NCRW Speaks Out on 'Macho' Oil Industry Culture

Linda Basch, President of the National Council for Research on Women, has a great article running on AlterNet that looks at how the "macho culture" of the oil industry -- and BP in particular -- contributed to creating the mess that is STILL unfolding in the Gulf.

Quoting oil industry veterans and insiders, Basch highlights how BP culture has been driven by "the macho myth of big iron, big rigs, wild wells, and wild men" and suggests that greater diversity in leadership -- in this case, bringing women to the decision-making tables -- might have mitigated some of the larger mistakes BP made in regard to its drilling practices. She writes,

We can begin to understand the tendency toward machismo in BP with simple numbers: all of BP's executives are white males, except for one female HR leader... [Yet] countless studies have demonstrated that diversity in leadership produces better results overall. Women also tend to be more tempered risk-takers, which, among other things, could have shifted BP's decision not to use a safeguard device on the Deepwater rig, a potentially disaster-averting move that could have cost as little as $500,000.

Basch goes on to note that though women were noticeably absent from executive suites prior to the disaster, the folks being tasked with cleaning up this ecological nightmare are largely women. And she points our attention to the special health and reproductive risks that women in the Gulf may now face to thanks to the presence of potentially volatile chemicals in both the spilled oil and the dispersants used by BP to clean it up.

To us, what Basch has to say about women's experiences leading up to and after the Gulf crisis makes perfect sense. But as we noticed when we published an article with a similar theme in AlterNet a few weeks ago, commenters can be especially hostile to the notion that women's input and solutions might make a difference in the Gulf (and, frankly, everywhere).

If you feel strongly that women do have a place at these decision making tables, and that including women's perspectives from the grasstops to the grassroots is important to the functioning of our democracy, then let your voice be heard. Take a little time to leave a comment when you read articles on mainstream sites that support the inclusion of women's solutions. If the "comments" universe is ever going to move away from promoting the same "macho" attitude that sunk BP, we'll only get there when women dare to add their voices to the media mix.

In the Gulf, Women Struggle to Maintain Sense of Balance

With so much "new news" to process each day (McChrystal, Petraeus, Kagan; Russian spies among us), it's easy to forget that down in the Gulf, life is still falling apart. Oil is still gushing. As of Tuesday, that's 70 days and untold millions of gallons of crude, poisoning the waters and destroying communities, both physically and psychologically.

But residents of the Gulf aren't forgetting. They can't. Their whole way of life has been impacted, and the emotional strain is taking its toll -- a fact that a new article published by Mother Jones lays bare. Focusing on the lives of five women who are married to Gulf fishermen, the piece offers a rare look at how families are dealing with the new wave of destruction, having never actually recovered from Katrina.

Mac McClelland, who wrote the article, is a Hurricane Katrina survivor herself -- which gives her an eye for the kind of detail most reporters, looking in from the outside, miss. Like the fact that you can't buy toilet paper with food stamps. Like the fact that the unknown, and the total absence of structure in their lives, is really what's unraveling people.

And then there are hard details like these, that few news agencies are mentioning:

In Plaquemines Parish, 11 domestic violence [calls] came in on one recent weekend, compared with 3 on a typical weekend... The mayor of Bayou La Batre, Alabama, says they've had 320 percent more incidents of domestic violence since the spill.... "The more people are out of work, the more trouble we're gonna have," [a domestic violence hotline worker] says. "Plaquemines Community CARE is offering help now, but we're gonna need some more counselors. In the coming months, I'm gonna see a definite increase." She says she is also seeing an increase in child abuse calls.

We've written before about how former Ms. Foundation grantees like Sharon Hanshaw of Coastal Women for Change and Brenda Dardar Robichaux of the United Houma Nation are working to address the needs of their communities during this newest disaster. And now our current grantee, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, is using citizen reporting to map the oil spill and change the face of disaster management in the process. These organizations are intervening where government and private industry won't -- and changing the landscape of recovery as they do.

Articles like McClelland's -- journalism that gives voice to the real experiences of women on the ground -- play a vital role in expanding the story about what this disaster "means" to communities across the Gulf. And they also underscore why the work of our grantees in the Southern region remains so important. Though the cleanup of the spill has been cast as a very "male" dilemma (think about who you see on those boats, and making speeches about who is to blame and how justice will be meted out), women continue to bear a heavy burden in this crisis. And their voices will be as important as any others in crafting solution for these communities, where now even hope -- the most abundant of human resources -- seems on the verge of running out.

