{"id":3020,"date":"2011-08-26T09:05:54","date_gmt":"2011-08-26T14:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlwpen.com\/?p=3020"},"modified":"2011-08-26T09:05:54","modified_gmt":"2011-08-26T14:05:54","slug":"the-next-generation-young-feminists-and-the-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/2011\/08\/26\/the-next-generation-young-feminists-and-the-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"THE NEXT GENERATION: Young Feminists and the Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is the second installment of\u00a0\u201cThe Next Generation\u201d column, featuring young feminists under the age of 30 who are not yet established in an academic career. \u00a0If you fit this description and are interested in writing your own take for us on bridging feminist research with popular reality, please submit your idea and a little about yourself via our\u00a0contact form<\/a>.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

[Note: a version of this piece was originally posted at NCRW’s The Real Deal<\/a> blog]<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

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This summer I had the opportunity to participate in a webinar narrated by Terry O\u2019Neill, the president of NOW, entitled \u201cThe Budget Deal is a Feminist Issue.\u201d The webinar discussed how Paul Ryan\u2019s (R-WI) 2012 budget deal would cut several social services on which women depend disproportionately. Programs on the chopping block included Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics, Pell grants, job training, Head Start, childcare programs, and WIC nutrition programs. Women depend predominantly on most, if not all, of these programs.<\/p>\n

After O\u2019Neill gave her presentation, she opened the floor to questions. I asked if any of the Ryan cuts would impact girls and teens, and she explained that it would cut family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood, which also offer services like mammograms, STD and HIV screenings, Pap smears, and other tests that can help save women\u2019s lives. \u201cThat\u2019s appalling,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

All in all, I greatly enjoyed the webinar. (I told my friend about it and she told me, \u201cYou\u2019re probably the only teenager on the planet who enjoyed hearing a presentation about the budget.\u201d She\u2019s probably got a point there.) In a personal correspondence, Anita Lederer, the NOW field organizer, asked if everyone could speak to their representatives, host a letter-writing campaign, or demonstrate in a rally against cuts. As the \u201csuper committee\u201d makes its decisions on deficit reduction, and as we go into the next budget cycle, it is critical that young feminists continue these actions and oppose cuts that will disproportionately harm girls and teenagers.<\/p>\n

While I absolutely loved the webinar, it bothered me a little bit that O\u2019Neill felt the only way the Ryan budget would impact young women was by cutting family planning. Girls do have interests other than sex, after all. I know that I care about getting a college education, which could have been impossible if the Ryan cut on Pell grants had gone through. I also care about Medicaid cuts, since they could financially affect the family of a friend whose sibling has special needs. These are just a couple of my concerns – every young woman would have different worries.<\/p>\n

It also bothers me that O\u2019Neill didn\u2019t even address the impact of the Ryan budget cuts on younger women in her original presentation, which is why I made sure to ask about it. I know O\u2019Neill is of the baby boomer generation, and I would venture a guess that the vast majority of NOW members are as well, but isn\u2019t it important to include people of all ages? Feminists go to extreme efforts to include gays and lesbians, people of color, the disabled, etc. Shouldn\u2019t they consider it a primary goal to include younger feminists? We are the next generation, and if they don\u2019t encourage us to join the movement, it will wither away and die.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve noticed similar attitudes with other feminists\u2014this is far from limited to NOW. I have been excluded because of my age in many different feminist forums, and that really bothers me. Why are younger women ignored? Aren\u2019t we just as important as older feminists, if not even more so? We\u2019ll be continuing the legacy of this generation\u2019s feminists, keeping the movement alive. It is absolutely imperative that we are encouraged to attend, included in, and feel welcome at feminist events. If older feminists don\u2019t include our concerns without being asked to do so, no one will want to accept the feminist torch when we\u2019re adults, and all the work they accomplished will go to waste.<\/p>\n

Feminists, please: think about about the budget, and make sure the people around you are aware of how detrimental cuts in social services, education, and entitlement programs can be to women and to the country at large. While you\u2019re at it, make sure to inform the young people around you. They have brains and will understand the importance of the budget, once someone takes the time to explain it to them. Don\u2019t discount the next generation of feminists. I happen to think that we\u2019re pretty cool.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Talia\u00a0bat Pessi is a teenage Femidox (feminist Orthodox) Jew who writes the blog\u00a0Star of Davida<\/a>. She also writes for various other feminist and women’s news resources. After high school and college, she hopes to get a JD\/PhD in women’s studies and go into labor law, specializing in workplace discrimination and sexual harassment.
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While I absolutely loved the webinar, it bothered me a little bit that O\u2019Neill felt the only way the Ryan budget would impact young women was by cutting family planning. Girls do have interests other than sex, after all. I know that I care about getting a college education, which could have been impossible if the Ryan cut on Pell grants had gone through. I also care about Medicaid cuts, since they could financially affect the family of a friend whose sibling has special needs. These are just a couple of my concerns – every young woman would have different worries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1901,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21118],"tags":[2415,849,21949],"class_list":["post-3020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-next-generation","tag-budget","tag-economic-crisis","tag-young-women"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3020\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}