Category: Women’s Rights

“Doing nothing is not an option for people of good conscience.”

By Brent E. Beltrán / San Diego Free Press

On a cold Wednesday evening in Kearny Mesa prominent San Diegans Donna Frye and Irene McCormack joined community members to show their solidarity with Sandy Naranjo, Isabel Vasquez and Anabel Arauz and call for the resignation of the President of UFCW Local 135 and San Diego and Imperial Labor Council, Mickey Kasparian.

Naranjo, Vasquez, and Arauz filed separate lawsuits against Kasparian accusing him of gender discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and other misdeeds. Also named in all three complaints are the union itself and in Arauz’s filing, Richard Barerra, executive assistant of the local.

Editor: Barbara Zaragoza, one of the editors of the San Diego Free Press – media partners of the OB Rag, traveled to Washington, DC for the inauguration protests held last weekend. Her main goal was to participate in the Women’s March held on the day after the inauguration, January 21. She’s been filing photos and reports since. And here is her eye-witness report from that historic Saturday.
By Barbara Zaragoza / San Diego Free Press

The Women’s March in Washington D.C. did not encompass a single issue. As the California Senator Kamala Harris explained during her speaker presentation:

‘You want to talk about women’s issues? Let’s talk about national security. You want to talk about women’s issues? That’s fantastic. Let’s talk about health care. Let’s talk about education. Let’s talk about criminal justice reform. Let’s talk about climate change.

The campaign against San Diego labor leader Mickey Kasparian is heating up, as a protest calling for his resignation as head of the local labor council is being held today, Wednesday, Jan. 25th at 6pm outside a labor delegates meeting.

Three women have filed gender discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuits against Kasparian, the president of UFCW Local 135, who also sits as the President of the Labor Council.

January 21, 2017 was an historic day in San Diego – and around the nation and world – with the Women’s March. According to San Diego Police, the crowd in downtown San Diego at the rallies and the march down Broadway was 40,000 women, men and children of all ages and all hues.

It was definitely one of the largest demonstrations in San Diego’s history – matched probably by the huge immigration march of nearly a decade ago.

Here are photos from yesterday’s march – taken by a number of friends who sent them to us.

OVERVIEW & PURPOSE

The Women’s March on Washington is a women-led movement bringing together people of all genders, ages, races, cultures, political affiliations and backgrounds in our nation’s capital on January 21, 2017, to affirm our shared humanity and pronounce our bold message of resistance and self-determination.

Recognizing that women have intersecting identities and are therefore impacted by a multitude of social justice and human rights issues, we have outlined a representative vision for a government that is based on the principles of liberty and justice for all. As Dr. King said, “We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.”

President-elect Trump faces a barrage of opposition as he gets set to be inaugurated this Friday, January 20th.

Protests, boycotts, school walk-outs and possible impeachment will engulf the least-popular president-elect in American history as he takes the oath of office.

Over a half-dozen national networks are mobilizing to protest the inauguration, while on the day after, on the 21st, a massive women-led march in Washington DC promises to be the largest protest that the Capitol has witnessed in years.

Students are organizing school walk-outs across the country.

And a boycott of the inauguration by Congressional representatives has now reached 52 Democratic lawmakers who have pledged to forego the event.

By Anne Haule / Musings of a Boomer Feminist

I love Nora Ephron’s book, “I Feel Bad About My Neck”. I have been feeling bad about my neck since I was about 55. As the years passed, my feelings grew as my weight increased and my necked sagged. All my photos are full face – no side shots allowed.

At 62 I had a consult with a plastic surgeon. When I told him I wanted to lose weight, he told me to wait on the surgery until I reached my weight loss goal – no point in sucking out the fat, cutting the muscles and stretching the skin just to have it sag again on an otherwise svelte neck – assuming I actually lost the weight.

Respected Latinas Step Forward with Shocking Claims Against UFCW President Mickey Kasparian

By Brent E. Beltran /San Diego Free Press

On December 17, 2016 NBC 7 San Diego broke the news that former UFCW Local 135 organizer Sandy Naranjo had filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against UFCW President Mickey Kasparian.

A few days later on December 21 NBC 7 San Diego came out with another story on Kasparian. This time it was regarding allegations of sexual harassment filed by former employee Isabel Vasquez. Vasquez’s complaint was full of lurid details.

‘Millions must rise up in a resistance [to] stop the Trump/Pence regime before it starts!’

By Nadia Prupis / Common Dreams

Thousands of activists, journalists, scientists, entertainers, and other prominent voices took out a full-page call to action in the New York Times on Wednesday making clear their rejection of President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence with the simple message: “No!”

Until recently, American women didn’t even own their own bodies.

By Jill Richardson / Other Words

From his campaign rhetoric to his transition appointments, our next president has placed himself squarely in a conservative movement calling itself the “alt-right.” That movement, the Los Angeles Times reports, “generally embraces and promotes white nationalism, racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny.”

As a privileged, white, and heterosexual woman, I’ve never considered my rights under attack to the same degree as the other groups in that list. But to this incoming bunch, feminism is a dirty word.

Maybe it’s time to review what feminism is, and why it emerged in the first place.

By Jeeni Criscenzo / San Diego Free Press

I haven’t been one of your biggest fans and I still think that the DNC used some dirty tricks to defeat Bernie Sanders in the primaries, but today I’m ready to put that behind me. Until last night, my only reason to vote for you over Jill Stein would have been to make certain that Mr. Trump is not elected president of our country.

Since I live in California, I thought I had the luxury of waiting to see how the election was going in the rest of the county before casting my vote. And that was my plan – to wait until the last hour to choose you or Jill Stein. Since California is not a swing state, it was highly likely that I could have used my vote as a form of protest without risking Trump winning.

Wednesday night my plan changed. When I listened to Donald Trump hedge about ceding to the winner during the debate, I knew it isn’t enough just to make sure you win, it is paramount that you win in such overwhelming, indisputable numbers that Mr. Trump’s accusations of rigging look ludicrous.