#5SmartReads - October 17, 2022

Hitha on the women of Iran, what's fueling anti-Semitism, and inflation-proof negotiating advice

October 17, 2022

“Women have been on the frontlines of protests in Iran before,” says Aarabi. “But this isn’t about reform, it’s about outright regime change. Because the compulsory hijab, in the Islamic republic, is not just a piece of cloth. It’s one of the key pillars of the ideology of this regime.”

There’s so much of my daily life that I take for granted - wearing what I want to wear, reading what I want to read, going about and doing the things I want to do. These choices are made instinctively and on how I’m feeling - not what is in line with extremist laws or not.

The women of Iran, since the rise of the Ayatollah-led regime, have never had these freedoms. But they have consistently been on the frontlines to fight for freedom.

I can’t help but think “what if?” on the major moments of history. What if the US and UK governments never interfered with Iran in the 70s, which led to the fall of the Shah and the rise of the regime? What happened if the US had been more forceful in supporting the freedom-seeking protestors in 2009?

It does us no good to think about what could have been - but we do need to consider what we can do now to support those seeking freedom. I highly recommend following Nazanin Boniadi on Instagram, talking about what’s happening in Iran with your friends and family and sharing about it on social media, and taking one of the actions Nazanin shared in this post:

There will never be a good time to ask for a raise or go for a promotion. So take Meggy Palmer’s advice and ask for a raise.

Meggy outlines a four step approach to asking for a raise in this piece - it’s advice you’ve largely heard before, but Meggy’s specific tactics on how to actually enact this advice in this article - and the advice and the tactics are timeless and relevant in any economic climate.

Meggy’s business PepTalkHer is launching their free Know Your Worth challenge today - it’s a 5-day course that offers toolkits and live coaching to help you approach your next performance review and raise request with confidence and data. PepTalkHer’s Pay Me More free cheat sheet is a great resource if you’d like to see what they offer, and their Salary SOS roadmap is a standalone product you can do at your own leisure (or urgency!) when preparing to ask for a raise.

“When people think about anti-Semitism, they often think about it through the prism of other prejudices they encounter, which typically take the form of people saying, “I don’t like people like that.” “Like that” could be Jewish, Black, Muslim. And that is certainly a component of anti-Semitism, but it's not the only component. Anti-Semitism shares things with other prejudices, but it also has things that distinguish it from other prejudices. One of these distinctions is that anti-Semitism can take the form of a conspiracy theory about how the world works. It blames society’s problems on some sinister, string-pulling Jewish cabal behind the scenes.”

The rise of anti-Semitism is never ending and frankly terrifying, and this piece is a really thoughtful examination on how conspiracy theories (which feel like they’re at an all-time high right now) fuels it.

This is not an easy read, but it’s a critically important one. Please take the time to read it.

Jasmine Guillory is the reason I’ve become an unabashed romance fan.

The NetGalley lords granted me an ARC of The Wedding Date, and Alexa and Drew’s story had me stalking the Internet for similar books featuring ambitious, complex women who are loved for all their multitudes, not in spite of them, and wraps with a happily ever after.

As she was my gateway author in the genre, I eagerly wait for every new book Jasmine announces (Drunk In Love is her latest and just wonderful - highly recommend). I absolutely loved getting to know Jasmine better in this interview, and I’ll leave you with what the incomparable Roxane Gay has to say about Jasmine’s books:

“Roxane Gay, the author of “Bad Feminist” and a frequent contributor to The New York Times, said she appreciated how Ms. Guillory “makes Black women desirable and also shows the diversity of Black women, with different careers and different lifestyles and different family origin stories.” In her books, she presents “an idealized version of the world that doesn’t ignore real issues,” Ms. Gay said.”

1/7 hospital beds are controlled by a Catholic healthcare system. 4/10 of the country’s largest health systems are Catholic. And here is the list of care that these hospitals prohibit or limit:

  • sterilization procedures, including vasectomies

  • postpartum tubal ligations and contraception

  • abortion - even if it’s necessary to save the life of the mother/in the cases of rape or incest/fetal abnormalities that will likely result in the baby’s death on delivery

  • extreme restrictions on treatment of miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies

Here’s the terrifying part - more and more hospitals and acute healthcare centers are being absorbed by Catholic organizations, making this the standard-of-care even though it goes against the majority of Americans’ wishes.

I fully respect any person’s right to observe whatever faith they wish. What I don’t respect is a certain religion’s doctrine - especially one that denies essential reproductive healthcare - controlling more and more of the healthcare centers and denying someone the care they seek because of the organization’s religious affiliation.

The article is even more infuriating than my brief summary. Take the time to read it, and to search the hospitals in your own area that your physicians have privileges at to see if you can get the care you’ll need if you need to go to the hospital.

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