The Power of Women

Does this sound like your life or the life of a woman you know?

“I have to get my kids to school at different times. On Wednesdays my daughter does basketball in a whole other building, and my son does Boy Scouts way up North.”

This was shared by Jenny whose need is posted to the Benevolent site. In honor of Women’s History Month, this post is dedicated to the power of women to support, persevere, and thrive.

Jenny, her sister and her mother are forces to be reckoned with. They take care of one another, take each other in when necessary, and catch each other when they fall. All the while, keeping everyone around them focused on accomplishing goals and pursuing education.

All this sounds like a rosy picture. Until, that is, we hear the back-story. Jenny survived and stood up against abuse, ran from her abuser, was fired from a job one month before her due date, and found security and help from her sister when she needed it most.

Just facing the realities of everyday life and parenting is a Herculean task. When you add domestic violence and gender discrimination to the mix, it’s a challenge worthy of a superhero. This challenge, of course, is what millions of women around the world face every day. Jenny is one and in my mind’s eye, she is, indeed, a superhero -- deflecting danger and zooming around any obstacle that clutters her path.

These dangers – domestic violence, assault, discrimination, and more – still so seemingly commonplace in our country-- are at the core of this story. Jenny is so much like so many other women – women who survive and persevere, women who take care of everyone around them, rising up from whatever knocks them down. At a time when a woman’s position in politics and public discourse is at a low point, we cannot avoid this all-too-apparent truth – that women’s circumstances continue to be marked by gender-related challenges and obstacles.

As Jenny’s story continues to unfold, we find that it is now Jenny’s sister who needs help. Jenny’s sister has cancer and is on dialysis; Jenny provides transportation to her chemo appointments, dialysis, and work. On top of all that, Jenny is single-handedly raising her kids and preparing to go back to school. I find myself becoming exhausted simply by reading about Jenny’s life and challenges.

”I bring the kids to school, I go to work, I take my sister to work and to her doctor’s appointments and her dialysis appointments, and I will be starting school…”

Jenny is asking for help getting her car repaired so she can continue to drive, get everyone where they need to go and keep them all on track.

I’ve got two kids and they’re active and involved, like Jenny’s. It’s hard for me to fathom how I would ever accomplish what Jenny does each day were I not able to use my car. Helping this superhero woman, who has overcome so much, get her car fixed will mean the difference between whether she and her loved ones can continue to pursue their life goals, or whether they will face an impasse.

There are so many Jennys out there – running from dawn until late into the night, keeping themselves and their family members on track, repelling abuse and assault when it pops into their lives. During this year’s Women’s History Month, I’ll be paying homage to them, feeling grateful for the progress we’ve made for women in this country and around the world, and daunted by what we have yet to achieve.

- megan kashner, founder & ceo

The Seasonal University

Lauren’s glasses were stolen three years ago and she’s gone without ever since. Lauren had multi-vision lenses - like I just got - and I can tell you, I don’t know how she’s functioning without them. She tells us she can’t drive or read to her kids without glasses and asks for our help in replacing them.

What strikes me about Lauren’s story, in addition to her important need, is a small statement in her narrative. She tells us “I work at a university in food service. It’s seasonal work, but consistent. I am laid off now for the holidays but will start working again when the next term starts.”

Read that again – Lauren tells us that her work in food service for a university is “seasonal” and that she’s “laid off” for the holidays.

I’ve got friends who work for universities - some as professors, some in facilities management, and others in administration. None of them would consider their work to be “seasonal” and none of them is ever laid off over the holidays or summer break. It’s not the way a university would retain its faculty, staff, and maintenance professionals.

Yet the university for which Lauren works – or the food service contractor they employ - treats her as disposable, laying her off when they don’t need her and rehiring her on their terms. Lauren tells us that the work is “consistent,” which I can only take to mean that she knows her job will be there when the winter or summer break is over. This means that her employer knows she’ll be there, even though they’ve done nothing to earn her loyalty.

There are many who would look at Lauren’s case and wonder why she hasn’t got health insurance or hasn’t saved up for the glasses she needs. Some might think she’s not a good financial planner in managing her resources. I would say that the university and its food service contractor are doing a poor job in managing their resources. If they deal with employees as disposable units, providing neither job security, benefits, nor health insurance, then they’re creating many of the problems we see across the social sector.

Let me be clear, I realize that there are, indeed, fields in which contract labor and seasonal employment make a world of sense. I can find no explanation for why food service workers, whose labor is needed whenever school is in session, should be treated as contract workers and actually laid off over winter break. It’s not as if the university or food service company are unsure whether or not there will be a need for food service come January. The students are coming back and they’ll need to eat – every January, every year.

Our city’s subsidized housing resources, social service resources, and now private donor dollars will go to help Lauren – and I hope they, and we, will help her. But why is the help necessary? Because Lauren is being treated as a food service device rather than as a member of the community of workers, teachers, and administration that makes her university hum.

It’s easy to fault low-income adults for decisions we perceive they may have made. In Lauren’s case, the fault for her inability to access the health resources she needs for her vision care lies not with her, but with the system that employs her as disposable and keeps her in limbo between employed and not.

- megan kashner, founder & ceo