National 'D' Grade Spurs Women's Advocates Ahead Of Election, Legislative Session

State and national presenters gathered at Women 4 Change's State of Women in Indiana conference Saturday. It was a kickoff for women's advocates ahead of the November election and Indiana's legislative session.

The conference covered everything from redistricting reform and reproductive health to the opioid crisis and the #MeToo movement. Women 4 Change executive director Rima Shahid says the conference was created after a national report graded the State of Women in Indiana as a D.

Shahid says Hoosier women deserve better. And her organization is working at the state level to make that happen.

"It's a good time to gear up, right before we head into this very important season," Shahid says. "And we also have a voter guide that we are publishing. And it has to deal with some of the very same issues that we heard about today."

Shahid says the only place Indiana deserves a D grade is voter turnout, which is why each breakout session focused on state-level policy and civic engagement.

There was also time taken to join the national #MeToo conversation.

Tamara Winfrey-Harris presented on the movement. She a writer who frequently focuses on intersectionality and black female representation. She says the conversation about sexual misconduct cannot be separate from the history of racial stereotypes.

"So, in the case of women, we're thought of being un-rape-able ... In the case of black men, it's that they're sexually aggressive," Winfrey-Harris says.

Winfrey-Harris says advocates behind the #MeToo movement have to recognize their potential bias when they hear accusations.

"One of the things we have to challenge ourselves to do, is not fall prey to the well, it's less wrong and less believable when someone I see as an ally or someone I identify with is being accused," Winfrey-Harris says.

Women 4 Change released their voter guide Monday.