GATHER THE WOMEN: THIS MEANS YOU!

By Kathlyn Schaaf

Published in: GoOff: News and Views - December 15-21, www.gooff.com

I remember as a child seeing the posters recruiting young men to join the armed services: the stern Uncle Sam with a finger pointing right at me and commanding “This means you.”

It didn't mean me, of course, because in the mid-1950’s women were not exactly welcomed in the United States armed forces. Before 1920, women here were not even granted the most basic right of citizenship, the right to vote. And so it has gone, back through time and around the world, including the vote taken in 1621 by the Cardinals in Rome to decide whether women should be considered “human”. (We won … by one vote.)

Matthew Arnold, a British poet from the 19th century is quoted as saying “If ever the world sees a time when women shall come together purely and simply for the benefit of mankind, it will be a power such as the world has never known.” As we once again face the potential of war, as we live in the aftermath of September 11 and as we face a multitude of crises with our economy and our environment, it seems the time has never been so right for women to come together. The world desperately needs what women bring to the conversation about how to solve our problems; the world needs our leadership, our passion and our compassion. If we could come together for the good of the human family, it would indeed unleash a power that this world has never known.

On March 8, 2003, there is an opportunity for me and every other woman around the planet to stand together and join our voices in a simple declaration that we care deeply about the well-being of our human family and this fragile planet we all live on. On this day, which is International Women’s Day as declared by the United Nations, the women of the world are invited to gather under the umbrella of a movement called Gather the Women.

Gather the Women is really a very simple idea. Women in many parts of the world have celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8 for decades, though the events have never been linked to create one collaborative voice. The day has also not been well-recognized in many parts of the world, including most of the United States. Gather the Women provides a structure through which thousands more women’s events can be created and the separate events planned around the world can be linked to create more cohesive impact. There is also a strong focus on creating action as a result of these gatherings.

Gather the Women describes its goals with this statement: “Beginning the week of March 3-8, 2003 – linked globally by our interactive website, www.gatherthewomen.org – Gather the Women invites women to demonstrate their courage and risk leaving old conformities to join with millions of others throughout the world in a myriad of unique events to celebrates woman’s true worth, to express shared concern for our human family and to create and support actions that will enable humanity to live peacefully together and thrive in a world based on life-affirming value.”

What makes Gather the Women so powerful is that women are being invited to participate where they live, in ways they themselves create. In a small village, a group of women can gather for several hours in a home to share stories and plan a local action. In large cities, rallies and concerts can be organized featuring popular female leaders from the arts, politics or education. Women can gather for prayer in the context of their religious traditions and beliefs. Women can gather at kitchen tables and parks and schools and arenas to plan action to make their world a place where all life can thrive.
They can gather knowing that women all over the world are gathering on this same day, that they are part of a global movement in which women are standing together to demonstrate our concern for our children, our communities, our environment and our world.

This is a grassroots movement, and THIS MEANS YOU! It will only be successful if you get involved by planning an event and passing the word along. Volunteers have created and organized it so far, and they depend upon the involvement of millions of other volunteers in order to spread this idea around the world.

On its website (www.gatherthewomen.org), there is a powerful demonstration of how this grassroots effort can reach 1 billion women in a month with news of this event, beginning with one woman telling three others. Women have relied upon this verbal tradition for all of time, passing along our history and wisdom from one place to another, from one generation to another. Gather the Women honors that tradition and builds upon its power by linking it with the enormous potential of Internet communication.

Gather the Women has been organized as a project of Women and Vision and Action (WOVA), a worldwide network of emerging and established women leaders, who are dedicated to a vision of positive change for the future and deeply committed to action which can make that vision a reality. “Throughout recent history, it is the male perspective that has dominated the course of our planet. It is now time for the feminine perspective to takes its rightful place alongside the masculine. Both perspectives are valid and both are needed in order to experience the balanced and harmonious world we all desire,” says Carol Hansen Grey, the Executive Director of WOVA.

She stresses that no single organization could ever have created the structure for Gather the Women alone, that WOVA has always relied upon the power of collaboration and partnership to achieve its goals. “Gather the Women has been a true collaboration from the earliest planning stages. The Steering Committee is made up of twelve women from diverse backgrounds who have worked together using a model of cooperation and consensus-building. We have formed numerous strategic alliances with other organizations and resources to bring us to this point, and we will continue to rely on such networking as the movement grows.”

It is simple to find out more about Gather the Women. When you log on to the website www.GatherTheWomen.org, you will find a wealth of information, including reports on events already being planned in different parts of the world, ideas for planning your own local events, links to a variety of resources and an on-line directory that will allow you to join an interactive network of women from around the world that you can share information with. This website provides an interactive Internet hub that will serve as a clearinghouse for the wisdom and leadership potential of women.
Gather the Women is gaining momentum daily. “We have had tremendous response from women in the U.K., India, Spain, Portugal, Australia, Canada, and Israel and across the U.S.,” Grey says. “We hope to involve one billion women using this combination of grassroots outreach and Internet technology.”

If a dozen women can create this project --which has already generated over 20,000 hits on its website, has inspired people in 10 countries and 30 states to begin planning events for the week of March 8 and has generated thousands of inquiries about ways to become involved-- just think what one billion women could create on this planet.
I am imagining a recruiting poster with a smiling female figure, gesturing at me in a welcoming way and saying “This means you!” Sign me up! I know I have something important to contribute to the conversation.
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Kathlyn Schaaf is a member of the Gather the Women Steering Committee. She currently lives with her family in southern California, where she is a marriage and family therapist.