What will it take? [repost]

In light of Mother’s Day this past weekend, I’ve been thinking of this post—my first on Substack, three years ago. Sadly, this piece is even more relevant today.

I wrote this after the Uvalde school shooting in May of 2022, and before Roe v. Wade was overturned a month later. And now, countless shootings and rollbacks of rights later, here we are. Facing challenges that are different, yet still the same.

As we go forward, it feels essential to look at the movement work that has been successful in the past. The shape of our future depends on people coming together, organizing, and working for change. Here’s some inspiration.

I’ve been thinking about this series since Sarah Montoya posted it to Instagram. I think about it nearly every day.

What would it take for meaningful change in this country? Would it take women banding together? Could the moms and grandmothers and aunties come together and get it done?

What if a flood of women showed up at the offices of every elected official and—calmly but firmly—refused to leave? How many would it take? Would 100 be enough? How about 500? How many women would be needed at state capitols, and in Washington DC?

How many other women would be needed to swap out with those on-site, in order to maintain a constant presence? How many others would have to band together to cover school pickups and making bag lunches? How many would be at their jobs—making money, but doing a shopping run afterward and dropping off supplies for those sitting in?

How many others would donate to cover the living expenses of those on the front line? How many women would need to coordinate to cover childcare? And I’m sure there are some men and non-binary folks who would be willing to help as well. How many would it take? 

And it would be great if there were a lot of white women showing up to sit in. They’d likely get better treatment from congressional staff and police. Also, let’s be honest: Black and brown women have been doing this work for generations already.  

But also, how bad will it need to get before this sort of mobilization occurs? Every woman I know is on the verge of combusting from all that has been intolerable over the past six or seven years. Have we had enough mass shootings to finally demand gun control? Have we had enough conservatives trying to take away rights to stand up and refuse to back down? Have we had enough family separation and dead migrants to finally demand immigration reform? Have we had enough floods and fires to insist on carbon reductions and a viable future for our children? Have we had enough women forced to leave jobs and careers to homeschool and care for kids in the middle of a pandemic when support systems failed and public health priorities were cast aside?

When will we finally have had enough—and refuse to back down from a system never designed with us in mind?

***

In Iceland, in 1975, women went on strike. They called it “Women’s Day Off”—because it sounded more pleasant than “strike”—but that’s what it was. For one day, 90% of women in Iceland did not go to work and did not care for their children or do any housework. They were protesting the low rates of pay for women in the country and general inequality.

According to an article in the BBC:

“Banks, factories and some shops had to close, as did schools and nurseries—leaving many fathers with no choice but to take their children to work. There were reports of men arming themselves with sweets and colouring pencils to entertain the crowds of overexcited children in their workplaces. Sausages—easy to cook and popular with children—were in such demand the shops sold out.”

It only lasted one day, but the day had impact. The following year Iceland passed laws requiring equal pay regardless of gender, and four years later they elected single mother Vigdis Finnbogadottir as their president. She was Europe’s first female president, and the first democratically elected female leader in the world; she would lead the country for the next sixteen years. Iceland currently ranks as the country with the highest level of equality for women—and that equality is protected by laws.

The first democratically elected female leader in the world.

What would it take to shift things here? More than one day, I suspect, but probably less than we think. Two weeks? Three? If all paid and unpaid female labor were withdrawn in this society, I suspect things would grind to a halt much faster than we realize.

But, of course, staying home from your job is a privilege not all can afford. There would have to be organizing done so money could be pooled—donated by those who have more, to help support those do not have enough.

Heck, in this capitalist system, we could probably just refuse to do any shopping and bring the system to its knees pretty quickly. How long would it take? Three weeks? A month? More? Less?

***

I also think about the Montgomery Bus Boycott. If you grew up in the U.S., you’ve likely heard the story of Rosa Parks, but not the full story. The whitewashed version that gets told in schools is that she was a seamstress coming home from work and too tired and fed up to give up her seat to a white man. It’s true, but it’s not the full truth.

