I have been looking forward to spotlighting THARCE-Gulu on the Women’s Service Mission since I first heard about it. It was founded by Boston Stake Relief Society President, Judith Dushku, who is a university professor of political science. She took her students to Uganda after learning about the political upheaval in the region and met survivors of the conflicts there–women who had been child soldiers and sex slaves. In her work in Gulu, Uganda, Judith has already helped to coordinate the building of a house to the women there. Her current effort is to create a Trauma, Healing and Reflection Center to support the women there as they overcome and process their traumatic experiences.

Along with her daughter Eliza Dushku (former cast member from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer), Judith is trying to raise $30,000 to build the land for the center at THARCE-Gulu. They are about a quarter of the way to their goal and hope to achieve it by Dec. 30, in time for Eliza’s 30th birthday.

Two of our WAVE board members also serve on the board of THARCE-Gulu and will traveling to Uganda in 2011 to continue the work on the center there. To learn more about Judith and their work, read the article “Mormon feminism meets global challenge” from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Feminist Mormon Housewives is hosting an online raffle to support this worthy effort.  You are encouraged to donate via Paypal but you can also send a check (see fMh post for details).  To be entered in the raffle click “special instructions to seller and mention fMh, Exponent II, By Common Consent, WAVE or any bloggernacle blog).

A large donation is not needed, so please do what you can. Its wonderful to see these humanitarian efforts inspired by feminist consciousness and by the faith and love of Relief Society sisters a world apart.

Our prayer this Christmas season is echoed in the lyrics of the song, “O Holy Night:”

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord!

Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

May we join together in the coming year to relieve the suffering of women around the world and join together as sisters in this work.

Merry Christmas from WAVE. We wish you a happy and safe holiday and that the spirit of Christmas will be with you and that your season will be bright.

Guest post by: Courtney Cooke.

Courtney lives in Boise, Idaho with her three strong willed daughters, infant son and patiently supportive husband. Courtney blogs at The Exponent Blog as CorkTree. She is passionate about science and natural health practices and hopes to merge those with her feminist vision by going into practice as a midwife when her children are all in school.

I recently finished reading the movement-inspiring Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn.  No review can ever do it justice.  If you haven’t read it yet, do what you must to get your hands on a copy.  We all must learn to see the world’s social, economical, political and moral problems from this perspective.  For me it has bestowed a brand new lens from which to filter my world view, and it contains powerful ideas that I believe will truly change the world if enough of us work to implement them.

That said, I found it unfortunate that the authors’ ignorance of the potential benefits of certain practices (or elimination thereof) came through in regards to issues that I believe  can have more positive outcomes if viewed with more information.  With no intention to take away from the momentum of the movement, I would like to add a word of caution alongside a small handful of the issues that the book raises.  As a new midwife student, my natural focus is on the descriptions of maternal morbidity and mortality, and what we can do to turn the tide on the numbers of women that are falling into these categories around the world.

The authors of the book repeatedly caution against indiscriminate or unnecessary use of exaggeration in arguing one’s point of view and rallying people to your cause.  Yet they (unknowingly perhaps) do this themselves in over-generalized descriptions that arise from being misinformed on issues such as what constitutes safe birth locations and qualified attendants as well as the false necessity of male circumcision.

To be clear, however, I blame the providers of care and the leaders of western medicine that perpetuate these untruths and push an agenda of medicalizing and co-opting childbirth, not only in our own country but abroad as we spread our ideal views of civilization.  They have convinced such a large portion of industrialized society to accept these terms that the facts are rarely questioned and labor and delivery is still falsely seen as inherently unsafe; something which even the power of education has had difficulty dispelling as myth.

As a feminist with interest in action and not just adoption of a term, my goal to become a midwife has equipped me with a passion to work toward all women everywhere having the ability to choose their ideal birth and to be educated enough to make an informed decision.  Naturally I tend to view my own birth choices as ideal in general, and I try to support others in making similar decisions for their own health and that of their babies.  But as a feminist, I recognize the need for options and the ability to choose what is right for each of us.

