Today is Women’s Equality Day, as announced by both the President and City Councilmember Jean Godden in a plaque that she gave to Morgan Beach (ok, it’s a fully City proclamation, but we just liked the plaque), we are giving you some facts – but not as many facts as you deserve! – about the status of gender parity in Seattle and Washington State. 

We considered giving you even fewer, because the oft-cited “77 cents to the dollar” is only true for white women and effectively erases the way-worse plight of women of color, but a list of only 5.6 facts seemed to slim. We also have some required reading down at the end of the page that you should consult.

^^Very cool women postering for suffrage in Seattle in 1910, via the UW archives

So here are your bits of information:

1.) The City of Seattle passed a mandatory family leave ordinance this year that would ensure all FTE employees of the City of Seattle, regardless of gender, will receive paid time off in the event of a new child, adopted or otherwise. This was a big step toward gender equity, because paid parental leave for everyone helps reduce the stigma and economic impact of maternity leave, which can lead to lower wages for women. 

2.) Other organizations within the City are taking action as well. Though a fairly deplorable cesspool of corruption, the Chamber of Commerce has done one good thing: They created 100% Talent, a terribly-named-but-hopefully-helpful initiative for employers to encourage more equitable hiring practices. It’s a new program, and the end results remain to be seen, but it’s a start.

3.) Women (in general, with no racial breakdown) working for the City of Seattle earn higher than the national average – about 90 cents to the dollar. However, non-City employees aren’t doing so well; in 2013, Gene Balk at the Seattle Times cited a study which found that Seattle women working full-time make just 73 cents to the dollar, and BLS numbers from the following year confirmed that Washington, as a state, is also worse in regards to the gender gap. There’s also yet to be an ordinance passed requiring private employers to provide paid family leave in the City. So while the City of Seattle is doing a lot of internal work, there’s still quite a bit of external work to be done, as well. 

4.) And even though the City of Seattle, as an employer, tends to pay more equally, the path to management, according to a report out this year, is incredibly muddled, and three agencies within the City are especially shit offenders: City Light, the Seattle Police, and Seattle Fire. Additionally, women are more likely to be employed part-time, meaning they receive fewer benefits (like family leave). 

5.) The Mayor has largely dragged his feet on gender parity, leaving Councilmember Jean Godden to take up the charge. And while Godden is not advancing to the November ballot, this fall’s Council races could actually result in a more representative body of legislatures. If every woman won her race, the City would have a majority of female Councilmembers for the first time since 1998. Which is not to say that this is necessarily, politically-speaking, the best outcome – Mike O’Brien is still our pick in his district – but it does demonstrate the diversity of this year’s races. 

Additionally, numerous races – seats 1, 3, and 7 – have two women running against each other, and there are one two districts where the race does not involve a woman. 

So yes, we’re going to go ahead and say district elections = better gender parity. 

6.) Washington’s extremely regressive tax system disproportionately impacts women, as well. By balancing the budgets not based on income (where men would be paying more), but rather, based on goods and services (which both men and women require, but which women tend to spend more on), women pay disproportionately more of their income in taxes. Plus, as we know, women make up more of the minimum wage workforce, which means they just get the shit end of the stick on taxes. Oh, and even our fucking tampons are taxed, my dude. Our tampons. 

7.) The single biggest step the City of Seattle has taken toward narrowing the gender wage gap is raising the minimum wage. A study out this year found that nationally, 2/3 of workers who earn the minimum wage are women; a raise to the Federal minimum wage would increase the wages of 37% of women of color in the nation. That means that Seattle has an opportunity to be a real leader in both race and gender justice, just by demonstrating the efficacy and ease of enacting this decision. That’s why we call bullshit on this garbage fire (DoNotLinked here) from the Seattle Times Editorial Board, which advised people to “hold the applause” on the minimum wage. One of the best things we can do for women right now is encourage more cities to follow our lead. 

