Tonight we posted on Facebook that we interviewed SCSU President Robbyn Wacker about being a female leader and her story about gender equality. Please enjoy the recording of our interview!
Monthly Archives: November 2020
Once a Husky, Always a Husky!
Today I shared on Facebook that last week our group held a men’s panel where we asked men to share their stories about being a man and what their thoughts and experiences were in regard to women’s equality. It was a successful panel that left me with hope for the future of imagining a world where women are valued. Early in the conversation my son, Teddy, shared that he also attended St. Cloud State as an undergrad for two years as he was wearing a SCSU sweatshirt. Earlier that day I was in a meeting with faculty and administrators and Provost Dan Gregory made a remark that stuck with me “Once a Husky, always a Husky.” I quoted the Provost in the recording, and after the panel I thought about sharing the blog with him. It was a minute and half into the recording so I thought some day when he had a moment he would check it out.
Much to my surprise he watched the entire recording that day and responded back. I would like to share Provost Dan Gregory’s remarks (with his permission) and his story about Women’s Equality:
“Once a Husky always a Husky! Polly, thank you for everything you do for SCSU and our students. I really appreciate you sharing this with me and appreciate the conversation. I have a couple of observations: 1) you must be so proud of your son. He is clearly a great thinker and person, 2) It is an interesting conversation and I really liked how the panel explored the space in real time, 3) as the husband of a very successful professional, I really appreciate the discussion and approach, 4) Ph. D.’s and hair? Never thought about that connection. 5) One of the most powerful statements on women stereotypes for me was the video of asking people to throw a ball like a girl. I say this because it demonstrates how deep these stereotypes run in our culture. I tear up every time I see those little ones go! 6) my female role models are my mother, wife, daughter and one of my Ph. D. advisors. Now, of course, President Wacker (who is more amazing than most people realize).
I am going to share this with my son as I think he will appreciate it.”
Thank you to the men who contribute to realizing the #Dear Daughter vision of gender equality that leads to gender equity and gender neutrality.
How are you?
To be honest with you. I feel like a brick has hit me in the face and that I am slowly drowning because I have bills to pay, I have homework to do, I have cleaning to do, and many more things to do before this year ends. I am not going to tell you any of this. I will lie to you and myself. I will say “I am doing swell” and I will asked you “How are you doing?” It is just an endless cycle of lies we tell each other. Until we meet again and do the same.
This year is different and harder from all the other years before. Every since the pandemic happened I opened the bottle that held my emotion and let the liquid pour out. I was tired of keeping it together, because every time I read the news xx amount of people died. I got scared because that was somebody’s love one, who croaked. Every time I looked at my bank account I was worried because how was I going to pay for groceries or rent if I did not get that six hundred dollars a week. How were businesses supposed to stay afloat if nobody had any money to spend?
I remember when this pandemic started I had my first break down going home after we to the grocery store, because I could not breath through my P100 mask and I thought to myself “Is this the new normal? Will I have to wear my mask every where for the next two years?” Stream of tears came out of nowhere. I dropped the bag of groceries on the cement side walk and just cried for a solid four minutes. That day was rough for me but lucky for me. My favorite person comforted me and let me eat ice cream for dinner because ice cream makes me happy.
After that break down on a side walk in public. I told myself I will be honest about my feelings because everybody feels the same now and I won’t get shame for feeling gloomy on a sunny day. 2020 has done us all wrong. I hope the end of year will be better than the beginning.
Women in Afghanistan. Part 2. A different perspective
In the previous post, three Afghan women shared their opinion on women’s position in their home country. Apart from them, we also interviewed two people from other countries who lived in Afghanistan a while ago (each participant has a code name). The questions were the same:
1) How do you define women’s position in Afghanistan today?
2)Are there any resources that help women to protect their rights or support them? What resources does Afghanistan have?
3)What action do you think people might begin taking right now to achieve gender equality?
Here is what our participants shared:
Satara, UK, 56 years old
1)How do you define women’s position in Afghanistan today?
There are many strong women in Afghanistan who desire to be seen, heard and respected. However, women are often treated as if they are second class citizens. They often have no voice; their opinion is not asked or counted. They can be characterized by men, as being less than they are, not equal to them or even deficient in some way. They ae routinely discriminated against and they do not have equality of opportunity or equal rights.
2)Are there any resources that help women to protect their rights or support them? What resources does Afghanistan have?
The biggest resource that women have is themselves; their passion their resilience and their will for change. There are women in Afghanistan who sacrifice much to represent other women and get their voices heard. They are an amazing resource. Organizations which support women to work collaboratively and enhance their voice are also a great resource. These internal resources can also be supported by international bodies who might have more power to enact change
3) What action do you think people might begin taking right now to achieve gender equality?
Every small action counts. Every challenge to the way something is done. Every point where a woman holds her ground against discrimination, every organisational policy which allows equal opportunity. There is a challenge for organisations in Afghanistan. They need to take responsibility for their part of the problem and to act to fight for equality. They need to support programmes and policies which give women their rightful position and to model good practice.