The sad truth, however,  is that in many of the countries mentioned by the authors, the ability to choose how, where and with whom a woman births is not reality.  The concern over high rates of medical intervention becomes secondary to the issue of women not having any options to choose from other than what is imposed upon them by circumstance.   In reading the book, you will see many examples of labor gone wrong in rural communities, and care providers who have either become jaded and lost compassion for patients, or are unable to help them as they could if they had resources and support.  But this does not mean that homebirths themselves are unsafe or result from lack of education.  Nor should the numbers of women who die around the world in childbirth be used to scare women into hospitals.

The reality is that it’s most often the relatively young age and sub-optimal health of the mothers that makes homebirthing appear dangerous.  Yet instead of focusing on these as the issues that need improving, the initiative is directed at getting women to hospitals and exposing them to western medicine, where most of the women in these countries will rarely be exposed to such again.  It is another example of pathologizing childbirth and treating it as something that it inherently is not.  Childbirth is shown to be overwhelmingly safe when women are given adequate nutrition and are developed enough to handle the work and effects of labor with a qualified (not necessarily certified) attendant at their side.  The midwifery model of care is shown to be effective, safe and desirable when a woman is able to choose it as an informed decision.  This is the truth that we need to spread and encourage as we support our sisters around the world.

In seeking ways to improve the lives of women and their children, we need to be careful not to push our own views and fears onto them, and instead support efforts that improve their nutritional reserves, promote safe and clean housing with the help of experts from Power Washing in Pittsburgh PA , advocate for later marriage (along with extending education) and get qualified labor attendants out to rural areas.  It is even suggested that cesareans be taught to rural midwives to lower the cases of obstructed labor in women that are really too young or not built well for childbirth, but who’s culture has pushed them into marriage (or sexually dangerous situations) before they are able to handle the consequences.  It is my opinion that this needs to be the focus rather than getting women to hospitals because the medical community is still telling us that a home birth is not as enlightened or safe.

We need to make sure as we set out to provide aid and support of local, grassroot efforts in empowering women, that we are truly considering what is best for them in their environment, and not what we view as superior by our standards.  I believe Half the Sky does this quite effectively in almost all areas relating to empowering women, except for this.  And this is simply the misinformed view of the authors as I see it.  Not wrong, but not morally or medically superior either.

I come from a consumer family. My father’s mother was the 1950’s housewife who sought after the newest and greatest gadget promising greater convenience and my mother’s mother was the career woman who outsourced housekeeping, childcare and food preparation. Between my two parents, I didn’t learn many homemaking skills.

And then I joined the church.

My mother warned me that I might have a hard time assimilating into Mormon culture and embracing the role of a stay at home mother.  After my college training as a preschool teacher, I embraced and enjoyed the role of mother and greatly appreciate that I am able to stay home to care for my babies. I struggle, however—and not surprisingly, with the role of homemaker.

The book Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity From a Consumer Culture introduced me to the name of my struggle, as well as provided a solution for it.

I, of course, had heard of Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique and I’ve heard it called the book that started the feminist revolution. From what I had heard about it (I still haven’t read it), it inspired all the aspects of the feminist revolution that I disagree with and would not aspire to.

The author of Radical Homemakers, Shannon Hayes, introduced Feminine Mystique to me in a new way. Hayes disagrees with Friedan’s conclusions though accepts that housewife syndrome truly does exist (an in my experience it certainly does!). Instead of supporting Friedan’s solution of sending women into the workforce to escape the lack of fulfillment at home, Hayes points out that a generation later, women have not found the fulfillment they were seeking and instead are struggling under role strain and the stress of raising families, making a home and being employee. Instead they are finding the lack of fulfillment that comes from being a slave to a consumer culture. The solution, then, is for women and men to embrace equally the role as homemaker and live simply, each family becoming a unit of production rather than unit of consumption.  The outcome, according to the 19 families and individuals she interviewed for the book, is that men and women are able to work less, earn less and live more while protecting the environment, building communities and taking steps to solve the problems plaguing our world.

