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“Why should we get involved as activists? We’re
dismissed by men, by our religious institutions, by
political leaders, even by older women who don’t think
we have anything new to say.” This is how a young woman
at a recent forum on politics, religion, and feminism
summed up the obstacles that face younger women who hope
to make a difference in the world.
This young activist is the founder of a young women’s
network that promotes women’s rights within her
religious tradition. She models what younger women must
do today: insist that our ideas matter and that we have
something to contribute. We must stand up and make our
voices heard.
For the past three years, I have interviewed progressive
religious women about their ideas on feminism, religion,
and politics (see my books The Ties That Bind:
Women’s Public Vision for Politics, Religion, and Civil
Society [2005] and Called to Speak: Six
Strategies That Encourage Women’s Political Activism
[2006]; both published by the Institute for Women’s
Policy Research, Washington, D.C.). I have been both
saddened and compelled by what younger women have to
say.
I’ve heard sad stories about what happens when young
women take up political activism and leadership, inside
and outside religious contexts. I’ve heard about young
women's lack of interest in women’s issues because so
many believe the fight has already been won.
But I’ve also heard incredibly innovative and exciting
ideas for organizing politically. In fact, we younger
women may hold the key to finishing the work our
foremothers started in advancing women’s issues and
concerns.
The only way to make that happen, though, is for us to
claim our voice and take our place in public life.
Compassionate Voice
Describing the values behind her commitment to social
justice, one recent college graduate said: “There’s a
connection between all human beings. And if [someone is]
going to act aggressively and minimize somebody’s rights
— or just completely strip them of their rights — what
does that say for the morality that we are being
taught?”
Her ideas are common among many younger women of faith,
religious women who are committed to social justice.
Innovative thinkers like her understand the value of
humanity, mutuality, and shared responsibility. And they
want to incorporate those values into politics and
public life.
Building caring communities is not a mainstream
political value, but it is a focus of many religious
movements and organizations. If we were to use this
value to inform our political goals, we might pursue
policies and ways of policymaking that promote the
common good and individual rights. Even the most
voiceless and disadvantaged among us would benefit.
Younger women’s values and ideas could also lend a fresh
perspective to the women’s movement. In the past,
feminist movements have used rights-based language,
focusing on economic and political equality. That
strategy has led to significant progress, but women have
not yet transformed politics, religion, and economics to
reflect our lives and concerns. We do not yet have a
society in which women's ideas, values, and roles are
respected as much as those of men.
An older feminist leader told me, “We had to concentrate
on rights. We didn’t have any. But now maybe we should
look at the kind of language we use. Instead of talking
about welfare rights, which is probably a negative [for
many people], maybe we need to talk about a kinder,
gentler society.” Perhaps the values of younger women
will help build a stronger movement for women of all
backgrounds. Claiming our public voice could help
achieve that goal.
Spiritual Voice
Younger women are looking for a place where their values
are heard and respected but feel alienated from politics
and organized religion. “We believe in the ideals of
politics, feminism, and religion, but they have all done
a lot we don’t agree with,” a 20-something woman said in
a recent forum.
Younger women want a spiritual home, a place where they
can find support and comfort when they feel unheard in
public life. As one told me, “Young women are seeking
out new places where they are spiritually fed.”
Where are those places? Younger women recognize that
neither organized religion nor the feminist movement
offers that perfect place, at least not yet. Most faith
communities have a long way to go before they grant
women the same respect and authority as men. And
religious women often feel unwelcome in feminist
organizations because many feminists are, often rightly,
critical of organized religion because of its sexism,
both past and present. For their part, many secular
feminist leaders are perplexed that religious women who
also profess to be feminists continue to worship or work
in those congregations or institutions. As a
consequence, many feminist groups devote little energy
to supporting the fight for women’s voice and authority
in organized religion.
Young, progressive women who are active in both
religious groups and the feminist movement argue that a
way to claim their voice is to create networks and
alliances between the two worlds. We need one another’s
support, they say, as we are all battling sexism and
patriarchy. Younger women are also open to the role of
spirituality in sustaining feminist activism. They are a
generation removed from the most blatant sexism that
pervaded both political and religious institutions, and
they see the strength that could come from mobilizing
women together. A young community activist motivated by
her spiritual values claimed that younger religious
women are interested in pursuing such common-goal
alliances because “we are committed to healing and
wholeness.”
