Women Occupy

Talking about the need to confront patriarchy and insist that women’s voices be heard and women’s needs be met within the context of Occupy or any radical or progressive movement can feel like a lonely pursuit, but the good news is that actually a whole lot of people are working to do exactly that.  All around the U.S. and throughout the world there have been a number of very empowering actions and statements.  Here is a wrap up of some of the things that have been happening in the U.S. and later this week, I’ll do another post that links to actions in other countries.  If you know of something that should be added to this, please do so in the comments.

Unfortunately, logical as that might be, those who seek to address these topics and insist that they be part of the Occupy agenda are finding themselves confronting many of the same obstacles that women often face outside of the Occupy movement—such issues as safety, sexism, misogynist power structures and a lack of gendered analysis.  Women report being harassed and labeled divisive for speaking out and pointing to issues that affect women’s lives. There have been numerous reports of women being physically and sexually assaulted, and of women being shouted down and denied a chance to speak, problems that sound all too familiar to longtime feminist activists working within political, social and progressive movements.