Though today’s young adults seem to have a reputation for focusing on career success, or mindless consumerism and entertainment to the exclusion of social and political concerns, Milwaukee native Shira Roza embodies the opposite qualities.
Roza, now a Madison resident, spends nine or 10 hours each day throwing her considerable intelligence, empathy and passion into the grueling work of social justice through the political process.
At age 22, she is president of the Wisconsin National Organization for Women. But that’s just her volunteer work.
Her paid employment involves organizing the western half of the state for Fair Wisconsin, the statewide campaign to defeat the proposed constitutional ban on civil unions and marriage.
Roza graduated from Milwaukee Jewish Day School and Whitefish Bay High School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in July 2005, after spending her final summer term in Grenoble, France.
Following her return to Madison, Green Party Alderman Austin King, current president of the Madison Common Council, urged her to run for the presidency of Wisconsin NOW.
In a telephone interview with The Chronicle, King, who graduated from Nicolet two years earlier than Roza, said that the two became close friends while working on the Howard Dean presidential campaign.
King said that Wisconsin NOW suffered from a paucity of energy and leadership last year after several previous leaders moved out of state.
“I encouraged Shira to run for the presidency,” King said of Roza. “She’s so bright and so energetic and has a magnetic personality, which draws in volunteers and keeps them coming back.
“I wasn’t sure she would agree to run for the office, as it is a lot of hard work and not a lot of glory. But, I’m so grateful she did run,” King said.
Everyone is equal
When asked about the source of that energy and passion for social justice, Roza said, “Really, I just believe that everyone is equal and should have the same rights as everyone else…. I guess I’ve always felt that way.”
And the fight against the proposed constitutional ban on civil unions and marriage fits right into that concern. On the November 2006 ballot for voter approval, the ban strips away people’s rights, Roza said.
Fair Wisconsin was formed to combat the amendment, which states: “Only marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state.”
“One of the reasons I really wanted this job is that I would much rather work on an issue campaign than for a candidate. With a candidate, even if I agree with 85 percent of what that candidate says, there is still that 15 percent. But with this issue, I can fully get behind defeating it.”
For Roza, that means hard work, including travel for at least a third of her time. “It is very intense,” she said.
Her job is to set up local organizations, beginning with the larger population centers and expanding into smaller ones, in the western half of Wisconsin, she said.
She contacts people whom Fair Wisconsin has identified as opposed to the ban and, after setting up local organizations, she helps them work to get out the vote. That includes going door-to-door to talk with undecided voters.
With NOW, her work is of a different nature. With a four-person leadership team, all ranging in age from 22-26, the state advocacy organization is now working with State Representative Tamara Grigsby to pass a comprehensive sex education in public schools bill.
“One of our main priorities is to support passage of a proposed ordinance that would require paid sick leave for workers,” Roza said.
Her understanding and commitment to that issue reflects her values, King said. “When we worked together on the issue of paid sick leave for all workers, I saw Shira’s huge capacity for empathy.”
“We both grew up in middle class households where paid sick leave wasn’t really an issue, but she ‘got it’ really quickly. She’s not an armchair activist or a Monday morning quarterback,” King said.
She’s a rare person, King said. It is one thing to take a stand on an issue by writing a letter to an editor or going out and voting, “but leading a statewide advocacy organization is virtually unheard of,” he said.
After the vote on the marriage amendment in November, Roza would like to relocate to New York City, where she hopes to attend law school the following year. “I’m very interested in social justice and if I have a law degree I think I could be more effective,” she said.
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