Radical Homemakers is not really a how-to book on how to go about becoming a radical homemaker (which generally involves backyard homesteading or urban gardening) but readers learn the stories of those who made the transition from full-time employment to opting out of the job market and embracing domesticity.  The first half of the book is a description of the history and reasons why a shift from consumerism is needed, while the second half tells the stories of families who adopted the radical homemaking lifestyle. The author has created a Radical Homemakers website where resources are being compiled.

The intersection between Mormon values of self-reliance, thrift, living simply, valuing family and community and eschewing consumption while, at the same time, embracing feminist values is fascinating. I also find it immensely validating as it shows me that the ideals of the gospel can be lived while honoring women as people with skills and interests that lie outside of motherhood and homemaking. I’m inspired by the women described in the book who after their hearths are reclaimed extend their focus outward to their communities through civic involvement, advocacy and mentoring.

Do you live any aspects of radical homemaking? Do you know any Latter-day Saints who embrace aspects of radical homemaking? How do you try to minimize the effects of consumerism in your daily life? Do you find a connection between domesticity and environmental sustainability?

If you have read the book and would be willing to discuss any of the themes in the book and how it relates to advocacy in the areas mentioned in the book and gospel principles, please send it to service@ldswave.org.

Advocacy work, in any area, can be overwhelming. If you have been following the WAVE facebook page recently, you might have too felt overwhelmed by the content there.  When you have a project like the Women’s Service Mission which covers a broad range of advocacy issues, the constant stream of issues can be discouraging. You may feel like with so much wrong, how can I possibly make a difference?

In my personal advocacy efforts, I have an awareness of a number of issues that I feel strongly about and that I feel I have a responsibility and/or ability to do something about. Its an interesting position, however, the prioritizing of one issue over another and the decision-making process in choosing which causes to care about, support and work with, while at the same time, needing to maintain a balance in my personal life through fulfilling my responsibilities to those closest to me.

There are times when instead of the fiercely optimistic boy who proclaims “It matters to this one!” as he throws starfish back into the ocean, I feel more like the man on the beach who queries “You can’t save them all so what does it matter?”

And there are times that I wish I could live in the blissful ignorance of not knowing about the scope and scale of human suffering and issues that profoundly impact other children of Heavenly Father, ourselves and our loved ones. It is that knowledge and awareness that spurns us to action and causes us to feel a level of responsibility so to avoid this feeling of being overwhelmed, I would need to go back to a time when I did not know about the problem. Ignorance could still be my excuse or in the words of Sue Monk Kidd,” The truth may set you free, but first it will shatter the safe, sweet way you live.”

On my darker days, I wish I could go back to the safe, sweet way I used to live not knowing what I know. And yet, I sense how wrong that would be.

During Christ’s atonement, he suffered the pains and sorrows of everyone who lives, has lived or will live on this earth. I get a sense of the scope of that when I have my own periods of trail and hardship and I feel I’m going to break under the burden, and then I think of the suffering and abuse that is occurring throughout the world right now. If a woman dies in childbirth every minute, there is a woman right now who is dying as she struggles to give life. Our sisters are being raped, countries are being torn apart by war, our world is being destroyed by corruption and greed. I can’t bear the thought of experiencing for myself that limited amount of suffering for one minute, let alone everyone’s every hurt. I begin to comprehend the Atonement and I truly do stand all amazed on Christ’s ability and power to love every person and have perfect  is his understanding into us all.

So in a way, turning away from the suffering of others is setting to naught Christ’s atonement, let alone a violation of baptismal covenants. I cannot find integrity to choose the “safe sweet way I live[d]” for those reasons. Its not an option.

To put it into perspective. I cannot turn from it, but I cannot allow myself to be crushed under the weight of it either. Kind Benjamin offers these words of caution and encouragement:

And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order. Mosiah 4:27

In finding what strength I may have, I realize that sometimes I am the snowflake described by Benedictine nun Sister Joan Chittister, “It comes down to how many snowflakes does it take to break a branch? I don’t know, but I want to be there to do my part if I’m a snowflake. Now, I’m a woman. How many women’s voices will it take before we honor the woman’s question? I don’t know. But I am conscious, and therefore I am responsible.”

