i tag everybody

i'm doing this tag (via thinking girl) because it's really important, and it's not so much a tag as something we should all be doing on a regular basis anyway.

the idea is to copy the following text in a word processor and adapt it if/where you want (for instance i slightly modified the original text from sage), then fill in the blanks with the relevant information and finally send the letter on to authorities and media. below, i put what i've filled out myself in red: of course, erase those parts (and what's in the brackets). i will also translate this into romanian/adapt it for romania (and i'll post that over on the lf-ro blog). basically, this is an activist tag. anyone reading here is strongly encouraged to do it. i would only add that direct action and more hands-on activism and involvement in the community are just as important to cover.

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[Address here. Options might include your Mayor, MP, MPP, Prime Minister, other party leaders, State Representative, Governor, President, what-have-you, and most importantly, your local newspaper. Even if the issue isn’t part of the addressee’s portfolio, a surge of letters will still have a necessary impact.]

Dear / To the Honourable ….
Dear Senator Richard Durbin / Senator Barack Obama / Representative Timothy Johnson / Governor Rod Blagojevich / State Senator Michael Frerichs / Mayor Gerald Schweighart / Mayor Laurel Prussing
cc: The News-Gazette, the Daily Illini, Buzz

In light of the devastating slayings of 26 women in Vancouver, another 20 in Edmonton, Canada, and five in Ipswich, England, [and any others you can think of in your area] governments must do more to protect women. If one woman is in danger, none of us are safe.

It is unlikely that legalizing prostitution would be either favorably received by the voting public at this point in time or ultimately beneficial to those most affected, but a minimum requirement would be to invest more funds and resources in sex worker support and outreach programs. Preventively, there are several other important steps that need to be taken in order to address the problem and help reduce exploitation and victimization.

Let’s stop making perpetrators. All the men who commit these types of heinous crimes are found to have been raised in abusive homes. What is necessary as a solid foundation of any society is easy access to help of any kind for all parents of young children. We know that, in countries around the globe, empowering women saves children’s lives and in families where women are the main decision-makers a far greater proportion of household resources is devoted to child health, nutrition and education than in families where women do not have a voice. UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children report for 2007 concludes that an end to gender discrimination produces the double dividend of benefiting women and children—which, in turn, has a positive impact on the health and development of societies everywhere. The report suggests seven key interventions for gender equality 1) investing in girls’ education, 2) investing government funding in gender equality, 3) enacting legislation to create a level playing field for women, and to prevent and respond to domestic violence as well as gender-based violence in conflict, 4) ensuring women’s participation in politics, 5) involving women’s grassroots organizations early on in policy development, 6) engaging men and boys so the importance of gender equality can be understood by all, 7) improving research and data on gender issues, which are critical if progress is to be made. These should be priorities for the government of any country [if applicable, add “and in a country as wealthy as _________, no child should be living in poverty starting today”] and in a country as wealthy as the United States, no child should be living in poverty starting today. Any parent or child being abused should have easy access to a safe house they can live in for as long as needed. Teens abused need safe places to stay and be nurtured for extended periods.

In _________[city] Champaign-Urbana, there [are / aren’t] are a few safe houses for abused women and children, such as a the Center for Women in Transition, A Woman's Place and St. Jude Catholic Worker House, but these only hold ______ a few dozen women and children at most, and in general the survivors can only stay ___________ several weeks before they have to find someplace else to go. As a rule, in such shelters the resources available are very limited, and they barely begin to cover the need that exists in the community. Some of them try their hardest to provide rehabilitation programs as well as advocacy services, but they are heavily dependent on funding and funds are scarce. For various reasons, unfortunately, the most prevalent theory remains that beyond having a roof over their heads those who are looking for help need to learn to fend for themselves. The reality is, if they are there in there in the first place, they likely don’t have other support. Imagine having no access to your husband’s bank account, no money of your own, small kids, and the only place available for you to live is run by an abusive tyrant. You’re stuck.

This should not be anybody’s fate in a compassionate country where it could be so easy to solve this problem by placing a priority on funding for safe house space, trained counselors (emotional, career, and financial), affordable housing, and daycare spaces.

And to stop perpetrators in their tracks, we need stronger legislation around sexual abuse and violence against women, domestic and otherwise. If the conviction rate for rape is somewhere (well) below 50%, or if a convicted rapist gets two years as is too often the case, this sends a message to all men that women and children are not valued by our country’s legal system. Don’t you believe women and children deserve a life free from abuse?

We’ll look forward to hearing your proposal to address this emergency before the next election.

Sincerely,

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