S., United States, 35 years old
1)How do you define women’s position in Afghanistan today?
I am something of an outside observer, as an American man who worked in Afghanistan, so I’m not an expert. But sometimes outsiders can see things that insiders can’t. I think there have been some gains in the past 20 years and there are some opportunities for advancement, especially for higher classes. For a majority of women and for those without access to education, I think the gender gap is still very large. And even for educated women, they may face significant discouragement from within their own families (I’m making the point here that inequality in Afghanistan is not only a matter of laws and structures but also culture). Also, because of a depressed economy, job opportunities are still few in general.
2) Are there any resources that help women to protect their rights or support them? What resources does Afghanistan have?
There are some NGOs which run vocational training programs for women, and protection centers for women fleeing domestic violence, but these are very decentralized and may not be available to the whole population, especially in rural areas. Women’s shelters are also misunderstood culturally and have a negative stigma attached to them.
3) What action do you think people might begin taking right now to achieve gender equality?
I think cultural change needs to happen. If the government only passes laws and these are viewed as imposing Western ideas, then broad change will not happen. I think that thought leaders and communities need to come up with Afghan and Islamic justifications for why women’s rights is important and why violence against women is wrong. Even terminology such as “human rights” often carries a negative connotation in Afghan culture – it is viewed as a Western idea which promotes immorality and un-Islamic values. Research should identify more helpful, locally appropriate terminology.
Other than this, I think increased economic development and access to education and technology, especially in rural areas, will help.
Women in Afghanistan. Part 1
In our recent Facebook post, we shared the perspectives of three women from different parts of the world on the issue of gender inequality that they saw in their home counties. This time, we will focus on a particular country – Afghanistan – to see what struggles women are getting through there.
To contribute to the #DearDaughter project, three Afghan women (some names have been changed by the request of the participants) agreed to answer the following questions:
1) How do you define women’s position in Afghanistan today?
2) Are there any resources that help women to protect their rights or support them? What resources does Afghanistan have?
3) What action do you think people might begin taking right now to achieve gender equality?
Here is what we have collected:
Latifa, 30 years old
1)How do you define women’s position in Afghanistan today? The women who are doing their best to take their lost rights.
2) Are there any resources that help women to protect their rights or support them? What resources does Afghanistan have? There are many projects from different national and international organizations like UN, USAID, OXFAM, WAW, The Colombo Plan, government, etc. Most of these organizations organize projects for women and provide education, advocacy, vocational skill training, support the women in their different cases, provides shelter and employment opportunities.
3) What action do you think people might begin taking right now to achieve gender equality? The government should focus on the fundamental steps and bring changes. The support should not be limited only to projects and women in big cities.
Support should start from home and the women should feel safe there. It can be possible by encouraging the family members for gender equality through education, advertisement, and religious gathering, as the people of Afghanistan are religious and strongly believe in what says in such gatherings.
Fatema Ahmadi, 32 years old
1) How do you define women’s position in Afghanistan today? With considering 40 years of conflict in the country which affected all the people in different ways, men and women both have not been able to develop and find their best positions in society. However, this situation is even worse for women because they were considered as second citizens historically and women have not had their place in different eras. Women in Mojahedin and Taliban times had been in a very disappointing position no rights for education, work, development, and basically no right to have a voice. Women after the Taliban collapse with the support of international partners could participate in various practices in the county and they received important attention to show their desire for advocacy for their rights but even now women do not have meaningful participation in society. For example, offices, assign women in simple positions merely to complete the quota for women but if women want to be in leadership positions even the international community is not enough brave to challenge the patriotic men, tradition, and culture. Generally, Women need to have more support from national and international to get to their right position.
2)Are there any resources that help women to protect their rights or support them? What resources does Afghanistan have? There are some national policies, mechanisms, and law to support women, but they are not very effective in practice. There are as following:
- AFGHANISTAN’S NATIONAL ACTION PLAN ON UNSCR 1325-WOMEN, PEACE, AND SECURITY
- Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
- Elimination of Violence against Women (WVAW) committee in all provinces
- violence against women (VAW)
3) What action do you think people might begin taking right now to achieve gender equality? Advocacy through national and international platforms and using social media to bring more people in this way.
AB, 31 years old
1) How do you define women’s position in Afghanistan today?
Gender inequality is obvious in Afghanistan. Due to the old culture and conservative environment, women do not engage in society. Most of the Afghan women are responsible for doing the housework and taking care of their families and children; though, a very limited number of women with open-minded families get involved in outside work and strive to improve their life situation.
2) Are there any resources that help women to protect their rights or support them? What resources does Afghanistan have?
There is Ministry of Women ’s Affairs which is responsible for facilitating women’s rights.
3) What action do you think people might begin taking right now to achieve gender equality?
