On Saturday, April 28, 2012, rallies put on by UniteWomen.org took place all over the country. I attended the Seattle event. My estimate is that probably between three and four hundred people of all ages, genders and backgrounds were in attendance. I even spotted a group of teenaged boys! There were a multitude of homemade signs being waved about. Some of the more creative ones made statements like, “Corporations are people. Women, not so much,” “Bra Burning Is Over” or “Women Need All the Support They Can Get.”
The rally began with several women making speeches, relating personal stories of being single mothers and raising their child without support. Words of wisdom mentioned that in our mothers’ generation women were expected to stay at home and care for the children. Now we must work but for less pay and still care for the children. We are here for all women and we are going to rewrite the rules of family values. The latter statement brought raucous cheers from the rapt crowd.
Mentioned was a ruling last February by a federal judge that pharmacies don’t have to distribute Plan B if they don’t want to. This is fine if you live in a big city, but for those in rural areas there may be only one pharmacy in town and they don’t have the money to pay for gas (if they even own a car) to travel several miles to another pharmacy. So this ruling hurts poor women, as do the attacks on Planned Parenthood.
Over and over, speakers came up and mentioned how women earn .77 to man’s dollar. King County Executive Dow Constantine sent a spokeswoman to announce that he supports fair pay for women, he supports the Violence Against Women Act. He supports family planning. The spokeswoman ended with, “We have a lot of work to do to stop the negative attacks on women.”
Another speaker was a woman from The Religious Coalition for Reproduction Rights. She stated that those who really studied Jesus’ life would see a Jewish man who disobeyed the laws of his time to boost women up and he would be outraged that women’s bodies are put in the hands of the government. He would be ashamed of a country that won’t pass the Violence Against Women Act. She continued with, “Today we stand against those who keep us down and in the kitchen. Not there’s anything wrong with the kitchen. It’s just if we are in the kitchen, it should be our choice, not the choice of some men. She then started the crowd chanting part of a Holly Near song called “I am Willing.” Chants of, I am open and I am willing to be hopeless would seem so strange It dishonors those who go before us So lift me up to the light of change echoed off the skyscrapers..
Next a gentleman from The Washington Alliance for Retired Americans came up to speak. He decried the attacks on women and seniors, stressing that, “we are all in this fight together.” He continued with saying that the attacks on Social Security and Medicare hurt women the most as they are the majority of the recipients of those programs. He also mentioned that nobody mentions the disabled and that Social Security tax is only paid up to the first $100,000 of income. If we were to scrap the income cap it would make Social Security solvent. We could also give women a work credit for the time they spend at home. We could extend the Social Security benefits past college and we cannot pit one age group against another. An injury to one is an injury to all. He finished with, “Remember, the people united will never be defeated.” Several chants of the same rang forth.
Another speaker mentioned that last year, President Obama issued a new report on the life quality of women in the US. The report, the first undertaken in over fifty years, revealed that not only do women earn .77 to man’s dollar, but that one seventh of women under age sixty-five is more likely to be without the usual source of health care coverage.
Mentioned also was a study revealing that the highest ranking countries in terms or prosperity, had more women holding political offices, provided health care to all citizens provided free child care and education, and paid men and women the same. The United States ranks thirty-one out of forty-three developed nations in quality of life.
Also brought up was another study saying that women in unions are more likely to have health care, pensions, and they earn .82 to man’s dollar. But the recent attacks on unions have slashed social service programs, taking away jobs that are mostly held by women. More laws against women have been passed this year than were passed since Roe v. Wade. With Obama Care, mammograms are covered and smoking cessation is covered. Republicans cutting health care will cut WIC, the program providing food vouchers for poor women with children under age five. They would cut thirty thousand children off health care while putting more money in the pockets of the wealthy. Loud boos rang forth. Someone else got up and mentioned that in 1962 CEOs made twenty-four times that of the average worker. Now that figure is 380 times more. The average worker would have to work eleven thousand years to earn what the CEO of Apple earned last year.
The mission of this movement is as follows: Reproductive Freedom. We’ve had enough of welfare to Wall Street while one in five children lives in poverty.
We want to see our roads repaired and bridges maintained instead of seeing our fellow citizens collecting unemployment. We want childcare workers to earn a livable wage. We want teachers to be paid fairly. We want flexible work schedules with paid sick leave. Seattle is one of a few cities that passed a paid sick leave ordinance. We want that mandate extended across the entire state.
In the last two months over 900 bills against women have been introduced throughout this country. Republicans ran in 2010 on a jobs platform. Instead they have obstructed job creation, they have interfered with the civil rights of certain individuals, and most recently they have invaded the bodies of women. To combat this we must educate ourselves. Find out who your representatives are and find out where they stand on issues that are important to you. Let them know how you feel. Legislators are voting on laws that effect you, your spouses, your brothers and sisters and your children. A chant was started: We are women. We are not going away! This rally is just the beginning. Our politicians cannot take our votes for granted.
The highlights of the event were they mayor of Tacoma, Marilyn Strickland who talked about women in politics. Here in Washington we have two female senators and a female governor (who has decided not to run for a third term). She emphasized that all legislation has an impact on the economic livelihood of women. We must stand up and make our voices heard. We must make sure the next generation of youth registers to vote. We must ask of our legislators and candidates if they support reproductive rights for women. In the year 2012 we should not be fighting this war again.
Dorli Rainey, the octogenarian who was pepper sprayed by police last fall during an Occupy rally, came and gave a very eloquent speech. This self declared Old Lady In Combat Boots said thank you to Rush Limbaugh for energizing so many women. The Seattle Storm can now play basketball, although we need to get them equal pay. The players in the Storm don’t make anywhere near what the male pro-ball players make. She added that in the last two years congress has taken us back so far, but that maybe the representatives have done us a favor by waking us up. “When they pepper sprayed me they thought they’d stop us — but I say screw us and we multiply.” This brought loud, energized cheers. She went on to say that after the pepper spraying incident she got many emails, some even from other states that asked her what was wrong with the Seattle Police.
The rally concluded with a march around Westlake Park lead by the under thirty crowd — done this way because these are the next leaders who will take us forward. We were lead in various chants such as, “We are women and we will not be moved. We are women and we will not turn back.” Someone yelled into the mic, “Get out and vote and kick some republican butt!” The final chant of, “Not the church and not the state. Women must decide our fate.”
I was disappointed there wasn’t a higher turn out. I’m still discouraged that after everything that has happened in the last two years, we still have so much apathy. The year 2012 will definitely not be boring. And for anyone who reads this, get involved. If you are as outraged by legislation governing our bodies being passed, while legislation governing corporations who pollute, abuse their workers, etc., are repealed, then get out and vote. Get out and protest. Write your elected officials and let them know how you feel. Democracy is a government for and by the people, which means we must all take part. If it means missing out on a favorite TV show, then so be it. We must revisit our priorities and rid this country of the pus-filled lesions who were elected to office after promising jobs, but instead have invaded our privacy and our freedom.
The fight has just begun. We are women and we are not going away.
UniteWomen.org – Anyone interested in getting involved may email Angela at avogel@unitewomen.org
All photos property of Holly Homan, all rights reserved.
