Saturday, March 27, 2021

In Her Words: ‘Despite the obstacles’

Women's History Month in a year of so much hardship
Lucy Jones

By Erin Spencer

"We celebrate despite the obstacles we face."

— Patrisse Cullors, a founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, on Women's History Month

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Women's History Month has long drawn mixed reactions, with celebration and criticism given in somewhat equal measure. But a pandemic and economic disaster have made Women's History 2021 especially fraught.

Of course there have been moments of achievement. The United States swore in its first female vice president. The Biden administration established a Gender Policy Council and is set to have the most diverse cabinet in American history. Estonia swore in its first female prime minister in January, and Greece, Moldova, Togo and Gabon all elected their first female leaders last year.

Citigroup, one of the biggest U.S. banks, appointed a female chief executive, Jane Fraser. At 31, Whitney Wolfe Herd became the youngest female CEO to take a company public. And as of this month, the World Trade Organization is now led by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the first woman and first African to hold the job.

But the backdrop for these success stories has been painful: Racial reckonings, widening income inequality, an epidemic of domestic abuse, widespread joblessness, increased burdens of unpaid labor exacerbated by the pandemic.

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In view of the good and the bad, here's how five women are looking at Women's History Month 2021. The comments have been lightly edited and condensed.

Deb Haaland, secretary of the Interior

Deb Haaland, a 35th generation New Mexican and member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, is the third female secretary of the interior — a position established in 1894. She is the first Native American to lead the department, which, among other things, oversees relations with the 574 federally recognized tribal nations within the United States.

In her opening statement at her confirmation hearing, she spoke in Keres, the native language of her family. In English, she went on to thank her family, friends and generations of ancestors, and acknowledged that she was present on the ancestral homelands of the Nacotchtank, Anacostan and Piscataway people.

"As many of you know, my story is unique," Ms. Haaland said in her address to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. "This historic nature of my confirmation is not lost on me, but I will say it's not about me," she said.

Asked about Women's History Month, she told In Her Words:

"Women are fierce — we break barriers, run companies, make scientific discoveries, raise families, and lift each other up. But the fact is, discriminatory policies blocked women from fully participating in our country for generations. It led to disparities in wages, representation and opportunities that we are still tackling. Though we have more Native women serving in Congress, a woman of color in the vice president's office, and women making moves across the country, we still have to recognize that the disadvantages that we face are created by a system designed to keep us out, and that, coupled with systemic racism, makes Women's History Month all the more important."

Angela Ceseña, executive director of Latina SafeHouse

Asked how she is doing, Angela Ceseña will tell you she is "cautiously optimistic" and "really tired."

Latina SafeHouse, where Ms. Ceseña works, provides bilingual services to Latinx survivors of domestic violence and their families. But this past year was the first time in the organization's 22-year history that the group had to start a wait list for survivors in need of services.

In a normal year, Ms. Ceseña isn't able to take much time off from work. This past year, she didn't even consider it.

During recent months, she said, some of the most severe types of cases have also had the largest increase: the need for emergency rapid rehousing, and shelter for women and children who are experiencing, or are at risk of experiencing, homelessness. In some ways, Ms. Ceseña says she feels she is "set up — and expected — to fail." At the same time, she describes a gravity and an obligation to her work that keep her going, keep her showing up each day.

Asked about Women's History Month, she told In Her Words:

"This year's Women's History Month gives me hope during such challenging times. I've thought a lot about Women's History Month, intersectional feminism, the incredible work that courageous women have done and the work that still lies ahead. There needs to be more representation and inclusion in celebrations of Women's History Month. I would like to see more actionable items from community leaders, corporations and legislators that promote equity and equal rights."

Dr. Nneka Dennie, co-founder of the Black Women's Studies Association

"Black Radical Women" is the course Nneka Dennie, a professor and co-founder of the Black Women's Studies Association, always wanted to teach, and 2021 was going to be the year she introduced it at Washington and Lee University.

Then came August 2020, and Dr. Dennie watched as the country reacted differently to the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. She noted how the hashtag #SayHerName seemed to be eclipsed by #SayHisName and #SayTheirNames.

"Black women and girls are often marginalized in discourse about racism and police brutality, so to see Black women pushed to the peripheries once again in this potential moment of racial reckoning was disheartening," she said.

History is always with us, Dr. Dennie said, but in recent months, she has found its presence to be unusually discernible — and entirely inescapable.

