Asheville Women for Equality rally planned Aug. 26th

From a press release from the organizer:

Currently women around the world are fighting for and risking their lives and liberty for basic rights, such as the right to vote, the right to an education, the right to participate in their government, access to health care, even the right to leave their houses unaccompanied, and the right to drive. Many women around the world do not even have the right to express their opinions in their own homes, much less in public.

Some women are dying for these rights. Literally.

So it seems to very strange that women in America are now facing losing the rights we gained decades ago, and that we have made very little progress in obtaining the rights asked for decades ago.

We as women have become too complacent since the second wave of feminism in the 60s and 70s. The 40-somethings and younger have ridden on the coattails of the women that fought before them, enjoyed the fruits of their labor, and never gave much thought to losing the hard earned rights and recognition for which their mothers and grandmothers fought. Some of us don’t even know exactly what not having rights meant; it is just a vague concept with no real meaning. The third wave of feminism actually began in the 80s, but too many of us have not paid attention since then and now we are “surprised” because of recent activity and focus on women’s issues in our government.

3WF-Asheville Women for Equality aims to reach out to all women to raise our voices in solidarity. 3WF stands for “Third Wave Feminism”. Women of all races, religions need to make it clear to ALL their legislators that we deserve to have our rights enshrined in the Constitution, and in all Federal and State laws. Its Mission Statement is to educate the public by providing accurate information (vs. misinformation) and to establish a forum where individuals can take proactive steps to effectively affect our legislation in order to achieve the changes needed for women to have full and equal rights under the Constitution and the law. We plan to achieve this by the continual dissemination of information through events such as this, regular meetings, its Facebook page, its website, and through other media. Additionally, we plan to continually lobby our legislators until our rights are formally recognized.

Our focus will be on the following issues: Equal Rights Amendment; fair pay and working women; health care; violence against women; empowering our daughters (preparing them for future leadership roles and combating the messages media repeatedly sends to them); effectively affect legislation; increasing women in politics; and, of course, protecting reproductive rights.

Roberta Madden, ERA North Carolina; Kathey Avery, ABIPA; Susan Wilson, attorney; and Christina Kelley Merrill, Kelley Co. Productions. Annie Houle with The WAGE Project, and Beth Newton, with the Girl Scouts, are tentatively scheduled to speak.