OneWorld.net (U.S.)

OneWorld.net note: Women journalists, activists, and others held a roundtable discussion during this week's Democratic National Convention, highlighting topics such as the impact of poverty and post-Katrina recovery on low-income women and women of color.

• CODEPINK women for peace in action. © CODEPINK This article has been included in OneWorld.net's "Campaign '08" edition of Perspectives magazine, which examines where the major presidential candidates stand on key issues affecting all the world's people. Other "Dispatches from Denver" -- on-the-ground reports from the Democratic National Convention in Colorado -- include Making Climate Change THE Issue and Suppressing the Vote, Protecting the Vote. Add your thoughts on the campaign today and get the background from experts on foreign policy, national security, foreign aid, global health, the environment, and much more.

• "Much of the progress [toward rebuilding the Gulf Coast] has come at the hands of Gulf Coast residents - in spite of significant hurdles placed in front of them by the federal government," said a disaster relief group days before the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Almost 40 percent of New Orleans residents are still poor, notes author and political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson in a recent commentary on the aftermath of Katrina. The tragedy should have spurred the government to combat the "dire" poverty that plagues the Gulf Coast, says Hutchinson, adding that even presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain "have been virtually mute on the campaign trail about the real story and tragedy of Katrina: the naked face of poverty Katrina exposed to the world three years ago."

What Women Want, What the Country Needs:
Grassroots Activists, Journalists and National Leaders Shine Spotlight on Women's Priorities and Community-based Solutions at DNC

From: Ms. Foundation for Women

28 August 2008

Denver, CO -The Ms. Foundation for Women today brings together grassroots activists, national policy advocates and journalists at the Democratic National Convention to promote women's community-based solutions to address our country's most pressing needs.

On the eve of the 3rd Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Sara K. Gould, President & CEO of the Ms. Foundation, is hosting a roundtable discussion, " What Women Want: Journalists and Activists Connect Stories and Solutions," in collaboration with Women's eNews, just blocks away from the convention, at Big Tent Denver.

Panelists, including grassroots activists from New Orleans, Providence and Denver, and leaders of organizations like the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, are addressing the impact of the economy, post-Katrina recovery and other key issues on women-particularly low-income women and women of color, who are hardest hit in times of crisis. They are also offering cutting-edge solutions-grounded in the experiences and expertise of women themselves.

This is a rare moment where grassroots women's voices are front and center during the Democratic National Convention.

Sara K. Gould of the Ms. Foundation says, "In communities across the U.S., women who know first-hand the impacts of poverty and discrimination are forging unique strategies to meet people's most basic needs. This is especially true of women who face the multiple barriers of gender, race and class: low-income women and women of color. But their personal experience confronting these challenges makes them best positioned to ignite positive change. And when the priorities of women are met, those of their families and communities are as well."

Grassroots Perspectives

Hurricane Katrina put in stark relief why women's leadership is so critical to the health and well-being of entire communities. Althea Francois, Lead Organizer of Safe Streets/Strong Communities, a Ms. Foundation grantee in New Orleans, underscores why support for women-and women's solutions-are so important. Three years after the storms, "those who can't come back-who are locked out of the city, really-are women, especially single mothers and grandmothers, like me." Francois sees this in cities across the country: "Whether it's a hurricane or a home foreclosure, women are the first to suffer-and continue to suffer-when things go wrong."

But she's promoting solutions, despite the challenges she and her family continue to face: "Women like me who have managed to stay, we're still struggling to survive," says Francois. "But we've got to stay and fight to make change so that our friends and our families can come home."

Mary Kay Harris of Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE), also a Ms. Foundation grantee, adds, "New Orleans isn't alone. In Providence, we're facing the same issues that they are dealing with: gentrification, criminalization, anti-immigrant policies, and deep poverty. We need to come together because this oppression is everywhere. It can be a flood; it can be someone losing their home; it can be someone being snatched away from their job and family-it's all displacement and it all hurts."

Harris, underscoring the vital importance of her work, says "Being poor myself, I know that we have to keep fighting for change, so that everyone can have a chance, all of us."

Women activists such as Francois and Harris and their organizations are concerned about the debilitating effects of gentrification and criminalization on their communities and families, and are collaborating across cities and regions to mobilize for national policy change.

Jacy Montoya , Executive Director of Denver-based Ms. Foundation grantee Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR), discusses how COLOR focuses on engaging Latinas around reproductive health, and also works to encourage their civic participation on a range of issues. This election cycle, they are collaborating with the Latina Initiative to promote Latinas' political engagement in Colorado and to raise the profile of Latina voters nationally.

Focusing on Women's Challenges, Amplifying Women's Solutions

Media can play a very important role, says Rita Henley-Jensen, Editor-in-Chief of Women's eNews, in drawing public attention to the policies and solutions women are pioneering in response to the unique challenges they face. Of the roundtable, "What Women Want," she says, "Grassroots women leaders, the true-albeit mostly invisible-innovators of social policy, are joining with women journalists to deliver the news to some of our country's most innovative communicators, about exactly what kind of change women have in mind."

Women's eNews is delivering "The Memo: A Report on the Status of U.S. Women" to policymakers at both party conventions to emphasize how a number of issues-wages, barriers to employment, poverty, reproductive health, violence, and homophobia-take a disproportionate toll on women.

Panelist Rita Smith, Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, speaks to one of these many intersecting problems: "Violence against women is one of the major issues that women are concerned about according to recent surveys. It is critical that candidates develop a strategy on how they will assist in ending this problem and once elected work on that strategy with as much effort and commitment as any other campaign issue."

The roundtable also features Liz Abzug, President of the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute and a prominent national voice on issues affecting women, addressing homophobia and discrimination.

To read more about poverty and women's rights, visit the Ms. Foundation for Women.