Ms. Foundation grantees remain front and center as the Gulf Coast struggles to combat the oil crisis. Grantee Green for All sent Dan Martin, their Director of Operations, to the Gulf to Report on the economic and environmental impact of the disaster. Read his blog posts from the region -- and watch this moving video that shines a light on how the United Houma Nation has been affected by the spill.

The Gulf Coast Catastrophe: Let's Put Our Trust in Women's Solutions

Fifty-eight days. Sixty million gallons of oil. Despite BP's ongoing attempt to cover it up, there is simply no denying that the effects of the oil pouring into the waters, marshes and wetlands of the Gulf spell devastation for generations to come. The ecology of the Gulf (and beyond) has been changed forever by BP's malfeasance -- and so have the lives of the people who live there, many of whom make their living off these waters that are now closed for business.

That is no small matter to communities that are still recovering from the profound effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- and who continue to battle the longstanding history of economic injustice that is synonymous with the region. In the face of gross government neglect, grassroots organizations across the Gulf Coast that have spent the last five years rebuilding homes and business are now faced with the reality that entire economies may never come back. Fishermen and their families also stand at the front lines; a trade that has been passed down from generation to generation among Gulf Coast families may very well have seen its last days.

Brenda Dardar Robichaux, chief of the United Houma Nation, whose 17,000-plus members live along Louisiana's coastal marshlands, knows firsthand how ecological disasters can destroy the economic underpinnings of coastal communities. After the hurricanes, she worked alongside others to ensure the survival of her tribe. These days, as the crude continues to invade fishing waters, she sees a whole way of life on the brink of disappearing. In a recent interview with NPR's Michel Martin, she described the economic devastation her community faces:

People are not able to go out on their fishing vessels anymore. The season has been closed and that's the way that they earn their living. Where other people live check to check, we live catch to catch. Those fishing nets are not in the water, so they are not catching anything. And they're not able to provide for their families.

No fishing. No tourism. No jobs. Massive ecological impact. The problems propagating on the Gulf Coast are many, and multi-layered -- yet both the government and BP have proven they are sorely outmatched when it comes to taking action to save what is left of these communities and the natural environment they call home.

So what is left? Where can we turn to find the expertise needed to craft the solutions that will recover livelihoods and protect families and communities? If the aftermath of Katrina and Rita is any indication, the answer lies with women like Brenda, in communities all across the Gulf Coast.

In the days and months after the hurricanes hit in 2005, organizations led by low-income women and women of color -- who were disproportionately impacted by the hurricanes -- found ways to meet the urgent needs of their communities as few others could. They knew better than anyone the real problems families were facing -- in large part because they were from these communities themselves. They understood how disempowered and betrayed families who had lost everything felt in the face of inexcusable government neglect. They knew firsthand how the imposition of solutions and unjust policies from above further reinforced disenfranchisement in already marginalized communities. Despite their own profound losses they stayed home when they could have left and organized to ensure that representatives of their communities had seats at the table when decisions were being made about how to bring the Gulf back from the brink of disaster.

The power, expertise and leadership of women in these communities is something we put our trust in from the very beginning. Immediately after the hurricanes the Ms. Foundation for Women created the Katrina Women's Response Fund, and over time invested more than $3 million in 40 organizations led by low-income women and women of color across the Gulf. We used that money to help build the leadership and capacity of both existing and emerging grassroots and state-level organizations to advocate for a just and sustainable recovery -- and to promote the policy solutions of women across race and class.

We continue to see the wisdom of investing in women's solutions, and are moved by the conviction our grantees demonstrate day after day, as they show up and stand up, demanding seats at the table as decisions about their communities are made. Because of their commitment, lives were changed, and saved, five years ago -- and their work continues to have enormous impact to this day.

Now, as the Gulf Coast faces another disastrous summer, we must remember how crucial women's voices have been to improving the lives across the Gulf, and include them in this new recovery process as quickly as possible. Already KWRF grantees like Dardar Robichaux and former grantee Sharon Hanshaw of Coastal Women for Change in East Biloxi, MS have stepped up and are speaking out about how the spread of oil is threatening the people in their hometowns. They are organizing a response that reflects the complexities of life lived in these Gulf communities: by bringing diverse groups of fishing families and restaurant workers together to share their concerns; by providing them with essential information that is in short supply; and by providing local children with outlets to share their fears about the oil disaster.

