Letter on Sexism and Gender Inequality

To: H. Rap Brown, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

It is my intent in this letter to provide you and other members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) with information regarding the central mission of the National Organization of Women (NOW), to compare and to contrast potential conflicts between the goals of NOW and SNCC, and to recommend solutions that could resolve any conflicts between the ambitions of SNCC and those of NOW. Both SNCC and NOW fall within the general category of what Jean Hardisty (1999) has called grassroots rights movements with New Left ideology -- an ideology that challenges institutionalized racism and its near cousin, sexism. It is my deep conviction that the goals of SNCC with respect to racial justice and equality are in many ways congruent with the goals of NOW in terms of gender inequality.

In describing NOW's agenda, Jo Freeman (2004) commented that this voman's rights organization sought nothing less than bringing women into full participation in mainstream American society and giving women the ability to assume all privileges and responsibilities implicit in participation by creating a true equal partnership with men.

SNCC's mission is similar. SNCC has long focused on making those changes in society that are necessary to promote civil rights, to empower and to enfranchise individuals and groups that have been denied meaningful participation i

. . .
at embraces many different individuals and groups. Together, these groups can accomplish much more than they have been able to accomplish separately. Unfortunately, the distance which has emerged between NOW and SNCC has served to promote the agenda of Neoconservatives such as Rush Limbaugh (Hardisty, 1999). Rather than making common cause, rights groups like SNCC and NOW that do not work together simply (if inadvertently) permit the New Right to maintain policies that are unjust and unfair. This is an unfortunate and even tragic situation and one which could certainly be overcome were our organizations to come together in common cause. Black women, said hooks (1994), are among the most vulnerable groups within American society. They are more likely to be living in poverty, to be rearing children alone, and to be negatively affected by glass ceilings in the workplace and on the college campus than any other group. By recognizing that all rights movements have a shared objective in terms of the empowerment of those who are lacking in power, we can do much to advance an agenda in which we have an equal interest. References Edles, L.D. (2002). Cultural Sociology in Practice. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Freccero, C.
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Approximate Word count = 2456
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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