Is it the Senate’s turn?
If ever there was a moment when women should take the lead without waiting to be asked by the men in leadership, this is it. My proposal for resolving the budget/debt ceiling impasse:
Arena Asks: Washington wakes up this morning to a scary possibility: could the government actually default? If Boehner is unable to rally votes, the balance of power could shift back toward the Senate. Has the postponed vote given Democrats the leverage they need to convince Boehner to take a new course? Is it the Senate’s turn for a crack at the debt ceiling debacle?
My Answer:It’s time for all the moms in Congress to get together, sit the men down, propose a choice of two solutions like we do with children, and tell them they aren’t going out to play again until an agreement is reached.
I’m serious.
INTENTIONING
Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women
Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) GoodThe new book from Gloria Feldt about the future, taking the leadership lessons learned from this disruption and creating a better world for all through the power of intention.
There were no women in the Gang of six. No women in the Gang of four. No women on the golf course with Obama when he tried that route. Nancy Pelosi pops up to deliver a statement from time to time but otherwise the women have been invisible. A World Bank study of parliaments globally concluded that those with greater numbers of women on them made better decisions and had a more productive decision making process. Clearly, it’s time for the U.S. to try a different way of thinking and making decisions.
GLORIA FELDT is the New York Times bestselling author of several books including No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power, a sought-after speaker and frequent contributor to major news outlets, and the Co-Founder and President of Take The Lead. People has called her “the voice of experience,” and among the many honors she has been given, Vanity Fair called her one of America’s “Top 200 Women Legends, Leaders, and Trailblazers,” and Glamour chose her as a “Woman of the Year.”
As co-founder and president of Take The Lead, a leading women’s leadership nonprofit, her mission is to achieve gender parity by 2025 through innovative training programs, workshops, a groundbreaking 50 Women Can Change The World immersive, online courses, a free weekly newsletter, and events including a monthly Virtual Happy Hour program and a Take The Lead Day symposium that reached over 400,000 women globally in 2017.
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Oh Gloria, this is so funny for me right now! On my podcast, I’m reading/performing Lysistrata, just did the scene in which Lysistrata, the organizer of the sex strike, reveals her plan for women taking over management of the country. It’s a comedy (did you know?), so it’s funny while at the same time serious, but part of her dialogue with the Magistrate (read: Law and Order) who has come to put down the insurgency (put women back into their place), has Lysistrata explaining that since women have always managed the household finances, it makes perfect sense for them to manage all the monetary business of Ancient Greece! Keep in mind that this play was produced in 411 B.C. The reason Lysistrata wants to take over the money is to STOP THE WAR! (And to bring their husbands home so they can have sex…very bawdy play!!!!!!!!!!)
I mostly agree with you that if women ran the world, we’d have a better one. Where I think we differ is that I’m not sure women won’t perpetuate patriarchy. It’s not enough for women to get into existing power roles. Getting people, men and women, to see that patriarchy is a filter on all of our thinking/seeing/doing is a hard sell. We can’t really change “the system” until we understand the system of patriarchy and how it has a grip on consciousness. Mainstream feminism thinks this conversation belongs in academia, not in the realms of activism. I think this is a fatal flaw of women’s movement. However, I very much appreciate your point of view and your indefatigable, upbeat activism.
Love it,Madama! As you might recall, I reference Lysistrata in No Excuses and compare it with how the Liberian market women brought down the dictator Charles Taylor in real life. Lysistrata is a great comedy with so many level. I must listen to your podcast.
I also agree with your assessment that it is entirely possible that women are so shaped and co-opted that we might merely reinforce the patriarchy–so therefore this is the moment to make a plan to keep that from happening. What are the top three things you would suggest we do to assure that as women ascend to power, we will create a different paradigm?
Yes, the Liberian insurgency by women was the subject of Abigail Disney’s film Pray the Devil Back to Hell, wasn’t it? So inspiring. And yes, I know you referenced Lysistrata in your book, which made me realize that I’d never really read it!
Gloria, I have so much to say about how patriarchy has shaped us that I think I have to write a book. I’m deep into a review of the literature from a multidisciplinary perspective, drawing heavily on my background in psychology and women’s studies and delving into neuroscience, which is new territory for me but has captivated and influenced my thinking for about eight years. Although I have ideas about where my research/writing/grappling will take me, I’m keeping an open mind. I have to lay out a compelling analysis and then suggest applications, and pinning that down right now feels premature. This is why I’ve pulled back from most of my online activism–no extra neurons to spare! My cerebral bandwidth is pretty much maxed out! I continue with the podcast because it’s fun and because when I show up as #10 or #9 on my host’s Top Ten List, my competitive juices rev up! I’m the only feminist there!
I would love to have your feedback on my reading/performance of Lysistrata. I’ve recorded the Intro, Scene One and Scene Two (Aristophanes didn’t break it into scenes, but I did). If you have limited time, go directly to Scene Two, which is the most fun so far.
I think you know that I have been a pesky, dissenting voice almost everywhere in online feminism, asking the many disparate organizations to come together, critique our movement and do new analyses. I’ve been trying to get feminists to think about how psychology drives behavior and other ways to go about movement that will pull in women who otherwise shun the F-word. Mostly I’ve gotten “That’s interesting, but we want to take action RIGHT NOW!” This is why I think I have to write a book and it isn’t going to be a quickie. I agonize about how long it will take and whether it will make a difference. But I think I will have a significant contribution to make to the discourse and I also think patriarchy will be as entrenched as ever when I’ve got this piece of work ready to put out there.
So, long answer short: yes, sister, we need a new plan. I’m grappling with it.
Sounds like an important project and you have lots to contribute. Writing a book is a huge undertaking, but you might be able to use much of what you have already written or podcasted. Good luck!
Some reaction I enjoyed from the post on Facebook:
Carol Hughes This really could work.
Kelly L. Gullickson Madison My mom could give ’em the lethal eyebrow!! Scare ya back to the straight and narrow in a hurry!!
More from FB:
Claire Silberman Short answer: YES!
Marya Stark Amen, Gloria. Great post. Thank you.
Gloria Feldt And furthermore, don’t even let Michelle Bachmann try to claim this mantle.
As you may know, Gloria, the Free Soil Party is based on a different paradigm. I have no short answer as to how to assure women in power would not reinforce patriarchy, but the Bill of Missing Rights is relatively short. Heart, who ran for President in 2008, created her own version. If women running on such a platform were to take power, the world would never be the same.
I must have messed up the link to the Heart for President wiki.
I love it. I’m glad the debt ceiling drama is done for now but how embarassing for the US that there seemed to be no adults let alone women in the room.