I can find comfort  in knowing that I am doing my part and also know that if I leave the responsibility to someone else, they may make the same decision too, thereby letting all manner of injustice occur with impunity. By sending the letter to my senator, signing a petition, adding my voice, voting, making a donation, I am being that snowflake that I hope will work in concert with the many other snowflakes that are needed to break the branch. To draw on another metaphor, I can be the water droplet that does its part to change the tide.

I had one of my want-to-stick-my-head-in-the-ground days a few days ago. To pull myself out of it, I usually borrow light from someone else for a short while to regain perspective and find the wherewithal to continue working on these important issues. In my case, it was the writings of two LDS women (one here) whom I borrowed from to write this post.

Like in many other instances, our heavenly messengers take the form of the relationships we have as members of the church and as family and friends. By working together, we can draw on one another’s strengths and find the encouragement to carry on.

How do you find the encouragement to stay engaged and optimistic in your advocacy efforts? How do you deal with periods of discouragement?

The WAVE Women’s Service Mission reviews “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.”

One of the suggested books in the November WAVE Call to Action is “Half the Sky, “ subtitled “Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide” or in Britain “How to Change the World.” The book was written by two journalists highlighting the most serious examples of inequality that oppress women in the world today. The topics covered are heavy and difficult which must have presented a challenge to the authors. Yet they found a balance between highlighting the awful and introducing of examples of what can and is being done around the world to address these issues. In this way, they make getting involved in the solutions accessible and encouraging.

In seeing gender inequality from a global perspective, it becomes clear that there is much work to be done. The authors proclaim:

“In the nineteenth century, the central moral challenge was slavery. In the twentieth century, it was the battle against totalitarianism. We believe that in this century the paramount moral challenge will be the struggle for gender equality in the developing world.”

In this sense “Half the Sky” becomes an excellent introduction to gender inequality and the activism and humanitarian work that is needed that will serve and empower women around the world. As the stories are told of women who turn their lives to this work, we see that those who volunteer, donate, organize and advocate become empowered too. Often those who have escaped and survived the oppression are the ones who turn around and serve others. The authors themselves were motivated to action, in some cases buying women out of slavery which they found surprisingly easy and cost effective.

The authors address the question “Why should one become personally involved in these issues?” Their answer was the relative ease in which outsiders can make a difference and in reading, I was reminded by Peter Singer’s work reminding each inhabitant of the world of their responsibility to others and that it doesn’t take much when many are involved. Another way to answer the question is that “many hands make light work,” even some of the most disturbing and repugnant duties.

To give a brief rundown, the topics covered (from the Table of Contents) are:

Sex Trafficking and Slavery

Prostitution

Rape as a weapon of war

Honor Killings

Maternal Mortality and Complications of Childbirth

Female Genital Mutilation

Solutions offered:

Access to education for girls and women

Microfinance and lending to start sustainable livelihoods for women

Iodinating salt to correct prevalent iodine deficiencies

An impressive list of organizations that address the issues that are actively providing the solutions is compiled in the Appendix.

The authors challenge their readers and state explicitly in the introduction that the purpose of their book is “to recruit you to join an incipient movement to emancipate women and fight global poverty by unlocking women’s power as economic catalysts.”

“This is a story of transformation. It is change that is already taking place, and change that can accelerate if you’ll just open your heart and join us.”

They even provide a list of four steps you can take in the next ten minutes

1. Make a people to people donation using www.globalgiving.org, www.kiva.org (Feminist Mormon Housewives has a Kiva team you can join) or www.giveology.org. Browse the sites to get a sense of the needs and donate or lend money to those that appeal to you. This you can do as a gift to a family member or friend. Christmas is coming after all.

2. Sponsor a girl or woman through Plan International, Women for Women International, World Vision or American Jewish World Service.

