Tag: nc

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EVENT: Listening Session to Discuss NC’s Changing Feminist Policy Landscape

Police violence against black and brown bodies and the global pandemic are parallel plagues across this nation. For many of us, working at the intersections of multiple crises is not a new task. However, these new and more uncertain times have exposed the fault lines of just how broken things are, leaving so many questions to consider. It also exposes how ready we are for change.

What is the role of the feminist movement in addressing structural and institutional racism? What are the vulnerabilities in our diverse community of NC women? Why is front line work so gendered? What does it mean if childcare fails? The Atlantic has described this pandemic as a “disaster for feminism” and we agree that this public health crisis has had a significant impact on family life, especially for women. Additionally, the pandemic has exposed, for the first time for many folks, the reality of what Mikki Kendall calls “Hood Feminism”, the feminism of women for whom there is a constant thought and effort to secure safe and sustainable housing, decent available food, good schools, and equitable instruction.

These are the musings of my mind; we want to know what’s on yours. What are your NCWU member organizations seeing as the impacts of the pandemic and public health crisis on your stakeholders? What would a women’s agenda for NC’s COVID recovery look like? Other states are starting to publish similar recommendations–see the Hawaii Women’s Commission proposal or this op-ed from California’s Rep. Jackie Speier. We’re interested in compiling a similar effort for our state. Ideally, this would be a reflection of your evolving policy priorities for the legislature as you are witnessing and experiencing the impacts of the pandemic on your stakeholders. This could either take the form of an addendum to our 2019-2020 legislative agenda, or a discrete product such as the Hawaii example. Please share your ideas and reactions with our policy director Lyric Thompson at lyrict@gmail.com, which she will curate in a running list that we can discuss as an NCWU community on a Zoom call on June 23rd at 4 p.m.

Register for the Zoom Call

P.S. Read our new blog post and take our survey! We want to hear from you!

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Survey: What do Women Need in a State Response to COVID?

For many of us, working at the intersections of multiple crises is not a new task. However, these new and more uncertain times have exposed the fault lines of just how broken things are, leaving so many questions to consider.

Why is front line work so gendered? What does it mean if childcare fails? What are the vulnerabilities in our diverse community of NC women? The Atlantic has described this pandemic as a “disaster for feminism” and we agree that this public health crisis has had a significant impact on family life, especially for women. Additionally, the pandemic has exposed, for the first time for many folks, are just now waking up to the reality of what Mikki Kendell calls “Hood Feminism”,; the feminism of women for whom there is The constant thought and effort to secure safe and sustainable housing, decent available food, good schools and equitable instruction.

Arguably this pandemic has had a profoundly classist impact For the first time some women are having to worry about groceries, diapers, clean water, eviction, access to quality health care and hygiene products. However, with nearly 40 percent of jobs under $40, 000 lost and the possibility of a vaccine not being widley available, it does invite the prospect of class genocide.

For women in communities of color this “survival mode” is a switch that never turns off. Has this been a disaster for feminism or has this caused a leveling of the playing field that now requires us all to work towards building the infrastructure that never allows these basic needs to go unmet? We do not have all the answers, but this is a dialogue that we would like to have with our members. The following zooms calls are available so that we can hear from you. How are you? What are you working on? What have you seen and experienced during this time?

We are committed to addressing the challenges that exist for women and families in our state. With a critical election on the horizon it is even more important to have a collective agenda that will enhance the quality of life for all women. But we need your help. What are you experiencing as the impacts and effects of this pandemic? Please take our survey, from which we are compiling a picture of how the women of NC are faring, which will inform our advocacy agenda for what the state’s response to COVID should address.. We know there is no such thing as gender-neutral policy choices–they are only gender-blind, unclear how they might affect people across gender, race, immigration status or other lines. We hope to make these differences clear to NC policymakers.

Won’t you join us?

Click here to take our survey!!