A few months ago, I posted about the Women’s March and why it was a day that changed everything. My teenage daughter and I made the trek from NYC to Washington, DC, along with thousands of other women. As soon as we boarded the train, it felt monumental. After two months of literally crying over the outcome of the election, I felt like I had found my people at the march. I was surrounded by like-minded people both on and off the stage. In my blog post I wrote that were “women who want a future like the one I want for my daughter –”where abortion is forever legal, immigrants are welcome and affordable healthcare is available for all. There was at least a million people who agree with me in a fierce, powerful way. There was a sea of pussy hats and posters that that said everything from “#Resist” to “Women’s rights are human’s rights” to “This is what democracy looks like”. Seeing these signs, hearing people yell – it just all felt so right.”

Oh, to be in that sea of pussy hats again.

I was in DC during Trump’s inauguration, but that fact meant very little to me. As we walked by people who had come to the city to be a part of the festivities, we were mystified. Living in New York, we were strangers to people who voted for him, a bit oblivious to be honest. But, upon reflection, I think that seeing these people lit a fire inside me. I knew that when I would get home, I could not sit idle. I would have to become a more active member of my community to further and advance the rights of women.

So I did. I joined a group called Indivisible,  a group that shares my common values of nonviolence, justice and inclusion, where hundreds of women showed up for our first meeting. We then divided into smaller groups to tackle various causes. I also joined the core committee of a coalition of eight congregations of all faiths to help refugees gain entry to the U.S. To date, we have successfully brought over one person from Pakistan and we continue to advocate and fight for the rights of all refugees.

But the fight can’t stop with these efforts, it must carry on. It has been 100 days since Trump came into office. Since then, there has been an attack on women’s health and rights that is nothing like we have ever seen in history – from undermining maternity care, to attacking Planned Parenthood, to setting up cruel barriers to immigrants. Examine the timeline below – it will give you a good sense of what is happening. Or look at it here: http://bit.ly/2pzW0eU.

These first 100 days have made it clear that the Trump administration has a clear disregard for women’s health and safety, and the health and safety of their families. Everyday we are waking up to policies that are an attack on our basic rights. Even my teenage daughter is outraged and seems to possess an understanding of the attack on society better than I ever did when I was her age. The current administration is cutting access to family planning, maternity coverage, and new mother assistance and these things are not okay.

All people should have equal access to reproductive health care. We must continue to fight for abortion access, birth control and health care equity.

The good news is that Planned Parenthood has had more people move from silent supporter of PPFA to activist in the last 100 days. Find out more about their key issues here.

There is more good news. The world has never seen this kind of response. There have been protests virtually every weekend. There are Indivisible meetings taking place all over the country. More women are running for local office than ever. The women behind the Women’s March are keeping the cause alive and are pushing out motivational messaging daily. It has never been so easy to be proactive about the causes we care about. Sign up for daily action newsletters via Daily Kos or the Women’s March.

Need more inspiration? EMILY’s List has heard from 11,000 women since the election who are considering running for public office. The new administration may be creating policies that harm women, but women are getting active and fighting for what we need.

What should you do? Keep showing up. Don’t hide. Don’t sit idle. DO SOMETHING. Keep Hillary Clinton’s words in your mind:

More than anything, help keep the pressure on Congress.

This post is made possible by support from Planned Parenthood Action Fund. All opinions are my own.

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It’s been two weeks since my last blog post, which is a million years in blog land, but I’ve been overly occupied. For one thing, work and my studies are taking a toll on my time, as well as caring for my family. Freelance projects to manage, books to read, shows to watch, textbooks, classes to attend, trips to plan, meals to make, laundry to fold, chauffeuring my kids around to activities after school – it’s a lot but multi-tasking is a specialty of mine.

But there was one major event that I attended that changed everything. It changed my attitude, my direction, the path to my future: The Women’s March. I went, along with my daughter who is 13, by train on a adventure to Washington, DC. I didn’t know what to expect, but I had been so upset since the election on November 8th and I needed to be with others who have been in mourning.

Well, that was no problem. From the moment I stepped on the train in NYC, I was surrounded by women who felt the same way. Women who want a future like the one I want for my daughter -where abortion is forever legal, immigrants are welcome and affordable healthcare is available for all. In my eyes, there was at least a million people who agree with me in a fierce, powerful way. There was a sea of pussy hats and posters that that said everything from “#Resist” to “Women’s rights are human’s rights” to “This is what democracy looks like”. Seeing these signs, hearing people yell – it just all felt so right.

Naturally, like with most rushes of emotion, I hit a wall when I got home. All this negativity came out about the rally and march. It was too white; it was run by Bernie-ites; its founder met with the head of Hamas the day before the march. I felt a bit swindled for a minute.

But then I remembered what I experienced. What my daughter experienced. What we saw. What we heard. And I knew that the march was what I needed to get over the hump and move on. We have no time to sit still right now. It’s time to stand up for our rights, for the lives of our children. Everything is at stake.

The march was everything and no one can tell me otherwise.

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Last week I was invited to a very important event about so many topics I care about rolled into one: feminism, prostitution, pop culture, exploitation and a feminist foreign policy (sounds dreamy, yes?). Yes, all of this being talked about with some of the top feminist experts in these fields. I was thrilled and honored to be invited by We are Women Online and Donor Direct Action, a non-profit n strengthens women’s rights organizations around the world by increasing access to funds, advocacy, and visibility.

