Citation Required

Where are the women?

“If you’re not at the table, then you're probably on the menu.” ~Ann Richards

A few days ago, I had some thoughts on churches. I read a post about a local church in St Joseph, Missouri and its activities during the holiday season. This specific church has been meddling in local politics for years and I started thinking about their tax-exempt status.

After I called the church to check on their activities in helping others in the community, I realized that they were not helping in their community other than offering up their congregants as free labor to other organizations who help in the community.

Churches are tax-exempt because they offer services that local government can’t or won’t. Food pantries. Free clothing closets. Help with natural disasters. This church is doing none of that except sending their members to serve in ministries provided by other non-profits. They keep their tax-free tithes for themselves.

After researching, I wrote this post on Blue Sky:

This post did fairly well for Blue Sky. It’s not Twitter viral, but still pretty good.

I am a creator. A writer. I am also constantly plagiarized.

You might be surprised by who is lifting my intellectual property. It’s the massive “progressive” accounts who steal from small authors like myself. It’s “Feminist News” or “Occupy Democrats” or “The Other 98%” who take the ideas and thoughts and writing of progressives like me. They do it so often that readers and followers don’t even notice.

But I do. They have taken my words — word for word — too often.

They do it regularly. Just go look at the pages of these huge accounts. They turn the writings of others into meme form and post online with zero attribution.

A friend sent me the above screenshot. “Feminist News” ripped off my quote about churches word for word without attribution. They have nearly 2 million followers on Facebook alone. I asked them to cite me and it took dozens of others in their comments for them to edit their post and add my name. But, they didn’t add my name to the meme — it is still being shared thousands of times without a citation.

This happens frequently, but what really sticks in my craw is that this is a progressive account that claims to back feminism, yet they lift the words of progressive women creators with alarming regularity.

I have people tell me that “it doesn’t matter who the messenger is, but that the message is getting out.”

To that I say, “How often do you work for free?”

Because that’s what it is…I am supposed to work for free. Trust me, I do that very thing quite often. More often than I should, but at some point, I need to stand up for myself and other creators and authors and activists.

This sort of thing happens in the real world as well…

My second year of teaching, my principal tapped me to go to a curriculum writing training. I was excited. I was finishing up my Master’s and I thought this would be the first step in making a difference.

At the last minute, my principal told me I would be working with the basketball coach at the training. It was odd because the coach was a PE teacher, not an English teacher, but what did I know?

I happily attended the training once a month for a solid year.

And then it happened. My principal asked me to help the basketball coach with his curriculum writing. The coach was trying to write English standards and goals. I didn’t understand why, but I soon found out. After we wrote several units together, and finished the training, the basketball coach told me he was being given the position of Curriculum Director for the district.

He thanked me for my time in writing the curriculum he would use.

They used me for an entire year to train the coach. They ripped me off — both my time and my intellectual property. I wrote the curriculum.

Here’s another example:

In my last teaching position, we used Google Classroom for all assignments. We had to upload our tests, quizzes, readings, and assignments to the site. I did as I was told for three years. When I left, I realized that all of my lessons were the property of the school. They could be given to new teachers or uploaded for the English Department to use.

I wasn’t paid a dime for my time or work. Work that was labor intensive and which I completed on my own time.

I worked for free for years as a teacher — it is expected. Grading papers at home. Creating lessons at home. Spending my own money on top of those things. I have worked for free for decades.

It isn’t just activists or teachers — the work of women in politics isn’t valued either.

There’s this:

No women will lead a House committee for the first time in two decades after House Republicans revealed their list of committee leaders for the 119th Congress on Thursday.

The 17 standing committees, whose leaders were selected by the House Republican Steering Committee, will be dominated by white men when the new Congress is seated on Jan. 3. No people of color were selected, either.

The last time there was not at least one woman leading a standing committee in the House was the 109th Congress, from 2005 until 2006.

Where are the women? What is going on?

Do we honestly think women won’t be involved in the writing and creation of bills and laws and committee work? Of course they will. Will they receive credit for their work? Likely not — they will be behind the scenes writing the questions and statements and legislation for committee men. Their work will be taken and used by the men acting as committee chairs.

Women, even women lawmakers, have been pushed behind the scenes. This makes it difficult to put women’s issues front and center.

We are being pushed back into the shadows. Behind the curtain. And if the Republicans have anything to do with it, probably behind the veil.

Let’s not forget that the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was passed by Congress in 1972, but it has not yet been ratified and is not part of the U.S. Constitution. The ERA has been reintroduced in every session of Congress since 1982, but it has not been ratified.

The progress our country has made on gender equality through the courts and patchwork legislation can be reversed. Sex discrimination does not have the same legal protection as other constitutional classes, such as race, religion, or nationality. This constitutional double standard means that hard-won legislative and court victories against sex discrimination are not permanent—and can be rolled back or difficult to enforce.

The lack of constitutional equality reaches every aspect of women’s lives. The ERA would clarify, once and for all, that sex discrimination in employment and wages, reproductive rights, insurance, Social Security, education, and more is a violation of constitutional rights. Importantly, the ERA would also provide new opportunities to seek legal recourse when an individual faces sex discrimination and would place the burden of proof on those who discriminate instead of those fighting for equality.

It’s time to ratify the ERA. It’s time to stand with women and make sure we are represented and legally protected in all facets of life including government. Especially in times like these.

It is also time for women to demand equal pay for equal work. It is time to demand citations and attributions and a seat at the table. It is time for us to stand up for ourselves and the young women coming behind us.

Our work is often co-opted and it’s time we demand better. Cite us. Pay us.

Scooch over so we can squeeze in at the table.

~Jess