Conservative commentators thought they had a “gotcha” when records from 1971 didn’t explicitly say “we are firing Elizabeth Warren for being pregnant.” There were efforts to spin this into a narrative about her being a liar. In fact, firing teachers who were visibly pregnant was the policy of the school district she worked for (and legal at the time). Women all over the country shared similar stories, including plenty from long after it was supposed to be illegal.
Christina Cauterucci offered some more thoughts about how the environment has changed, and women are able to talk about these issues more openly now. There’s a parallel with #MeToo: women who left a job because of discrimination or harassment were often made to feel ashamed, and learned to offer more “acceptable” reasons if they had to explain their departure.
It’s possible that Warren didn’t interpret her dismissal as pregnancy discrimination in 1971, or that, with no grounding in progressive politics, she didn’t see it as a noteworthy injustice. It’s even more likely that when she explained her career path to others, as she did in her 2007 interview at the University of California, Berkeley, she didn’t want to be seen as a victim. Some may see Warren’s rephrasing as the mark of a lie or as a cynical play for political points. I see it as an indicator of the changing ways stories of gender-based mistreatment get told in mainstream politics.
To be taken seriously as leaders in politics and business, women have historically been told to project strength and power, to play down any parts of their histories that might encourage voters to imagine them as fragile, exploitable, or overtly female. Just last year, New York magazine columnist Jonathan Chait argued that Sens. Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand were falling into a “victim trap” by presenting themselves, or allowing themselves to be presented, as people who’ve experienced sexism.
As always, this diary is a team effort. Thanks to SandraLLAP, elenacarlena, mettle fatigue, Besame and the WOW team for links and discussion.
Reproductive Rights:
Anti-Abortion Lawmakers Want the State to Know Everything About Your Abortion. Dozens of states require abortion provider to report information with no medical purpose; for instance, in Wyoming, this includes “information about the patient’s age, race, county of residence, and previous pregnancies, including the patient’s number of past abortions, miscarriages, births, and number of children living or dead. It also requires details of the termination, including the type of procedure used, complications, and gestational age of the fetus—including fetal weight and length.”
California to require abortion medication at public colleges.
In Australia, a proposed “religious discrimination” bill could interfere with women’s access to health care.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Monday aiming to address the issue of Black women dying in childbirth at disproportionately high rates compared to their white peers.
The legislation, authored by California state Sen. Holly Mitchell (D), will require hospitals and clinics in the state to implement implicit bias training for all health care providers working in perinatal services. Sponsored by NARAL, Black Women for Wellness and other groups, the bill also requires the state’s health department to track and publish additional data around pregnancy-related deaths in an effort to better understand the issue.
Violence:
Bay Area cop convicted of using his position to get away with raping at least 5 women.
Serial killer Samuel Little has confessed to 93 murders over 35 years. Most of his victims were African-American women.
Ronan Farrow’s new book Catch and Kill, details still more awful revelations about harassment by powerful men, including NBC news head Jim Lack, and a sexual assault accusation against NBC’s Matt Lauer. Lauer responded with an angry letter portraying himself as the real victim. I strongly recommend Rebecca Traister’s piece discussing the context of Farrow’s book: not individual harassers, but a network of powerful men (and some female enablers) perpetuating and protecting an environment where predation could continue.
The version of the story that’s about the individual Bad Guys works as a comfort and a balm, permits us to sit around and wonder what will happen to those “taken down” by Me Too, while the structures that supported them still stand strong. No matter how many individual bogeymen have lost their jobs, we live in a world in which our ability to evolve is still measured by our willingness to forgive them and return them to positions of power and not by a determination to elevate other kinds of people to positions of authority. The focus on the fates of those individuals draws our attention from the vast mechanisms of cover-up that remain in place and work to protect powerful perpetrators.
Another new book, All the President’s Women by Monique El-Faizy and Barry Levine, includes “another 43 allegations of alleged inappropriate behavior, including 26 instances of unwanted sexual contact” from Donald Trump.
Workplace Issues:
A hospice nurse started chemo. Then her employer fired her.
An all-female crew flew 120 girls to NASA to get them excited about careers in aviation.
Sexual harassment is an economic epidemic.
Even as Saudi Arabia oppresses women’s rights activists, its government has just ruled that women can now serve in the military.
Climate activism:
Jane Fonda, 82, is doing civil disobedience, getting arrested at the Capitol while speaking out about climate change. She plans to do this for 14 Fridays in a row. Code Pink is inviting anyone who wants to join these “Fire Drill Fridays.”
Uncategorizable:
We’re all aware how often women get judged on our looks, and that women get stuck paying more for some products than men do. Haircuts, for instance. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez paid average salon rates for a cut and coloring, resulting in a fit of fauxrage from the Washington Times (are they still owned by the Moonies?). Apparently it’s a scandal that she spent her own money on something? Naturally, she had a response:
Good News and Action Items:
Yesterday, October 11th, was "International Day of the Girl Child"- which "aims to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face, while promoting girls' empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights."
”The young women sharing language in Jerusalem.” It began with two college friends 9 years ago, an Arab and a Jew, who wanted to learn each other's languages. .. It's the largest independent Hebrew-Arabic language group in the city, and has become much more: the members speak about empowerment, breaking down barriers, getting to know the other side and mutual assistance.
Check out Sonia Sotomayor’s new children’s book:
