A Victory against Sexism and Racism
Thank you, Diane [Diane Balser, International Liberation Reference Person for Women], for encouraging us to celebrate the U.S. presidential election as a victory against sexism and racism and to share what we experienced and learned as women.
I learned that we RC women could organize and support one another to build a united front to help defeat Trump/Pence and elect Biden/Harris. As women, we each had to overcome many obstacles to do our part to elect Biden and our first female Vice President, Kamala Harris—an African- and South Asian-heritage woman. Many of us are already busy women. I found that I could stretch myself to take my election efforts seriously and be part of a sisterhood prioritizing this project. My contribution in RC was to organize the three gather-ins for RC women on the election.
We included discharging on racism, because it is central in keeping U.S. women divided from each other. We also heard from women who had been involved in doing election work.
There were 115 to 150 women at each gather-in, all figuring out their own niche for working on the election. We created a list of progressive organizations that were doing phone banking and other get-out-the-vote work, so we could connect with and lend support to them. Some women mobilized friends and family to make thousands of phone calls, write postcards, send text messages, and more. I did phone banking and learned how to use phone-banking technology. Others organized women from the gather-ins into support groups, so they could keep discharging on the election in between our meetings.
I am a Catholic female and have found that the issue that most divides Catholic women is abortion. It is such a contentious and polarizing issue that it is hard for me to keep looking at it. I discharged throughout the election season on the fear that paralyzes me, and I reclaimed more of my mind and my voice as a Catholic Latina female.
I led a weekly support group that included three other women who wanted to discharge on abortion and the election. As I continued to discharge, I could more easily engage friends and family on the topic. I kept noticing opportunities to have one-to-one conversations and found that I could think about this complex issue and listen to others, including those who did not agree with my perspective.
At one of our RC women’s gather-ins, I spoke about abortion for ten minutes to a group of 150 women. That was a major victory for me.
I also backed [supported] younger female relatives as they engaged with their first-time voting peers on social media. My role was to listen, cheer them on, share their posts, help them find information, and pack snacks and lunches for them to take to outdoor car rallies. It was fun having a common purpose with younger women.
The election was a major victory. To win we had to defeat disinformation, manipulation, fear mongering, sexism, male domination, racism, and more. That we won is profound evidence that flexible intelligence is more powerful than accumulated distresses.
USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of women
(Present Time 203, April 2021)