Feminists Are Needed

This past weekend I did a workshop on Feminism and Eleanor Roosevelt (ER)for the first session of GirlsLeadership Workshop, one of the premier programs at the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at ValKill. Of these 29 young women from around the globe, only 6 identified as feminists, most were "I am not a Feminist But I believe that women should have [equal rights, pay equity. . .].

ER herself did not support women's right to vote until her husband did--she was at that point still the perfect Victorian wife--supporting her husband's ventures and popping out 6 children in 10 years. BUT when she did support women's rights, she did so with gusto--calling herself a feminist,too.
Feminists are still much needed--there is still not pay equity, adequate and affordable childcare and eldercare, women's reproductive healthcare is threatened, in some states fetuses will have more rights than the woman whose carrying them, violence against women--from rape to battering to murder-- is still out of control. . .

This is from today's collection of articles on Alternet http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/89703/?ses=43c3dc6d895041efb9a9c723ae55e83e