Y2K Preparedness - For Women only?

[Guest guest]

Women's Conference

Hare Krsna dasi

 

I thought this was an interesting article. Is this true of ISKCON

also? Is it mostly women who are gathering supplies to feed prasadam to

neighbors who may find themselve temporarily unable to purchase food

come January 1? Is is only women who are gathering buckets and sawdust

to use for toilets in case local sewage systems fail with new Y2K

software, as it did when 4 million gallons of raw sewage spilled into

the streets VAN NUYS, Calif., on June 16, 1999 --

http://www.channel2000.com/news/stories/news-990617-081237.html

 

I'll be interested to hear your comments.

 

Note: I'm sending a blind copy of this to varnasrama.development and

apocalypse.1999? so that they can read it too. But since they are

receiving a blind copy, they will not see comments from our private

conference. If you want to make public comments, you can log onto

either one of those (but don't include IWC).

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi

 

**********************************

 

Westergaard Year 2000:

 

Y2K Prep Should not be an Underground Activity

 

By Chuck Lanza

September 10, 1999

 

This week's column is for men only. Not that it can be read by men only,

but it is written for the benefit of men. Today's column evolved from

last week's, almost entirely from the following paragraph:

 

"When making life safety decisions, many people will easily be swayed

by friends and relatives" was again demonstrated in the response to

Hurricane Dennis. Several neighbors in coastal communities were taking

the same actions, some to stay and some to go, based on reinforcement

from the group. An interesting observation which is important to Y2K

preparedness is when the women in the family unit said, "we're leaving,"

they left. This observation is further developed in a soon to be

released survey, which states: "High Y2K Anxiety Types" which are

described as "those who are worried about all types of problems and a

lack of a good deal of confidence in those institutions being able to

fix them" are "more often women rather than men." It appears for a

successful preparedness campaign, our target audience should be women.

 

Within a few days of publishing the column my mailbox was full of

emails, mostly from women, expressing their opinions on why in emergency

situations, women are action oriented. In addition, a startling concern

was stated over and over, women in many cases are preparing for Y2K in

secret. Secrecy was undertaken essentially for two reasons: 1) they were

being told that Y2K was a hoax and they would look stupid or were being

duped; and 2) their husbands or significant others instructed them not

to spend any extra money or other resources on Y2K. It appears many

women have been forced to prepare for Y2K underground.

 

This week I had the opportunity to speak to Karen Anderson, who can be

described as a women's advocate on Y2K. Karen is the publisher of the

very popular Y2K newsletter on the Internet that goes a long way in

creating a non-threatening source of excellent Y2K information. Her

website is chock-full of valuable Y2K preparedness information including

her recently released book, "Y2K For Women: How to Protect Your Home and

Family in the Coming Crisis." As I said then and I repeat now, "Do not

be fooled by the name Y2KWomen; it is actually a resource for everyone

that has an additional emphasis for the special needs and concerns of

women."

 

Karen and I spoke earlier this year and I wrote about it in Y2KWomen: a

Web Site for All. We discussed the dynamics of preparing and how women,

for several reasons, are more apt to prepare for disasters then men:

some of the reasons are being protective of the family, the emotional

lift of being prepared, and for protecting of the home or "nesting." Men

on the other hand are sometimes more concerned about looking fearful,

spending money unnecessarily, and wasting time and effort on activities

that will not result in a tangible product. Granted we made some

overgeneralizations, but I think the gist of the discussion is clear,

men think differently then women. Why would men and women view Y2K

preparedness activities differently than weekend activities?

 

Out of our conversation came an agreement that men, not all of us of

course, would need a gentle reminder or, if you will, a call for

tolerance of their wife or girlfriend's preparedness activities. Now

men, don't go off the deep-end and think I've gone over to the other

camp, I haven't. But Y2K is a real threat, not just to the

infrastructure of the community, but to the family structure. Y2K

preparedness, in some families, has pitted husbands against wives; at

the same time we are asking the community to work together to prepare

and we need to reinforce the need for the family unit to prepare

together.

 

Men, we have all experienced difficulty sleeping when there is a heavy

burden on our minds; women are expressing to me the same discomfort with

Y2K. Sometimes they are uneasy expressing it to you as they are being

ridiculed and belittled. I'm asking for a little understanding of the

fears of others. Maybe we will all look back after the new millennium

and laugh, but today these fears are real. Let people prepare in earnest

and peace.

 

This is the first time I am closing with a request. If you are stifling

someone's preparedness activities, please rethink your position as a

little support could relieve a great deal of tension. Thank you.

 

This week I will be attending the second in a series of conferences

sponsored by Team Florida 2000, Governor Jeb Bush's Y2K council. At the

conference, the latest survey of Y2K related issues relating to the

State will be released. I have a draft copy of the survey and will be

presenting many of the insightful results in next week's column. If I

had not sworn on a stack of bibles not to use the survey in a column

until after its release, I would have been adding it here. The

information as I stated above is insightful and will go a long way in

assisting emergency managers and public officials in preparing

successful Y2K information programs. It is worth waiting for. Stay

tuned!

 

Browse Global-Local Y2K for previous editions of the column and read

about my Y2K preparedness video, Global Problems with Local Solutions on

my web site. A free preparedness brochure is available on the site.

 

http://www.wbn.com/y2ktimebomb/GL/CL/gl9936.htm

 

[if you go to this Website, you'll find the links for the other

Websites, including Karen Anderson's.]