I was six years old when NOW was founded by twenty-eight women, including the feminist pioneer Betty Friedman. Back then, we referred to the movement as “Women’s Liberation,” and NOW worked to make progress for women on issues that included education, employment, and serving in the military. Fifty-Seven years later, NOW membership includes over 50,000 people representing all ages, genders, sexual orientations, classes, and races. Over the years, a broader agenda for the organization has emerged that now includes six core issues:
- Keeping Abortion Legal
- Economic Justice
- Ending Violence Against Women
- Racial Justice
- LGBTQIA+ Rights
- Constitutional Equality
I recently had the honor of interviewing Christian F. Nunes, current President of the National Organization for Women who has contributed to today’s feminist movement by bringing intersectionality and compassion to the forefront of her work.
Intersectionality is defined as “the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage” (Oxford Language). In other words, intersectionality examines how oppression overlaps when looking at, for instance, race and gender. For example, aspects of the discrimination faced by Black women based on their race and gender are not mutually exclusive and represent multiple systems of oppression at play. When looking at Black, heterosexual women and Black, lesbian women’s lived experiences, you’ll also see both similarities and differences.
Nunes did not always call herself a feminist. In fact, like many Black women, the term didn’t resonate with her despite coming from a matriarchal household. It wasn’t until she first got exposure to NOW in graduate school in 2001 at Columbia University that she started to toy with the idea of calling herself a feminist. Once she entered the workforce after graduate school as a social worker, she started to fully embrace the term as part of her identity. After getting her masters, she started her own practice and did some consulting work for different groups and organizations looking to improve their policies. She saw a gap in her education regarding business tactics, so she went back to school to get her second masters in business administration.
Understanding these two sides of the story, the mental health and business aspects, helps her see the full picture and act as a better leader in her role. “I’m able to really understand…where victims are at…but also understand the need of how we create policy and programming to best fit their needs,” says Nunes. This understanding of the whole person comes into play in almost all aspects of public policy that we’re seeing in a post-COVID world with issues like gun violence and abortion bans. “We have to understand the whole person, understand every aspect of them, and not piecemeal them in order to be able to officially serve them,” says Nunes.
This is where intersectionality comes to the forefront of Nunes’ work at NOW as it allows Nunes to understand the whole person. Nunes makes it clear that NOW, since its inception, has operated with an intersectional framework. The group originally brought together Black, Latino, and white men and women who were all grappling with issues not just related to gender, but also race and socioeconomic status.
Despite NOW and other political bodies’ significant contributions to the feminist movement over the last 50 years, there’s been a sharp increase in policies infringing on people’s rights in just the last couple of years. According to Nunes, if you look at this regression we’re seeing in today’s political climate with issues like voters’ rights and reproductive rights, you’ll see two issues: a disregard for community and a lack of social values. “We’ve been very individualistic where it’s really about what I need to do for me and nothing else and not really taking the time to think about the impact of our behaviors or our work or our actions on the person,” says Nunes.
The antidote to this anti-intersectional movement is compassion. Compassion brings communities together. Compassion supports intersectionality by fostering empathy, understanding, and solidarity among individuals facing intersecting forms of oppression. It challenges biases, amplifies marginalized voices, and drives action for systemic change. By approaching others with compassion, political leaders and activists can actively listen, learn, and advocate for the unique needs and experiences of diverse communities. Compassion dismantles barriers, promotes inclusivity, and creates a space where all voices are heard and valued. It is a powerful force that encourages collaboration, intersectional awareness, and a more equitable political climate.
“A big place where we as advocates and we as activists can make a change is encouraging community-based collective power…as well as encouraging people to choose wisely and research who they’re electing into office,” says Nunes. Ask yourself if you see compassion in the person you’re electing and whether they’re working for your community and the communities around you.
You can learn more about NOW and how to get involved in the work they do by visiting their website.
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