Where is MY debate?

I am sitting at my desk watching the AFL-CIO debate for all of the Democratic presidential candidates.  It is taking place in Illinois, which is the largest industrialized state that voted AGAINST WOMEN BEING IN THE US CONSTITUTION.  Let me repeat that, it isn't just that they did not pass the ERA ~ IT IS THAT THEY VOTED AGAINST THE ERA.  This is not a fine, hair-splitting distinction - this is FUNDAMENTAL.  Could they possibly consider boycotting states which voted against gender equality?

The debate is being held in the new Soldier's Stadium (soldiers?) which cost millions of taxpayers' money. Obvious questions are about bridges, mines, war, universal health care, NAFTA, WTO - it is a debate hosted by the unions after all.  As Hillary boasts and beams about being a daughter of Illinois; her father a Bear's fan.  Really!  Oh, and is this Obama land?  What did he do for women while in public service to the people of Illinois?  He proudly stated that he voted to build the stadium but what did he do to ratify the ERA in Illinois? 

The subtitle of today's debate is WORKING FAMILIES VOTE 2008.  What families?  Women-head-of-household families?  Soldiers' families whose primary wage earner is on the third tour overseas?  LGB families who are denied the benefits of federal and state recognized marriage?  The families of the 2 million people who are in US prisons? 

Please pardon my language but WHERE THE FUCK IS MY DEBATE?  Where is the debate hosted by women for women, about women.  I am not stupid, I know that every issue is a women's issue but we have watched debates by CNN, Youtube, LOGO, AFL-CIO, Christians and Howard University (just heard about a debate in Spanish).  Between both of the main parities there are 16 men and one woman.  There have been no women moderators.  20% of the Youtube questions aired were by women. 

I want a WOMEN'S DEBATE.  I want it hosted by women, with women in the audience, all questions about how every issue is a women's issue.  I want to see an audience of women from the military, the clergy, teachers, nurses, doctors, attorneys, manufacturers, law enforcement officers, etc. and the unemployed.  I want to see mothers; single, married, gay, straight.  I want to see seniors and students.  I want it on a women's campus.  I want questions about the Supreme Court, reproductive autonomy, pay equity, marriage rights, prison reform, immigration as it affects families.  I want questions about THE NUMBER ONE WOMEN'S ISSUE IN THE US AND THE WORLD ~ SAFETY: sexual safety, public safety, in-home safety.   We must begin to talk publicly about VIOLENCE against women.  (how can we make this happen? ~ please help make this happen.) 

WHERE THE FUCK IS MY DEBATE? 

Comments

[diane]

perhaps the debate could go like this -- the politicians could ask the questions and women could respond to them. How long have womens voices gone unheard in the "land of the free"?

[riane eisler]

Brava!!
So right -- and so well put.
We have to change the terms of the debate.

[Melissa]

Chills. I have chills after reading this.

I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to copy and paste this up on my blog site. I want what few loyal readers I have to read this too.

You are brilliant and amazing and I know I've said it before but it is worth repeating...I am a better woman because I know you.

xoxo

[kara]

over from melissa's place...

i've been thinking the same thing myself!!! fantastic post. and spot. on.

i've linked you in my post as well today - i hope that's ok?

[charlesclarknovels]

I subscribed to Google Alerts for Women's Rights Issues because the life of the lead character in my novel "Return to Dos Encinos", Sarah Levin Cisneros, closely parallels that of one of my grandmothers. In my research for the novel, I was amazed when I read stories of the hazards and obstacles that those courageous women battled during suffragist era of the late 1800s. Today, when I read stories of the present campaigns by women to enhance the lot of women today - advancement opportunities in the work place, pay equity, marriage rights, and the issue of safety as you have described - I wonder if women today have forgotten the sacrifices the women of yesterday endured for the nearly 100 years to achieve reform. Take a minute sometime and read the speech of Sojourney Truth, a negro slave, given at a convention in Akron, Ohio, that became a turning point during the suffragist campaign. I am in complete agreement with present day's efforts to improve the status of women today, but it helps to go back in your thinking and look at how it all began.

www.charlesclarknovels.com

[Zoe]

Let me assure you that my peers are very aware of the movement from its "conception." Most of the women set on fire in the Second Wave are teachers of women's history. The women of the Third Wave know more that you or I can imagine.

You would do better to ask than tell - ask a women if she knows before you presume that she does not - then a great conversation can occur. We all need to practice the art of inquiry. Don't you agree?

[charlesclarknovels]

All of your peers are not aware. Try it yourself: ask them to name just one women's rightist from history. Some will remember the name, Susan Anthony. Most are lost after that. I have asked, I have researched; I am disappointed at the response I get. Ask me, or any physician, to name the pioneers in medicine for the last two centuries - those individuals responsible for the foundation of modern medicine. Does it not correlate: to remember the names of those to whom we owe so much?

www.charlesclarknovels.com

[Zoe]

Dr Elizabeth Blackwell will be so happy.

[Melissa]

Dear Mr. Clark,

I find your comments on this post to be very insulting to its author and to women in general. If the women you have interviewed demonstrate a lack of knowledge of women's history, I would argue that this is because the lives and contributions of women to this society have been systematically undervalued. Surely you would agree, Sir, that the presence or absence of a collective knowledge of women's history has more to do with the continued oppression of women in our society than it does with a woman's desire to understand the rich heritage that is our struggle toward equality.

I find it ironic that a beneficiary of patriarchy would come to a women's blog to criticize women for not knowing more about their own history when it is a consequence of the patriarchy that women are not afforded the same rights, privileges, or historical significance as men. I would be curious to know if you have reflected on how the language you use and the attitudes you convey reinforce gender inequalities.

Oh, and by the way, the suffragist movement you reference above was alive and well long before the time period you mention.

[charlesclarknovels]

Dear Melissa and Zoe,
I am reminded of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act 3: "The lady protests too much."

Interested in a timeline, Melissa: Convention in Seneca Falls, I think about 1848. Amendment passed: 1920

I still suggest reading Sojourney Truth's speech.

[Zoe]

Sojouner Truth
Spelling it correctly is a good start.

You can be sure that women were seeking liberation long before the 1848 Conference. Mostly likely right after god blamed it all on Eve.

You all should find it interesting that women bloggers and vloggers are harassed all the time and, so it appears, the intenet is just a mirror of the world. ho hum.

[charlesclarknovels]

I'm logging out. I want you to know that I enjoyed reading your blog and have added your site to my favorites. I respect all of your efforts to achieve equality. Keep it going!

I arrived here because of my interest in human rights, healthcare, and immigration issues. It's been an interesting trip.

Good luck and God bless.

Charles Clark