Hypothetical question for gardeners

[TheRozzers]

If you donated towards a woman’s legal fees for a GC tribunal but the claimant accepted a confidential settlement from the defendant would you feel disappointed?

If the desired outcome of the case was not reached or only partially reached by the settlement would you feel aggrieved?

No, I wouldn’t feel aggrieved:

Is this actually a “hypothetical question” or are you thinking of something specific?

No. I give freely, knowing my fiver will be used at will by the recipient. If a settlement occurs, so be it.

Has something happened in RL along these lines?

I wouldn’t feel aggrieved either but I do wonder if the women fighting these cases with crowd funding money feel pressure to go ahead with a trial rather than settle.

Yes I know a woman in this situation. I reassured her that the donors will not be upset if she decides to settle then I realised I have no idea if this is true or not.

I get what you're saying.

Any money I donate to a ‘fighting fund’ I give with no strings attached.

If they settle, they’ve achieved a win as far as I’m concerned.

No disappointment. The strain of legal proceedings is all consuming and I can’t help thinking that some women don’t even begin to have their harms amended despite a positive ruling.

Absolutely not. All gardening is done, as PP said, with no strings attached. It’s theirs to do with as they wish. I’m a free willed, middle aged, GC woman with disposable income, and I’ll do whatever I bloody well like with it.

Isn't the usual solution that any excess money is redirected to other similar causes?

No. When I decide whether to donate I read the background to the case first and consider how I will feel if the woman settles. These women are the backbone of democracy and I trust them completely in their decision-making, which includes knowing whether to settle at some point or continue.

I wouldn’t feel aggrieved. I might feel some semblance of disappointment that the claimant hadn’t received public vindication so to speak, but I’d be pleased for them that they’d at least have been compensated in some way for what they went through.

I have the greatest sympathy for a woman forced into this situation with all its heavy stresses, losses and financial fears, not to mention the behind the sidelines abuse she will be receiving. I'd like to help her be able to afford what legal helps she needs and absolutely support her in taking the best decision for her as it emerges.

No. It's a way of showing support. Even if a case is settled out of court the organisation has been shown that they need to stop bullying those with gc views. To have got to that point the claimant has to have stood up in their organisation to express those views, received negative outcomes such as being called bigoted or pushed out of their jobs, to have decided to fight through the courts and made this public. Every one of those steps takes much more bravery than I possess. I'm so grateful to everyone who stands up for gc views and very happy to express that gratitude financially - it's the least I can do. Obviously there may be others who disagree but I'm pretty sure most of us appreciate the stress being in this situation causes. Good luck to your friend op.

Exactly this.

I would imagine the money in a fighting fund for legal fees was for legal fees, but that paying for legal fees was only a small part of the financial implications of being in that position - if she settled and spent the money on rent/food/wine/holidays then great.

This - a settlement is a win in my book, too. No individual woman should feel as though she has the weight of responsibility to fight on ‘on principle’ and on behalf of other women. She needs to centre her needs (which is what the movement is really about at its core). Each win, even via settlement, still helps the cause.

I have given. It's a gift with no expectations or strings attached. The process is often the punishment. If settling works best for them then that's fine with me.

When I pay into a legal crowdfunder it is to show support and also hopefully to allow the woman involved financial independence in the case i.e. I want someone to choose to settle or not based on what is right for them, not based on whether or not they can afford to continue.

My donations are always given as a sign of my gratitude to the woman standing up to fight. And to show her she isn't alone. No strings.

Thank you for the responses, it is what I thought women would say. These cases couldn’t happen without the generous donations from feminists . I love picturing a field full of fierce women with their spades

I often think of this passage from Rebecca West’s Black Lamb and Grey Falcon.

West is listening to her husband conducting an intense political argument with a Yugoslavian.

Just then my eye was caught by two large, loosely formed spheres in neutral colours, one blackish grey, the other brownish black. These were the behinds of two peasant women who were employed by the municipalities to weed the flower-beds at the corners of the square. They were being idiots, private persons in the same sense as the nurse in my London nursing-home, who was unable to imagine why the assassination of King Alexander should perturb anybody but his personal friends. They were paid to pull up weeds, and they wanted the money, so they continued to pull them up, even when the students raised a shout and brought some gendarmes down on them not fifteen yards away. As I looked at those devoted behinds, bobbing up and down over their exemplary task, and the smug face of the automatic rebel, I thanked God for the idiocy of women, which must in many parts of the world have been the sole defender of life against the lunacy of men.

I don’t blame anyone for settling. They’re fighting on the front line for all of us, under colossal stress. Big thanks to anyone who dares. Even a settlement is a small victory.

I hope that, if all their costs are covered, they donate the remainder to a similar crowdfunder.

If the person you're supporting got what they consider an acceptable outcome then that's fine.
It's not like you can put money towards it and then complain if the outcome isn't exactly how you wanted it to be?
The whole thing could've been dismissed and the money lost. So at least something positive came out of it.
I guess I'd want to know out of curiosity the details but if I'm not legally entitled to that info then too bad.

My answer is no. I am not disappointed. Every case fought potentially helps knock a stone out of the wall as far as I am concerned. 😉