To Aim Higher as a Woman

Graphic by Javier Jaen for the Wall Street Journal.

BY: ELIZA KING FREEDMAN, SUMMER 2020 COLLABORATOR AT POWER IN PLACE

A young boy tells his school teacher that he wants to be the President of the United States. That teacher is charmed, and, in the back of his or her mind, he or she believes that maybe he could really do it. 

A young girl tells her school teacher that she wants to be the President of the United States. That teacher is charmed, but, in the back of his or her mind, he or she believes that it is truly unlikely and assumes that that young girl will change her mind before graduating elementary school. 

Society teaches young boys to aspire to be CEOs, partners at law firms, lead surgeons, and tech pathfinders. And young girls are finally being taught that they can achieve in these same careers. However, for girls it is often not CEOs but employees, not partners but lawyers, not lead surgeons but participants in the field, and not pathfinders but lower-level coders. As females, we are asked to step back. We can be intelligent, we can get the grades in school, but after graduation only a few of us will fight against the male-dominated business world and win. Women make up 50.8 percent of the United States population, earning nearly half of all law and medical degrees handed out each year, however as of November 2018 women made up only 5 percent of CEOs of all Fortune 500 companies [1].

Power in Place represents far more than just a collection of stories. It is an organization that is teaching us, all women and girls, that we deserve to aim higher. We deserve to want to fill the House and the Senate and the White House, and we need to support the women who are paving the way for us right now. The female mind is chemically wired differently than the male mind, and that is not something to be ashamed of or something that should hold us back. We must embrace our womanhood, in whichever form it presents itself within us, and use it to our advantage. We do not have to learn to “be one of the boys” in order to succeed. Women are criticized in the media for their fashion choices, their emotions, and parts of their bodies that they have no control over. Hopefully, these realities will change with time. But in the meantime, it is organizations like Power in Place that will combat the media and the anti-feminist rhetoric that makes us question ourselves. 

That young girl is going to be the President of the United States. And we don’t know who she is yet, but we have to believe that any girl we meet could be her. 5 percent of CEOs is not a big enough number. None of the numbers are big enough. And it is my very personal hope that Power in Place, and organizations and movements like it, will give women and young girls the motivation and the option to strive for more.

References

[1] Warner, Judith, Nora Ellmann, and Diana Boesch. "The Women's Leadership Gap."  Center for American Progress. Last modified November 20, 2018. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2018/11/20/461273/womens-leadership-gap-2/#:~:text=Women%20are%20just%205%20percent,of%206%20percent%20in%202017.&text=Women%20are%20only%207%20percent,in%20the%20Fortune%20100%20companies.

---

Eliza King Freedman is a rising sophomore at Middlebury College. She intends to major in International Politics and Economics with a minor in Architectural Studies. In addition to Power in Place, she also works for a horse therapy organization that specializes in the rehabilitation of veterans. She is most passionate about the study of nonproliferation and prison reform.

Read The Signs

“Black Lives Matter” protesters in front of Borough Hall on June 8, 2020 in New York City. Photograph by Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images.

BY: HALEY GLOVER, SUMMER 2020 COLLABORATOR AT POWER IN PLACE

Getty Images VIA Cosmopolitan.

We have asked for change in Ferguson, Baltimore, and Minneapolis. We have protested the systemic injustices of the government we live our lives by. Yet every new wave of protests highlights the American system’s cyclicality that repeatedly condemns rage, specifically Black rage, and instead legislates complicity. Politicians routinely disqualify protests and instead call for votes for change. However, today’s revival of the Black Lives Matter movement demonstrates the failure of traditional modes of legislation, such as voting, for Black citizens. One of the founders of the BLM movement, Alicia Garza, identified similar systemic flaws in the beginning of the movement stating, “What we’ve seen is an attempt by mainstream politics and politicians to co-opt movements that galvanize people in order for them to move closer to their own goals and objectives. . . . We don’t think that playing a corrupt game is going to bring change and make Black lives matter” [1]. Every protest shut down, condemned as a riot, or transformed into the political campaign of a politician is the “corrupt game” in action. It is systemic silencing of Black voices and is an attempt to dilute the energy of the BLM movement. 

