Migration Category: Feminist Newswire

Stories from the Feminist News Wire.

Illinois Workers Vote to Form First Instacart Union in the United States

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Workers for grocery delivery service Instacart in the Chicago, Illinois, suburb of Skokie voted on Saturday to unionize.

The vote at Mariano’s grocery store, part of a local chain, was 10-4 to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1546, making it the first Instacart union in the country. The successful move to unionize from the shoppers came despite a union-busting campaign, with high-level managers distributing anti-union literature and emails.

Instacart employs 12,000 shoppers, legally classified as part-time employees. One of the lead organizers of the union drive described frequent penalizations from the company’s algorithm, a high item-per-minute quota under a timer, and not receiving healthcare benefits as evidence that “workers are treated so badly.” The company also employs over 130,000 gig workers, labelled as independent contractors, who deliver groceries to homes.

The company has faced public backlash in previous months over its default 5% tip, which incited calls for a boycott earlier in January. In 2016, the default tip percentage was decreased from 10% and a 5% service fee was introduced. Shoppers say this change has cut into their net wages. Instacart gave in to pressure and outrage over its policies concerning independent contractors and now provides workplace injury coverage, a student loan repayment program, access to Care.com’s care provider platform and expanded financial and health wellness resources.

Instacart has also put $10 million into fighting California’s AB 5 law, which makes it harder for companies to misclassify gig workers as independent contractors rather than employees. Uber, Lyft and Doordash cumulatively are spending $90 million towards a ballot measure to repeal AB 5.

The president of UFCW 1546 said he and the union “look forward to this opportunity to work with our new Instacart members in negotiating their first union contract.”

Sources: Vice News 1/27/20; CNBC 1/14/20; Venture Beat 8/21/19; Mother Jones 1/29/20; USA Today 8/11/19; Chris Opfer 2/1/20.

Brooklyn State Park Honors Black Transgender Activist Marsha P. Johnson

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to rename a Brooklyn state park after Marsha P. Johnson on Saturday in a speech at a Human Rights Campaign gala. Calling on New York’s progressive leadership, Cuomo made promises of support for LGBTQ issues.

Marsha P. Johnson is a queer icon and pioneer. One of the leaders of the revolutionary Stonewall Riots, she was a black transgender activist, prostitute, and drag performer. A key part of the gay liberation movement born in Greenwich Village, Johnson fought for equality, recognition, and safety. Her efforts sparked growing activism from the LGBTQ+ movement.

Cuomo emphasized that the East River State Park would be the first to be named after an openly gay figure in New York. He spoke strongly about rising hate crimes, stating, “While we are winning the legal battle for justice for the LGBTQ+ community, in many ways we are losing the broader war for equality.” He reinforced New Yorkers to stand in the face of bigotry against racial, sexual, and religious minorities. It was a call for acceptance and inclusivity honoring a trailblazing activist that was discriminated against in all aspects. Johnson was a racial minority, queer, gender non-conforming, and economically disadvantaged. Her struggles opened new paths for resistance against bigotry.

The honoring of her legacy shows progress and is a step in the right direction for better public representation of diversity. But Johnson’s activism still holds resounding truth today, her words remind us of that the fight is not over.

“As long as gay people don’t have their rights all across America,” she once said, “there’s no reason for celebration.”

Sources: NBC News 2/2/20; New York Daily News 2/1/20; LGBTQ Nation 2/2/20

Staffers Say Sexism Runs Deep At The Washington Post

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Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez has been receiving death and rape threats following a tweet she sent out with a link to a story about sexual assault allegations against Kobe Bryant, shortly after the NBA player’s death. Sonmez’s home address was published online by an angry member of the public. Upon receiving this information, Sonmez’s editors placed her on paid suspension, and suggested she stay elsewhere for the night.

In comparison with Sonmez’s situation, Post reporter Shane Harris also faced online harassment last year, though of a lesser intensity. However, when Harris reported to his editors that someone had discovered his address, the Post immediately provided Harris with a 24/7 armed security guard for 3 full days.

