It’s International Women’s Day, and I’m delighted to lift up some recent published work by women I work with:
“Why Now Is The Time For Asian American Like Me Women To Break The Taboo on Intimate Partner Violence”
Jocelyn Yow wrote a deeply courageous piece for Ms. Magazine in the wake of the Monterey Park shooting:
I met my perpetrator in 2017. Like me, he’s Asian American. We started seeing each other in 2019. Everything went well. It was a great relationship. We went on trips together and we had friends in common. I like to think that I vetted him. He had a reputation for being a good guy.
Girls, You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Start A Business
Lisa Ferguson at Mediorite in East London has made it her mission to diversify the people working in British media. And she has an inspiring message for young women in her local community.
When you think of a businessperson, the chances are it’s a white bloke in a grey suit. But the truth is, girls make amazing business leaders. And you don’t need to be a perfect Instagram influencer to make it work in business either.
It’s women’s history month in March and my message to all young girls is: You can do it. It’s actually not that hard to run a business. You only need to think about what you want to do and then give it a try. Don’t let people fool you or throw you off. You deserve to be successful.
Immigration Policy Doesn’t Always Protect People Fleeing For Safety
Carmen Kcomt wrote for the San Diego Union Tribune about Southern Border Policy, from her perspective as a former asylum seeker from Peru:
Now, I’ve been driving down to the southern border and working on helping the people there for several years. I’m surprised to say the situation is worse than I’ve known it, when you talk to people about the level of distress they are in. That’s despite the hope I had that the Biden administration would improve things. There was a lot of hope in the air a couple of years ago, and now it’s withered. Right now, the main message we are sending to people at the southern border is that we don’t care about them.
20 Countries Don’t Allow Women To Pass On Citizenship
Danah Abdulaziz wrote for City Limits about gender discrimination in citizenship law. It’s what led to her “statelessness”:
Statelessness has major consequences for people’s human rights. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained me when I was 15. They took me to a facility in Queens where they strip-searched me. They came to my house at 6 a.m. when I was about to go to school. They handcuffed me and put me in a truck. They detained me for six months but in the end, they released me because there was nowhere to deport me to.
Every year I have to report to the same immigration authorities that detained me. We shouldn’t treat any girl in New York like this. It’s un-American. I kept saying to them, “You’re treating a child like this?” It goes against all the values I hold dear, and which I’ve absorbed growing up in New York, a beacon of freedom. When they detained me, I realized I needed to push for a resolution to the issue of statelessness.
Lessons About Criminalizing Women’s Poverty
The Safety and Justice Challenge ran a blog by Tara Rhoden on a recent research project in a North Carolina jail system.
Of the 40 women surveyed in the Buncombe County Detention Center, all but one said they struggled with drug or alcohol use. All but two said they were survivors of some form of violence, including domestic assault or physical, sexual, or emotional abuse.
The Risk Of A Rewind For Gender Parity in Texas Politics
Lisa Stone wrote for the Austin American Statesman on February 7:
In 1991, the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited Texas for the first and only time. The Queen met with Texas leaders including former Governor Ann Richards, San Antonio Mayor Lila Cockrell, Houston Mayor Kathy Whitmire, Dallas Mayor Annette Strauss, and Fort Worth Mayor Kay Granger. Whitmire later reported that Prince Philip, ever indiscreet and offensive, remarked that he didn’t expect Texas to be “run by women.”
Thanks for reading and sharing this important work.
