Feisty Women Creating Movements and Building Coalitions

By Jan Corderman and Linda Lemons
WILPF Des Moines Steering Committee Members

WILPF Des Moines’s major event in February was our 9th Strong Feisty Women, Powering Change Event, honoring Eloise Cranke for powering change in our community, Marti Anderson for powering change in our legislature, and Cathy Glasson for powering change in movement politics. More than 100 people came together to celebrate the power and resilience of women using their talents and skills to create change.

Eloise Cranke is a longtime activist and member of WILPF, whose calendar is always full advocating for peace and justice issues. Marti Anderson, also a long time WILPF member, has been involved her entire career in the advancement of women’s and children’s rights and the human need for safety and respect. She has served in the Iowa Legislature since 2013, and is working hard to advocate for human rights and the protection of our environment in a legislature focused on supporting corporations. Cathy Glasson, President of SEIU Iowa, which represents more than 5,000 hardworking Iowans, ran for governor of Iowa, and used an approach called movement politics in which she created her platform from listening to the needs of people and the issues they are facing. Mary Hanson Harrison, our outgoing US WILPF President, shared the legacy of women coming together to meet the needs of people, and the advocacy for peace and justice, which eventually led to the creation of WILPF.

The Raging Grannies led us in song, expressing our sentiments with new lyrics to familiar tunes. We even had a statue of Jane Addams and encouraged people to take pictures with her. We had 22 cosponsors of our event and offered space for people to share information about their church community or organization. We believe we were quite successful in creating space for people to come together, and to share their stories, gifts, and ideas with each other, so that we can continue to enhance and build our movement for peace and justice.

Besides our Strong Feisty Women event, WILPF women continued to remain active in a variety of other events this month. As a coalition member of Iowa Alliance for Responsible Agriculture, WILPF women joined with other coalition members at the capitol the day before our Strong Feisty Women Event to lobby for a moratorium on factory farms. At any given time, the state of Iowa has over 20 million pigs and more than 40 million egg-laying hens that are predominantly confined on over 9,000 factory farms. We don’t need more!! This method of farming can have a myriad of impacts on air, water, and public health documented in over 50 years of respected, peer-reviewed studies. It’s time to reclaim the rich agricultural heritage of our state. The Raging Grannies closed out the day by leading everyone in the “Personhood Song” to the tune of “This Land Is Your Land,” and “Home on the Earth,” to the tune of “Home on the Range.”  

At our regular meeting we heard about different types of representative governments from Jeffrey Weis, a local professor, who delivered a talk on “How Presidential Republics Fail and why the United States May Be No Exception.” WILPF members also attended a Climate Revival, featuring the author of a recent book club read Climate Church, Climate World, which focuses on the importance of faith communities taking action to address our climate crisis. Carolyn Uhlenhake Walker, WILPF member, spoke about the Sustainability Task Force she is helping to lead to create a climate action plan for the city of Des Moines.

Regardless of the activity, our focus is on building relationships, changing the narrative, and finding our feminist voices to create a movement for change.