Women, Money & Democracy

Operating since the 1990s, the Women, Money & Democracy (W$D) Issue Committee educates and activates on issues of unchecked corporate power and big money as a threat to self-governance, individual rights, and free speech in the US and around the world.  

Our work gives women a voice in creating a democracy that works for all Americans and an economy based on the values we hold but are constantly told we can't afford. (Funny how there's always money for more war.)

In W$D you'll find

• Women like you, who want system change and are willing to work for it.
• A path to leadership for introducing projects and strategies.
• Organizing tools and the chance to create them.
• Strategies to engage the public.
• Short and long term projects that invite your participation and leadership.

WHO WE ARE

The W$D Committee includes WILPF members from across the US, united in their commitment towards the goal of this committee and the larger goals of WILPF US.

We envision a vibrant participatory democracy where the common good of the people is prioritized above profiteering and consolidation of power.  

HOW WE WORK

Using an informal feminist model of democratic leadership, we meet monthly on the 3^rd Tuesday of each month at 8:30 pm ET/7:30 pm C/5:30 pm PT

To learn more about how we work or to join us, contact our current Chair Marybeth Gardam: mbgardamATgmail.com.

COMMITTEE PRIORITIES

• Educate and raise awareness about the threat to democracy from run-away inequality, economic injustice, and the consolidation of money and power in the top 1% of our country.  
• Raise practical solutions that can protect a vibrant democracy and ensure that the voice and values of the people guide our government. Our US solutions must be determined without the influence of huge US donors and dark money from foreign countries.  
• Create an awareness among women about their role in our rigged economy. 
• Lift up feminist solutions for system change from the bottom up; work to put pressure on our federal representatives. 
• Prioritize leadership and training among WILPF members, through a feminist model of democratic leadership. The work of our committee towards system change is informal but serious.    

CURRENT PROJECTS
Jump right in!

Corporate Personhood
The Legal Fiction that Corporations Are People 

Corporate personhood is the legal fiction that a corporation, separately from its associated human beings, has at least some of the legal rights and responsibilities enjoyed by natural persons.

How do we untangle the knot of special interests, corruption and laws?

WILPF has a long and esteemed reputation for its early work to inform and organize the public about the illegitimacy and threats to democracy of rising corporate power and the legal fiction of ‘corporate personhood’.   The illegitimacy of rising unchecked corporate power and the influence of ‘political speech’ as political donations (graft) threatens democracy

Here are some of the tools we developed to make a strong case against corporate theft of our individual Constitutional rights and many corrupt Supreme Court decisions that sold off our democracy.   

THE CORPORATE STUDY COURSE: Challenge Corporate Power: Assert The People’s Rights
A 10-session course designed for use in small discussion groups. Rich with discussion, resources and exercises to elicit engagement.  A history lesson and much more.

THE TIMELINE OF (illegitimate) CORPORATE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
This timeline documents by date and subject each Supreme Court case that sold off the Constitutional rights of individuals.  It reveals the intentional pattern, hidden in plain view, over many decades.

USING ART TO ENTERTAIN & EDUCATE - DRAMAS YOU CAN MOUNT in your own community. 
These plays by WILPF members Jim Allison are illuminating, entertaining and easy to perform as dramas or public readings.  They make their points through humor as well as carefully researched facts.  The history of corporate power comes alive, along with the conspiracy to steal Constitutional rights.   

• The Prosecution of Judge Waite
• Mr. Powell Writes a Memo
• What Corporations Do
• Marshall v Madison

THE POWELL MANIFESTO
Corporate attorney (later Supreme Court Justice) Lewis Powell wrote this “roadmap” in 1971 on behalf of the US Chamber of Commerce.  It blatantly lays out the plan for all the corporate capture tactics corporations have pursued in the 50 years since it’s publication.  These strategies have affected every level of US society and culture, and we continue to see the damage from this stunning corporate assault on democracy.   

Allies Working on These Issues

MOVE TO AMEND does vital work promoting the We The People Amendment.
See the progress they’ve made.  In May 2021 Move To Amend reintroduced the joint resolution to Congress to amend the Constitution to affirm that corporations are not people, money is not speech, and campaign finance can be regulated on the federal, state and local levels.  Engage in their citizen advocacy. 