3. Sign up for email updates on www.womensnews.org and www.worldpulse.com. Both distribute information about abuses of women and sometimes advise on actions that readers can take.

4. Join the CARE Action Network at www.can.care.org where you will become a citizen advocate by educating policy makers and underscoring what the public wants in action against poverty and injustice.

After that, see the organization list in the appendix of Half the Sky and find one that seems particularly meaningful to you and dive in. The authors of Half the Sky suggest joining forces with friends or form a giving club (like what FMH has done) to multiply the impact.

To our WAVE readers, have you read “Half the Sky” yet? What did you take away from reading it? Did you take the steps mentioned at the end of the book? What were your experiences? What do you intend to do?

To those who haven’t, consider checking it out from your local library and come back here and tell us your thoughts when you are done.

Are you interested in joining with other WAVErs to maximize impact? What would that effort look like?

Last month, I highlighted the book, website and global effort called The Life You Can Save which advocates for people all over the world to donate 1 % of more of their income to causes working to alleviate global poverty. If you are interested in viewing a list of the causes that the website and others suggest, visit: the page Organizations you can give to and suggested organizations. Because I didn’t see LDS Humanitarian Services suggested by readers, I submitted it. It will hopefully appear on the site soon.

Then I read the article in September 2010 Ensign “The Church’s Humanitarian Efforts: Discipleship in Action” highlighting their efforts over the last 2 decades.

It’s always a good idea to do some fact checking into an organization before you donate money to them. You want to be sure that the money you are giving actually goes to the people they claim to serve and that the work that is done by the organization achieves its intended outcomes. The Ensign article helped me know more about LDS Humanitarian Services and see that they are actually involved in much more than I originally had thought.

To be honest, my perception of LDS Humanitarian Services for a long time was that they were really good at what I term the “band-aid” approach. In times of natural disaster or when providing aid to struggling communities, I believed they provided quick fixes that helped temporarily but did not address underlying causes contributing to the need for aid. Those efforts are necessary and important but after awhile its like pouring water into a bucket with holes when the help needed is a plug for those holes.

This Ensign article showed to me that the church does work to address the causes of poverty. The efforts described were: building wells to provide clean water that improves sanitation and increases productivity; providing wheelchairs to people with impaired mobility enabling them to be more involved in their care and support; treating and diagnosing vision problems in areas without adequate access to health care; training birth attendants in neonatal resuscitation to save babies’ lives; and address underlying causes of hunger, disease and malnutrition by teaching agriculture and livestock techniques.

A chart provides an impressive run down of the effects of LDS Humanitarian Services:

Impressively, the church reports that in the last 23 years, LDS Humanitarian services have contributed $1.1 billion in funds and 375,312,423 pounds of goods were distributed. These include clothing, medical supplies, food, educational supplies, and a variety of “kits,” such as hygiene kits and kits to provide basic supplies for school children.

I am encouraged to learn these things about LDS Humanitarian Services and feel that I can recommend the organization for their efforts to fulfill the mission of alleviating global poverty. When you go to pay tithing, please consider donating up to or more that 1% of your income to LDS Humanitarian Services to sustain and participate in their efforts.

To learn about other ways to be involved, visit: the How Can I Help? page. One of the suggestions is to serve in your local communities with organizations also working on efforts to alleviate poverty. Another suggestion is to become a service missionary or short-term specialist.

I dream of the day when my husband and I can service couple service missions for the church. In talking with the Humanitarian Services, there may be opportunities for parents of young children to be involved with short-term projects that may only require 1-2 weeks at a time a couple of times a year.

What else do you know about LDS Humanitarian Services? Have you be involved in any service projects with them? Can you recommend involvement with them? How would you like to be involved or which areas would you like to see them address?

Guest post by: Courtney Cooke lives in Boise, Idaho with her three strong willed daughters, infant son and highly supportive husband. Courtney blogs at The Exponent Blog as CorkTree. She is passionate about science and natural health practices and hopes to merge those with her feminist vision by going into practice as a midwife when her children are all in school.

