On 11/4/06, Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Nov 4, 2006, at 4:03 PM, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> Is it possible that positions prioritized by many
> male leftists and US feminists are out of sync with what American
> women want?
Maybe you should take a break from your Farsi studies and learn
something about organized feminism in the U.S. Here are the top six
issues for NOW <http://www.now.org/issues/>:
* Abortion Rights / Reproductive Issues
* Violence Against Women
* Constitutional Equality
* Promoting Diversity / Ending Racism
* Lesbian Rights
* Economic Justice
Economic justice is about pay equity, family-friendly workplaces, and
parental leave.
The biggest feminist events at local levels are things like Take Back
the Night marches, which tend to far eclipse pro-choice events which
are the next big things, and the biggest feminist event at the
national level in recent years was a pro-choice rally organized by
Planned Parenthood, which turned out to be mainly a photo op for
Democratic Party politicians in 2004. Economic justice, ending
racism, etc. don't appear to be issues which most US feminists
prioritize practically.
Then there's the Institute for Women's Policy Research <http://
www.cepr.net/pages/labor_markets.htm> which is full of stuff about
child care and family leave.
Or yet another organization, CEPR, this one dominated by what you
call "male leftists" like Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot (who spend a
lot of time defending Venezuela, by the way), but which also employs
the excellent feminist economist Heather Boushey. Among their top
issues <http://www.cepr.net/pages/labor_markets.htm> are stresses on
parents and the need for better child care arrangements.
Do you think that what's put out by the Center for Economic and Policy
Research, Dollars & Sense, etc. have seized the imagination of
leftists and feminists and become the focus of their activities? I
wish!
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>
