Help Us Write "The Gender Speech"
When Senator Obama called on our nation to create a more perfect union, his appeal resonated deeply with Americans of every race. His words spoke to the legacies of the grief and guilt, anger and apprehension that we bear as a nation, remnants of a history which has never been remedied. We are all scarred by the racial wounds of injustice, and we will be perpetually hindered as individuals, as communities, and as a nation until we address the historic and current, the overt and discreet, the personal and the structural, manifestations of racism in our society.
Obama's speech has paved the way for a much-needed conversation on race in America. Yet there is another essential element to creating a more perfect union: acknowledging and rectifying the persistent and pervasive injustices based on gender that women continue to experience in all areas of life. If we are, in Senator Obama's words, "to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America" then we must march for women as well.
What would a speech on gender sound like? Would it speak to the continued wage gap, the perpetual attacks on women's sexual autonomy, the lack of affordable child care and healthcare? Would it reference the continued political disenfranchisement and under-representation of women in the upper echelons of business and politics? Of the unity and divisions which exist among women themselves?
We need to open up the conversation on gender in America. And it is our thought, at The White House Project, that no one woman, or leader, or organization should be writing that speech. Instead, the women of our nation must join together to chart this course. Only then can we speak to the diversity of women's experiences, our shared and divergent historical repression, and the realities of our lives today.
So we invite you to share with us, in the comments section below, what you would include in such a speech. We'll start with our own contribution, but it's up to you to flesh out the rest--because only when we all contribute our voices and visions to this monumental task of closing the gender gap, will we finally be able to create that "more perfect union" we've been striving for for so long.
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I’ve had a few experiences sitting at the “tables of power” in my young professional life. And, since I started having kids three years ago, those days working my way toward the top have been sidelined. It’s not that clear what’s happening. After all, the ceiling is glass, isn’t it?
I work as a freelance consultant now to have the balance and flexibility I need. I wonder what the long-term impacts will be on my career. I feel lucky to have choices and gratitude to the women who made these choices possible. I think now is the time to start creating even better options to keep women successfully engaged in advancing their careers while they raise their families.
Here are things I think need to change so women can keep their seat warm at the tables of power. We (Moms and Dads) need:
Time and support managing our family lives.
Options for flexible work schedules.
On-site daycare, lactation, and exercise facilities.
Management philosophies that recognize work-life balance is good for business.
To believe it is ok for both parents to work and that our kids are safe and incredibly enriched when they have high-quality daycare.
Maybe if we recognize women will bear children during defining, productive years of their professional lives, we can begin to imagine a new workplace that helps families meet these additional demands. Until then, women will continue to leave their seats at the tables of power to care for their families.
If this "speech" carries any real weight, it should not exclude men--it should not exclude men from giving the very speech. As a woman who believes in equal rights for women, I have always felt that one of the biggest mistakes of ardent (if not militant) feminists was to somehow treat men with disdain and dismiss ideas coming from men. If women rights are about human rights, then men ought to be included in the discussion, as participants, not as targets.
To be more specific, Mr. Obama is as qualified to talk about issues related to women as any woman.
Before you starts your criticism of me, pause and ask yourself how you'd feel about Ann Coulter giving a speech on this topic.
And it does matter who delivers this speech. It matters that it not be done by someone who has played every stereotypical manipulation credited to women throughout the history of womankind in order to further her own interests--AKA Hillary Clinton. It matters that it is inclusive of men; it matters that it is inclusive of the diversity of women and the roles they have played historically. It matters most that it comes from someone whose life reflects these qualities of inclusiveness; it matters that it comes from someone who understands empathy, someone who feels it. Obama's speech was powerful because it and he are indicative of these qualities. Women deserve no less...but then again, I would hope that we would not be so self serving as to diminish the importance of his speech by making this another contest.
Can you start by contacting Hillary Clinton and asking her surrogates to stop using emasculating language about a candidate who respects women and wants to protect women's rights? I have a hard time taking HillFems seriously when they're aligned with a man like James Carville who accuses Obama of 'hiding behind the NYTimes Editorialists skirts'.
It's hard to see Clinton as a feminist candidate when she promises to 'obliterate' entire nations and when she supoprts this proxy gender war - one in which Obama can't win because it requires him to become a neanderthal to prove his 'manliness'.
How can you write 'The Gender Speech' when the person who should deliver it is citing 'feminine behaviors' as weak and ineffective in protecting this nation???? What good would your speech be?
Well said. As a third-generation feminist of Clinton's age (+ 5), I won't vote for her because she will (if she hasn't already) set feminism back by at least 50 years. Instead of pioneering a NEW way, she has adopted the worst attributes of the male power structure and female stereotype in a narcissistic, win-at-any-cost, out-macho-the-male-competition, but whine-if-things-don't-go -my-way strategy. She has no center, no moral compass, and precious little dignity left. The (male dominated) media now profess to admire this conduct. What would their attitude be if she actually got the nomination? Their misogyny would be something to behold.
The only genuine feminist in this race is Obama. My feminist son frequently tells me how glad he is that my head whacks on the glass ceiling have not turned me into the bitter, enraged, crazy old lady many of Clinton's female supporters often appear to be. I find significant satisfaction in that.
Well Marie, women are included in the more perfect union peice. To separate women issues away from the larger peice invites a struggle of the isms (classism, racism, sexism). In this context, as women, we must first see ourselves as humans and help define what we share with others before selfishly jumping to the front of the line to demand that our interest are first served. With that said, I offer this contribution to your request:
Your request suggest that we need to ask male politicians to do right by us womenfolk. Why must we do that? How is it that man born of woman makes bad decisions that affect our lives? Isn't that odd?
