How did you feel after the results of the recent election were announced? Depending on who you voted for and how you felt about that vote, you could be wildly cheering, deeply remorseful, or hesitating to feel anything while waiting to see what that outcome really means. If you’re one of the 40% of voters who did not bother to go to the polls, consciously stayed silent, or were just too busy, you can still do something. In fact, everyone can do something to lift others and create a more equal world, and that’s exactly what needs to happen now. We need to act to avoid outcomes that could sideline or reduce women’s freedoms before they take shape and become an accepted part of our daily lives. Specifically, we need to stop postponing the publication of the Equal Rights Amendment, shore up Title IX support, and prepare for other legislative actions being tossed around that could further set back women’s rights.
Action #1 – Examine your feelings.
Are you afraid of the future? Fear will freeze your spirit and immobilize action while focusing on expected outcomes instead of what is real here and now. Are you angry? Anger is a knee-jerk response to something you think is unfair or personally insulting. Shake it off, release your ego, and consider the source of your anger. In her recent podcast interview, Gloria Feldt warned, “Resistance is futile. Resistance turns you into a mirror image of the person or group you’re fighting.” Don’t become THEM! Are you grieving over the loss of yet another woman cracking but not shattering the topmost glass ceiling? This is a natural response, and you need to allow it, but don’t wallow. It’s time to move on and act to create a better, more powerful future for women. For all of us.
Action #2 – Keep talking.
Don’t retreat. Reach out to others and strategize on what you can do and how you can increase your influence. “Tend and befriend” those like you, lift one another, and take steps to support others. Don’t tune out the opposition, either. One of Gloria’s power tools is “Embrace controversy.” She explains why in her book, No Excuses: Nine Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power. “Controversy can clarify your principles, show you where you stand, and help you draw the line—and it can draw others to you.” There’s so much controversy now, and with neither of the two major presidential candidates drawing a strong majority of the vote, many of us feel like hiding in our closets to avoid family feuds. But Gloria warns us not to get tired and back away. Instead, she urges us to use it, not to maintain the status quo but as a “highly potent and strategic power tool…to shed light on an issue or make the change we want in our lives or in leadership.” She advises us to “make controversy our friend.”
Action #3 Know the facts.
Here are a few points to get you started:
- The Equal Rights Amendment has been fully ratified by the requisite 38 states but has not yet been published in the Constitution. Because of this, discrimination on the basis of sex is permitted, and women do not have equal rights under U.S. law.
- Only 14 countries currently have a provision to protect rights on the basis of sex in their constitution.
- Vice-president elect J.D. Vance voted against equality for women by co-sponsoring a bill in 2023 to stop the ERA from being published because of the expiration date Congress added to the amendment. Check the facts to see if your senator also backed the bill. If so, drop him/her a note asking them to revisit their position.
What can you do? Join the #ERANow action plan. Engage your community in the Feminist Front/Young Feminist actions. Call on President Biden and your Congressional Representative to publish the ERA before January. Call (202) 456-1111 and text (302) 404-0880 and demand #ERANow #PublishTheERA #PublishERANow Send a letter. Click http://PublishERANow.org for complete information.
And just to cover all of the bases, you can also encourage your Representative to support the discharge petition for H.J. Res. 25, led by Representative Ayanna Pressley to release the ERA for publication. In other words, when you know the facts, act. Contact your elected officials and demand to be represented. They are put in office to work for their constituents. That is YOU! Hold them accountable.
Action #4 – BE the change.
Everything we do now affects the next generation, and the next, and the next. Is this the world you want to pass on to your children or grandchildren? If not, what do you want to change for them? Before you act, think about the outcome. Every action has one. Inaction is also action. Think about all those people who didn’t vote. Not voting was perhaps the most decisive action of the election. What is important is what we do now. Whatever you do, act with positive intentions, value yourself and other people, respect other people’s viewpoints, and listen. Ask questions and reach beyond name-calling and negativity; take responsibility for what you say and do; be true to yourself and own your actions.
Action #5 – Come together.
This is the secret sauce to gaining momentum and making each action count. When people help one another with the heavy lifting, they can bond in ways that make them feel like family—dependent on one another to achieve a common goal. No goal is more important than protecting women’s rights. As Hillary Clinton said, “Women’s rights are human rights.” Those rights have been set back by massive loss of jobs during COVID, through the fall of Roe v Wade, and subsequent state-by-state judgments on reproductive rights that are literally threatening the lives of mothers-to-be. (Check the facts.)
We desperately need more representation—female representation—public servants who represent the wants and needs of the people who elect them, not just “strong” men or fearful men and women worried about serving them. The greatest action we can take is one women have always taken—to get the right to vote, to get the ERA passed, and more—working together, amplifying one another’s voices, partnering our resources, and sharing what we know. What do you know? How can you help? Let’s come together, engage our collective power, and demand equality for all.