Twenty-five years ago today I was dressed in white (ha ha ~ not a bride) with a purple sash and most likely talking about 59 cents. Around me people were talking about toilets, about the draft, about gay rights. As much as I recall, and I kept a diary, I was stuck on 59 cents. Here is a bit of what I was doing 25 years ago today –
After the press conference, we went to our usual place in the rotunda. It was jammed. The stop ERA ladies, dressed in red & white, were out droves. I just cannot believe that their issue is economics. They look like they shop at Marshall Fields and have grown children. They do not look like they are the principle wage earner in their homes. Could it be that they don’t know anyone who needs this amendment? I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt, but how could they not know anyone who would benefit from the ERA? Are none of their daughters in law school or applying to law school? And have they figured out what they will do when they are widowed and their social security is only a portion of what their husbands paid in?
I am willing to listen and see what they are fighting for, but the fact is I really don't understand it. Their primary objections are unfounded and unintelligent. They say they want men and women to remain different. There is no legislation that could remove the essential, inherent differences of men and women. The ERA is not going to require the integration of American toilets. It won’t make it illegal for men and women to pee separately in restaurants. Airplanes and most homes will continue to offer unisex toilets.
So I just sat in my folding chair, last seat on the left and who should appear but the Queen of them all, Phyllis Schlafly. All the way from Alton, Illinois, all the way from the last century, all the way from the far right; there she was wearing a pink silk dress, single strand of pearls and Stop ERA stickers on her back. I have to admit the women on her side are looking a lot better than we are these days.
The press was going crazy. Without a second thought, I grabbed my little camera and walked over to her. It was so funny. Everyone stepped aside as I stood just two feet in front of her. I had gotten one of the guards to buy an Illinois postcard for me and asked Phyllis to sign it. You would have thought I had asked her to sign the ERA right then and there. Her aides whispered in her ear and she in theirs. She asked me what I was going to do with the card. I told her that I would put it in my scrapbook and that I considered her to be a women of genuine historical significance. She was very cordial. She signed it. I thanked her. I went back to my seat.
Today I am not wearing white but the sign I am holding is very similar except it now says 76 cents; you do the math. All in all I think I will not see dollar for dollar in the current incarnation. And if you watched the Supreme Court this week, we may even be going backwards. (don't miss that we have one less woman on the court and, the remaining one, Ruth Bader Ginsburg called for Congress to reverse the decision) The headline in the New York Times was " Justices' Ruling Limits Suits on Pay Disparity," and the NYT editorial the next day, "Injustice 5, Justice 4."
Once again I sat and I waited. Where is the outcry? Where is the outrage? The first piece I saw was on Feminisiting.com. Slowly, over the next 5 days, the emails came in from NOW, from Ms, from The ERA Roundtable, from the Feminist Majority. At this moment, my desk is a snow-storm of information. In fairness, the best explanation I read was by Liz Gilcrest of NOW, "Supreme Court Moves Backwards on Equal Pay." But on the other hand, the top story on NOW's website was a call to action over postal increases which is not my issue, not a woman's issue - it is an issue that The Hearst Corporation can take on! or billionaire Cathleen Black can wrestle with. Ms. sent out a good piece, "Supreme Court sides with Business in Wage Sex Discrimination Case." But lets not confuse good paragraphs, good writing, good emailing skills with good response.
My thinking on this general subject is that it will take a crisis to coalesce the movement; for generations to walk arm in arm, for races to hear one another, for men to support the advancement of women, as it will advance all of society. That is not to say that I am holding out for an ever-expanding crisis but I am keeping the sail trimmed and lamps lit. I took some time out and am ready again. I understand that Rosie O'Donnell and Cindy Sheehan will return stronger after they refuel and steady their sea legs.
However the email I got this AM really got me thinking ~ it is from NOW with a gigantic button soliciting contributions. It states, Five Supreme Court Justices said, "Equal Pay? "No Way" But there is something we can do - GIVE NOW. That just pisses me off. Don't ask me for money. I make a diminishing and uncertain 76 cents on the dollar. And my sisters of color, of less education, of advancing age make even less. ASK FOR MONEY FROM THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE A F-ING DOLLAR ON THE DOLLAR! Don't ask the people working the fields for money, ask the people who OWN the fields for money. Ask ME to get mad. Ask ME to demonstrate. Ask ME to join an action. Ask ME to wake up to our sinking ship. Ask for my thoughts, my energy, my attention to advance women, but don't ask me for money.
PS - if you think YOU are bored with this topic - you have no idea!
Interesting to know.
Posted by: Edna | October 28, 2008 at 06:06 PM