The larger story is that there had been a series of Black women arrested for refusing to give up bus seats in Montgomery in the year prior to Rosa Parks, but none of them were ideal candidates to be figurehead for the movement. Claudette Colvin, who was arrested in March of 1955, was only fifteen. Rosa Parks befriended her, however, and brought her into NAACP* circles, where Parks was secretary, and asked Colvin to tell her story many times. Rosa Parks was an organizer, and the bus boycott that sprang up around her arrest was deliberate and done in community.

Within twenty-four hours of Parks being arrested, 35,000 copies of a flyer asking Black residents to not ride buses on the day of the Parks trial were circulated through the city. The response was so enthusiastic they extended the boycott, as a way to put pressure on the bus companies.

This required great organization and cooperation—because people still needed to get to work and move about the city. The Montgomery Improvement Association was formed to manage the boycott—with a newly arrived, 26-year-old pastor, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as president.

A carpool network was created, utilizing whatever vehicles were available in the Black community at the time, and 40 different pickup locations established. Bus ridership plummeted and they kept this up for more than a year, despite being harassed by police and the white community, until bus segregation was deemed unlawful by the US Supreme Court.

More than a year.

What will it take here? What will it take to demand gun reform, full women’s rights, healthcare and childcare and climate responsibility, racial equity, and a decent standard of living for everyone?

Because here is the thing:

I don’t think any mother wants to watch another mother bury their child due to gun violence. I don’t think any mother wants to lose her grown child to an illegal abortion. No mother wants to see children forced to flee their homes due to wildfires or floods brought on by climate change.

Even if they are on the other side of a political spectrum—even if they are on the other side of a war. Maybe I am not cynical enough, but I don’t think they want to.

It’s clear the system we have currently in place is not taking us where we need to go. It’s not providing safety, health, or a hope for the future. It’s actively working against all of those things.

So, what is it going to take? And are we willing to go there?

I am convinced it will only happen in community, most likely with marginalized people leading the way. (The more comfortable we are, the less willing we are to risk or fight; and history has shown that white women tend to fight for their own rights, but not for the rights of all**).

Still, I keep thinking of a groundswell of women, standing up together to say: ENOUGH.

The more I think about it, the more I think it may be our only way out.

Of course, none of this is new—marginalized people and labor unions have been doing collective organizing for generations. They know what so many of us seem to have forgotten—or never learned at all.

That people who come together are an unfathomable power and force for change.

What will it take for us to use it?

A Note on this Newsletter:
These days it feels like our world is falling apart—and it is, slowly, by degrees.
It’s falling apart because it is not sustainable; its systems were not built for the benefit of all. So, what do you do when things start breaking down? You pay attention, you think how to do things better, you start taking notes for a new world.

* NAACP is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Founded in 1909, the organization’s mission is “to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.” Its work continues today.

** Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who fought to give women in the U.S. the vote, originally collaborated with Black activists. Along with Frederick Douglass and others, they founded the American Equal Rights Association in 1866, pushing for voting rights for women and Black citizens. When the question of supporting the 15th Amendment—which gave the vote to Black men—came up, however, they refused. Stanton actively campaigned against it—telling white Southerners that, if white women were given the vote, they could drown out votes by Black men. They were willing to throw their collaborators under the bus in an attempt to achieve their goals. Read more here:
How Early Suffragists Left Black Women Out of Their Fight

***What can you do to get involved? Seek out the people and organizations in your community already doing this work. Show up and ask how you can best support. Talk to your friends and neighbors and share your concerns. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. People are already pushing for change, find them and join in.

I have another newsletter. It’s about fostering joy and self care and pleasure and delight—because those of us grappling with hard stuff need to balance it out with fun. Check it out. And if you sign up for a paid subscription here, shoot me a note and I’ll gift you a complimentary subscription to enJOY.
This is all about balance: work and play, dark and light.