7.7) Technically, Women’s Equality Day in Washington State should be in November, when women here actually got the right to vote. Women of Washington got the right to vote a full 10 years earlier than in the rest of the country. But, in light of this being only a fraction of a fact, we’re going to have to direct you over to this very important supplemental reading on women’s suffrage in Washington. 

And here’s your homework. 

• Read this excellent article in the South Seattle Emerald about what you can actually do to help women on this day. 
  
• Check out the City’s page on gender wage equity – it’s actually very informative and has some good marching orders (like encouraging men to take family leave and also mentoring young women)
  
• Read this article from last year about making Seattle better for trans people, and consider joining one of the Ingersoll Gender Center’s community meetings (there’s one tonight!) to learn about how to be a better trans ally. Remember: Women’s Equality is for all women, and if you’re excluding trans women in your activism, you’re not actually doing a great job. 
  
• Add Working Washington to your RSS reader. They are doing some of the best work highlighting the numerous benefits of the new minimum wage.

Happy Women’s Equality Day, y’all. Go forth and vote with your dollar and your voice and your ballot, because you are allowed to do all of those things. 

when you say “feminism is about equality” men hear “that means i should have as much say-so and power in the feminist movement as women do”

and thats why i say feminists who constantly have to remind everyone that “we’re for equality!!!” are kindergarden feminists

kindergarden feminists are concerned with making sure men still like them and keeping men happy. you can be a feminist and still like men of course, going through life hating men (or anything really) isn’t healthy.

but you cannot solve anything by sugar-coating feminism just so men can feel comfortable with it

feminism is uncomfortable. feminism takes the rose colored glasses from mens eyes and throws it against the wall. feminism pops men’s bubble of security and comfort. feminism makes men take responsibility. feminism is a rude awakening.

do not sugar coat your feminism

feminism does not cater towards men

feminism is about dismantling the oppressive systems men have put in place and continue to uphold

men can get involved in the movement

but it is not. about. them.

when you say “feminism is about equality” men hear “that means i should have as much say-so and power in the feminist movement as women do”

and thats why i say feminists who constantly have to remind everyone that “we’re for equality!!!” are kindergarden feminists

kindergarden feminists are concerned with making sure men still like them and keeping men happy. you can be a feminist and still like men of course, going through life hating men (or anything really) isn’t healthy.

but you cannot solve anything by sugar-coating feminism just so men can feel comfortable with it

feminism is uncomfortable. feminism takes the rose colored glasses from mens eyes and throws it against the wall. feminism pops men’s bubble of security and comfort. feminism makes men take responsibility. feminism is a rude awakening.

do not sugar coat your feminism

feminism does not cater towards men

feminism is about dismantling the oppressive systems men have put in place and continue to uphold

men can get involved in the movement

but it is not. about. them.

White men, White women, Black men and others are desperate to try silence Black and other women of colour’s critiques of White supremacist mainstream feminism (especially around these areas: blatant racism/White supremacy, specific individualized abuse, plagiarism, labor exploitation and marginalization in discourse). The same old lies, distortions and insults surface. I’ve discussed this via Twitter (@thetrudz, @GradientLair) and Storify in the last few days, and here’s what I’ve said:

A lot of harm occurs on an individual level. Systems, structures and institutions support it. But when an individual harms women of colour, I care. You cannot claim to reject White supremacy and then when individual Whites harm women of colour, you overlook it. Make your theory become praxis. And individual incidents of Whites being able to harm with impunity are instances of White supremacy. Addressing them remains critical.

But this LIE persists: Critique White supremacy, generically = “activism.” Critique individual with White supremacy supporting that individual = must want White “approval.”

Critiquing via theory is great for foundation. But it means NOTHING until you stand up for others, when the theory becomes life. Oh and, critical theories couldn’t have existed without actual life happening. So don’t parse here where avoiding real incidents = “being deep.”

