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Marilyn Fitterman[/caption]
By Emily J. Weitz
Last Sunday, in a darkened room of the Hampton Library, black and white images of great women from Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Rosa Parks played to a small room full of people, all of them female. The film traced pivotal moments in women’s history, such as when Colorado granted women the right to vote in 1893 and when Alice Paul led the first picket line at the White House in 1917.
Sojourner Truth stood at a podium to address the men who invoked the name of Christ in keeping women down.
“Where did your Christ come from?” asked Truth. “God, and a woman. Man had nothing to do with it.”
It’s easy to forget the sacrifices grandmothers made and the rights they fought for in a world where it almost seems like all women are now equal. But Marilyn Fitterman, former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in New York State and current president of its East End chapter, is here to say that all are not equal. She believes the inequalities in the workplace and the threats to rights over women’s bodies are as real today as they were during the Women’s Liberation movement.
“I was looking through my old notes, my old speeches,” said Fitterman, “and I realized that some of them were 40 years old and they are still relevant.”
That’s why Fitterman, who spoke at the library as part of a presentation offered by the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, plans to remain on the front lines today.
“Did you know that women earn 57 percent of bachelors degrees and 60 percent of masters degrees in this country,” asked Fitterman, “but they only hold three percent of CEO positions?”
“If I sound angry, it’s because I am,” she added. “I’ve been an activist for 45 years, and women are still earning 77 cents on the dollar, and abortion has been made a political issue by those who oppose women’s rights.”
Fitterman went on to discuss the current political climate, and how women’s rights have become a topic of conversation dominated by men.
“I have a fantasy,” she said. “In my fantasy I am hosting a panel. On the panel are five prominent women discussing men’s health, men’s hormones, and how they affect their emotional life and their ability to be leaders. After all, when those testosterone levels start rising, we all know men think with more than their brains, which could conceivably lead to destroying the planet. We’re pretty close to that now, under the leadership of the patriarchal system.”
One of the most significant points of power that women have sacrificed, said Fitterman, is in the language.
“Gloria Steinem came up with the term ‘Ms.’ because women were identified by their marriage status while men were not,” she said.
The importance of language translates to the topic of reproductive rights as well.
“The mistake we made,” said Fitterman, “is we let them take the language. They are not pro-life; they are anti-choice. I am not pro-abortion; I am pro-choice.”
She went on to quote Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who spoke at Lincoln Center last March, on why extremists target women.
“Why extremists always focus on women remains a mystery to me,” said Fitterman quoting Clinton. “It doesn’t matter what country they’re in or what religion they claim. They want to control women. They want to control how we dress. They want to control how we act. They even want to control the decisions we make about our own health and bodies.”
A chorus of grunts and a sea of nodding heads followed. When Fitterman opened the conversation up to the crowd, other issues arose.
Judy Reilly brought up the controversy that lit up back in April when the Augusta National Golf Club did not offer IBM CEO Virginia Rommetty membership, even though they had traditionally offered membership to the leaders of the tournament’s biggest sponsors.
The conversation then turned to domestic violence, and the way it is dealt with in this culture, by taking women and children out of the homes and putting them into safe houses.
“Kids shouldn’t be uprooted from school because they have a violent father,” said Fitterman. “Men should be the ones to be taken out of the home.”
Anitra Ahrens of Coram chimed in that this approach to domestic violence is detrimental for everyone involved.
“Association Disorder is an issue that comes from constantly ripping children out of the community,” Ahrens said. “They are not able to bond with others. We need to look at this issue from the other perspective.”
“We have to keep saying it,” said Fitterman, “because we don’t know our history. And we have to fight for our rights.”
on Jul 20, 2012