“I Cannot Leave Myself Behind as a Female”
At the Women and the Environment Workshop [see previous four articles], I realized I have relegated the fight for my well-being as a female to second place because of the urgency of climate work. But to fully fight for the climate and human survival, I cannot leave myself behind as a female. I must fight fully for myself.
I’ve been discharging on events that occurred before I was born. Those months were not gender neutral: I was a female fetus in the uterus of a female mother who was living with male domination and sexism.
The term “girl child” helped me go back to being mistreated as a baby and toddler and recognize that I was, significantly, female, and hurt as a female. “I was a girl” was the simple and powerful direction in one demonstration at the workshop.
Those of us in the climate movement need to address sexism and male domination to allow our female minds and leadership to thrive and contribute fully to the work.
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
(Present Time 208, July 2022)