The first meeting of the National Women's Caucus (NWC) was held on Sunday, July 21, 2002, at the Annual Convention of the Green Party of the United States (GPUS) in Philadelphia. Some women in leadership positions in the GPUS believed there was a need to have a meeting at the Philadelphia Convention in July 2002 to begin the discussion of establishing a women's caucus and that there should be space at the convention for those women to make arrangements for this to happen. Those women included, Anita Rios, Starlene Rankin, Nathalie Paravicni and Anne Goeke. They also worked with women in PA to make sure local women would attend. One of those women was Janice Lyons PA, who did attend. Annie brought the international women. Nathalie interpreted for them. In addition to the Ivory Coast women, there was a woman from Kenya. In addition, Morgen D'Arc and Elizabeth Shanklin of the NWC Coordinating Committee (NWC CC) were also in attendance at this first meeting.
While many of the women who attended the initial meeting were interested in participating in a Women's Caucus, the NWC became more active after October 4, 2002, when Starlene Rankin (CA) set up a listserve and invited all women Greens who had an interest in working to develop the National Women's Caucus to participate in a telephone conference. From that call, four women agreed to serve on a Coordinating Committee and to work to create the NWC. This Coordinating Committee took as its primary task to achieve accreditation for the National Women's Caucus. Starlene Rankin volunteered to manage the listserve with help from Holly Hart (IOWA); Jessica Thill (WISCONSIN) volunteered to set up a database; and Morgen D'Arc (MAINE) agreed to take on the work of organizing the NWC, engaging the members of the listserv and drafting Caucus documents. The Coordinating Committee determined to follow the procedures of the Green Party of the United States for many of its policies and procedures, i.e., first to write and adopt By-Laws, which were to establish the procedure for elections.
In January, 2003, Morgen D'Arc agreed to represent the National Women's Caucus on the Diversity Committee (DC). She requested of the DC that money be allocated to enable and increase women's participation in the Party generally and specifically for the National Women's Caucus. As a result, later in 2003 the NWC was included in a call for budgets from the Finance Committee. A budget was submitted by the NWC through the Diversity Committee but coincided with GPUS financial difficulty and was not in the end allocated to the NWC.
Using bylaws from the Lavender Greens, the Diversity Committee, the GPUS and those of other state parties as models, Morgen drafted Bylaws for the NWC and submitted these to the NWC CC for review, which then put them out to the member on-line list for a lengthy discussion. The Bylaws were in discussion for several months and were revised to reflect input. They were passed and adopted on January 20, 2004. Amendments were adopted November 6, 2006.
From the Bylaws, this is the Mission of the NWC:
The NWC will organize and act to advance Women's rights and concerns within the Party and in the country at large with the ultimate goals of maximizing the Women's vote for the Green Party, participation of Women at all levels of the Party and a voter, activist, leadership, candidate and officeholder base of Women that is reflective of the great diversity of this nation.
The National Women's Caucus is helping the Party to carry out the 2002 Santa Barbara resolution to form caucuses within the Party. The NWC Coordinating Committee has kept the GPUS Steering Committee and Diversity Committee informed of Caucus progress, activities and challenges. While the NWC on-line list had facilitated organizing, eventually the Caucus was challenged to develop list protocols to deal with members who exhibited attacking behavior that literally drove scores of members away. The NWC CC after consulting with the Diversity Committee and the Steering Committee established protocols. The Steering Committee sent the NWC a letter of support stating, "How you deal with challenges is as much an indicator of the quality of your caucus as any achievement. We are proud of the way you handled difficult times and want to thank you for your commitment to preserving process and deliberation."
Yet from its inception, the NWC has continued to grow and to be productive. In June, 2003, the National Women's Caucus with approval of a state party submitted a Plank on the Equal Rights Amendment, to the National Platform Committee. Co-Founder and NWC CC member, Morgen D'Arc, who was also elected Co-Chair in September 2004, developed and wrote a "Plank for Women" that was submitted to the national Platform Committee in December, 2003 with the approval of The Green Party of Maine. Accreditation would grant the NWC the right to make proposals on its own. The NWC held its Second Annual Meeting In July, 2003 at the Green Party's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The NWC developed a consensus mechanism and voting system for making online decisions. In 2004 the Voting and Elections Committee was established to conduct elections and votes.
This growth has been reflected in articles in Green Pages in the Fall of 2003 and the Spring of 2004 and others since. The NWC co-sponsored the April 25, 2004 March for Women's Lives, Washington D.C. and the National Women's Caucus of the Green Party was listed on the March for Women's Lives national website.
Currently, the NWC is compiling and preparing its application for accreditation and conducting elections for officers. The application was submitted June 17, 2004. Accreditation was granted with an overwhelming vote of the National Committee of the Green Party of the United States.
The NWC had its Third Annual Meeting in Milwaukee in June 2004. Medea Benjamin was the featured speaker at this meeting, which was the second largest event at the convention drawing nearly 200 people and national press, including the Washington Post.
We are nurturing the active participation of Green women at this crucial time for the Green Party, for our country, for the world.
To be updated and continued......
Women Who Participated In the Founding Meeting
July 22, 2002, Philadelphia
Wendy Pooler, Alabama
Beth Moore Haines, California
Starlene Rankin, California
Anne Goeke, D.C.
Heather Curtis, Maine
Morgen D'Arc Maine
Dee Berry, Missouri
Elizabeth Shanklin, New York
Anita Rios, Ohio
Linda Parsons, Utah
Barbara Payne, Oregon
Janice Lyons, Pennsylvania
Zeynep Gokoy Kallish, Pennsylvania
Nathalie Paravicini, Texas
Kadidjatou Kone, Ivory Coast, Africa
Diabate Issa, Ivory Coast, Africa
Kone Namarie, Ivory Coast, Africa
Woman from Kenya
Two Women from Working Families Party
Few other women from whom we couldn't get names.
Not sure of the following women. We can include their names as uncertain and ask readers to respond
? Jo Chamberlain, California ?
? Karin Lee Norton, Connecticut
? Rachel Markowitz ? Maryland
? Jenny Heiser, Minnesota
? Jane Hunter, New Jersey
? Marnie Glickman, Oregon
? Juscha Robi