I heard Riane Eisler speak in Monterey at a forum about violence against women and she made many of the points she makes in this Alternet article. She discusses how “women’s issues” are too often viewed as special interest items, rather than problems of the majority. She also talks about how traditional gender roles encourage violence as a means of maintaining power, and how this equates to the current political situation in the U.S. and abroad.

Surely we can learn a lesson from this history: that progressives urgently need a political agenda that no longer relegates “women’s issues” to a secondary — indeed, invisible — place. We need a politics of partnership that recognizes that questioning “traditional” gender roles and relations is foundational to the movement to more democratic and egalitarian relations across the board.

The equal valuing of the two halves of humanity — women and men — will obviously vastly improve girls’ and women’s quality of life. But it’s also essential if we are to move to a more democratic, peaceful, and sustainable future for us all.

Read more about her work here.