Thinking About the Future
(adopted 1998)
WHAT IT MEANS TO HAVE A FEMINIST MOVEMENT - Having a feminist movement means having connections between grassroots activists, the women's studies community, and public spokeswomen (elected and other); building connections between local, state, national, and international issues, groups, and coalitions; believing in a sense of our place in history, as we recognize the contributions of activist women of all times, our suffrage foremothers, and our contemporary activists and groundbreakers; and, safekeeping of feminists and women's history, contributions, and analyses.
The feminist movement, and NOW in particular, is a constant source of JOY, EMPOWERMENT, trusted information, EXHAUSTION, and Consciousness Raising. It coaxes women to find their voice and to commit COURAGEOUS acts. It gives all people a variety of ways to be effective on behalf of feminism. NOW helps us all consider HOW TO GET POWER WITHOUT SELLING OUT.
NOW's role in the feminist movement is to LEAD, take ACTION to create a feminist world, to be a VOICE for justice, freedom, civil rights, economic security, peace & non-violence, reproductive rights, equal rights and equal access for girls and women.
NOW's ability and willingness to stand alone when necessary, and to work in coalition when possible, and to work both inside and outside the system, is an asset for women everywhere. NOW's work as event organizers, lobbyists, selective users of civil disobedience, players in electoral politics, as movers and shakers in the courts, on the streets, on the job, on the internet, on school campuses - all serve the feminist movement well. NOW recognizes, with U.S. people buying 25% of the world's measured goods, consumer activism also has great potential to help women (and other marginalized people) trapped in a global economy currently geared toward exploitation of people, communities, and the environment for profit and greed.
NOW must continue with even more fearless, non-apologetic challenges to the imagery and treament of females by religious, family, government, education, social, and business institutions. Only a true feminization of society, AND a direct and complete deconstruction of SEXISM, and all other systems of oppression, will allow women (and therefore men) to reach their full potential - as sexual partners, friends, companions, parents, role models, and mentors; as earth's guardians, citizens, workers, artists, athletes, explorers, philosophers, and spiritual beings. Toward that end, as we enter the new millenium:
* NOW must continue to prioritize a Constitutional Equality Amendment, to anchor our society's shifts toward believing in the justice of equal rights for women and men.
*NOW must continue to expose and challenge SEXISM, LOOKSISM, ABLEISM, HETEROSEXISM, AGISM, RACISM, CLASSISM, and all systematic oppressions.
*NOW supports the right to reproductive freedom. The brutal, unrelenting attacks in the streets, the courts, the Congress and statehouses, on women's right to abortion, warrants NOW's defense as a priority. Freedom from unwanted sterilization, and coverage for abortion and birth control in insurance and government health programs are just two other hot areas as we move into the 21st century.
*NOW promotes a practical recognition of all the different more fluid combinations of blood relations, loves, community connections, and/or friends we now call "family." NOW works for acceptance of these more flexible family forms which may or may not include a married couple, or children. NOW insists on an unsentimental challenge to the traditional family unit's usefulness to women's and children's welfare. The expectation and organization of society around one family model - a lasting heterosexual marriage with children - is not only incorrect (about 7% of U.S. families as we enter the 21st century) but harmful, since it is traditionally, BUT INCORRECTLY, expected that all families can: supply at least one fulltime worker who rarely needs time off; work out a free or affordable childcare scheme among (usually female) relatives and friends; supply (usually female) relatives to care for ill or impaired family members; maintain and keep clean the living space, and perform considerable amounts of other unpaid, unrecognized, unrespected work.
*NOW recognizes and encourages a major shift in society's expectations for the care and nurturing of U.S. children. This shift, away from isolated families providing virtually all child care to the notion that the entire community is responsible, must be realized. The idea that children are individuals, deserving of rights as well as care, must also be nurtured.
*NOW promotes and values all healthy sexuality choices, including: a life with no sexual partners, same-sex partners and/or opposite-sex partners, or several partners over a lifetime. NOW will not rest until all lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered individuals, heterosexuals, and questioning people have the same rights and respect.