The disparities in treatment between these two reporters and situations is only one example of the unequal treatment of men and women at the Post, according to multiple past and present employees. One current staffer at the Post commented, “The place is run by men and it creates a particular atmosphere and assigns a higher value to certain male characteristics. I’ve been a victim of it in a broad way, as most women in the newsroom have.” No one interviewed by the Huffington Post was willing to submit their name on the record due to fears of retaliation/damage to careers. Additionally, many expressed a hesitancy to criticize the Post at a time when media “credibility is under attack by a White House hostile to the press.” However, this makes their criticism especially notable.

According to a report published last year by the Post Guild (the union representing Post employees), women are paid less than men at the Washington Post, which further supports the accusations of inequality within its work environment. One former Washington Post employee told the Huffington Post that she was fired after asking for a raise. While some Post employees sent out formal statements disputing these claims of gender inequality, data published by the union’s report explicitly denotes the disparities in pay between men and women in the newsroom. Some of these gaps neared approximately $10,000.

Sources: Huffington Post 02/03/2020; Huffington Post 01/28/2020; NY Times 01/27/2020; Washington Post Guild 11/06/2019

Planned Parenthood to Resume Care at Louisville Clinic, Expanding Abortion Access in Kentucky

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A Planned Parenthood clinic in Louisville will resume providing abortions in March after former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin ordered a stop on abortions at the clinic in 2016. The clinic received a provisional license from the state in January permitting it to provide a full range of reproductive healthcare, including abortions.

This will make the clinic only the second abortion provider in Kentucky. In a statement, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky Chris Charbonneau said, “Kentucky has gone from one abortion provider to two, which is a significant win for reproductive health care in the state. Abortion access in Kentucky and across the country is at great risk, so while this is a step forward, the fight is far from over.”

Abortion was a key issue in the 2019 gubernatorial race. For Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin (R), a severe opponent of abortion access, lost his reelection bid to current pro-choice Gov. Andy Beshear (D), who took office on December 10. In January, the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced that it would be rescinding its refusal to grant the Louisville clinic a license to provide abortions.

This victory follows nearly four years of legal battles between Planned Parenthood and the Bevin administration. The administration filed a lawsuit in early 2016 claiming that Planned Parenthood was illegally providing abortions without a license, despite the organization providing records demonstrating otherwise. In 2017, the Bevin administration also sought to shut down the state’s only other abortion provider, EMW Women’s Surgical Center, but a federal judge blocked that attempt.

Anti-choice legislators continue to push bans and limits on abortion in Kentucky. The state has passed six such bills in the last three years.

Sources: The Washington Post 1/31/20; LEX 18 1/31/20; Courier Journal 1/31/20

Katie Sowers Paves the Way for Female NFL Coaches

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Katie Sowers, an offensive assistant coach for the San Francisco 49ers, made history yesterday as the first female and openly LGBT coach in the Super Bowl.

Sowers, 33, has worked long and hard to get to where she is. Off the field, she graduated from the University of Central Missouri after earning her Masters and started off as the City of Kansas City athletic director. Sowers also played with the Women’s Football Alliance (WFA) for eight years and was a member of the U.S. Women’s National Football Team.

Sowers’ big coaching break came in the form of a fifth grade basketball team. One of the girls on the team Sowers was coaching happened to be the daughter of Scott Pioli, the former assistant general manager of the Atlanta Falcons. He referred Sowers to Falcons coach Dan Quinn and asked that she be considered for the 2016 Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship, a program that aims to hire more minority coaches.

Sowers was then offered an internship with the NFL for ten months. She was able to accept after Pioli paid her rent in Atlanta; the internship only offered $10 per hour for 40 hours per week. Sowers quickly impressed offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, and he offered her a job in 2016. When Shanahan left to coach in San Francisco, Sowers joined him.

“We have all these assumptions about what women do in life and what men do. I’m not trying to be the best female coach. I’m trying to be the best coach,” Sowers said in a recently aired Microsoft commercial. “All it takes is one, all it takes is one and then it opens the door for so many.”

According to the New York Times, seven full-time female coaches and 15 coaching interns have worked in the NFL since 2015.

Sources: Good Morning America, 2/2/20; New York Times, 2/1/20; Forbes, 2/1/20.

Gender-Based Violence on the Rise as Climate Crisis Continues

Posted on by Corinne Long

The climate crisis is becoming increasingly linked to violence against women and girls, and gender-based exploitation is rendering attempts to curb the adverse effects of environmental degradation ineffective.

