Feminists in Struggle

By Ann Menasche

This opinion piece is that of the author and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Feminists In Struggle as an organization.

Working as I do representing people who lack regular homes, many of them sheltering in RVs or other vehicles, I have noticed a demographic change in this population.  When in the past unhoused people were mostly men, and mostly people with disabilities and retirees on fixed incomes that were not enough to live on, or people whose drug and alcohol addiction precipitated their homelessness, nowadays the population is more and more female, with many holding down jobs, sometimes more than one.   They are often single and divorced women, women who more often than not are escaping domestic violence from male partners, some without children, others with young children and still others grandmothers.  They are native-born women who have to fear police drowning them in tickets they cannot afford to pay, impounding their vehicles and criminalizing them as they attempt to stay safe and build an independent life away from their abusers; and immigrant women, who are terrified of ICE raids and deportations on top of everything else.   The women are even sometimes working professionals.  A medical doctor that I know moved into her RV after her divorce but unlike most of my clients, can afford to pay for an RV park in the city.  She just can’t afford the $3,000 to $4,000 per month cost of renting an apartment in San Diego.  I know women lawyers who came darn close to being on the streets.

Rather than their homelessness being a “choice” or a “lifestyle”, these women are the victims of factors beyond their control – the skyrocketing cost of housing that has left half the population of San Diego struggling to pay the rent – one illness, one layoff, or one rent raise away from homelessness; and abysmally low female wages. Even women in the professions still make less than their male counterparts.

The average women makes 81.5% of what men make when compared to men with similar demographic characteristics, family situations, work hours and experiences. This discrepancy is worse for women of color. Wage inequality begins early and worsens over time. Lower pay means women in their senior years have lower pensions and Social Security payments.

Decades after the passage of the Lily Ledbetter Act, and we are still being denied equal pay for equal work.  The recognition of the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the Constitution and stronger equal pay laws are needed, which, given the segregation of the workforce itself,  should also include equal pay for work of comparable value.  Why should a school teacher or social worker, female dominated professions that require advanced education, get less pay than an engineer?

When we think about the poor this holiday season, let’s keep the female face of poverty uppermost in our minds.  And if we want to put a dent on homelessness, paying women fairly would be a start.

Happy holidays, sisters!

By Ann Menasche

This piece is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the opinion of FIST as an organization.

The United States knows quite a bit about genocide and ethnic cleansing.  In the 1830’s, 60,000 Native Americans – the Cherokee and other tribes – were forcibly removed from their homeland in the Southern U.S and forced into reservations. About 16,000 died during this forced exile hundreds of miles to Oklahoma, from disease, starvation, and exposure to the elements in what became known as the “Trail of Tears.”  It was fundamentally a land grab by white settlers with the support of the U.S. government.  And it was genocide, though the concept didn’t really exist until the modern era.

Since 1948, genocide has been defined as “acts committed with the intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”  The acts include killing, causing serious harm, inflicting conditions of life to destroy a group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children.

How little humanity has learned since the original Trial of Tears of two centuries ago. We are now seeing unfolding in real time on our screens the destruction in whole or in part of the Palestinians of Gaza.   More tonnage of bombs has been dropped on Gaza than at Hiroshima, with at least 60,000 dead, mostly women and children, with many more buried in the rubble.  The large majority of housing, schools, hospitals, mosques, civilian infrastructure, all that is necessary to sustain life, has been destroyed.  Even seeking the pittance of food aid that Israel allows into Gaza, can risk one’s life from sniper fire, as already hundreds have been killed in this gruesome fashion. Palestinians, left hungry and homeless,  have been herded from north to south and back again with no safe place to go.  And now with the attack and threatened occupation of Gaza City, there is virtually nothing left.

Israeli finance minister Bezalei Smotrich has shamelessly stated the purpose of this killing spree. He described Gaza as a potential real estate “bonanza”, claiming he was talking to the U.S. about dividing up the spoils.  “We have done the demolition phase, which is always the first phase of urban renewal – now we need to build.”  https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/18/middleeast/israel-smotrich-gaza-land-intl?cid=ios_app

So, they come in packed cars, or on foot carrying a few belongings, children carrying smaller children in their arms, tens of thousands leaving Gaza City and traveling many long miles filled with pain and despair. Others, without the funds or health to leave or fearing they are being offered a road to nowhere, constituting most of the residents, are still in the City awaiting their fate.

Meanwhile, the bombs keep falling, there is not enough food or water or medical equipment.  It’s a modern trail of tears.

So, what does genocide have to do with feminism?  Let’s be clear – to destroy a people you need to destroy the women.  Women are half the human race, but also the bearers of new life.    Though women are perfectly capable of fighting and being violent, war is still overwhelming men’s business, run by rich powerful men, the generals, the macho leaders of imperial nations like Trump and Netanyahu, the war profiteers, the real estate developers with their spread sheets, all motivated by greed and narrow self-interest.  Genocide is the epitome of patriarchy, of power over, of male violence on the largest scale imaginable. So that women as non-combatants are targeted is no surprise.

There is no justification for genocide, the demonization and collective punishment of a whole population, not ever.  It does not make anyone safe against the vengeful violence of oppressed or subordinated men.  Quite the opposite. Only peace with justice does that. Native Americans also engaged in what is called “terrorism” against white settlers.  No, it did not justify the Trail of Tears.  Israeli Jews have begun to understand that, with tens of thousands demanding an end to the war and recognizing that their government does not give a damn about the fate of the hostages or the lives of their soldiers to be sacrificed in a land grab and on the altar of forever war.  That so many feminists in the United States and the U.K. don’t comprehend this is more than distressing; it is heartbreaking.

