The woman at the podium before the Alabama Democratic Party (ADP) is always the same, the token woman, the woman symbolizing all women. therefore no other women need be heard.
Unfortunately though, women are a diverse lot of all sizes, shapes, colors, ethnicities, beliefs, sexual orientations, opinions -- and a single woman, no matter how large, cannot be the sole representative of all this diversity.
The same with minorities. There is only one minority in the Alabama Democratic Party (ADP) but again, reality intrudes in the greatly diverse hues, ethnicities, beliefs, religions, sexual preferences, opinions of the diversity of minorities, but in the Alabama Democratic Party (ADP), apparently, only one man embodies the essence, the totality of minorities.
August 18, 2010:
What makes this situation even worse is that in Alabama in 2008, 74.3% of eligible women registered to vote ... compared to only 68.5% of men. Women outnumbered men by about 270,000 at the Alabama polls in November 2008 and voted for Democrats significantly more often than male voters. The state Democratic Party leadership ought to reflect the importance of that female influence it enjoys at the ballot box. Unfortunately, the Alabama Democratic Party, like most of state government, is male dominated.
There are currently eight officers of the Alabama Democratic Party. Only one, Vice Chair Nancy Worley, is female. And she both made the motion to adopt the Bylaw change and moved to table her own motion -- isn't that a trip?
To continue with the numbers game, of the 34 positions on the Executive Board, which includes the officers, only 14 are held by women. That's a measly 41%, a number which should be unacceptable to Democratic women Democrats all across this state. And the entire SDEC itself currently has 278 positions, 133 of which are held by women. That is slightly less than 48%, still unacceptable in a state where women make up over 55% of registered voters.
Segue to a meeting of the Alabama State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC), a motion to give the Alabama Federation of Democratic Women a seat on that committee in
2011:
Pam Wallace, the current AFDW President, who had earlier asked committee members to "Say yes to the women of the party. Yes your work is valuable, yes your input is valuable, and yes you deserve a seat at the table," granted a brief interview after the SDEC meeting adjourned.
"It seems to me that if there are 17 men on the board and 10 women, there's certainly room to a woman to come and give her opinion and let the party know what women think from our perspective. ... In 2010 Alabama women accounted for 55% of the total vote. Women truly are the backbone of the party.."
2012:
“The goal of the amendment is to bring representation of Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Youth and others onto the State Executive Committee,” the amendment's sponsor said. “My amendment was designed to help engage all Alabamians in our party, and to ensure everyone a voice.”
Sunday, February 3,
2014:
On Saturday, the Alabama State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC) met in Montgomery, and for the third meeting in a row, members of the committee put forward an amendment to ensure the Party welcomes diversity and inclusion. Once again, the diversity amendment was discarded without debate or a direct vote. Alabama Democratic Party.
Tuesday,
February 4, 2014:
Pam Wallace: The problem is that our Party defines "minority" as only African-Americans, Thus, women, LGBT, youth, Hispanics, ANY other minority, are not recognized. There are many people and groups working to change that, but it becomes a Herculean task when the Chair(woman) does not follow the rules and colludes with the group in power to defeat the inclusion, It's all about controlling the vote and retaining power.