There are increasing calls for more intersectionality in governments and institutions’ efforts to combat the climate crisis while centering girls and women in their strategies. Over the course of two years, and with the involvement of over 1,000 sources of research, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has undertaken the most comprehensive look into the issue yet.

Cate Orwen, a lead author of the report, noted the presence of clear evidence to suggest that the climate crisis is related to growing rates of gender-based violence. “As environmental degradation and stress on ecosystems increases, that in turn creates scarcity and stress for people, and the evidence shows that, where environmental pressures increase, gender-based violence increases.”

More than eighty case studies demonstrated the link between gender-based violence and climate change, and six in ten respondents answered an IUCN survey said they had seen gender-based violence perpetrated to female environmental rights defenders, environmental migrants, and refugees.

The IUCN report also noted that there has been a rise in human trafficking in areas where the natural environment is under stress. The climate crisis has put heavy pressure on the earth’s resources, and extreme weather is occurring with a higher frequency and inflicting more damage. In a world where women are already among the most marginalized and excluded, the climate crisis only exacerbates exploitation of women and girls.

In periods of protracted drought, women and girls are the ones making the longer journeys to obtain water or food, rendering them more vulnerable to sexual assault and harassment. A study from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) found that girls who take more time to find water attend school less which can result in the girls dropping out. A report by CARE, a major humanitarian agency, stated that women and girls are the most affected in most disasters, and the report shows that one out of five refugee or displaced women has undergone sexual violence.

Bob Ward of the Grantham Institute on climate change and the environment at the London School of Economics highlighted the role of women in bringing about awareness to this issue. “The empowerment of women and girls and their protection from the direct and indirect consequences of climate change must lie at the heart of the just transition to zero-carbon and climate-resilient societies.”

Sources: The Guardian, 1/29/20; United Nations, 9/25/19; UNDP, 1/28/20, CARE International, 2016.

Attorneys General File Landmark ERA Lawsuit

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Three attorneys general that represent the last three states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) have filed a lawsuit stating that according to Article V, the amendment must be added to the Constitution immediately. This lawsuit was brought forth by Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford. Herring emphasized the importance of advocating for the ERA, stating that “Virginians have made it clear that it is their will that the ERA be ratified, and I now have the great honor of continuing that fight.”

On January 15, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which is the final state needed for ratification of the federal ERA to grant the equal protection of women. The amendment passed in Congress in 1972, and a seven year deadline was put in place as it went to the states for ratification. However, supporters of the ERA argue that the seven year deadline is unconstitutional because the deadline is not a Constitutional requirement.

The deadline for ratification was then extended to 1982, but only 35 of the 38 states needed to ratify the ERA met this new deadline. Nevada and Illinois ratified the ERA in the last three years, and Virginia was the last to do so this past Monday in a crossover vote. However, the U.S. Justice Department released an opinion in early January that the ERA can no longer be ratified since the deadline for ratification expired decades ago.

There are numerous ways in which this case could move forward, including moving through the court system and eventually making its way to the Supreme Court. Currently, there is resolution in the House that would remove the arbitrary timeline, which will be brought to the floor or a vote in the near future.

Sources: Feminist Newswire 1/15/20; The Washington Post 1/27/20; The Washington Post 1/8/20; The Washington Post 1/30/20.

Anti-Trans Bill Dies in Iowa State House

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A proposed bill that would have removed gender identity protections from the Iowa Civil Rights Act will not advance in the state legislature. Rep. Steven Holt, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, called the bill “dead” after deciding not to send it into subcommittee.

Iowa law has prohibited discrimination based on gender identity since 2007, making it one of 20 states to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in employment, housing, and public accommodations. The Iowa Civil Rights Act also bans discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, ancestry, and disability.

Civil rights and LGBTQ+ rights groups immediately criticized the bill when it was introduced.

“A transgender person could be denied a car loan because they’re transgender,” said Keenan Crow, a lobbyist for LGBTQ+ advocacy group One Iowa. “A landlord could refuse to rent them an apartment because they’re transgender. They could be fired simply for being transgender, even if they’re doing a great job at their place of employment.”

“Discriminating against transgender people — or any Iowans — will not make them, or us, go away or stop being who they are,” said Mark Stringer, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa.