As a Jew, part of my ancestry goes back to ancient Canaan.  Palestinians are my cousins.  As a feminist, the women of Gaza are my sisters.  I share their tears. Enough.

By Ann Menasche

This piece represents the views of the author and does not necessarily represent those of FIST as an organization.

I just learned that Julia Beck was prevented from leading a workshop on compulsory heterosexuality at the Filia Women’s Rights Conference because she spoke at a forum on gender identity at the Heritage Foundation back in 2019.  As someone who was critical of the decision by some feminists to participate in this far Right stridently anti-feminist venue (as were many other FIST members), I believe that “no platforming” someone within the feminist movement is not the way to go.  We need more discussion and debate, not less.

Ironically, Julia has rethought many of her views on this issue and is now a lot closer to my own way of thinking, which has also undergone some evolution.  See Julia’s substack essay, Public Statement on working with the right, part 2: Critique and analysis. At that time, I saw two problems with close collaboration with the Right and felt that participation at the Heritage Foundation event held far more negatives than positives for feminists.  One problem is that it discredited our movement, feeding into the idea that being critical of gender identity ideology is inherently “Right-wing.”  Second, is that these alliances disoriented and disarmed feminists into thinking those in the Right are our friends, and led to minimizing the importance of fundamental feminist issues like abortion rights, the Equal Rights Amendments and lesbian rights (which the Right opposes), and that of the movement being anti-racist, anti-imperialist, etc.   My position on this hasn’t changed. Clearly, feminists have two organized and powerful enemies, not one.  Both support and shore-up patriarchy.

Part of the problem, and here Julia and I somewhat disagree, is considering the Democratic Party as “the Left” when it is nothing of the kind.  I have rejected “lesser evilism” most of my life. With so many feminists and progressives following the lead of the Democratic Party – the Party of war and austerity, like the Republicans – has led to allowing the Democratic Party leadership to set the agenda and define for us what it means to be “on the Left.”   That led to the widespread acceptance by progressives of a regressive ideology that denies sex, pushes women and gays and lesbians back, and does permanent physical harm to gender non-conforming and traumatized children.

Moreover, supporting the “lesser evil” has led those focused on the single issue of gender identity to support Trump, and ignore the dangers of Project 2025 for the status of women.  Feminism cannot be restricted to single issue, because the oppression of women is complex and multi-faceted.  Just recognizing that sex exists, as essential as that is to be able to organize and fight for our rights as a sex-class, hardly solves the problem.  The Taliban knows what a woman is.

But I agree with Julia that rigid dogmatism is not the answer.  I have attended and spoken at an event opposing child “gender transition” which had Right wing participation, though I wouldn’t characterize the protest itself as “Right”.  I spoke openly as a member of FIST and a socialist.  I would likewise participate in actions and support bills to stop U.S. support for the Israeli genocide against the people of Gaza though Marjorie Taylor Green, whose politics I generally despise, has also taken such a stand or may be co-sponsoring such bills.   I decide my position on issues and bills on their own merits.

Most importantly, our movement must remain democratic and open to a range of views on these issues.  All of us learn and grow from discussion and debate.  No-platforming feminists, even where we strongly disagree with them on issues of tactics and strategy, is an authoritarian method that has no place in the feminist movement.

By Butch Barbie

NOW held its annual membership conference in Las Vegas July 10-13.  The conference was hybrid, with elections and plenaries streaming on Zoom.  Issue hearings and workshops were also held but not streamed to virtual attendees.

For the first time in recent memory, a caucus of radical feminists pushed 2 resolutions through issue hearings for a vote by the membership.  A third resolution passed by petition with 35 signatures. The group was surprised that the resolutions passed were the most ‘controversial’—Single Sex Prisons and Online Age Verification for Pornography through the issue hearings, and Lesbian Only Spaces by petition.  The next step would have been a floor vote by the members on Sunday, the last day of the conference.

Unfortunately that day never came.  Elections were held for a new President and Vice President on Saturday afternoon.  Normally the candidates are advised of the results Saturday evening and officially announced Sunday morning.  Instead, Sunday morning the conference was cancelled by parliamentarian Lynette Henley, who stood on stage with Elections Committee co-chair Rosa Colquitt and outgoing VP Bear Atwood.  Citing unnamed (and still unproven) ‘third parties’ interfering with the election, and lack of quorum (untrue and quorum was not challenged), Henley declared the conference void.  Atwood then adjourned the conference.

This unexpected turn of events was met with outrage by those present and online as well.  When a board member challenged the Parliamentarian, she was screamed at and threatened by VP Candidate Triana Arnold James to keep away.  Members ended up gathering for strategy sessions which continued for 2 weeks.

After a secret board meeting convened by outgoing President Christian Nunes who falsely claimed the election was hacked, the Election Committee finally revealed the results of the officer election. The winning slate with 76.9% of the vote was Kim Villanueva for President and Rose Brunache for Vice President.  Rose is a young African American radical feminist from the Washington DC chapter.  Kim, an out Latina lesbian from Illinois, is a longstanding NOW member who has served at nearly every level in the organization and is willing to open up dialogue on our issues.

As for the resolutions, the normal procedure is for the national board to vote on them at their next meeting if they hadn’t been voted on at the conference.  Since nothing was normal about this conference, we will have to wait until the September board meeting to see what happens.