Flipping The Switch On A Sexist, Racist Economy

The Women, Money, & Democracy Committee Re-Envisions Itself

By Marybeth Gardam
Women, Money, and Democracy Committee

February 2022

On January 29, the Women, Money & Democracy held its second Committee Planning Retreat.
The members have committed to doing their economic justice work through gender equity and racial justice lenses. What does that mean?   

According to Committee Chair Marybeth Gardam, it means the committee members committed in October to intentionally build-in critiques and evaluations of their project based on how relevant they really are to people at the bottom of the economic ladder, who are most affected by economic injustice... and how to make them more accessible to communities of color and people in poverty.  

The current projects include:

• Revising and updating Challenging Corporate Power: Assert the Peoples’ Rights materials.
• Lifting up the possibility of a Caring Economy to Flip the Switch On A Sexist, Racist Economy through the committee’s partnership with An Economy of Our Own.  
• Advocating for Public Banking across the country with a Public Banking Toolkit and a 6-session series Women’s Learning Circle to train and organize activists. 
• Re-Envisioning a More Just Monetary System.  

The committee began to re-evaluate current projects at the November 2021 and January 2022 planning retreats and contemplated what possible new projects/issues they might be missing. They considered new Leadership models and meeting structures to make their work more effective. And they managed to build in some fun with the planning.  

What’s next for WILPF US’s Women, Money & Democracy Committee? Stay tuned. The W$D Committee includes brilliant women from across the US and meets via Zoom every third Tuesday at 8 p.m. eastern. If you are interested in joining W$D, contact Marybeth Gardam at mbgardam@gmail.com.