Sponsors of the bill claimed its goal was to protect women’s rights, a familiar argument that has come up in defenses of  the “bathroom bills” that seek to ban transgender people from using the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

This latest attack on transgender people is just one manifestation of persisting anti-transgender prejudice in the US, prejudice which has far-reaching and deadly consequences. According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 25 transgender Americans were murdered in 2019, and one transgender man, Dustin Parker, has already been killed in 2020. Anti-transgender violence disproportionately impacts black transgender women.

Sources: Des Moines Register 1/29/20; KCCI Des Moines 1/29/20; Radio Iowa 1/29/20; Human Rights Campaign

New Data on Maternal Mortality Rates Show Extent of Racial Disparities

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As of 2018, all 50 states have adhered to a standardized method to report maternal mortality rates, and the recent release of this collection of data highlights the maternal health crisis in the US, particularly among women of color.

In the U.S. nearly 700 women die each year due to complications related to pregnancy or childbirth with large statistical gaps linked to institutional racism. The statistics confirm that out of the developed nations, the U.S. has the worst maternal mortality rates. The chief of the mortality statistics branch at the National Center for Health Statistics, Bob Anderson, stresses the importance of this data and what it indicates about the state of the nation. He states that these deaths are “almost entirely preventable” and it reflects public health issues plaguing the U.S.

In addition to this data, racial disparities in death tolls are seen in drastic numbers. Based off the 2018 numbers, black women are dying at a rate two and a half times greater than that of their white counterparts. Of the number of deaths per 100,000 live births in 2018, white women were at 14.7, while black women were at a staggering 37.1. Reasons behind this are linked mainly to structural racism. Institutional racism also contributes to black women’s higher risk of health issues and less accessibility to prenatal care. Many are calling for initiatives that would serve to counteract implicit racism in the healthcare industry.

Researcher’s faith in the accuracy of the data’s degree of certainty shows the extent of the public health crisis and the repercussions of the systematic oppression of black women.

Sources: NBC News 1/30/20; CNN 1/30/20; MedPage Today 1/29/20

Australian Feminist Fanny Finch Finally Being Recognized

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Australian feminist trailblazer Fanny Finch received a new memorial at the Castlemaine General Cemetery in central Victoria just a few months before the 163rd anniversary of the day she became the first woman to cast a ballot in Australia.

Finch was immortalized in the Melbourne-based newspaper The Argus two days after she cast her vote, as “the famous Mrs. Fanny Finch.” Finch used a loophole that granted suffrage to taxpaying “persons” to vote in 1856, while Victorian women (excluding indigenous women) would not be granted suffrage until 1908. Victorian indigenous women received the same right in 1965. Finch’s vote wasn’t counted, and the act allowing “persons” to vote was repealed two years later.

Beyond voting, Finch is remembered for being a woman ahead of her time. She was born to free Africans in London, England, in April 1915, and became a successful domestic servant before migrating to the colony of South Australia in 1937. She found work in a household, married a sailor and started a family of four children. In 1850, she left her husband and took her four children with her to begin a new life in Victoria.

The gold rush began, and Finch’s business and reputation boomed. Mrs. Finch’s Board and Lodging House became a “respectable” place of accommodations for the 25,000 gold mining men and women in the town of Forest Creek. Finch moved to Castlemaine in 1854 and ran a restaurant, becoming an admired and successful businesswoman in the community. She was a sex worker, as well, and may have run a brothel. Historian and PhD candidate Kacey Sinclair said, “She was a single mother of four and there was no other way to send her kids to school, feed them, and keep a roof over their heads.” Finch’s establishment was often the target of police injustice, including a conviction of illegal alcohol-selling, which motivated her to vote.

Finch died in 1863 and was laid to rest in an unmarked grave. Sinclair and Finch’s great-great-great granddaughter Alice Garner, an actress and author, worked together to bring recognition to Finch’s life and important place in history. Finch’s new memorial, funded by a grant from the government, reads that she was “brave and outspoken, unfailingly supportive of those in need.” Victoria’s Minister for Women Gabrielle Williams noted, “To be able to share her story allows us to take that extra step forward and to keep challenging the system that Fanny herself challenged.”

Sources: ABC News 4/15/19; Bendigo Advertiser 11/8/19; ABC News 1/28/20.