I won’t go into detail why,  but the event was timed perfectly as I really craved a dose of inspiration. I had a feeling the morning would provide just that, and I was not disappointed. Problems and solutions. Three people leading the right in the battle for women’s rights. All this early on a weekday morning in Manhattan, right near Grand Central. It was inspiring to say the least. They are proof that when you believe very strongly in something and are determined to make change, you can. We can all be change makers with the right tools.

To lead the discussion, Donor Direct Action brought in Gloria Steinem, a well known feminist and my long time personal hero, Rachel Moran, a survivor of the sex trade and Margot Wallström, Sweden’s Foreign Minister who summed up the discussion very well when she said: “The empowerment of women and girls is a true example of smart politics. Gender equality is not only about women’s rights but is a matter of ensuring peace and security for all.”

She was commenting on the fact that Sweden had just been elected to a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council where she hoped to have the opportunity to “make a feminist foreign policy for the world”, perhaps at a time when also the UN and the US will also be headed by women, she observed.

A Feminist Policy

Sweden’s feminist foreign policy is made up of the three ‘Rs’, Wallström explained: Rights, Representation and Resources. Does this policy ensure women enjoy the same rights as men and ensure that human rights are also seen as women’s rights? Are women around the negotiating table and represented everywhere? How are resources and power distributed? “When you ask these questions it will lead to our policy.”

Making the connections is the media’s challenge today, commented Steinem. “Our biggest struggle now is to understand that so-called women’s issues are connected to every issue. The status of females, in all our diversity is part of absolutely every story.”

Prostitution: A Media Image

She then compared the challenge of the media image of prostitution, which many people have a Pretty Woman image of in their mind, and is completely false: “There may be 12 women someplace who have that much power and run into Richard Gere – I don’t know. But it’s not the reality.”

Moran then spoke from her heart, as a survivor and the leader of her own organization, SPACE International. ““We know from the experience of having been prostituted across thousands of encounters exactly what the nature of prostitution is. What was happening to us in the brothels wasn’t work or anything remotely resembling work. It was compensated sexual violation. That’s how we experienced it. That’s how we lived it. That’s what we suffered from.”

Prostitution: The Reality

She went onto say: “We have to recognize that this is damaging in all directions. Never mentioned are the wives and girlfriends who haven’t done a thing. There is no element that isn’t damaging and hurtful. It harms everybody. I believe that the recognition of that damage to the social fabric was hugely important in Sweden.”

She was referring to the adoption in Sweden in 1999 of a progressive feminist law to address commercial sexual exploitation and the sex trade. The law has become a model in other countries, such as Norway and Iceland, Northern Ireland, Canada and France. The law makes the purchase or attempted purchase of sex a criminal offense while the seller is not punished.

In Steinem’s opinion, the best indicator of violence is the extent of the polarization of masculine and feminine roles. “We need to consider this as part of our foreign policy” such as when considering what groups to be in discussion with in Syria. “The best indicator of their will to violence is their attitude towards women.”

After the event, full of ammunition and empowerment to go out there and make change, I went right up to my hero. She confirmed that my voice has power – that all of our voices have power. With the right words and context, we can make a difference and use our voice to speak for the voiceless. If you want to help give women a voice who have suffered the abuses of prostitution, consider a donation to Moran’s organization, SPACE or directly to Donor Direct Action.  Together, we can make a difference.

Sources:

http://donordirectaction.org/2016/06/swedens-foreign-minister-margot-wallstrom-talks-peace-feminist-foreign-policy

http://donordirectaction.org/2016/06/pop-culture-affects-view-sexual-exploitation-according-speakers-donor-direct-action-event-30-june-2016

Disclosure: I attended this event as media.

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Last year I wrote about Malala Yousafzai, an amazing young woman. Her story is so inspirational. Named for an Afghan folk heroine, the activist Pakistani teenager was shot in the face and left for dead by the Taliban in 2012 — but recovered and went on to speak out about the gross injustices in girls’ education in her country and around the world, winning the Nobel Peace Prize along the way. The Malala Fund, which she co-founded with her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, is building schools in Jordan, Pakistan and Lebanon. I was so inspired by the film made about her, He Named Me Malala and the 25-minute conversation I was fortunate to be a part of with Malala herself, along with my tween-aged daughter by my side.

The documentary offers a look into Malala’s life both before and after the attack. She was 15 at the time of the incident, when she was singled out, along with her father, for advocating for girls’ education. The shooting sparked an outcry from supporters around the world. Malala miraculously survived and is now a leading campaigner for girls’ education globally as co-founder of the Malala Fund.

#HeNamedMeMalala to Premiere on National Geographic Channel

For all these reasons and more, I’m excited that National Geographic Channel, in continuation of its partnership with Fox Searchlight Pictures, will be airing the documentary commercial free on Monday, February 29, on National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo MUNDO in the U.S., with a global rollout planned within a week in 171 countries and 45 languages.

The robust education program for the film includes free education resources, discussion and curriculum guides, a service learning Toolkit, Books for Change, a Map Maker Interactive, and can be found here. Additionally, efforts to expose students to Malala’s inspiring story resulted in over 180,500 students globally seeing the film in theaters, and in the U.S. reaching students in all 50 states.

Disclosure: I was not compensated to write this review but am working alongside Women Online & The Mission List to help promote the film.

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