A Quiet But Highly Effective Champion for Women: Congresswoman Jackie Speier
April 25, 2011
by Brooke Ezzat
|The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
While most Americans became acquainted with Congresswoman Jackie Speier because of her revelation on the House floor — she had a medically necessary abortion, Californians have been aware of her devotion to public service for decades. Speier’s long track record of flying under the radar is equaled only by her determination to speak for those who do not have the opportunity or power to speak for themselves. While in California’s Assembly and Senate, she authored 300 bills to improve the lives of her fellow Californians. The list of causes she embraced and fought for in California included: a ban on ephedra, mandatory reporting of domestic violence incidences by health professionals, and an annual review of school districts by the California Department of Education to ensure compliance with anti-discrimination legislation.
Her current campaign in Congress to address the problem of silence on military rapes is in keeping with her character and her desire to make the world a better and safe place for women.
Congresswoman Speier was born to a working class family in San Francisco and attended Catholic schools before going on to attend UC Davis and University of California Hastings of College of Law.
After receiving her law degree, she went to work as a congressional aide for Congressman Leo Ryan of California. In November of 1978, Speier accompanied Ryan and his fact finding group to Jonestown to investigate allegations of abuse by Reverend Jim Jones; Speier was concerned enough about this cult to write a will.
Her fears proved to be accurate, Ryan was assassinated, and Speier was shot and left on a jungle runway for 22 hours before medical help arrived.
She has reportedly said that her 22 hours on the runway and the second chance she received reworked her view of life and has made her determined to make as much of her life as possible. In 1980, Speier ran for the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and won. In 1986, she ran for California State Assembly, and was re-elected five times, but had to give up her seat in 1996 because of California’s term limits.
During this period, she lost her husband Dr. Steve Sierra, who was killed in an auto accident as he was traveling to an emergency room to treat a patient. At the time, Speier was two months pregnant with their second child. In 1998, Speier was elected to the California Senate, but was “termed out,” and practiced law for several years before running for and winning the special election for late Congressman Tom Lantos’ seat.
In her current position, Speier is attempting shed light on how sexual assaults are put on the back burner by the military and is establishing a portal so that these stories can be documented. She argues that women serving in the armed forces are far more likely to be raped by comrades in arms than die in combat. And Speier also states that it took the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld “to finally establish a statutorily required commission to investigate reports of sexual misconduct in the military.” She notes that his replacement is as blissfully ignorant of the problem and calls him and Congress to task for their cavalier approach to a serious problem.
To view Speier’s editorial on the military and rape, go here.
All I can say is Thank God, someone represents the best interests of women (and it took a woman in power to do this), and she has stepped up and spoken out against this atrocity against women in the military. It has continued for so long, because of media indifference (primarily run by men), lack of political will (primarily male dominated) and a military mired in male privilege to the point that they don’t consider this crime worthy of their concern, but does merit their disdain for those women who are victims of men out of control in an environment that not only condones it, but may even encourage it.
Moreover, this is yet another example of why we MUST have women in power of all sectors of society, because left up to the men, women will remain nothing more than a piece of property abused, thrown away and ignored when she becomes a threat to the patriarcy’s obvious inability to handle the truth about male criminal behavior and violation of a woman’s human rights.
Thank you so much, Brooke, for bringing this long overdue injustice against women in the military to TNA and giving it the attention it so much deserves and acknowleding this courageous representative. NOW and MS could learn a lot from her.
Thanks for writing this Brooke. Wow – what a life to say the least. Makes one realize how precious life is, and how we each have to do our part best we can.
After reading this, I want to make sure to reach out to the Congresswoman and meet her!
It seems that most women office holders have interesting life stories and a understanding of the concept of “common good”. In fact I haven’t read about even one woman who is motivated by a lust for personal power, sex with young subordinates and the wealth that comes from graft.
Bes,
Great points, Bes. Could it be that men have a propensity towards the things you listed because our patrichial society values men more than women and, as a result, is the cause for their sense of entitlement, especially when it comes to power, money and sex?
The real irony is that men use religion as their rationale for defining women as less than men, yet, very few men are able to achieve the kind of spiritial high ground, humility and selflessness most religions teach. On the other hand, it has been predominately women who have shown a greater willingness to sacrifice themselves and their personal ambitions for the sake of their families.
I am thinking how can we support her. I will send the link to her editorial to my house members and ask what they are going to do.
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