March 8th has come and gone, but it’s still worth talking about. For background information, here is the official description of the IWD: “International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.”

Here is a quote from the official website for International Women’s Day about what the day currently represents:

“The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women’s and society’s thoughts about women’s equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that ‘all the battles have been won for women’ while many feminists from the 1970’s know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women’s visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women’s education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.”

“However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.” (source; emphasis added)

Because of the new IWD tone, it’s rather interesting that a small group of people who label themselves “abolitionist vegan feminists” have made a group statement for International Women’s Day and in the statement, they chose to focus on sexism within the animal rights movement rather than on celebrating the victories of vegan women or the victories of female animals.

I think I’ll go ahead and celebrate some victories…

One of the best examples of a victory are the “Vicktory Dogs” at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Meet two of the dogs rescued from Micheal Vick’s dogfighting rings:

Little Red arrived at Best Friends covered in facial scars. Her teeth had been filed down. She was probably a “bait” dog – a dog who is used as practice for other dogs. Other, more aggressive dogs attacked her in their fight “training.”
Best Friends describes her victory:

“Needless to say, when she arrived at Best Friends, Little Red was scared of everybody. If you walked up to her, she would quickly scurry away in fear. But then, after just a few weeks at the sanctuary, something incredible happened. Little Red smiled. She actually smiled. The corners of her mouth lifted and she wagged her tail. Now, when she sees her caregivers coming, she runs toward them instead of away!”

Georgia’s ears were cropped and she had scars all over her face. Her tail had evidence of having been broken many times. She had no teeth. She didn’t trust anybody.

But after some time at the sanctuary, she made a special friend in John Garcia, a dog behaviorist, and she’s traveled as a pitbull spokes-dog, demonstrating that even fighting dogs can be rehabilitated into gentle companions.

Another example of victory within the animal rights and feminist movements is the fact that more and more women are writing books about veganism! Here are some examples:

Melanie Joy has written a book called “Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism.” The book, according to Publisher’s Weekly,

“offers an absorbing examination of why humans feel affection and compassion for certain animals but are callous to the suffering of others—especially those slaughtered for our consumption. She takes Eric Schlosser, Michael Pollan, and Jonathan Safran Foer’s well-trod route and investigates factory farming, exposing how cruelly the animals are treated, the hazards that meatpacking workers face, and the environmental impact of raising 10 billion animals for food each year. She uses her factory farm–to–table narrative to buttress her real thesis: meat-eating or carnism, is an oppressive ideology as noxious as racism.”

Ruby Roth wrote a children’s book called “That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals: A Book About Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living Things.” Wired wrote this about the book:

“That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals succeeds in raising awareness about where our food comes from and how our food choices affect other creatures and the environment. Roth touches on the conditions animals raised on factory farms endure…but she doesn’t get overly graphic…That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals nicely connected the dots between how humans treat animals and the impact our species has on the planet as a whole, with the basic premise being that a more enlightened attitude toward our food sources (of course, ideally that would mean becoming vegetarian) translates into a healthier planet.”

Breeze Harper compiled an anthology entitled, “Sistah Vegan: Food, Identity, Health, and Society: Black Female Vegans Speak.” The book is a collection of voices of North American black-identified vegans. The book’s description:

Collectively, these activists are de-colonizing their bodies and minds via whole-foods veganism. By kicking junk-food habits, the more than thirty contributors all show the way toward longer, stronger, and healthier lives. Suffering from type-2 diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure, and overweight need not be the way women of color are doomed to be victimized and live out their mature lives. There are healthy alternatives. [...]Thought-provoking for the identification and dismantling of environmental racism, ecological devastation, and other social injustices, Sistah Vegan is an in-your-face handbook for our time. It calls upon all of us to make radical changes for the betterment of ourselves, our planet, and by extension everyone.

Back to female nonhuman sucesses…

Farm Sanctuary tells Gloria’s story:

“Gloria lived at a racetrack, but she wasn’t there to run, and she didn’t. She couldn’t. Nor could she roam or graze or lounge in the grass. For the first eight years of her life, the little goat was kept tied up in a barn. [...] Other goats like Gloria languish behind the scenes at horse-racing tracks, where their presence is believed to calm high-strung racehorses. These goats are seen merely as tools to enhance the performance of their equine companions, and their own needs are often egregiously neglected. [...]Now in recovery, Gloria continues to grow healthier and enjoys the attention of interns and staff members [...]No longer tied up, no longer weighed down, Gloria was for the first time free to walk wherever she pleased, and she did.”

Now, I’d like to highlight some female animal advocates.

Kris Carr has redefined “sexy” in her books, film, and website: “Crazy, Sexy Life.” She is described as:

“an irreverent foot soldier in the fight against disease, Carr inspires countless individuals and their families to make the link between personal and planetary health by adopting a plant-based diet and improving lifestyle choices. Her witty anecdotes, and tips for tackling adversity motivate her audiences to become empowered wellness activists.”

Mariann Sullivan and Jasmin Singer began a website and podcast called “Our Hen House” which is “a central clearinghouse for all kinds of ideas on how individuals can make change for animals.” The pair does stuff like talk to “The Dosa Man” and “feed compassion.”

Lastly, I’m going to go ahead and give myself a little pat on the back here by counting a major vegan outreach effort in Las Vegas that I spear-headed, “The Vegas Billboard Project.” The grassroots group that I help organize, Vegas Veg*, worked with Mercy For Animals (MFA) to produce nine pro-animal billboards located throughout the Vegas valley. The billboards will be viewed over 10 million times!

This is just a very small slice of the incredible things that women are doing for animals and each other. These stories represent a few of the feminist victories within the animal rights movement. These and similar success stories are something we should ALL continue to acknowledge and celebrate, regardless of our diversity of opinions regarding other aspects of the movement.

Sections: Vegan Activism
Topics: activists, celebrate, female, feminism, feminist, highlights, sexism, success, veg, victory, women