G-L and M-Posters,

I am going to share an article written sometime ago to a US
Congressional Newsletter by my spouse,Clarissa.  She beliefs that
the struggle for justice in the Gambia can never succeed without a
feminist agenda.  Well gentlemen hold your horses....:)
_________________

        With the words ‘job security’ being a thing of the past, and
temporary or independent contractor work becoming the new wave of the
future, what happens to women, young women in particular?
        Activists understand there is a devaluation of the role of women in
most societies. However, gender specific pressure may exist as quiet
desperation at the highest levels of activism. Is the narrow scope of
vision through which we view gender inequities further perpetuated
because of this silence? What pressure does a pregnant woman feel who
works? Is the pressure different in the construction or building
trades? Politics? Law? Athletics? Clergy? Media? Medical Field?
School System?
        We don’t have to look too far to evaluate progress. Who are the
top-level executives within advocacy organizations who have children?
How many children do they have? Have these same women ever felt a
cultural norm existed which discouraged having both a family and a
career? Was there a point in her career where she felt pressure from
colleagues and the demands of her job to remain alone, unmarried and
without children? Has that pressure subsided? Better still, how is a
young married woman without children treated? How is a young single
woman with children treated?  Some women and men would argue that a
woman who wants to have a career is choosing not to put her children
or  family first. Others may argue her workload should change if she
wants a family life too. Some may feel pregnant women should not
work, nor should they choose to start a new job after finding out
they are pregnant.
         I am led to ask the question: why do we advocate so vehemently for
women to have a choice to bring children into this world, yet provide
so little encouragement and support to those who did choose life,
family and self-sufficiency?
                Organizations fighting for the rights of women, the environment,
civil rights, or any other human right must evaluate their own office
politics, practices and principles concerning working mothers who
work within their office or seek to work for the organization. If
your organization doesn’t have women in top level positions who have
children or a family of their own, there could be a real problem. Ask
the question: Are all of our executive-level women employees either
young, single and without children or older and over the childbearing
years? In most cases, I can almost guarantee it was not because the
women employees with children didn’t apply, weren’t qualified, or did
not want the job.
                The truth is discrimination on the basis of gender is real and
discriminators have many different faces. Examples include: women in
charge of hiring who "can’t help but notice" the potential employee’s
enlarged stomach, men who get angry when a woman must attend to her
child when the teacher calls, employers who won’t even consider the
concept of job sharing, or older employers who encourage long hours
with no appreciation for quality, productivity or work completed
during the eight-hour work day. What about temporary employers who
could care less about the extension of temp-time while making people
wait before providing  health coverage or permanent employee status?
We must not forget about employers who change permanent positions to
‘independent contractor’ status in order to pay less without
providing any benefits or companies practicing unequal pay for equal
work between men and women. There are still employers who mistreat
mothers who are their child’s only line of defense in an emergency.
There are men working in management who abandon their families-
leaving a woman with sole responsibility for raising and providing
for the children and mates who do not support a woman’s desire to
have a successful career-causing her dreams to be forever deferred.
        There is no greater paradox than a pro-animal organization that
treats people badly, or as unarming as a civil rights movement that
discourages women from becoming leaders,  or as unnecessary as a
children’s rights organization that never seeks the opinions of
children, or as perplexing as a gay rights organization that omits
individuals who biologically defy the confines of gender.
        Advocacy must reach all who need protection. Where is the justice
when  organizations  fighting for the rights of the masses
simultaneously oppress and subjugate individuals? It is our Soul
Responsibility to look within ourselves and examine the ways in which
we hold on to our own self-defeating thoughts and ideas about our
world and the people in it. In what ways are we standing in the way
of change that is truly for the better? Have we forgotten how the
vision of equality of opportunity started with a single cry for
justice that addressed the pain of many? We must not get so carried
away with fighting that we forget exactly what we are fighting for.
True change begins as a beam of light from within then permeates to
the souls of all who seek its warmth. One Activist, one change; one
Community, one Change; one Nation, one change; one Continent, one
change; one World, one change.








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