Asked about Women's History Month, she told In Her Words:

"I see this perhaps less as a moment of celebration, and more as a moment of acknowledgment. We need to acknowledge the unique forms of violence that trans women face. We need to acknowledge how incarcerated women and women immigrants detained at the border are experiencing a reproductive crisis. We need to acknowledge that raising the minimum wage to $15 will more effectively support working mothers. Celebrations are fine, but celebrating doesn't mean we've crossed a finish line."

Patrisse Cullors a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement

"This past year, Black women saved our country from itself," said Patrisse Cullors — the woman behind the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag and one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement. She views herself as more of an organizer than an activist.

While marking how much progress has been reached, she measures how far there is to go. When taking note of which groups have been lifted up, she makes a point to acknowledge which groups have not. When she speaks, she makes frequent use of the "yes, but" construction. "We have more Black women in positions of leadership and power than ever before," she said, "but our fight must continue."

Asked about Women's History Month, Ms. Cullors told In Her Words:

"We celebrate despite the obstacles we face. Our joy and celebration is an act of resistance. This month is a reminder to continuously celebrate each other, lift each other up and bring those frequently left behind along with us. Historically, celebrations of women were not celebrations of all women. Black women, Black queer women, Black trans women, Black poor women and Black disabled women. Let's do what generations prior either didn't know or didn't care to do and celebrate all Black women of past, present and future."

Dr. Kelly Graham, a physician and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School

When the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic and people hurried home to wait out the crisis, Dr. Kelly Graham and her colleagues at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, went in the other direction. Quickly it became clear that the masks and gowns needed to protect them were all but depleted, while those who looked after children and family members found themselves without support as care centers shuttered and schools abruptly closed their doors.

"As we waited for our hospitals, schools and day cares to come up with a solution, we did what women have always done in the workplace: We adapted to unjust structures," Dr. Graham said.

"We donned garbage bags and week-old masks and went to work. We patched together unreliable child care arrangements," she said. From there, days became weeks, weeks became months and now, one year in, Dr. Graham continues to wrestle with why things had to be so difficult.

Asked about Women's History Month, she told In Her Words:

"Women make up the majority of the caring industry — an immense set of invisible professions that operate on thin margins and are one disaster away from collapse. As I acknowledge Women's History Month, it is with sober reflection on where we must go next. For too long, we have been living our grandmother's version of equality — where we quietly adapt to the structures in which we live and work."

Write to us at inherwords@nytimes.com.

Erin Spencer is a freelance writer in Boston. Her work explores gender, culture and politics and can be found at erinspencerwrites.com.

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Vital Voices: Manal Al-Sharif

Manal Al-Sharif led a national campaign for women's right to drive in Saudi Arabia.Art by Gayle Kabaker | Courtesy of Assouline

"Be yourself without permission. The world will always want you to be someone else. Disappoint it."

[In March, In Her Words is featuring portraits of female leaders from the book "Vital Voices" as we consider the question: What makes a leader?]

In Her Words is edited by Francesca Donner. Our art director is Catherine Gilmore-Barnes, and our photo editor is Sandra Stevenson.

Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here to get future installments. Write to us at inherwords@nytimes.com. Follow us on Instagram at @nytgender.

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Friday, March 26, 2021

On Politics: Who Are Gavin Newsom’s Enemies?

The governor, once one of the most popular in the country, is fighting for his job. What happened?
Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Editor's note: Lisa Lerer is off this weekend, so you won't be receiving your regularly scheduled Saturday newsletter. She'll be back next week.

For Democratic officials aiming at higher office, California's top political jobs have appeared to be the perfect launchpad.

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This year, Kamala Harris went from representing the Golden State in the Senate to becoming the vice president. Alex Padilla, California's secretary of state, was appointed to take Harris's old job. And Xavier Becerra left his post as the state's attorney general to become President Biden's secretary of health and human services — always a big job, but especially so for an administration focused on confronting the coronavirus pandemic and strengthening the Affordable Care Act.

But there's one big exception to this trend, and it's at the very top of the state government. Gov. Gavin Newsom, 53, who less than a year ago appeared to have one of the brightest futures of any Democratic politician in the country, is fighting just to keep his job, amid a largely Republican-led recall effort that has already submitted more than two million signatures.

If roughly 1.5 million of those signatures are found to be valid, the state will move ahead with a vote to recall the governor and replace him. Already, about half a dozen candidates have filed to run in the event of a recall election.