Since 2013, when the movement began, legislative flaws have survived numerous reforms and are reflected today in calls for “law & order” [2] and the dismantling of organized protests across the U.S. through state National Guard deployment. In response to these efforts by elected officials to turn peaceful protests violent, the BLM movement's resilience and determination to protest will be vital in beginning to make the institutional changes necessary until the Black political voice is heard on Capitol Hill. While voting is a start, it is not a guarantee for change when the very system of voter registration is flawed across America. In commenting on past BLM protests in Ferguson, historian Dr. Barbara Ransby speaks on the “dead-end” results of traditional modes of legislation stating, “Organizers have already experienced the dead-end political results when social movements working in marginalized communities forfeit their agency and simply deliver votes to politicians without a strategy or a plan for ensuring accountability” [1]. Such results have silenced the black voice in the past and will continue to mute the marginalized if the momentum of protests slow. Such momentum makes headlines and amasses followers who are essential in making the grassroots initiatives necessary to work toward change from the inside out. Protest is the starting point because political participation relies on feelings of political efficacy within citizens, particularly Black citizens. Through cultural restrictions and institutional hindrances in education, law enforcement, and voter registration, the Black American’s participation in politics has been seriously limited [3]. In the face of these restrictions, protest has emerged as one of the Black American’s few means of political participation that in its purest form is not tied to the system; a system that has actively worked to decrease the Black individual’s sense of effectiveness in not only politics but everyday life [3].

Kyle Robertson/ The Columbus Dispatch via AP.

White supremacy in modern day America is reflected in the systemic silencing of Black citizens. Whether it is the criminalization of Black political participation or the interpretation of protests and rallies as violent riots, America’s collective imagination has been conditioned to flinch at shouts for justice and resist any disruption to the foundations of the country. A country that Congresswoman Joyce Beatty reminds us is rooted in the oppression of Black Americans. Beatty tweeted late last month: “The history & trauma of racism and Jim Crow is not a memory of the past, but is a reality still today, reinforced by the fact that Black Americans are disproportionately the targets of injustices ranging from mass incarceration & police brutality, to the War on Drugs & COVID-19” [4]. Shortly after tweeting this, U.S. Representative Beatty took her words from Twitter to protests in downtown Columbus where she was maced by police officers after attempting to subdue an altercation [5].

Kyle Robertson/The Columbus Dispatch via Twitter.

In choosing to participate in protests, Congresswoman Beatty removed the veil between a government and its people. Actively protesting the system she operates within, Beatty’s action is one of the first steps towards increasing black political engagement in America. Scholars John Pierce and Addison Carey describe the degree of black political efficacy stating, “The degree to which the black citizen feels he can influence political decisions is linked to… the response he receives when he attempts to gain access to the participation channels of the system” [3]. Beatty is actively opening up these channels using the route of protest. As a black woman first and politician second, Beatty protests the racist institutional arrangement she is involved in. In response to the system’s failure in the wrongful death of George Floyd, Beatty tweeted: “America is watching. Where is the justice? How do we heal from the past memories of racial terror and lynchings when they are still alive today? I support peaceful protests for change, action and a path to restorative justice because now more than ever is a time of urgency” [6]. Beatty reminds us that the moment is here. It is time for the restoration of a system that devalues black voice and life. In protest, voices are amplified over the noise of the system and can be instrumental in increasing Black political efficacy. I ask everyone to read the signs of racial injustice in America and continue to march until the slogan “Black Lives Matter” is reflected not only in the actions of politicians, but in the American political system as a whole. Rep. Beatty pursues this constructive form of political engagement through protest as she marches toward justice and fundamental change. I’m following her.

References

[1] Ransby, Barbara. "Black Rage and Blacks in Power: Baltimore and Electoral Politics." In Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century, 81-95. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2018. Accessed June 18, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/2783927.