*NOW defense of the individual's right to bodily integrity emphasizes the right to reject violence, exploitation, harassment, and gross or repeated humiliations by parents, spouses, dates, employers, or others. Violence against women and girls by boys and men is extreme in the U.S. and deserves special attention. Creating a society where incest, rape, and harassment is committed less frequently, and considered more gravely, is a priority.
*NOW supports the right to complete access to communities, education, & work for people with disabilities. Unemployment rates, and the extent to which access to all areas of U.S. society is denied, is a disgrace.
*NOW should continue to redefine liberation by redefining beauty, and by making a special effort to discredit the myths about fat women, myths about diets and health, and the multi-billion dollar industries that fuel the lies. A basic tenet of feminism is that each person is beautiful; that society's beauty standards must be disentangled from standards of respect and self-respect, disentangled from advantage and disadvantage, and most basically to be disentangled from discrimination.
*NOW will continue to challenge the political Right and defend against the increasing number of hate groups and fundamentalist sects of various religions, in the U.S. and around the globe. The rightwing is a direct threat to the health, welfare, and freedoms of women and children. The political involvement of any religions should be viewed most cautiously by feminists. In the U.S., NOW must continue to challenge and expose the political-religious right as anti-feminist, and as partly responsible for the rise in hateful violence and harassment we currently endure.
*NOW challenges traditional ideas of economics and class issues. NOTHING LESS than redefining (country by country) what constitutes "work," and why and how work has "value," will truly honor women and children's contributions. NOW must question why certain drudgery is not "work" because it is unpaid, while some "play" is considered work because players are paid. NOW must also continue to expose the inhumanity that results from overvaluing CEOs, or judging the U.S. economy by how well the stock market is doing, instead of by the welfare of our people.
*NOW's work on citizens' rights to universal health care - including mental health care - human welfare, and equal access to quality education for all people, must continue. It is disturbing that young women and men of the 3rd wave received public education that did NOT include education about suffrage, feminism, social justice movements, nor current feminist issues. Also, attempts to insert religion into public education, and censorships attempts must be opposed.
*NOW insists governments able to provide basic food, shelter, health care, and clothing for all people in need have a moral obligation to do so. Current U.S. welfare policies and attitudes are punitive. NOW insists on a politics of fairness, compassion, expanded opportunities and hope.
*Women's misuse due to traditions of workplace injustice and harassment, as well as current global trade and economic policies, must end. Human needs should be a priority over excessive "defense" budgets, and excessive corporate welfare. No economic system, by itself, is the cause of exploitation of women. But, capitalism thrives when women and other marginal workers are kept in the margins, harassed, underpaid, and not unionized. Organizing workers to demand living wages, fair benefits, a shorter work week, flexible work conditions, and integrity in the workplace is critical. We also encourage a more extensive system of bartering - a formalized community exchange of services, as well as low income loans, and other unconventional economic arrangements.
STRUCTURE:
MAINE NOW suggests an elimination of the NOW regional structure. This level of NOW seems to us somewhat arbitrary, and an "artificial" level concocted for elections, which is much work for too little return for some of our busiest and most dedicated activists.
MAINE NOW encourages NOW activists to promote the chapter level, and even smaller units such as satellite groups or liaisons of one, two, or a few activists connected either to a chapter or state organization. We urge a more flexible notion of what constitutes a chapter, and urge chapters to worry less about size, and more about grassroots actions and connections to, and collaborations with, various progressive communities.
MAINE NOW encourages NOW activists to ACT as NOW representatives as often as possible. We know many of our activists wear many hats, do community service work, and often speak out as feminists. The work of NOW activists ought to accrue to NOW as often as possible. Many current NOW leaders were mentored and encouraged by other NOW activists. Mentoring and skill sharing with a newer NOW member is highly recommended.
MAINE NOW encourages NATIONAL in its efforts to nurture chapters, state NOW organizations, national Task Forces and PACs, as well as our connections to other progressive organizations and noted individuals in the U.S. and around the globe. We encourage national marches and actions on a fairly regular basis. Proud of our growing sensitivities around poverty, economic justice, racism, heterosexism, and international feminism, we urge National to continue its many efforts to educate our own NOW members, as well as the world.