REPRESENTus.org State-by-state citizen lobbying for the
Powerful shareable videos explain the ways our Democracy is broken. Join state-by-state citizen lobbying for the Anti-Corruption Act to support their work in local communities across the US.

BOLD ReTHINK is developing a plan to use ‘The Law of the Commons’, existing laws to curtail corporate power from further damaging the planet.

ULTIMATE CIVICS curriculums that bring civics classes to life with the truth about democracy. 

ALLIANCE FOR DEMOCRACY working on voter protections, gerrymandering, globalization, trade policy inequities and voter education.  Check out back issues of their wonderful online magazine “Justice Rising”.

CENTER FOR MEDIA & DEMOCRACY/PR WATCH champions investigative media watchdogs spotting and reporting on corruption in US media and politics.

PROGRAM ON CORPORATIONS, LAW & DEMOCRACY (POCLAD) our ‘grandparent’ organization for challenging abuse of corporate power.  Led in the early days by Richard S. Grossman and Ward Morehouse, giants in the field of corporate accountability.

OCCRP - Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a consortium of investigative centers, media and journalists operating in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Central America — with MANY connections to US politics, including budgeting and dark money interests.

Advocate for System Change through PUBLIC BANKING

Creating an economy that works for ALL Americans starts with breaking ties with transnational too-big-to-fail Wall Street banks and the gamblers who run them. Public banking offers communities a chance to keep local money invested in local projects, sheltering ordinary Americans from economic collapse and the financial disasters that follow. Learn more and get organized in your own community with the PUBLIC BANKING TOOLKIT, an anthology of articles, information, resources and organizing tools. Download it here.

Confront CORRUPTION: 
Drain the swamp from the bottom up

Learn about the Anti-Corruption Act.

Host a community watch party to view the film, THE LAUNDROMAT, an entertaining dramatization of corporate fraud and tax evasion that victimizes ordinary Americans and enriches criminals. 

Get all the tools you’ll need to schedule the virtual film viewing, organize a community Zoom call to discuss the film. Discussion questions enrich the dialogue and educational resources help you learn more about the underbelly of this transnational corruption that threatens our democracy.  

Download Discussion Questions here.

Sign up here for anti-corruption organizing right from your own desktop.

It’s unlikely that either political party will be able to separate itself from ‘the swamp’, so our ally RepresentUS offers recommendations for a state-by-state solution to corruption and ideas for monitoring corruption in your community.  

Learn more with these three videos: 

1. UnBreaking America: How to make the government work for US again 

2. How to FIX American’s Corrupt Political System

3. The Strategy to End Corruption
 

Network For Feminist Economic System Change

Money traditionally talks in a male voice, but all along it’s been women who keep the economy going.  

It’s time we understood the moving parts that are intentionally complicated and how women like you are creating solutions that work in communities across America. 

We’ll help you organize a women’s group in your community to read and discuss 
SCREWNOMICS: How Our Economy Works Against Women and Real Ways to Make Lasting Change
by WILPF member and W$D partner Rickey Gard Diamond.   

Learn more about Screwnomics.

For discussion questions and facilitator tips to make your group successful and organize locally for real change, contact us at mbgardamATgmail.com.

At An Economy Of Our Own (AEOO), connect to dynamic women making real change and finding solutions. You’ll find blog posts, articles, and webinars.  

Check out our AEOO’s “Women Unscrewing Screwnomics” columns at Ms. magazine, online

Democratize Our Money: 
Whoever Controls Our Money Controls Democracy, the Global Economy and the Power to Change the System.

Learn how money works, where it comes from, how it’s distributed and why it’s based on YOUR DEBT. The Federal Reserve is a PRIVATE profit-making enterprise owned by Wall Street and transnational commercial banks, not part of the US government.   

Learn what that means for funding the PEOPLE’s projects, like national healthcare, affordable housing, public education, and infrastructure.  

Watch this 20-minute video, “A Solution to the Crisis”

Resources

• Take Action Tool Kit