Virginia State Legislature Moves Forward with Pro-Choice Bill

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The Virginia General Assembly is positioned to pass a bill eliminating numerous abortion restrictions and allowing physician’s assistants, nurses, and nurse midwives to perform first-trimester abortions, a major expansion of abortion access in the state.

The House passed HB 980 on Tuesday, and the Senate is preparing for a vote on parallel legislation. The bill is expected to pass due to the Assembly’s historic new pro-choice majority in both chambers, a result of the 2019 election.

In addition to broadening the range of practitioners who may perform abortions, the bill eliminates mandatory pre-abortion ultrasounds and biased counselling, the 24-hour waiting period, and the requirement that clinics meet building code standards for hospitals. The bill does not eliminate the requirement that patients provide written consent for abortions.

The legislation is a rollback of decades of anti-abortion restrictions backed by conservative state legislators. Currently, only eight percent of counties in Virginia have abortion clinics, and abortion restrictions targeted by HB 980 and SB 733 have survived previous legal challenges. In a 2019 ruling, a Virginia federal judge upheld laws requiring abortions to be performed by a licensed physician and mandating a medically unnecessary ultrasound and a 24-hour waiting period prior to an abortion.

Advocates hope that with this new legislation Virginia can become a pro-choice stronghold for people from bordering conservative states seeking abortions, particularly if the U.S. Supreme Court weakens or overturns Roe v. Wade and its guarantee of a national right to abortion.

The Senate bill was introduced by Senator Jennifer L. McClellan, who, in 2010, was the first pregnant delegate to participate in a Virginia legislative session.

Source: Rewire News 1/27/20; Richmond Times-Dispatch 1/23/16; Voice of America 1/8/20; WAMU 1/27/20; WHSV 1/28/20

U.S. Healthcare Spending Exceeds Most Other Countries According to the OECD

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In comparison to the twenty countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)- Australia, Chile, Germany, and France, just to name a few- the United States is grossly overspending on basic healthcare. While the median country in the OECD spends roughly nine percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on healthcare, the U.S. spends more than seventeen percent.

According to physician and behavioral scientist Peter Ubel, even with that level of spending being unparalleled by any other country in the OECD, the U.S. is not receiving “more nurses or doctors per capita,” “more days in the hospital,” or “more MRI pictures.” This begs the question: if the U.S. spends more on healthcare than any other country in the OECD, without using more care, why are Americans paying more for that care?

While answer to this question is not clear cut, according to Ubel’s Sick to Debt: How Smarter Markets Lead to Better Care, “if we really want to reduce American healthcare spending, we need to tackle high prices.” This change would need to come in the form of politically challenging “powerful interest groups” including hospitals, sub-specialists, drug and device companies, pharmaceutical companies, and those in favor of high prices for medical care.

Sources: Forbes 1/29; Health Affairs 1/2019; Sick to Debt 11/26/19; OECD.org 1/2020

Ohio Senate Introduces Bill Banning Telemedicine Abortion

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On January 21st, the Ohio Senate introduced a bill, State Senate Bill 260, which would ban telemedicine abortions, following the lead of 18 states that currently ban this abortion procedure.

Telemedicine abortion occurs when there is not a clinician on staff when a patient visits a health center, and the patient would have a video conference with a clinician from another location. This clinician would be able to answer any questions and address any concerns a patient may have, while also being able to prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol, the two pills that are utilized within medicinal abortions. Despite this potential ban, telemedicine abortion is a completely safe procedure. Executive Director of NARAL ProChoice Ohio, Kellie Copeland, responded to the bill with “if you want to eliminate abortion access, if you want to stigmatize the procedure and try to threaten people with false information, I guess this would be a great reason to do that.”

This bill is the latest of numerous written by anti-abortion legislators that are trying to regulate abortion within the state of Ohio. At the end of 2019, the Ohio Senate passed legislation that requires abortion providers to tell their patients about “abortion reversal,” which would tell patients how to reverse their abortion if they change their mind, and implies that individuals who have an abortion come to regret it, while in reality over 95% of women who have had abortions felt that it was the right decision for them.

The bill is currently referred to the Health, Human Services, and Medicaid Committee in the Ohio State Senate.

Sources: Ohio State Senate 1/21/20; Guttmacher Institute 1/1/20; Rewire News 1/28/20; Rewire News 7/23/19; WOSU Public Media 1/22/20; Rewire News 1/15/20, Think Progress 1/13/15.

