Therefore, I Am

This is a hybrid of something I read once (which I have not been able to find again) and my own writing.

I am a daughter.

A grand-daughter.

A neice.

A cousin.

A friend.

I am a partner, a student, a young girl and a grown woman.

I am confident and scared, terrified and excited. I am loving, and caring, and thoughtful, and hopeful.

I am sick and tired. I am shy and friendly, and careful, and careless. I am broken and whole. I am misunderstood, misguided, and misled. I am hard working and determined, but a little scared on the inside.

I wish on stars and dream my dreams. I pray to the universe and cry my tears. I smile on the outside while I’m dying on the inside.

I listen to others who won’t listen to me. I walk on eggshells and I walk on fire. I believe in passion, but not true love.

I am shooting up the corporate ladder toward a glass ceiling.

I am everything and nothing all at once.

I am a woman.

From weak to geek

Let’s face it – computer science is not rocket science. But as computer literacy becomes as necessary as a high school diploma for most jobs, many women find they are falling behind technology. This is an opportunity to build community connections and build computer skills. So many of us have a better understanding of computers than our family and neighbors, colleagues and friends. Offer a helping hand to a woman you know who wants to improve her computer skills – learning is dynamic and every bit helps. Go to places online like Craigslist.org and offer free lessons once a month at your local library. Most libraries have dedicated rooms  that you can use – for free -  for meetings and book clubs. Many libraries also have computer labs you can use – for free – to help teach other women of all generations what you know about programs like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Photoshop, and surfing online, e-mail, and basic troubleshooting. Maybe you don’t know these things, but you know someone who does – coordinate with someone who does know these programs and help her teach a class. Build a small (or wide) network of women trying to improve their computer skills in order to improve their paychecks. Helping her helps you.

I do the job – I get paid – end of story

Women make less money than men for the same work. We’ve heard this for most of our lives. So why do we continue to hear this? Why wouldn’t these well-intentioned employers have corrected this obvious mistake by now? Because employers speak in terms of dollars and cents, not right and wrong. If it will cost less to continue to pay some workers less than others, why not do it? Hell, it’s good business. You wouldn’t hire a novice for the same price as an expert – you’d be wasting money! But if you could hire an expert for the same price as a novice – now that’s a deal. And business is all about finding deals – we consumers like deals, because it often makes stuff cost less. Granted, not always – another rule of business: why pass on the savings to the person buying the stuff when you can pass it on to yourself? If your mom gives you ten dollars to go to the movies and it only costs 8.50, would you give it back or keep the change? It’s the same thing, just on a different scale. Now what if your mom charged you three dollars every time she found out you lied about having leftover change from the movies? How would that change your attitude? Same thing, just on a different scale.

Work against laws that discourage equal pay for equal work.

Todos Hacemos Cual Es Necesario

It is not necessary for all of us to have the same skin color – we have the same paychecks.
It is not necessary for all of us to use wheelchairs – we have the same roads to travel.
It is not necessary for all of us to wear the same clothes – we have the same spirit driving us.

Trapped in more than one prison, many women embrace only one struggle. Race, sex, age, class, ability, orientation – we must work against the odds to claim our own identity and provide visions of self and our community.

It is not enough to exercise the power to work outside the home – most of us have been working “outside the home” all along.

Now is a time when women have an equal presence in the workforce but not an equal paycheck. Rules, by design or neglect, enable men to hold jobs defined as more prestigious and therefore more lucrative. We must protect ourselves and our families by fighting against this kind of discrimination that strives to keep women “in their place” – or as they say in business, “at that pay level.”

Multum in Parvo

The 4th Wave denounces attempts to bridge Feminism and Pro-Life rhetoric. As the saying goes, “If you’re against abortion, don’t have one.“

Abortion is a violent act, not unlike childbirth.

When society considers abortion as the primary solution for women with untimely pregnancies, that society has let women down. That society has conspired in a systemic act of neglect that harms women physically and psychologically, economically and socially.

Untimely pregnancy by which any woman feels trapped disempowers her.

An economically competitive society needs to encompass women, encourage motherhood for those who want it, and not limit choices for workers by criminalizing abortion.

It is imperative for women of all generations to oppose laws that require informed consent. Fathers and parents cannot in good conscience force their loved one to inform and require consent while simultaneously claim to have an interest in the health and well being of that loved one.

Women need more alternatives for ill-timed pregnancies, not fewer. Adoption benefits other people who are in a point in their life where they welcome a child. Open adoptions are a way for women to remain the life of the baby while allowing another parent/couple to legally adopt a most wanted child.

Forced abortion is as unconscionable as criminalizing abortion. Underage women facing the decision to become or remain pregnant must decide for themselves first and solicit opinions from their loved ones second. In both cases women should coordinate with a licensed medical practitioner to ensure a safe, healthful fertility plan.

DNC Rally in DC

Man, was that fun
(I’ve always wanted to find another way to say that, but “Woman, was that fun” never seems to jive. Might be my conservative-suburbia affected ears, or maybe it really is just awkward. The best I can come up with “is Dude, that was fun,” and that reminds me of Valley talk that is happily forgotten.)

Like so many people have already reported, one of the louder declarations from that rainy day in front of the Marriot is that “this Democratic Party does no longer represents me.”