmate.

You are still worse off if you are a woman of color, a gay woman, a transgender woman. You are still harassed, belittled, dehumanized.

Your daughters are still told they are beautiful before they are told they are smart. Your daughters are still told to behave even though “boys will be boys.” Your daughters are still told boys pull hair or pinch them because they like them.

You are not equal. Your daughters are not equal. You are still systemically oppressed.

Estonia allows parents to take up to three years of leave, fully paid for the first 435 days. United States has no policy requiring maternity leave.

Singapore’s women feel safe walking alone at night. American women do not.

New Zealand’s women have the smallest gender gap in wages, at 5.6%. United States’ pay gap is 20%.

Iceland has the highest number of women CEOs, at 44%. United States is at 4.0%.

The United States ranks at 45 for women’s equality. Behind Rwanda, Cuba, Philippines, Jamaica.

But I get it. You don’t want to admit it. You don’t want to be a victim. You think feminism is a dirty word. You think it’s not classy to fight for equality. You hate the word pussy. Unless of course you use it to call a man who isn’t up to your standard of manhood. You know the type of man that “allows” “his” woman to do whatever she damn well pleases. I get it. You believe feminists are emotional, irrational, unreasonable. Why aren’t women just satisfied with their lives, right? You get what you get and you don’t get upset, right?

I get it. You want to feel empowered. You don’t want to believe you’re oppressed. Because that would mean you are indeed a “second-class citizen.” You don’t want to feel like one. I get it. But don’t worry. I will walk for you. I will walk for your daughter. And your daughter’s daughter. And maybe you will still believe the world did not change. You will believe you’ve always had the rights you have today. And that’s okay. Because women who actually care and support other women don’t care what you think about them. They care about their future and the future of the women who come after them.

Open your eyes. Open them wide. Because I’m here to tell you, along with millions of other women that you are not equal. Our equality is an illusion. A feel-good sleight of hand. A trick of the mind. I’m sorry to tell you, but you are not equal. And neither are your daughters.

But don’t worry. We will walk for you. We will fight for you. We will stand up for you. And one day you will actually be equal, instead of just feeling like you are.

~ Dina Leygerman, 2017

Yes. Thank You to the strong and courageous women who preceded us to give us the opportunities we enjoy today.

     Watch the movie, "Suffragettes". You'll never forget.

'Suffragettes lost husbands, children and jobs': The heavy price women paid

Anne Marie Duff and Carey Mulligan in Suffragette

The new Hollywood film Suffragette tells the story of Maud Watts, a working class suffragette played by Carey Mulligan. Her character is entirely fictional, but the film is rooted in the history of the women’s suffrage movement and was written using original testimonies. Watts' story is entirely plausible and could have belonged to any of the thousands of British women who fought for women’s right to vote.

This faithfulness to historical truth makes the film even more striking. Watts is a woman with a husband and a son. She works gruelling hours in a laundry and stays away from politics, until she gradually starts to notice the inequality surrounding her.

Like many women before her and after her, she decides to join the suffragettes. But her decision has an unexpected cost.

Watts ends up being kicked out of her house by her husband. She’s forced to sleep on the streets and loses access to her son – a fate that is sealed when her husband gives him up for adoption.

"I think it's all really realistic," says Krista Cowman, professor of History at the University of Lincoln, and a historical advisor on the film. She describes Watts as a 'composite' of many working class suffragettes, and adds:
“There are documented cases of women whose husbands left them as a result of their activity. There are other cases where you can read between the lines; women go to prison, it’s not uncommon for them to be picked up by their husbands and then you never hear of them being involved in any way again. You can kind of draw your own inferences.”

"At least two suffragettes left their husbands and many quarreled bitterly.”

One of the most striking real-life cases is of Helen Archdale, born in 1876. She was married to an army officer and was imprisoned several times for suffragette militancy. Her mother-in-law disapproved of this so much that she suggested kidnapping Archdale’s sons.

Archdale found out the plot when her sons were staying with their grandma in Ireland. Her brother-in-law wrote to her saying that his mother had said she should keep the boys to get them away from “that pernicious mama of theirs”.

The marital cost

There are other cases of women whose marriages and relationships broke down as a result of their participation in the suffrage movement. Mary Gawthorpe, one of the WSPU’s most successful and popular organisers, was engaged to be married when she joined the Union.

In her autobiography she recalled how her engagement “had to take care of itself” during the height of the suffrage campaign while she travelled around the country on a series of increasingly arduous speaking tours. Unsurprisingly it did not survive.

She would not have been the only woman to find herself in such a situation. Nellie Hall, a one-time organiser for the WSPU in Birmingham, recalled in an interview she gave in 1965 how “at least two suffragettes left their husbands and many quarrelled bitterly”.

A Suffragette chained to a gate.