Involved Voice
Despite the great potential that young women bring to
the struggle for political and religious change, many
remain unengaged, seeing few openings for leadership or
even for being heard at all. Younger women often step
away from public life because they feel dismissed or
patronized. But as one young activist told me, in order
to make change, younger women must first “claim our own
voices and possibilities, rather than letting others
define us.” She, like many, is a source of inspiration
for us all. None of us can change the world unless we
get involved in our communities, in politics, and in
public life.
To make a difference, we must be voters, activists, and
leaders.
Amy
Caiazza is the
study director for Democracy and Society Programs at the
Institute for Women’s Policy Research. She has a
doctorate in political science and has written several
books about women’s involvement in politics, religious
institutions, and the women’s movement.
Exercise your Civil Rights: Vote!
by Audrey Novak Riley
Two years ago,
I helped
more than 100 people register to vote. I talked to
people and filled in registration forms until I had
writer’s cramp up to my ear. And it was great.
A recently homeless man living at the Y registered to
vote. A young African American mother with three little
ones tagging along came to register. People brought in
their elderly parents who had recently moved into the
retirement hotel down the street, and one of those
elegant older women told me about the fun she and her
friends had campaigning for President Franklin D.
Roosevelt back in the '40s. Students from the Roman
Catholic college across town registered.
These people all had something in common: People like
them didn't always have the right to vote.
I was amazed when I found out later that my League of
Women Voters committee had registered more than 900
people that fall. Then when I learned that more than 80
percent of the registered voters in our town turned out
and voted in that election, I wanted to stand up and
cheer. I had joined the League of Women Voters for
exactly that purpose, to help people exercise their
civil rights — and vote.
Why do I want to help people vote, of all things?
Justice. Justice demands that everyone's voice be heard
in this world, and the only way most of us can make our
voice heard is with our vote. If we don't exercise our
right to vote, it's as if we are voiceless.
Disenfranchised people have fought for the right to vote
for years, and even though the right has been granted by
law, it may still be denied in fact. Vote suppression —
that is, discouraging people from voting — has long been
a tactic of those who seek to deny the civil rights of
others. Suppression has been carried out in many ways,
ranging from outright violence to subtle propaganda: If
you're so disgusted with nasty campaign ads that you
don't want to have anything to do with voting, then
you've been manipulated into suppressing your own vote.
Our nation has slowly expanded the right to vote over
our history, and it has not always been a smooth
process. When our 13 original states first won
independence from England, only property-owning white
men over 21 who were members of certain religious
denominations could vote. By 1790, all states dropped
the religious qualification. It was another 65 years
before the last state dropped its economic barriers to
voting in 1855, so that (broadly speaking) all white men
over 21 could vote. After the Civil War, the 15th
Amendment extended the vote to all men over 21 born or
naturalized in the United States, regardless of race.
The fight still goes on to guarantee that the poor and
members of minority racial, religious, and language
groups are not denied their right to vote. The landmark
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and
Voting Rights Act of 1965
struck down poll taxes and other roadblocks to voting,
but there are always those who seek to go around the
law. For example, some states require voters to show a
government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's license.
Voters' rights advocates attest that this particularly
discourages the urban poor, who are less likely to have
a driver's license. See
www.votingrights.org for more.
What about women? The 19th Amendment to the Constitution
that guaranteed women over 21 the vote was finally
ratified on August 26, 1920. Such advocates for women’s
civil rights as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, Jane Addams, one of the founders of modern
social work, and Carrie Chapman Catt, League of Women
Voters founder, had carried on the fight for women’s
right to vote in the United States since 1848.
And what about young people? In World War II, single men
18 and over were eligible to be drafted into the armed
services. During that war, a congressman from West
Virginia introduced an amendment to lower the voting age
to 18, arguing that people old enough to fight and die
for their country should be able to vote. (He had to
keep trying, too: Jennings Randolph introduced bills to
lower the voting age 11 times). Finally, on July 1,
1971, when the nation was at war again, President
Richard M. Nixon signed the 26th Amendment into law.
Young adults could vote.
In the spring of 1972, I turned 18 and exercised my
right to vote in the first election after the 26th
Amendment was passed. I went to the polling place with
my mother; I’ll always remember the look of pride on her
face as I stepped up to the table and said, “I’d like to
vote, please.”
Audrey Novak Riley lives and
votes in River Forest, Illinois.
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