Black men/men of colour who don’t care how Deen, Schwyzer and others harm Black women/women of colour, your “allyship” isn’t needed. You’re dismissed. But of course they don’t care. Let them break a nail though. Black women will be demanded to organize a Sally Hansen rally for their asses. Not interested in your generic critiques and then when something actually goes down, you’re ghost. And the obtuse liars who’ll claim that I don’t critique intraracial issues among Black people because I critique White supremacy among Whites now? Whatever…

Telling Black women to allow labor exploitation for “justice” is NOT critiquing capitalism. Labor exploitation is KEY to capitalism. Accepting exploitation as proof of your “goodness” is a fool’s mantra. Just because I don’t desire Whites’ money/attention doesn’t mean that Whites have a right to exploit my labor or target other Black women/women of colour.

Patriarchal Black people will claim that critique of White feminism = Black women want White “acceptance.” I will tell you ONCE GODDAMN MORE. I critique ANY racism. And spare me from the ignorance of "if you critique racism outside of feminism that’s good, but inside feminism means you want their acceptance."

Some Black men (and others, honestly) have to be honest when their feminist praxis includes stereotypes, even faux positive ones of “strong Black woman,” which makes them ignore Black women’s pain. If you call yourself an ally to Black women and other women of colour, why does what we say/think/feel/express not matter to you?

And as I’ve mentioned to White women many times, I don’t want a seat at your table. I want you to stop setting fire to my table in a different room in a different house that you try to rob. Again, most of those in the margins do not critique mainstream White feminism because we want acceptance. Nope. Never did. We want any oppression to stop.

Here are some common derailment tactics that surface whenever women of colour critique mainstream White feminism:

1. People of colour (sadly) will state "that’s what y’all get" for aligning with feminism versus Black patriarchy/theist patriarchy. As if women of colour don’t add our voices to feminist discourse and shape it, even as credit is denied. Thus, critiquing mainstream feminism does NOT then mean that kyriarchy is “good.”
2. The Black women among the women of colour are told that we are “siding” with White women against Black men. LIE. Black women have been the ONLY true supporters of Black men and critique White women’s racism/White supremacy often. (I have addressed this complaint before. And “support” from White women is not sex. Black men will posit this as evidence, while Zimmerman’s jury versus Black women before, Ida B. Wells herself and Black women after Wells have supported Black men).
3. White women will claim that any critique of White supremacy and racism “harms” feminism. I’m pretty sure that White supremacy and racism themselves, not the critiques, harms feminism and absolutely anything/anyone else.
4. Primarily Black people will give the "well women of colour ‘only’ critique White feminists and should’ve ‘known’ that they are racist" line, being willfully ignorant about the fact that women of colour deconstruct, critique, reject and fight oppression in many spheres, not only amidst feminism.
5. White men (and some men of colour) will posit the notion that it is just “liberal squabbling” or “the little women not being able to get along.” This partisan and misogynistic derailment is the least intellectually complex of them all. And who are men to critique “getting along” with their atrocious male-to-male violence rates, war, imperialism and genocide? Please.
6. Sadly, sometimes other women of colour who are stuck on The Help feel that we should be coddling and catering to White women’s racism and never critique it as the only way to build “solidarity.”
7. People of a variety of backgrounds will suggest that any criticism of systematic oppression is just the oppressed being “jealous” of the oppressors. These people needs library cards, asap.

I reject racism in any form. The idea that I only critique it among White feminists because I want acceptance is about as ignorant as claiming that I want to have a show on Fox News because I critique their sexism and racism.

Because many people couldn’t silence us in the last few days and @Karynthia's (she started it) #solidarityisforwhitewomen, some of them lost their shit! And worse, some of these people genuinely call themselves allies to women of colour!

The truth is, White men, White women and Black men have a lot invested in preserving White supremacy insofar as how it relates to White women and their womanhood being centered as most important. Many Black men reject racism up until White women are the perpetrators and Black women/women of colour are the targets. I don’t consider them or anyone who does this an ally.

“If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.” - Zora Neal Hurston

"Your silence will not protect you." - Audre Lorde

“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” - Alice Walker

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if your feminism isn’t anti-racism it’s white supremacy