Welfare Warriors
Winter 2006
MW Voice FEATURE
Letters to the Editor
War
Mothers news from around the world
Did You Know?
Youth/ Disabled/ Gay news
Resistance in the War
Against the Poor
other WINTER 2006 articles
Winter
2006
Mothers
News from
Around
the
World
Israelis May Ban Super-thin Models
A Knesset committee is considering a bill to require model agencies to monitor the body mass of their models. Models would have to have regular medical tests to show that their body mass index (the ratio of height and weight) is 19 or more.
The idea for the bill came from Adi Barkan, a photographer and model agent. He interviewed 12,000 women and girls in a televised search for Israel’s next supermodel. He found that many were anorexic. He has been lobbying for the bill ever since.
Info from off our backs
2337B 18th St. NW, Washington DC 20009
Court Outlaws Discrimination Against Menstruating Women
The Supreme Court of Nepal has ordered an end to discrimination against menstruating women. In some parts of Nepal, men force women to stay in cowsheds during their period. The court ordered the government to declare this practice “evil” and begin eliminating it immediately. Women’s rights activists said this was a positive step. But people need to be educated against the practice.
Info from off our backs
Old Women Fight for Justice
The Old Women’s Project (OWP) combats ageism and makes old women’s social justice issues visible. The group is composed of three old San Diego women. They meet every Tuesday night in a Chinese restaurant. When they’re not planning an action, they think of themselves as a “political support group.” They organize actions to show how ageist attitudes ignore, trivialize or demean old women. They welcome women of all ages to join in the actions.
OWP has organized seven actions. Two of these events drew almost 400 women. The three women of the OWP wear t-shirts that say, “Old women are your future.” They carry a giant old woman puppet called POWER (Pissed Old Women Engaged in Revolution). They often join actions with the Living Wage Campaign, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Dyke Marches, and Arab-American protests against forced registration.
On Global Women’s Strike 2001 OWP held a press conference to address San Diego’s rising cost of housing. Homelessness, especially among old women, was rising--and the city was doing nothing. They handed out flyers that read “Why is the housing crisis a women’s issue? Because most women’s work is unpaid or low paid.”
Women from Latina housing groups, SEIU, Older Women’s League and S.D. Welfare Warriors spoke of how they were affected by high rents. This press conference launched the affordable housing movement in San Diego. The housing action started a process that forced the City Council to declare a housing emergency.
OWP’s pre-election action took place on Oct. 9, 2004. It was called “Stop Bush’s Empire Building on the Backs of Women.” Almost a hundred women came dressed in red. On their backs they pinned Bush’s face with a slash through it. On their chests they had signs that read “Off our backs.” They carried a Bush puppet and chanted “Off women’s Backs in Afghanistan! Off Women’s Backs in Iraq! Off Women’s Backs in Africa! Off Women’s Backs at Home!”
OWP put together an anti-war demonstration in twelve very part-time days. 382 women dressed in black marched through a mall carrying shopping bags that read “Women Don’t Buy This War.” Afterwards the Oprah Show and People Magazine contacted them. But the OWP does not measure its effectiveness by numbers or media coverage. Even if nobody but their own three members shows up, they still pass out their flyers. They often pass out flyers at cultural events that mesh with their concerns. They believe that if you call yourself an organization, even if you are only three people, you will be respected as an organization.
The Old Women’s Project is Mannie Garza, Janice Keaffaber and Cynthia Rich. Visit their website at www.oldwomensproject.org..
Info from off our backs