New Oxfam Study Shows Women’s Labor is Underpaid and Undervalued

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A recent study by international nonprofit Oxfam shows that the state of global economic inequality is out of control. Oxfam highlights the severity of this inequality and the negative impacts it has on women by shining a light on the fact that: the world’s richest 22 men having a greater combined wealth than all of the women in Africa, an individual saving $10,000 each day since the initial building of the pyramids in Egypt would leave you with only one-fifth of the average fortune of the world’s five richest billionaires, and that the world’s 2,153 billionaires have more wealth between them than 4.8 billion individuals.

According to Oxfam, this divide is “based on a flawed and sexist economic system” that “exploit[s] the labour of women and girls” while “systematically violating their rights.” The purpose of this study was to show that wealth, poverty, and the growing gap that divides them are gendered and create a cycle of poverty on the backs of women uncompensated for necessary work.

According to Oxfam’s study, around the world women and girls provide work that is “essential to our communities” and “underpins thriving families and a healthy and productive workforce.” In a statement for the New York Times, Gawain Kripke, policy director for Oxfam America, said that, “there’s something deeply sick about the economy,” and that, “the fact that women around the world are doing so much work that is uncompensated, unrecognized and unsupported is a part of the problem.” According to Oxfam’s calculations, this work adds “at least $10.8 trillion” worth of value to the economy, and even that statistic is a gross underestimate and this “heavy and unequal responsibility of care work perpetuates gender and economic inequalities.”

As far as gender is concerned, women are not the only party impacted by this economic inequality, but they are the majority of those being negatively impacted. As mentioned in the study, this is due to the fact that the current economic system favors and values “the wealth of the privileged few, mostly men,” whose “wealth grows exponentially over time, with little effort, and regardless of whether they add value to society.”

To confront this issue of gender and economic inequality, Oxfam urges global governments to “build a human economy that is feminist and values what truly matters to society, rather than fueling an endless pursuit of profit and wealth.” These efforts would not only acknowledge the importance of caretaking work done by these women and girls but would also create a system where that work is valued which would allow women to more fully participate in the economy they contribute to.

Sources: Oxfam.org 1/2020; The New York Times 1/23/2020

Chloe McKenzie Wants to Close the Wealth Gap for Black Women

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In 2015, Chloe McKenzie, a former JP Morgan investor, launched Black Fem – an organization “dedicated to breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty”. The racial wealth gap is still steadily widening, according to studies done by Prosperity Now and the Institute for Policy Studies.

When asked about why she wanted to start Black Fem, Ms. McKenzie replied that “What inspired me to begin fighting for wealth justice came from recognizing how wealth and privilege saved my life and how few Black women are afforded the same opportunity”. She has also stated that “Black Fem stands for Black feminism, which states that if we liberate those at the bottom, we are really liberating everyone”.

Black Fem plans to do this by using their own WealthRise™ model. This model works with school systems to ensure that there are financial literacy lessons five days a week to help young women of color adopt principles that will help them create and sustain wealth later in life. They aim to do this through Intervention Design, Teacher Academies, Classroom Integration, Behavioral Reinforcement, and Monitoring and Evaluation tactics.

Ms. McKenzie saw that, while she loved her job at JP Morgan post college, there was a major lack of racial representation on the trading floors. She wanted to analyze what the barriers to people of color from getting to where she was were. She wanted to “empower individuals from disenfranchised communities by providing them with financial literacy resources”.

Ms. McKenzie has also written a book called The Activist Investor which describes how Ms. McKenzie aims to close the wealth gap, and build wealth through investing.

Sources: Newsone.com 1/27/20; Forbes.com 6/28/19; blackfem.org 1/28/20

‘Women Win’: Warren Takes on Gender in Final Stretch Before Iowa Caucuses

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Presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has dealt with issues regarding gender since the beginning of her campaign for the 2020 presidency. She is candid about this, often explaining the various times she has been told to “smile more,” has been called “angry” by an opponent, or been the subject of questions as to whether she could beat President Trump which she often responds to with a funny anecdote. During each of these retellings, she has tactically shifted the narrative away from herself as an individual and toward the work of women throughout history.