One way to gauge the threat level: Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke out yesterday in an attempt to pull the Democratic Party together around Newsom. She told reporters that the recall effort was "an unnecessary notion," adding, "I don't think it even rises to the level of an idea."

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But the public has another notion. A poll released this week by the nonpartisan firm Probolsky Research found that California voters were split on whether to recall Newsom. Forty percent supported recalling him, while 46 percent were opposed. That's not overwhelming support — but it's a clear sign that Newsom is in choppy waters, and would need to work hard to head off a recall if a vote does get scheduled.

How did Newsom, who was among the United States' most popular governors in the early months of the pandemic, wind up here?

He benefited last spring from his proactive response to the pandemic, positioning himself as a foil to President Donald Trump and instituting a complex, regionally specific set of lockdown restrictions aimed at controlling the virus. Some polls at the time showed him receiving positive marks from more than four in five voters in the heavily Democratic state.

But he has been buffeted by frustration over those complex regulations, which have left many Californians confused and restless, and by the grief that came after wildfires ravaged the state this past summer. And for many voters, his personal behavior has reeked of political privilege: In November, he attended a high-priced indoor birthday party for a lobbyist friend, and it was reported that he was sending his children to in-person private school while the state's public schools remained online-only. As a result, many voters' frustration tipped over into outrage. By last month, his approval rating had fallen below 50 percent.

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There's still time for a lot to change: If the organizers of the recall effort reach the signature threshold, the vote to recall Newsom and to choose his successor — both would be done on a single ballot — probably wouldn't occur until near the end of the year.

That recall effort is being led by Orrin Heatlie, a conservative and a former sergeant in the Yolo County Sheriff's Department, who as recently as last year shared anti-vaccination and anti-L.G.B.T.Q. views online. But the endeavor has the backing of a number of deep-pocketed political action committees, most of them right-leaning.

Randy Economy, a political consultant and former talk-radio host, serves as the lead adviser to Recall Gavin Newsom, the group organizing the effort. He said the governor's behavior and demeanor had made the recall necessary. "It's because of Gavin Newsom himself, and the way he conducts himself every day since he's become governor," Economy said in an interview. "It's all been more about his image and self-aggrandizing, as opposed to fixing the problems."

Newsom's approval rating isn't nearly as low as Gov. Gray Davis's was in 2003, when voters ousted him in a recall. Arnold Schwarzenegger, running as a moderate Republican, was the beneficiary of that effort, winning the recall election and going on to serve as governor for more than seven years.

California politics are different — and decidedly more Democratic — than they were 18 years ago. Democrats now have a 2-to-1 advantage in terms of voter registration across the state. Just because there is a Republican-led effort does not mean that a Republican will be the one to ultimately benefit. Economy, who volunteered in 2016 for Trump's presidential campaign but has also worked for Democrats in the past, insisted that his team's goal was not partisan in nature.

"Our job is not to pick the next governor; our job is to make sure that this governor's recalled and removed from office," he said.

The state is light on prominent (let alone popular) G.O.P. politicians, and some ambitious Democrats already appear ready to run through the open door. All of which points to a possible irony: Even if it were to become only the second successful recall effort in California history, the push — led by conservative interests —  could ultimately lift up another Democrat, possibly one to the left of Newsom.

Tom Steyer, a billionaire who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination last year, has conducted his own polling to gauge whether Californians might support him in an election if Newsom were recalled, Politico reported this week. And Antonio Villaraigosa, a former mayor of Los Angeles, recently called for California schools to reopen immediately in a rejection of Newsom's more cautious approach. The governor's team appeared to regard the news as a declaration of hostilities.

In reply to a Twitter post last week by our reporter Shane Goldmacher, Newsom's close ally Sean Clegg shot back: "My old friend Antonio will embarrass himself and forever poison his legacy if he runs."

In New York, a strategy of threats and intimidation wasn't enough to prevent most of the state's top Democrats from coming out against Gov. Andrew Cuomo this month after a string of sexual harassment allegations. But he has been able to hang onto his job by steadfastly refusing to step down.

One big question for Newsom is whether he will be able to win back the public's favor in time to prevent his own Democratic allies from turning on him. That's exactly the theme that Pelosi sought to drive home yesterday at her news conference. "I think the governor will beat this quite decisively," she said, "and we'll all help him do that."

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We are especially interested in hearing from respondents in swing states, urban areas and college towns. But we welcome all submissions; please email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com and include your contact information, and you may be included in forthcoming news coverage.

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