Aired Sunday, Jan. 27th, 2013
Opening a new bank account in Oklahoma I was brought face-to-face with global patriarchal assumptions.
My partner Jeff and I visited a local bank to open an account. Over the 90 minutes we spent with the clerk, I asked the questions and directed all of the paperwork. Everything the clerk reviewed was in my name. Jeff signed two places on a paper and then left to run an errand. More time passed. The clerk handed me the last paper to sign. When I asked why Jeff had signed on two lines and I only on one, the clerk informed me Jeff was listed as the primary on the account. "No," I said firmly, "I am the primary on the account." In that bank I came face-to-face with several millennia of patriarchal assumptions. Globally women own 15% of all property; in developing countries women own less than 2%. In the United States, women earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns; in developing countries, women earn 73 cents on the dollar. The figure I find most shocking of all is that women own less than 1% of the land on this Earth. I am not interested in living under a man, or anyone for that matter. Some day we will stand as true partner's, men and women, neither above nor below, but side by side. I'm banking on it.