Examples of sexism in political organizing

• Most political organizations and meetings are still dominated by men,
  and even more dominated by male speakers.
• Women have to struggle a lot harder to prove their capabilities as
  political activists, their intelligence on political issues, and to be
  taken seriously as committed organizers
• Women often have to adopt socialized roles of authority and domination
  in order to be validated in political organizing
• Women are often sexually objectified in political circles
• Sexism is perceived as a “women’s issue” and not a collective issue
• Trivializing women’s issues, frequently by considering it as being
  secondary to “more important” political work
• Feminism is still not seen as central to revolutionary struggle; instead
  it is relegated to a “special-interest” issue
• Men are more readily perceived as experts on “hard” (versus “soft”)
  political issues such as war and economics
• Traditional gender roles such as secretarial work, clean up, and
  childcare still falls upon women
• Women are more likely to challenge men on sexist comments rather than
  men challenging other men
• Women discussing sexism are often characterized as “divisive”
• Characterizing women, particularly when dealing with sexism, as
  “emotional” or “over-reactive”
• The general assumption (rather than the exception) is that women
  discussing sexism are “pulling the sex card” or are making false
  accusations, leaving women feeling guilty and/or unsafe in raising such
  issues.
• Women often feel like they have to moderate what they so that men didn’t
  feel attacked
• Disrespect for women’s voices in discussing their own oppression
• Women’s issues and concerns are belittled or invalidated until validated
  by other men
• Many men are more likely to shut down emotionally, stop listening, or
  get defensive when women want to discuss specific incidents of sexism
  instead of listening and understanding what is being said
• Sexism within political organizations is seen as less trivial than
  sexism in wider society
• Given the particular socialization of women under patriarchy, seemingly
  minor comments or incidents can make women feel humiliated, angry or
  upset; yet such comments are often dismissed as harmless and/or
  unintentional

Some Suggestions

• Share secretarial and clean-up work and make childcare a priority
• Honor women for un-glorified community organizing for example childcare,
  cooking, note-taking, providing frequent emotional support
• Respect women as activists
• Be mindful of the language being used (i.e. girls)
• Take sexism on as your struggle
• Don't trivialize women's issues
• Give equal consideration to women’s opinions, issues, and wants
• Being better than “mainstream” society does not absolve responsibility
  for taking even seemingly minor incidents seriously
• Realize that there is a difference between listening & respectful
  questioning and invalidating or denying that an incident of gender
  oppression occurred
• Realize that just because you might not find somebody’s behaviour
  offensive, women might have different boundaries that have been shaped by a history of socialization under patriarchy
• Realize that sexism, in various forms, runs really deep and always plays
  itself out
• Be proactive, not reactive
• Create an atmosphere that is dynamic and empowering
• Transforming gender roles and socialization is not about guilt or who is
  right or wrong