Of micey men
In Glendale, it appears the mice decided to just get rid of the cat by dumping Pauline Field.
By Ellen Snortland

Why, when men are vicious and petty with women or each other, is the behavior not considered “catty?” Maybe it's because these sneaky fellows are “micey.”

Three clueless mice just voted to oust Pauline Field from the Glendale Commission on the Status of Women that she founded. To quote the feline Hanna-Barbera cartoon character, Mr. Jinks, “I hate meeses to pieces!” These meeses do damage in the dark, spread disease and leave little poops in corners. Like rodents, or pre-reasoning children, do they think that if they don't see us we can't see them? Did the mice really think no one would notice they fired a cat, my friend and activist colleague, for no reason?

I am outraged. Is she?

“No, I'm sad, sad that the misogynists have won this round. But I will continue fighting for the rights of women in Glendale, in California, in the world. And without the restraints of being a commission, I can again follow the bumper sticker that says, ‘Well-behaved women rarely make history.'”

Last week, an all-male Glendale City Council voted 3-2 to fling Field from the all-female field of fellow commissioners. I find it foolish and finally fitting, given the foolhardy behavior of the council when it comes to addressing gender discrimination. Historically, they fundamentally flopped when they were forced to confront blatant sexism and harassment rampant in the Glendale Police Department when three female police offices sued Glendale a few years back for fostering and maintaining a misogynist work environment.

Field started the campaign to create the commission when Glendale Mayor Rafi Manoukian told her to bring a proposal to the council after she challenged him about the lack of a Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). He's been supportive because he wants his children to have equality and understands the need for a commission devoted to citizens who just happen to be female.

Glendale didn't have a CSW before Field. The idea of a CSW is not radical or even new. Pasadena has had one for 27 years. President John F. Kennedy picked former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to head the first national commission established in 1961. The United Nations CSW has its 50-year anniversary in 2006.

Commissioner Roosevelt recommended that every state have a CSW. Her recommendation trickled down to countries and cities as it became apparent that myriad enmeshed issues concerning women needed serious attention: violence at home and on the streets, wage disparities, job discrimination and yes, the overall underling status of many women. It's almost impossible to point to any area of life – or city, like Glendale – where women have attained parity.

In an amazing show of support and consensus about the need for a Glendale CSW, Field, with the help of many great people, had the fortitude to pull together the commission in 18 months, a remarkably short amount of time. Maybe that's because hers was an idea whose time had come. Glendale citizens saw how the City Council dissed gender issues brought forth in the previously mentioned lawsuit against the city and Police Department, which ended in 2003 with a jury award of $3.5 million to the plaintiffs. Micey men at “play” can be very pricey, eating big holes into city budgets.

Meanwhile, Field is the kind of person who says, “This just gives me more time to work on my first love, Fifty/Fifty Leadership ( www.Fifty/Fifty.us ). My lifelong commitment is to empower women and girls. This gives me more time to devote energy to researching and developing Leadership Circles and raising funds for the Freedom Academy.

Briefly, Leadership Circles are portable and accessible leadership trainings that women can hold and maintain at low cost in their home, church, synagogue or community center. The Freedom Academy is an international fast-track leadership program for women from developing countries.

Fifty/Fifty Leadership, a nonprofit, has as its mission to “transform the culture within which we live to one that naturally includes women on an equal basis in the selection of leaders.”

Obviously the culture of Glendale really needs Fifty/Fifty Leadership, Field and leaders like her. The sexist mice-like “boys” of Glendale just had to shoo Pauline “Feline” Field away so they could play.

But I think the cat's out of the bag, so to speak. Field and her supporters have altered Glendale gender political culture forever. At least that's my New Year's wish, along with the fervent wish that more women start seriously misbehaving toward “micey” men.

Have a healthy, happy and safe New Year!