My name is Corinne Rovetti. I have been self-identified as an activist and advocate for peace and justice work since my earliest recollections.
Born and raised as a person in the Jewish faith, responsibility for my community was instilled from an early age and taken quite seriously by this individual sensitized to the world around her; from awareness of the horrors of the Holocaust, to awareness of my country’s (U.S.A.) dark history of slavery and systemic racism, to the danger and excesses of corporate capitalism, to coming of age during the U.S.’s involvement in the Vietnamese War and the burgeoning women’s consciousness-raising movement.
These moments defined my life and created the commitment to living a more sustainable and involved life of working for change, both personally and professionally, for the planet.
While my ‘volunteer” activities have involved standing up to all forms of injustices and inhumane issues (anti-war, immigration, Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza), my professional life’s work as a women’s health care provider and advocate rose directly out of the first women’s studies class I took in the early 1970s. Exposure to the oppressive arms of society (both politically and religiously) in maintaining women’s subjugation and prohibiting women from becoming fully developed human beings was deeply disturbing and motivating, to say the least! Coming to understand the relationship of education, poverty and reproduction to economic repression was revolutionary, leading to my acknowledging the connection between the control of one’s reproduction to one’s economic standing, paving the way to my professional commitment to working with empowering women. Inherent in this work of reproductive justice is addressing systemic violence as sustained by a patriarchal society intent on suppressing women and keeping them in ‘their place’.
In addition to my work as a Family Nurse Practitioner and Co-Director of a women’s health center providing abortion care, birth control and emotional and physical health care, I have been involved in the development of services to address sexual assault, domestic violence and necessary psychological services needed to support women steeped in toxic misogynistic culture.
As the U.S. continues on its regressive backsliding course of action, American women must stand stronger and united in confronting and opposing the attempts to negate progress that has taken place over the years. While the economic and gender gaps widen and American women’s healthstatus plummets to new lows, our work is cut out for us. We cannot let patriarchal systems of oppression continue to dominate the world. These systems must be confronted and dismantled to uplift the lives of all people to fulfill their life’s potential. Women’s rights are human rights. Women’s voices will not be silenced!
I have had the honor to submit a piece to the Shiloh Project this year regarding my work in reproductive justice and the conditions American women face daily to access their health care. I continue to follow and read other people’s work submitted to the Shiloh Project and feel so supported by seeing the work taking place around the world to confront the objectives we all seem to share regarding gender-based violence in our world. We all have our work cut out for us. I am truly honored to be a part of such a committed group of people working to address these inequities and injustices.
Carry it on!