Others, such as Florence Bartlett, would go to prison under different names (she used her maiden name) to spare their husbands embarrassment.
“Husbands didn’t want to suffer the shame of having a wife who was a jailbird, particularly in a small community,” explains June Purvis, professor of women’s and gender history at University of Portsmouth, and another historical advisor to Suffragette. But there was also the added factor that not all men supported women’s fight for equality.
“When you read the speeches of Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, it wasn’t just a single issue campaign to get women the vote,” says Purvis. “They wanted a radical transformation of women’s subordinate role in society. They wanted equality for women in family, in law, in employment and the public sphere. That’s why so many men were upset.”

Familial reactions

It wasn’t just husbands. Depending on how supportive a suffragette’s family was to the cause, they could be disowned by their parents and relatives. “Some mothers and daughters would go down together,” says Cowman. “If you’re from a political bohemian family it would be an OK thing to do, but if you’re from a family where they’re not sympathetic, by 1913 you’d be completely demonised [for being a suffragette].”

“Husbands didn’t want to suffer the shame of having a wife who was a jailbird, particularly in a small community."

June Purvis

Purvis tells me she once interviewed the daughter of a suffragette who remembered being locked in the larder with her mother by her grandfather to prevent them from going out and joining the cause.

Jessie Stephenson, a suffragette who worked in a barrister’s office as a clerk, was imprisoned in 1910. It meant she lost the support of her family. In her memoir she wrote: “My married-to-a-clergyman sister ha[d] never sent me a line since I was in gaol. She said not only would she never have me in her house again, but several times that she would never speak to me again.”

Emmeline Pankhurst being restrained by policemen.

Similarly Helen Craggs, daughter of a distinguished accountant and Knight Bachelor, felt she had to leave home for her involvement in WSPU activities. The WSPU gave her an organiser’s position (with a salary of two shillings a week) which meant she could live independently and rent a small room in Bloomsbury.

These cases show that both working class and upper class women were affected by the societal norms at the time, to a point where they could lose their families and homes. But, as the case of Lady Constance Lytton proved, there was still a vast difference in the way they were treated.

The class divide

Lady Lytton famously went to prison both under her real name and the disguise of a working class woman. “When she went into prison as a lady she was treated very well and called ‘your ladyship,’” says Purvis. “Then she cut off her hair, put on cheap glasses and a cheap dress and went in as Jane Wharton. She was forcibly fed.”

There was also more pressure on working class women to be at home for their families. Rose Towler, a tackler’s wife from Preston went to prison in February 1908. Before she went to jail, she spent a week baking for her four sons. After two weeks in prison she was so agitated about how her family were coping that the WSPU agreed to pay her bail so she could get back to them.

Others would ask fellow WSPU members to check on their children while they were jailed, or even look after them.

“Many were injured on demonstrations and marches, while others suffered long-term health consequences from violent force-feeding."

There was also a stronger sense of shame. Cowman explains: “The thing that one needs to remember is for working class women in particular, respectability was so important in the 20th century because it was all that delineated them from the non-respectable poor, ‘the great unwashed’.”

But of course the hardest part of being a suffragette from the lower working class was a lack of funds. “A number of women found it difficult to keep jobs,” says Purvis. “Domestic servants would have had to hide it from employers, school teachers gave false names and would try to do their prison service over the summer holidays, but often when suffragettes were imprisoned they lost their jobs.”

Jobs and finance

Annie Evelyn Armstong was one of the youngest suffragettes to be arrested – she was just 17 when she was imprisoned in 1907. As a working girl she stood to lost her job but, according to the Daily Chronicle: “She created such a favourable impression by her speeches that she won the sympathies of leading women in the movement who have taken her under their care and offered to “see her right” for a future situation.”

Others were not so lucky. Emily Wilding Davison was a governess who scored a first-class honours in her exams at Oxford (but not a degree as that was not available to women). She lost her job as a result of her activism and tried to earn money through journalism, but ended up having to working as a WSPU organiser to get by financially.

Emily Wilding Davison

Davison died tragically at the Epsom Derby when she was struck by the King's horse in 1913. That is what she is famously remembered for, but like all the other suffragettes, her activism deeply impacted her life in many other ways.

She didn’t just struggle financially, she was imprisoned nine times where she would often go on hunger strikes and be forcibly fed. In June 1912, near the end of a six-month sentence in Holloway Prison for arson, she threw herself down a 10-metre iron staircase to protest against the culture of force feeding. She suffered severe head and spinal damage.

“The health impacts of what the suffragettes did were vast,” says Cowman. Many were injured on demonstrations and marches, while others suffered long-term health consequences from violent force-feeding.

The suffragettes, especially those from working class backgrounds paid a heavy price for their cause, in terms of their health, relationships with their families and loved ones, and finances. Their triumphant 1918 win will always remembered, but so too should these personal and often traumatic sacrifices they made for the women's vote.

Kiristin Hanlin Rommel: