Guest Blog: Megan Seely

Hi! I'm Megan, author of Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist and past CA NOW president (2001-2005).  I currently teach sociology and women's studies at Sierra College.  I've been asked to be a guest blogger on CA NOW's rockin' new blog site.  So I thought that I would start with a brief introduction of myself.

I served two terms as CA NOW's president--the youngest-ever elected to the position, which is a great tribute to CA NOW's commitment to young feminist leadership.  I loved my time in NOW despite the many challenges.  I had the privilege of meeting phenomenal people dedicated to social justice.  I also had the opportunity to explore the many facets of feminism, hone my activist skills, and train others in working for social change. 

I believe that I have been an activist since a very young age, frequently challenging gender notions at school and speaking up about issues that concerned me.  In one of my earliest acts of public activism I took on a grocer during the grape boycott of the United Farm Workers and shared a hunger strike among my friends.  For many reasons this was a pivotal experience in my life.  In my book I write about the details of this experience and how it taught me to stand up to injustice and fight for change.    This experience also led me to want to do more, become more involved and so when I was fortunate enough to go to college I looked for the feminist community and I found NOW.

I wrote Fight Like a Girl because I wanted to continue the efforts that I began with NOW.  I wanted to dispel the myths of feminism that persist today and teach activism.  So in a shameless plug I'll add that Fight Like a Girl is full of tips, ideas, anecdotes, and resources.  It is a user-friendly guide to feminism and activism.  It is the assertion that we can all be activists and that activism is about daily efforts of any size.  Check it out--I hope you enjoy it!

Finally, I'll end my intro of self with a note about becoming a mother.  I birthed my daughter, Molly   Elaine Sher Seely (yes, she has my last name!) on July 7th.    Becoming a mother has changed me in many ways and while I have always advocated for mothers' rights I must say that I now get it in a whole new light.  With CA NOW I worked to create educational campaigns and policy to aid parents in integrating work, family and civic life.  Now having a daughter, I recognize how truly important achieving that goal is.  This country has so much to learn about family values. Looking at the situations of families in Sweden, Norway, France, Germany... I am often frustrated in what parents in the U.S. are left to deal with.  I've been able to create a pretty great schedule with my job and my partner has taken a reduced schedule at his job in order to be home part of the week.  In the next few months we'll begin child care sharing with a friend in our cooperative "it takes a village" approach to childrearing.  But my situation is far too unique as too many parents in this country struggle to keep their jobs and have time with their child.  If we, as a nation, are truly concerned about children, families, and our future then we must change our system.  We must provide better and more comprehensive leave (for children, elder family members, etc), we need a broader range of family friendly work benefits, we need to change the culture  to value all types of family, and we need to reclaim what it means to truly have family values.

I am looking forward to the next couple weeks of blogging--if there is anything that you want to discuss ~ email me

In fearless feminism!                                                                                                                                                                  Megan