In the week before the Iowa caucus, Warren is now confronting these questions and concerns directly. During a town hall in Cedar Rapids this Sunday, Warren declared, “I just want to be clear: Women win!” She addressed how the questions that surround her candidacy as a woman have been generally disguised from the public eye, but are now more explicit, like in Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) comments last month. She said she is “glad to talk about it right up front.” Her new strategy: “presenting her gender as an asset against Trump,” while discussing the barriers that Warren herself, and other women have broken.

As Senator Warren’s time at the town hall in Cedar Rapids drew to a close, one last question presented by a white man with graying hair struck the media, particularly while these questions regarding gender and Senator Warren’s electability remain a concern for voters,. He asked the Senator, “How do you convince white men-who aren’t as smart as me-how do you convince those white men over 50 that Elizabeth Warren’s the candidate?”

Sources: NBC 01/28/2020; The Hill 11/11/2019; CNN 11/09/2019

Actor David Schwimmer Says ‘There Was A Lot of Overreacting’ in #MeToo Movement

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Actor David Schwimmer said in a recent interview that the #MeToo movement created an atmosphere of “terror” for all men.

David Schwimmer credits his social activism with having grown up in a strong female household, citing both his mother-a feminist activist and lawyer-and sister as examples of women who have shaped his perspective. Schwimmer, in an interview with the Guardian, acknowledged his privilege as a heterosexual white male and explained how he uses his platform to advocate for the end of sexual violence. Being a public supporter of the #MeToo movement, in 2018 Schwimmer also produced a number of short films called #ThatsHarassment, and is currently on the board of directors for the Rape Foundation in CA.

Initially, Schwimmer offered that the #MeToo movement was something he felt really excited about, speaking to the harassment of which has affected all the women he knows in different ways. In his interview, Schwimmer also explicitly denounced the actions of both Harvey Weinstein and Donald Trump, especially vocal in his disappointment that many people had dismissed the sexual harassment allegations surrounding Donald Trump. He disagreed with critics of the movement who deemed it a “witch hunt” against men, but did feel it was one that created an atmosphere of “terror” for all men, and described how the “overreacting,” of #MeToo led to “some of the more complex situations (being) lumped in with the more egregious and criminal.”

The #MeToo movement was created in 2006 to help raise awareness for “survivors of sexual violence, particularly black women and girls, and other young women of color,” in low-income communities, find the necessary resources in order to begin the healing process after experiencing sexual violence in any form. #MeToo advocates work to create solutions that intend to prevent sexual harassment and sexual assault in their respective communities.

Sources: Independent 01/27/2020; The Guardian 01/27/2020; That’s Harassment (Facebook page) 2018; Me too (Website Page) 2018

Murder of Activist and Artist Sparks Protests Against Femicide in Ciudad Juárez

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Isabel Cabanillas de la Torre, 26-year-old artist and active feminist, was slain on January 18 in the streets of Juárez, Mexico. A week later protesters gathered in the streets to demand justice for her death and bring new attention to Ciudad Juárez’s femicide epidemic that has been allowed to persist for nearly 30 years.

Marching from the center of Juárez to the top of the international bridge connecting to El Paso, Texas women wearing ski masks chanted “Not one more” in a demonstration against gender-based violence. The movement closed the Downtown Paso del Norte international bridge and halted travel into the US, demanding the attention of the mayor and other leaders. The direct attack on women in this bustling city is not new; a spike in the 1990’s gained international attention as death tolls of working factory women, labeled “maquiladoras” reached all time highs. Despite this attention the femicide carried on and Ciudad Juárez ended 2019 with a death toll of nearly 1,500 killings. Most of these attacks on women never get solved and their deaths are viewed as just mere numbers. With an average of four deaths per day, the slaying of women is seen as the daily norm.

Ciudad Juárez has also seen a rise in attacks against activism. Isabel was involved with social justice issues being a member of Mesa de Mujeres and Hijas de su Maquilera Madre, both vocal feminist organizations. The reasons behind Cabanillas’s killing are unclear, but she would not be the first targeted for her social activism. Others who have spoken out about the femicide in Juárez have fled for their safety and others still have been killed and mutilated for these actions.

A pink cross was placed at the scene of her death to represent the fight against femicide. The wall behind the place where her body was found has been covered in murals remembering Isabel and her mission. Messages like “”Pinto por las que ya no están (I paint for those that are no longer here)” are written on the wall in her memory.

