Help Send NV Feminists to Washington DC!

Guest post from Marysa Falk, member of FMF's affiliate group at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Growing up in rural Nevada, with an encouraging mother and an inspiring brother, I always knew I would graduate high school, go to college and have a successful career. To me, the sky was the limit and nothing could hold me back.

It wasn’t until I made it to college where my social and political beliefs changed drastically. I changed my party affiliation from Republican to Democrat when I realized there was a lot more to the American story than what I saw in my small hometown fueled by the mining industry. The more education I received, the more I realized the injustice that exists in America today.

A few weeks into my Women and Politics course in spring 2010, everything finally clicked. It was at that exact moment I realized I’ve always been a feminist; I just needed to accept the word and say it proudly. My passion for women’s rights extends beyond what words can say but I find myself particularly drawn to the lack of female representation in our government and the gender wage gap.

Today, my feminism is a quality I proudly let define me in every way. My friendships with women have grown stronger and more dedicated. My relationships with men have become more equal; I figured out how to be independent and compassionate.

I stumbled upon a link for the National Young Feminist Leadership Conference several months back. I promptly posted a link to my Facebook page calling it a “pipe dream” to attend. I live in Reno, Nevada and the conference is in Washington D.C., an expensive venture for a soon to be college graduate. Two other women, Jazzmine and Misha, with whom I share classes in the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada and a feminist connection, also felt the desire to attend. Ashley, a local Planned Parenthood volunteer and pre-school teacher also signed up.

We know we have to attend the conference and to make it a reality we have to fundraise. We have planned events on campus, requested money from the student government and solicited funding from local politicians and businesses that share our vision. We also formed this website, to spread our message to our family, friends and network of strangers across the world. We want to tell everyone that attending this conference is an educational, networking, career-inspiring dream come true.

As a group, we define feminism as the belief that women deserve social, political and economic equality. We fight for equal pay, more representation in government and business, reproductive rights, medically accurate and age appropriate sex education in our public schools, gay and lesbian rights, affordable, accessible health care and birth control and much more.

This conference will continue to educate us on how to be effective leaders in our careers and community and give us the necessary tools to progress this movement.

Should you feel the desire to assist in our cause we sincerely appreciate your generous support and donation. Thank you.

Breast Cancer: Not Just the Problem of Rich Countries Anymore

Whenever I see fundraisers for breast cancer, like breast cancer walks and "Buy Pink" products, I tend to get a little case of "fundraiser jealousy". For much of my undergraduate degree, I've studied extreme poverty, and the diseases, humans rights violations, and the opportunity deprivations associated with it.

Preventable diseases--like malaria and dysentry--are some of the biggest killers in Developing nations [a term which some scholars dispute because it implies that those countries are, in fact, developing, instead of the more accurate portrayal that they are being mired deeper in poverty].

Maternal Death claims approximately 536,00 women a year (99 percent of which occur in Developing nations), and most of the deaths are also completely preventable. (And of course, this number doesn't include the annual70,000 unsafe abortion deaths that mainly result from the criminalization of abortion.) I thought about breast cancer as a "rich nation's disease," and begrudginly glared at "pink products" wondering if they were made in sweatshops that expose women to dangerous cancer-causing chemicals.

Recent studies, however, show that breast cancer is on the rise in developing nations (my first thoughts: That means their life expectancies are increasing to the point that they can get old enough to develop breast cancer!)--and that breast cancer affects women in developing nations about 10 years earlier than in industrialized nations (Shoot! I guess not. *runs in corner and cries.* )

What makes matters worse is that approximately two thirds of women are not diagnosed until the cancer has spread. Apparently there's a stigma attached to breast cancer; women are reluctant to get tested because they fear that if they lost a breast, their husband would leave them--which would force them into a situation of deeper poverty. (If that sounds like a nasty thing that could only happen "somewhere else," I'm afraid I have to refer you to Salon.com's article Sex without Nipples in which that theory is sorely refuted.) Estimates say that developing countries will experience a 36 percent increase in breast cancer by 2020, and that 55 percent of the world's expected breast cancer deaths this year will occur in developing countries.

So. Turns out breast cancer is not just a "Rich Nation's problem." My personal misguided theories are hereby flung out the window, and maybe my fundraising jealousy will subside. Talks are even beginning about starting an international task force that will develop methods to detect breast cancer earlier (through training midwives to detect breast cancer) and negotiate lower prices for generic chemotherapy. Whether or not these efforts meet with success is testy--they're sure to meet with opposition from governments, currently installed health professionals who have biases against midwives, and cultural norms.

Whether or not the cure for breast cancer, once discovered, would be shared with women in developing countries is a question we'll have to face once we get there. Considering our record in helping out developing nations with their preventable deaths, however, I'm not too optimistic.

Photo Credit: The Mayor of Worldwide Breast Cancer on flickr.com