As the mother of mankind, we have the opportunity to be the first teachers to our sons and daughters. These daughters and sons grow up and may enter politics. We can influence their worldview before they turn 7 years old.
So we must ask ourselves why the sons we raised who now serve our government and head up corporations view women as they do. Could it be as mothers and first teachers we failed to impact these people worldview when they were still children? if we really want to affect change, let us start with the baby in the cradle.
Lastly, Marie, a lot has changed since the 60's except we may be continuing to raise our boys to become men who don't respect the needs and desires of women.
My adult son is a feminist. But I remember when he was about 4 years old, hearing him mutter under his breath while he was watching Sesame Street's Maria fix a broken bicycle, "She can't do that." He wouldn't repeat what he had said out loud, but I addressed the sentiment anyway. "Do you think she can't fix the bicycle because she's a woman?" I asked him. He admitted that's what he thought. "Who fixes things that are broken in our house" I asked. "You do," he said rather sheepishly. It occurred to me at the time that misogyny was so pervasive in the society that a child too young to be in school had internalized some of its prejudices even when they were contrary to his own experience and the evidence seen by his own eyes.
We have come a long way in changing attitudes, the women of my generation have, beginning with our sons, but the next generation of moms still have their work cut out for them.
Obama wrote the speech on race and Hillary said she was glad he did it. If she truly is a leader, let her write the definitive speech on gender.
This seems weird because you're asking for all of us to help write a speech similar to Obama's race speech.
What's implied is that Obama's speech spoke for all.
... speech parag. one...
"I have had to come to terms with the genetic imperitive to be coldly calculating and ruthless in pursuit of my goals. I have realized that natural selection has ingrained this behavior into the female genome through the maternal responsibility in our 'hunter/gatherer' past... because it was incumbent on the female to keep the children alive. This habit has extended into modern society where the imperitive is much less an emergency because resources are more readily available. The habit has caused a caustic tendency... where acting like testosterone injections are the vehicle to equality. I regret having forsaken my greatest and most powerful asset... "femininity"... for the ugly expedienceof beating my chest like an ape... because it's so easy that a cave man can do it...." (trademark Geico)
A good conversation would address the fact that women care whether people live or die. If we want our children to stop dying from poverty, poor health care, and the War in Iraq, we desperately need to elect a Democrat to the White House. Our best chance of doing that is if Clinton withdraws, enthusiastically endorses Obama, and urges all women to vote for him.
The hard fact is that Clinton cannot win in November--and that has nothing to do with gender. She is a polarizing figure, who creates antagonism. This is *not* just because of gender bias. I am a professional woman very close to her age; I know those difficulties. But people have innate personalities, and Clinton is a fighter who divides people between "us" and "them" and provokes deep antagonism.
If Clinton gets the nomination, Obama's supporters will generally support her. But she will be massacred by the right wing. The Republicans *want* Clinton to be their opponent, so they are not raising negatives about her now. Obama has been very gentle. But the rightwing will turn out in droves to oppose Hillary. The chances of her beating McCain are very, very small.
As a woman and mother I say: Our children have to stop dying. Hillary Clinton has little chance of beating McCain--even with Obama's enthusiastic support. Obama has a better chance of winning, especially if he has Clinton's support.
No way on earth do I want someone like HC speaking for me.........she knows nothing of the struggles of the "typical female" , she knows nothing of doing real work, and she knows nothing about raising children. When you never go without anything you want, there is no way you can relate to those who sacrifice everyday for their families.
of course when she loses the nomination maybe then she will be able to relate to not getting everything your own way.
Funny, I don't remember Barack Obama asking us to write his speech for him...
Talk to me after Hillary Clinton listens to and comments on Obama's speech.
I know that I've experiences discrimination for being a woman, especially in the work place.
But I also know that it is nothing compared to the discrimination that people of color experience.
Hillary only needs to give one speech: The Good-bye Speech.
No. Before that, she needs to offer some apologies. One for voting for the war, one for suggesting Obama is a Muslim, one for suggesting McCain is more qualified, one for being such a poor role model for women, one for damaging race relations in this country, and one to her supporters for running such a bad campaign and using their money so poorly.
One of the things that made Barack's speech so effective was his experience of being half black, and half white. That allowed him to address the problem from both points of view.
So maybe you can get a hermaphrodite - or at least a transgendered person - to help you out here.
Don't thank me. I'm here to help.
Can't stop laughing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First, I must say that I can think of lots of men who really do respect women and value them. Mostly, they're older, though, and have been around the block many times and have felt the vulnerabilities in their own bodies... so they are no longer as demanding about women's appearances, and can appreciate them as people not unlike themselves.
My own litmus test:
I'll know when the majority of men are as fully engaged in eliminating sexism as they are in eliminating racism- when they not only no longer use the names of female body parts as the very worst epithets to call one another... but also call out other men who do so. And make them stop.
And if there is room in a speech on gender for a poem of poignant humor, then Lucille Clifton's "Wishes for Sons," must be included, as a reminder of the humility with which every woman must grapple at some point:
wishes for sons
by Lucille Clifton
i wish them cramps.
i wish them a strange town
and the last tampon.
I wish them no 7-11.
I wish them one week early
and wearing a white skirt.
i wish them one week late.
later i wish them hot flashes
and clots like you
wouldn't believe. let the
flashes come when they
meet someone special.
let the clots come
when they want to.
let them think they have accepted
arrogance in the universe,
then bring them to gynecologists
not unlike themselves.
I should have noted that Lucille Clifton is also African-American, and so her poem has a sub-text of race, too, with that "strange town."
you would need a woman to give a gender speech -- so that let's Hillary out
She has no heart and no soul --
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