Commentaries

Commentary: Grace Welch said... "WHERE ARE THEY NOW?"

SEEKING WOMEN WHO WERE ACTIVE IN THE SOUTH SHORE CHAPTER OF NOW, LONG ISLAND, DURING YEARS 1974 - 1976 -- SUCH AS: DIANE OHLMILLER, PATRICIA CHENERY, BARBARA LABRADOR, IRENE MORRIS AND GLORIA ROSENBLUM, AND OUR FIRST CHAPTER PRESIDENT, IRENE WOLF.
PLEASE RESPOND IF YOU ARE OUT THERE!

GRACE WELCH
PRESIDENT EMERITA, NOW MID-SUFFOLK



Commentary: NOW NEW YORK STATE CONFERENCE, SUNY PURCHASE CAMPUS

October 1st, 2011 the New York State NOW Conference was held on the SUNY Purchase campus, which I attended with Ann Jawin, Founder and Chair of the Center for the Women of New York. Featured speakers were: Liz Abzug, President and Founder of the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute; Zenaida Mendez, Executive Director of the National Dominican Women's Caucus; and Terry O'Neill, President, National NOW. Ms Abzug reported on the status of CEDAW, which her mother, Bella, championed, and was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, a treaty establishing equal rights for women all over the world, and which the United States has yet to ratify.

All speakers dealt with the Job Crisis in this country, which needs a federal fix. On the political scene, O'Neill stated that Unmarried Women DID NOT VOTE in the 2010 election, which has resulted in a Congress that is blocking legislation for funding of Planned Parenthood. O'Neill also spoke of the SLUTWALK actions that are being held all over the country. Members of our chapter took part in the Manhattan Slutwalk end of September, a phenomenon taking place because of the remark a police officer made to a woman "If you women didn't dress like sluts, you wouldn't get raped." Also covered was the economics of discrimination in the workplace -- a woman loses over $400,000 over a lifetime of work because she is paid less than a man doing the same work. Look up Lilly Ledbetter.

The afternoon session facilitated by N.Jerin Arifa (Young Feminists Task Force) and Arielle Cohen, a 22-year old student from Texas who stated that the Tea Party is out to destroy Obama and Women. Rachelle Suissa, Vice Pres. for Brookly/Queens NOW uses Facebook to promote women's issues and has 1,306 followers. She urged us all to use Facebook, LinkedIn and Blogging to get our message across and to increase our membership. Michelle Kinsey Bruns, who is an Abortion Clinic Escort reported on how to use technology to end public sexual harassment -- she asked for us to share our stories and to visit http://nyc.ihollaback.org/.

The last speaker was Jane LaTour, author of Sisters in the Brotherhood: Working Women Organizing for Equality in New York, which I bought and had her sign. LaTour spoke of the good-paying union jobs in the trades that are availalble to women, if they would think outside of the usual work channels. If we ever get our Mid-Suffolk NOW Book Club off the ground, this could be the second book we read and report on, after Meryl Hoffman's "Intimate Wars: The Life and Times of the Woman Who Brought Abortion from the Back Alley to the Boardroom". Ann Jawin made a motion to have NOW, the National Organization for Women team up with OCCUPY WALL STREET actions.

Grace Ripa Welch
President Emerita
NOW Mid-Suffolk Chapter