Sources: NPR 1/26/2020; NBC News 1/24/2020; Mexico News Daily 1/27/2020; El Paso Times 1/26/2020

New Abstinence Campaign from Bolsonaro Administration Promotes Teen Abstinence

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro plans to roll out a new message: don’t have sex before marriage.

Damares Alves, the minister of human rights, family, and women for President Bolsonaro said that young people in Brazil “by and large are having sex as a result of social pressure…You can go to a party and have lots of fun without having sex.” Ms. Alves calls herself “extremely Christian” and is an evangelical pastor. She is one of Bolsonaro’s most prominent cabinet members.

A vigorous debate about reproductive rights and sex education has arisen after Alves promoted the “I Chose to Wait” campaign, which was started by a group of evangelical pastors and has been largely advanced on social media.

Bolsonaro’s presidential 2018 campaign also prominently featured sex and sexuality. Bolsonaro and his supporters criticized a campaign against homophobia in schools that was introduced by the former administration and accused the left in Brazil of encouraging young people to have sex. Similarly to President Trump in the United States, Bolsonaro’s words rallied a large group of evangelical voters that is growing in political power in Brazil.

There are calls that this move blurs the line between church and state, and ignores decades of research about sexual health education. The administration has not been forthcoming with details about the campaign. Ms. Alves said that abstinence campaigns in the United States have been successful as a defense of the new policy.

Leslie Kantor, a professor at Rutgers University in the School of Public Health notes that this claim has proven to be false. A study published in PubMed Central, an archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine, is one of dozens that point to the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only education in preventing teen pregnancy and may actually contribute to high teen pregnancy rates. Dr. Kantor notes that sex education programs where abstinence is emphasized also exclude relevant information for gay and bisexual people.

Brazil was called a global leader in the early 2000s for its work to fight the spread of HIV. However, the new abstinence campaign could also affect Brazil’s already spreading HIV numbers. The Brazilian health ministry reported in 2018 a 41 percent increase in the number of new cases of HIV as compared to the numbers from 2014.

According to the New York Times, Brazil’s teen pregnancy rate has dropped in the past few decades, following the global trend, but continues to be about 62 per 1,000 births. This is above the global average of 44 per 1,000, and far above the rate in the United States, which is 18 per 1,000.

Sources: New York Times, 1/26/20; PubMed Central, 10/14/11.

Trump Administration Reinstates Texas Medicaid Funding, Allows Planned Parenthood Exclusion

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Texas will regain federal Medicaid funding for its state family planning program despite refusing to reinstate Planned Parenthood’s coverage, a move which threatens to embolden attacks on Planned Parenthood in other states. Texas lost its Title X federal funding under the Obama administration in 2012 after removing Planned Parenthood and other “affiliates of abortion providers” from its family planning program.

Texas saw the Trump administration as an opportunity to regain its lost federal family planning funding and submitted a Medicaid funding request to the Department of Health and Human Services in 2017. Texas is the first state to exclude providers and still receive Medicaid family planning funding, a step which the Planned Parenthood Action Fund has called a “backdoor ‘defund.’”

Following its exclusion of Planned Parenthood, Texas rejected millions of dollars of federal funding in favor of establishing a state-funded program called Healthy Texas Women. Healthy Texas Women replaced the state’s large, experienced network of clinics with smaller providers, many of which were unable to offer key family planning services like IUDs.

In 2018, Texas cancelled its multi-million dollar contracts with the Heidi Group, an anti-abortion organization it had selected as a family planning provider for Healthy Texas Women. The Heidi Group had provided care to fewer than 5 percent of patients promised and had no prior experience in offering family planning services.

Texas has a lengthy history of attacks on Planned Parenthood with detrimental effects on women’s access to healthcare in the state. In 2015, Texas attempted to eliminate Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood after an anti-abortion group released fraudulent videos accusing Planned Parenthood of selling fetal tissue. Efforts to defund Planned Parenthood in 2011 led to massive family planning budget cuts. The cuts prompted the closure of one in four family planning clinics in the state, two thirds of which were not run by Planned Parenthood.

Sources: The Hill 1/22/20; NPR 5/16/17; Texas Observer 1/22/20, 10/12/18; Washington Post 2/7/17

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