Women in impoverished countries have little that provides them autonomy or allows them the ability to care for their family and children outside the influence of men.  Many of them do not have choices in birth control and whether or not to breastfeed their children.  So it would seem benevolent of a company to come in and provide them the means to give their infants nourishment outside themselves.  Formula can be a blessing, when made and used properly and for the right reasons.  But what if that company took advantage of these women?  What if it paid other needy, untrained women to dress up as health care workers and pass out free samples of sub par formula?  And what if they gave only enough free formula so that the milk of the nursing mothers dried up and they were forced to purchase more formula, but had to mix it with unclean water and dilute it to make it last longer?  And what if many of the children that fall victim to this malicious scam were actually dying while their mothers stood by helpless and dry, all because they were no longer able to breastfeed as nature intended, and were unable to see how they were being exploited?  Would you be outraged at such a company?

This is what was happening prior to 1977, when the world launched a boycott against Nestle for these unethical and immoral practices.  After a brief hiatus, the boycott has been continued to this day because of continued aggressive marketing campaigns and violations of the WHO code that protects women and children.  It is estimated that 13% of the deaths of children under age five around the world could be prevented by increased breastfeeding.  That’s 1.4 million children that would otherwise die due to the interruption of the natural nursing relationship.

Support is still needed to send Nestle the message that we as women of the world will not stand for our sisters and their children to be undermined and threatened in this way.  Regardless of how we may feel about breastfeeding in our own lives, it is not empowering to women in third world countries to have a bottle put between them and their babies.  Promoting artificial feeding where no reason exists for its implementation is damaging to all and causes needless suffering and death.  Nestle is one of the largest producers of baby food and formula as well as a variety of other products.  Please do not support them with your money.  And this Halloween, choose your candy wisely.

For more information and to register your support, please visit; http://info.babymilkaction.org/nestlefree .  A list of all products and brands from Nestle can be found at;  http://www.nestle.com/Brands/BrandHome.htm , and for an independent listing of all products associated with the Nestle label, visit;   http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com/2009/10/07/the-updated-nestle-product-boycott-list/

The Women’s Service Mission recognizes the struggle and hardship of members of the church who experience same-gender attraction. The hand of fellowship is extended to these, our brothers and sisters. In recent weeks and years, the topic of homosexuality in the LDS church has been a divisive one, leading to much heartache. We recognize this heartache and mourn together.

To those gay Mormons who are striving to remain faithful, the WAVE Women’s Service Mission offers encouragement to continue your efforts. Please know that we welcome you in our congregations and value your presence and contributions to our wards. We admire your faithfulness and humble submission to the commandments.

To those who are not keeping the Church’s standards in regards to homosexuality, you too are welcomed in our congregations and we value your presence and participation in our wards. For those who are trying to abide by the church standards, we hope that you will find what is right for you and continue to seek the guidance of the Spirit in your actions. We pray with you that answers and the peaceful assurance of the Spirit will be forthcoming to you.

There is much we still do not understand about the role of homosexuality in our heavenly parents plan in bringing “to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” [and woman] but we have hope all that will be revealed and God’s will be done.

In honor of Spirit Day, instituted yesterday October 20, 2010, and acting in accordance to the counsel stated in the October 12 press release issued by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we join with the Church and many others who decry bullying and cruelty to our homosexual brothers and sisters. We appreciate the reminder: “Our parents, young adults, teens and children should therefore, of all people, be especially sensitive to the vulnerable in society and be willing to speak out against bullying or intimidation whenever it occurs, including unkindness toward those who are attracted to others of the same sex.”

We know the compassionate response is never to harass or belittle the efforts of others but to support, encourage and love them as they are. Gay Mormons deserve the respect from others to make decisions for themselves.

WAVE and the Women’s Service Mission invites readers and sympathetic church members to join with us in our message of support and encouragement to gay Mormons. Please add your name and location (ward and stake if you are comfortable) in the comments. Anonymous submissions are welcome though personal expressions of support are encouraged. You may also email service@ldswave.org to be added to the list of signees.