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What Women Deserve: ...in the
workplace
...in the home
...in our country
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The 2008 Illinois NOW
State Conference is
Saturday, September 6th
in Palatine, IL
This year's Illinois NOW State Conference is
approaching quickly and the conference committee is working hard
with our host chapter, Northwest Suburban NOW, to make this one
of our most exciting conferences ever!
For our third year, we will be producing the
Illinois Women's Resource Directory with contact information for
many useful and interesting organizations. The new edition
of the directory will be released at the conference and
distributed all over the state throughout the year. Once
again, we are accepting ads to help finance the production and
distribution of the resource directory.
Go here to submit your
ad by Friday, August 1st. Find out
all of the 2008 conference details as they are finalized
right here! |
Great news for all Illinoisans!
HB 5615 has been introduced:The
Reproductive Justice and Access Act (RJAA)
The Reproductive Justice and Access Act (RJAA)
has been introduced as HB 5615.
RJAA will ensure that all
women have access to information and all forms of reproductive
health care and family planning. It will also allow women the
privacy that all personal decisions deserve. You can read the
full text of RJAA here.
The Illinois National
Organization for Women and other cosponsoring organizations need
YOUR voice to get RJAA passed! To learn what you
can do to help, visit IL NOW's RJAA Action
page for all the details on making reproductive justice and
access an Illinois law! |
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History, Legacy, and the
Shame of Media
Below the Belt: A Biweekly Column by
NOW President Kim Gandy
June 05, 2008
My daughters don't remember much about the
2004 presidential election, except for the "ReDefeat Bush" sign
that decorated our lawn for two years. Now 12 and 15, they've
been watching this long and unprecedented nomination battle
between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the frontrunners for
their party's nod.
What their mother sees as historic and
groundbreaking, they see as normal and everyday, and I'm now
realizing that they'll never even remember a time when the only
conceivable frontrunners were white and male. Hillary and Barack
were their introduction to presidential politics, and that will
be one of the great legacies of this primary season.
Not to say that I've been entirely
sanguine about their watching the television coverage. I had
hoped they would be inspired to watch these historic campaigns
unfold, but as the blight of unspeakable media sexism has grown
stronger with each passing primary, I started turning off the
"news."
The
unprecedented level of misogyny unleashed by heretofore
unlabeled sexists is another of the season's legacies.
Indeed, Hillary Clinton's campaign inspired
millions of women across the country, and the increased female
voter turnout has helped many women running for Congress or
local office in those primaries - but will those women
candidates now face a media gauntlet that is more about their
gender than their qualifications?
(continued...)
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("History, Legacy..." continued from below)
Yes, Hillary Clinton persevered to win contest
after contest, despite the ridicule, scorn and derision that was
heaped on her by the frat-boy commentariat, and we salute her
courage and determination not to allow the self-important pundit
class to drum her out of the race with their endless
name-calling. But will that treatment be the norm for women who
run in the future? Has it become acceptable?
Television commentary on her voice, her laugh,
her clapping, her clothing, even her ankles - not to mention
calling her a bitch and a she-devil, and comparing her to a
crazed murderer, a hated ex-wife or a scolding mother - became
so commonplace that we came to expect it. And Hillary rose above
it, as we knew she would, but it took a toll on her campaign and
on all of us. We should vow today, here and now, that we will
not allow the media to do it to any woman ever again.
The worst offenders, NBC and CNN, have been
hearing from women who are fed up with their bias and sexism,
but that's not enough. For my next column, I'm working on the
sexist media "Hall of Shame" - and yes, you'll have an
opportunity to weigh in with your own nominations.
Until then, a salute to Hillary Clinton, who
said on Tuesday: "I made you -- and everyone who supported me --
a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never back
down. I'm going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for
the rest of my life."
Hillary, you have made a mark on history for
eternity, giving little girls and little boys the full knowledge
that women can compete, take risks, take the heat, make hard
decisions, and be strong leaders. Whether you are President,
Vice President, on the Supreme Court, serving as the Senate
Majority Leader or just plain being the best-ever senator for
New York and for ALL of us, we will be with you -- as we work
together for equality for all, and a better, safer, more
peaceful world for everyone, not just the privileged few. Yes,
we will. Thank you, Hillary.
Send a
thank you card to Hillary!
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