[2] Trump, Donald. Twitter post. June 15, 2020, 10:19 a.m. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1272534307303755776?s=20 

[3] Pierce, John C., and Addison Carey. "Efficacy and Participation: A Study of Black Political Behavior." Journal of Black Studies 2, no. 2 (1971): 201-23. www.jstor.org/stable/2783927.

[4] Beatty, Joyce. Twitter post. May 29, 2020, 12:31 a.m. https://twitter.com/RepBeatty/status/1266225506803945472?s=20 

[5] Mena, Kelly. “African-American congresswoman gets pepper sprayed during George Floyd protest in Columbus.” CNN, May 31, 2020. Accessed June 18, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/30/politics/joyce-beatty-ohio-pepper-sprayed-columbus-protest/index.html

[6] Beatty, Joyce. Twitter post. May 29, 2020, 12:32 a.m. https://twitter.com/RepBeatty/status/1266225969628667904?s=20 

Godfrey, Elaine. “The Congresswoman Pepper-Sprayed by Police.” The Atlantic, May 31, 2020. Accessed June 18, 2020. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/05/congresswoman-pepper-sprayed-joyce-beatty/612436/

Note from author: Haley is always listening to other voices and acknowledging her whiteness when writing on the Black Lives Matter movement and is always open to further discussions or edits on any of the material discussed above. Thank you. 

---

Haley is a senior at Middlebury College. She is majoring in English and Political Science. On campus she works as the president of the MiddLaw club where she helps students gather resources for careers in law. Haley is from Ohio and is particularly interested in the political climate of the Midwest and legislative reform.

On Self-Advocacy

Photograph by Billy & Hells for Time Magazine.

By: Sophie Lovering, Summer 2020 Collaborator at Power in Place

Oregon State Senator Sara Gelser represents Senate District 8; she did not begin her career in public service as an elected official, however. When she had her first child, Sam, she spent much of her time in intensive care units and hospitals. She began to notice that “the privileges that [she] had meant that he was making faster progress than other kids whose disabilities organically might not have been as severe.” This realization inspired her to begin advocating for young kids with disabilities. Since running for office, she has dedicated her professional career to advocating for people who have been hidden or separated from communities not only by continuing her disability rights advocacy, but also by representing individuals lost in the criminal justice and foster care systems. Best said by her son Sam, Senator Gelser is a role model because she protects others. 

Senator Gelser has done more than advocate for her son Sam and countless other individuals in Oregon, however. In 2017, Senator Gelser spoke up about sexual harassment and was later featured as one of Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” Silence Breakers. This path did not come without its difficulties. According to Senator Gelser, “it’s a lot harder to advocate for [yourself] than it is to advocate for other people.” Prior to breaking her silence, she had done work around domestic and sexual violence advocating for other people. She knew the steps involved in the process, and she knew what was to come, but it did not prepare her for what it felt like. As explained by Senator Gelser, it was uncomfortable to need to have her story affirmed and she began to question herself. “Did I perceive this the right way? Did I explain it the right way? Am I doing the wrong thing? Am I being too mean? Do I just lack a sense of humor? Nobody will ever like me again.” 

By sharing her story, Senator Gelser sparked important change in the Oregon Capitol. Her experience advocating for herself also taught her how to better advocate for others. Having a discussion about herself made her think differently about how she works with people on issues such as foster care and disability rights. She now asks herself: “Am I keeping those individuals centered and not inadvertently exploiting or pushing their stories in ways that are not helpful to them?” By becoming a self-advocate, Senator Gelser has improved not only her life but also the lives of those she represents. We can certainly agree with Sam that Senator Gelser is one of our favorite female role models.

---

Sophie Lovering is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and minoring in American Sign Language and Deaf Studies. She has a passion for disability rights advocacy; she was involved in Best Buddies in high school, and in college she serves as the Vice President of Penn Special Olympics and as a hearing ally of the Philadelphia Deaf community.