Public awareness is the most important way to aware women, men, and families about women’s rights. Family members including men and women should collaboratively attempt to empower themselves and help each other in order to improve their lives. Afghan people need to reconsider their old and negative culture and accept the right and modern approaches to survive themselves. Women should not accept any oppression and their families should support them in this regard.
Girl’s Panel 11/21/20
Men’s Panel 11/19/20
Tonight we posted on Facebook that we had a panel of men who shared their stories with us about women and women’s equality. Together we can imagine a future where women are valued at work, at home, and in society.
Interview with Female Leader, Faculty Association President Frances Kayona
Today we posted on Facebook that we interviewed Frances Kayona, Faculty Association President at St. Cloud State University to share her story about being a woman in a leadership position. Please enjoy our video!
Birth Control
Many women out there in the world are probably on their birth control journey or haven’t started it quite yet. For those who haven’t started this journey takes years to figure out what kind of birth control works for your body. Because birth control work differently for every single women . It is not a one size fits a. An example of this not one size fits all, your friend Tammy is on the IUD. She is not gaining weight and her period comes only twice a year. You’re also on the IUD, you have gained weight and your period lasted four weeks. It seems like you should go change your birth control method. Which is why you should go see your physician and talked about what other methods are available for you. Don’t ever stop trying to find the right method for you because it is your body and your in control of it.
I know when I started my journey to pick out the right birth control for me. I was taking the combination pill everyday for a year. I experienced shift in my intestines, that pain was unbearable cramp, but I still had a sex drive. With the Nuva ring I put a new one in every four weeks. I experienced more panic attacks than ever before with the Ring and I also had some vaginal dryness and a decrease in my sex drive. Now that I am on a low dose pill which I have to take every day again. My experience so far is that my acne is slowly going away and I’m short tempered. I think.
The video below talks about a woman who has gone on this journey to find the right birth control for her. As usual I have some questions.
What are your thought about male birth control?
Should male birth control be on the market due to its “side effects”? Even though female birth control has these side effect.
Do you wish it was a one sizes fits all birth control?
What kind of side effect did you have while taking birth control that other women did not get?
This Could Never Happen to Me: Part 3
After we got the results of the comparable worth study in April 2001, two female coworkers and I realized how much we were being underpaid compared to our male coworkers. I myself was being paid 34.4% below the predicted pay level for my position. We tried to work with the city and with the union (two of us were in the union), and we had no luck. In fact, they gave four foremen merit raises instead, which were outside of the union contract. It was crushing to us. The city administrator seemed to be on our sides but he was also on the chopping block as he was new in his position and the city council did not like him.
So, we filed claims of sexual discrimination based on pay against the city and the union with the department of Human Rights and they found probable cause over a year later in October of 2003. All three of us had different situations since the two other women had worked at the city much longer than me and one of them was wrongfully dismissed from her position in retaliation of the filing the claims. By this time, I moved on to another job. Once we filed the claims in the fall of 2001 I knew I did not want to stay in such a toxic environment. My husband worked active duty for the MN National Guard and his position was very demanding plus we had two small kids at home.
The three of us hired an attorney who was wonderful. She was an older woman who was very stern and kind of bull-dog like but she helped us through a trying time. First we had a mediation with the city. By now there was a new city administrator because the previous one was fired. The new administrator was our colleague who worked in community development, which was awkward for us. During mediation we went back and forth with our attorney and the city’s to come to an agreement. During that time, we had to tell and retell our stories. Since I had moved on, the story telling was not as painful for me. One woman was still working there and the other was unemployed from being wrongfully dismissed and the pain they carried was incredible.
Fortunately, we prevailed with the city and because they settled with us, the union did not have to pay anything to the two of us who were in union. Our attorney took pity on us because it was such a sad and long-drawn out case that she only charged 10% of our settlements, which was generous since the fee is usually 35%. Since this was before the real dawning of the internet, and we were public employees, it was covered extensively in the local newspaper. The newspaper was online but most people still had it delivered and many would comment on the articles online. We endured so many comments about wanting to get paid as much as men. I was shocked then, and now I have grown weary of knowing it is just a reality. I got hate mail from anonymous people and I featured an example in my last blog. Our fellow union brothers told us that we didn’t need to be paid the same because we were married and we weren’t the bread-winners. It was just unbelievable.
One woman stayed working there for a number of years before filing another claim and prevailing. Part of her settlement was quitting her position. I found it hard to get support from hardly anyone except my husband. When friends and family heard about the claim, they were not that supportive even though I prevailed. At times I felt guilty of being greedy but I know deep down that is not the case. The other woman went on to have a successful career. We are still all friends today. Our experience made our bond stronger. I think there are a lot of women out there who are not getting the pay they deserve and they will never stand up for themselves because of the treatment they might receive. I think their stories about how earning less money for most of their careers and lives should be told and how it affected their ability to provide for their families.
I have provided a copy of the settlement below. Also, please visit Instagram or TikTok for a brief video highlighting this case.