Don’t Dismiss Women!
Clueless Men Best Avoid Mansplaining, Even Homelessness
The Illinois Times headline, How did these women get this way?, evoked my curiosity (as an author of multiple books on homelessness) about both this book, The Least Among Us, by James Traveler and what Len Naumovich, the reviewer. As an Illinois woman with a long history in advocacy and providing services for adults and children experiencing homelessness, familiar with Springfield homelessness, I came away with several thoughts.
Naumovich’s remarks underscore the challenge those of us in the advocacy world face:
sticking up for a much maligned population who seldom garner compassion, for whom the misconceptions about their circumstances ratchets up society’s dismissal, if not outright contempt, while grappling with scarce resources (to say the least). He, at least, didn’t express contempt.
I’ll offer a few areas that typically don’t get considered when trying to figure out the causes, systemically and personally, of homelessness. These are issues I’ve grappled with in my 35 years of working in this world of homelessness.