Fifty-eight days. Sixty million gallons of oil. That's an awfully big mess to clean up. Fixing this problem -- and ensuring it never happens again -- will require not just a little commitment from a few of us, but a huge commitment from all of us to build a new way of life that protects our environment and our coastal communities from disasters of the man-made variety. And engaging and investing in women's solutions is one sure step toward making that ideal a reality.

Susan Wefald
Executive Vice-President and COO
Ms. Foundation for Women

This piece originally ran on AlterNet.org.

Gloria Award Winner Speaks Out as Oil Invades Gulf

Last night on NPR, Chief of the United Houma Nation, Brenda Dardar Robichaux, gave an important interview on how the newest disaster in the gulf is impacting the people of the region -- particularly the 17,000 plus members of her tribe.

Dardar Robichaux is a beloved Ms. Foundation ally: she was named a Woman of Vision at the Foundation’s 2008 Gloria Awards for her work with the United Houma Relief Fund, which she founded to meet the immediate needs of the Houma Nation (devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita), and which would eventually offer training in non-traditional jobs for women and leadership programming for girls. She spoke at length with NPR’s Michel Martin, describing how the influx of oil into the gulf is "threatening [the tribe's] existence in a way that few other challenges have." "My biggest concern is the future of our people," Dardar Robichaux said.

We have lived off the land, we have lived in our traditional homeland for generation after generation. I have great concern of what the oil spill is going to do to our communities. You know, we grow up learning how to deal with hurricanes. We have experienced four devastating hurricanes in the last three years. Our people are resilient. We know how to gut out our homes, rebuild, repair our fishing vessels and move on.
But this is totally different. The impact that this could be totally devastating to our tribal citizens and it's quite frightening...

Our people are not able to go out on their fishing vessels anymore. The season has been closed and that's the way that they earn their living. Where other people live check to check, we live catch to catch. Those fishing nets are not in the water, so they are not catching anything. And they're not able to provide for their families.

You can listen to the entirety of Dardar Robichaux's interview below or on the NPR site -- and for an interesting look at just how widespread this disaster really is, read today's post from Katha Pollitt on The Nation.com.

Grantees on the Front Lines, Saving the Gulf

With news today of another delay in attempts to cap the leak that has spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over the last 30 plus days, it’s clear that the impact of this ecological disaster will be with us for years – if not generations – to come. It’s one thing to be watching underwater images of the murky, toxic fluid gushing forth on TV; it’s another thing entirely to see that oil come floating up on the beaches and wetlands where you live – which is exactly the experience the people of the Gulf are coming up against these days, not even five years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita turned the Coast inside out.

Already, residents of the area are gathering together to organize a local response. Late last week, The American Prospect published an excellent Q & A with Sharon Hanshaw, Executive Director of former Ms. Foundation grantee Coastal Women for Change, who shares her first person account of the shape this early organizing is taking, and the kind of challenges residents are facing as the oil creeps further and further inland. Hanshaw reports,

…It's a very panicky situation because people are afraid. Hurricane season is about to start in two weeks. In these communities [fishing] is their livelihood. They ask, can I work? Can I take care of my family? Can I take my boat even though I don't have insurance?

BP is trying to answer them, but it's not enough. All the seafood's going to go; the restaurants are going to suffer. It's still out there. It's in the sea -- that means it's out there.

It’s out there indeed – and despite the fact that President Obama has called for a moratorium on drilling in the area, The New York Times is now reporting that federal regulators have granted “at least 19 environmental waivers for gulf drilling projects and at least 17 drilling permits, most of which were for types of work like that on the Deepwater Horizon shortly before it exploded.” In other words, yes, it’s out there, and there’s no reason to think another disaster might not be waiting right around the corner.

In the aftermath of the hurricanes in 2005, the Ms. Foundation made a commitment to build the strength and power of social justice organizations and coalitions throughout the Southern region – first through our Katrina Women’s Response Fund and now through our larger Southern Focus. Now, in the wake of this newest crisis, our grantees are standing at the front lines, evaluating and organizing in response to this environmental disaster. For another look at how the oil spill is affecting the Gulf Coast – and who bears responsibility for the aftermath – watch Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Ms. Foundation grantee Green for All, in her recent appearance on MSNBC. And check out the website of Ms. Foundation grantee The Bucket Brigade, whose members are also hard at work, surveying the damage on the ground.