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Wild Woman Fundraising > Blog > Conflict > Happy International Women’s Day! Feminism in the Sector Podcast!

Happy International Women’s Day! Feminism in the Sector Podcast!

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Are you a feminist?

Do you believe that people of different genders should be equal?

if so, then YES!

if no, then GTFO

🙂

There is a lot to say about feminism in the sector, and what AFP in particular can do better for women! Vanessa Chase, founder of The Storytelling Nonprofit and #FundraisingIsFemale, shares a few tips with us in this next episode of NAME IT! Podcast!

Listen to the podcast here or watch the video below!

Here are some of the articles we mention:

Feminist Nonprofit Leadership:

Feminism is awesome! We have so many women and woman-identified folks inside our nonprofits. 70-80% of the sector is women. Unfortunately less than 50% of the top leadership in the sector is women. So, sexism rears its ugly head! Even though many of us are natural leaders, we are still getting passed over for leadership roles. And when we are in leadership roles, we are not allowed to make as many mistakes, and come under far greater scrutiny than our male counterparts.

What can we do? Well, let’s first name and claim what’s going on.

This was a really fun post to write. What is gender asbestos? It’s the quiet sneaky invisible poison that seeps through the air as we try to rise in our organizations.

 

There are so many examples of famous women being attacked for their fashion. here are just a few of them. I myself was attacked for my fashion, instead of getting metrics on the job I was doing. So, people often focus on your appearance, as a part of sexism, instead of allowing you to just do your job.

 

 

Sexism at Work

In the era of the #MeToo movement, we have a huge problem at our nonprofits. Fundraisers are often chosen for their ability to smile, be polite, gregarious, and get along with others. This can be translated into mixed signals when it comes to donors, staff or board members.

 

#MeToo In Our Nonprofits -Interview with Maria Ramos Chertok, JD

Maria Ramos-Chertok is a lawyer who specializes in workplace harassment. Her JD is from California, so her examples come from there. However, her ideas on how to protect yourself and document your case can be applied to other areas of the country (as long as you check with local legal advice).

 

Reverse Sexism in Fundraising is Not a Thing, Sorry

This article is in response to a post from the AFP blog entitled “Where are all the men?” posted on International Women’s Day?!? It claims reverse sexism. What is reverse sexism? It’s supposedly when someone who would be good for a job is turned down because he is a man. But there are some funny jokes and videos in this article that I think you will like.

 

Donor Sexual Harassment

Sadly, this still happens. In this article I talk about my story of a board member harassing me. I also talk about being sexually harassed as a consultant, and some tips to counteract workplace harassment.

 

Leadership Empowerment!

We need more people to step up and lead. So here I highlight some wonderful nonprofit women of color leaders.

 

Women and Workaholism:

Why do women fall prey to workaholism? The unique sicknesses of being a woman in North American society is that many of us suffer from perfectionism. And it comes, partially, from women not being allowed to make as many mistakes as men. But that’s not the only reason.

 

How can you get help, if you have too much to do? You can prioritize your tasks. You can get volunteers to help you.

 

We want to get everything done. But when you have a super job, aka 4-5 people’s jobs, EVERYTHING WILL NEVER GET DONE. We’ll always go to bed feeling as if there was more we should have done, or could have done.

 

Often workplace culture comes with bad boundaries. How can you push back against those bad boundaries? Read on!

 

You know you’re a workaholic when you find yourself staying later and later at work, or taking work home with you.

 

Women and Nonprofit Work- With Bonus Emotional Labor

What is emotional labor? And why would you care about this issue in your fundraising and nonprofit leadership work? Emotional labor is the act of caring for others, following up with them, reaching out to them, bringing them food, helping them when they are sick, working to understand their perspective, ask good questions, and generally build a stronger relationship.
This is a lot like a lot of the work we do in the nonprofit social services sector, and EVERY good fundraiser has to get good at emotional labor, whether it comes naturally or not.

 

If emotional labor is seen as women’s work, or feminized work, how does this impact how we are paid? And what work is seen as women’s versus men’s work? Read on.

 

Another unique sickness of women in North America is that sometimes we are asked to do what is called emotional labor. Nonprofit work is full of it, especially in fundraising. You’re expected to keep relationships going, reach out to people, call them, go and see them, all in the name of fundraising for your cause. This is emotional labor, and it is devalued by our society because mainly women do it.
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