Need for resources, safe spaces rallies women for change

Closing of Planned Parenthood, threats of violence, workplace discrimination are still battle lines for Terre Haute women.

A woman holds a sign that reads “I march for her future” as she holds her daughter’s hand at the March 8 rally.

One by one, holding handmade signs, women emerged from the crowd on the sidewalk in front of the Eugene V. Debs house on the Indiana State University campus.

One by one, on a mild day in March, they called to the crowd below.

“I’m retired and I’m still waiting for equal pay.”

“We’ve got to maintain that we are free and remember that we are free.”

“We are either going to have a future where women lead the way to make peace with the Earth, or we are not going to have a human future at all.”

“I am being told, even this day being three classes away from a masters in psychology and emphasis in ADA, that I am not qualified.”

“Everyone is here for black women. Everyone is here for queer people, disabled people, people who do not have privilege. We are here because most of our country, in fact, is dis-privileged.”

Many of the signs indicated why women marched. This one says she marches “for her” with arrows pointing to all of the surrounding women at the Eugene V. Debs house.

“I am here because I am pissed!”

“We have to go all the way to Bloomington to go to a Planned Parenthood. And I march because that is not fair.”

“I fight for myself, all women, and I fight for my children.”

Several children attended the protest, and some even spoke about why they think the march is important.

“I march so that I don’t have my rights taken away, just because someone feels like theirs has been taken away. That’s why I march.”

“I want everyone to remind themselves that if they aren’t marching toward equality for all — for all people, not just men and women — then we aren’t marching toward equality at all.”

Women, men, and children gathered in front of the historical house of the famous Socialist and labor organizer on International Women’s Day, cheering their peers as they climbed the steps to express why they march.

More than 75 men and women gathered at the Debs house wielding signs on a range of concerns.

Weeks prior to International Women’s Day, the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, dozens marched from the Vigo County Courthouse, past the now abandoned Planned Parenthood on 3rd Street, and down Wabash Avenue.

From the millions who marched on Jan. 21 to the Debs house crowd on March 8, women are rallying for equality in all spaces in American society.

Indiana State University is a rallying point for women in Terre Haute, and the campus has responded with a series of resources to address calls for safety and equality — from opening a Women’s Resource Center to providing safe escorts across campus. The goal is help women feel fully included and respected in the community.

Although this center welcomes everyone, it is focused on providing women with a safe place to relax and find resources while on campus. The center is run by Amanda Hobson, who also heads the Victims Advocate Program at ISU.

“We try to do programming around all sorts of things — from the wage gap to feminism to pop culture to leadership,” Hobson said. “And then of course sexual violence, relationship violence, stalking and the way we can stop those things.”

The Women’s Resource Center is not the only place on campus that strives to make students, particularly women, feel safe. ISU Public Safety provides safety escorts for all students who request them. Students may use this if they are injured, or if they feel unsafe walking campus alone.

Jeff Bellinger, an officer with Indiana State University Police, said the provided 360 safety escorts last year, but the department does not track the gender of the people who call.

Hobson said the fear women feel walking alone makes the safety escorts an important service.

“Parents are probably a lot more fearful than the young women are,” Hobson said.

Hobson said even those who don’t use a safety escort are aware of the dangers women face. They simply are determined to live independently in spite of them.

“We are trained as women from essentially the minute we are born to be aware of our surroundings, to always be on guard. And if you’re not, it’s your fault because you were supposed to be vigilant. Women are taught to be hyper-vigilant. I see a lot of our young women just being like ‘No, this is a safe campus, it’s a safe place. I’m just going to walk where I need to walk and do what I need to do.’”

A woman speaks at the Women’s March “sister march” that took place along Wabash Avenue on Jan. 21, the day after Trump’s inauguration.

Critics, especially on the political right, say safe spaces are unnecessary, and could even lead to segregation within groups. Hobson says ISU’s Center is not a place for avoiding society or the rest of the community.

“I would never tell a student who comes into the resource center that we won’t deal with a difficult issue. We deal with difficult issues every day in the resource center,” she said. “It’s meant to be a place of open dialogue.”

In addition to the center for women, the 7th floor of the Hulman Memorial Student Union also houses centers for LGBTQ students, Hispanic and Latinx, and international students. Hobson said the resource centers are a new way to address a traditional need in the community.

“I know that a lot of people find safe spaces in their religious organizations. Where to do people outside of Judaism, Islam or Christianity go?,” Hobson said.

The resource center provides women with as much information as it can, but Hobson said it can’t replace a resource like Planned Parenthood, whose Terre Haute location closed on July 20, 2016, due to lack of funding.

“Planned Parenthood is very frequently not just the space where people talk about how to family plan — they also do a lot of other stuff. When we lost Planned Parenthood, I think lost honest conversations about what your options are around birth control and when you find yourself in a situation of being pregnant,” she said. The hour drive to Indianapolis or Bloomington is now the closest option for Terre Haute patient.

The Crisis Pregnancy Center that opened near campus not long after Planned Parenthood closed, does not replace the many health services offered by Planned Parenthood.

“My experience in working with a Crisis Pregnancy Center in the last town that I worked in, they will do everything they can for someone not to get an abortion,” she said. “They are very abstinence-based. They are not a clinic. Essentially, they are advice givers. They have no medical professionals involved with them.”

A woman wears her “pussy hat” at the Jan. 21 rally, and raises her fist in solidarity with women across the nation.

Hobson said community action — including rallies, protests, fundraising, and lobbying lawmakers — is the best way to make women’s lives safer and healthier.

“My guess is that if we want to keep places like Planned Parenthood open — if we are ever going to get one back in Terre Haute — it’s going to be based on the community coming together and making good donations,” Hobson said.

Editor’s note: This story was written by Marissa Schmitter as part of a Community Journalism class in which students chose and reported their stories independently. The stories have been edited by the course instructor, Lori Henson. Henson was an organizer of the Rally for Women at the Debs home.