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Women's Voices. Women Vote.
Unmarried Americans are the fastest-growing large demographic in the country and a majority of Americans will live with an unmarried head of household.
But despite their numbers, unmarried Americans are under-represented in national elections and their voices are not being heard in our democracy.
Women's Voices. Women Vote was created to activate unmarried Americans in their government and in our democracy.
Blog Posts from Women's Voices. Women Vote.
Thank you!
Thank you to everyone who joined us at the 2012 State Summit this week -- we hope you found the panels helpful. We look forward to an exciting 2012 and welcome any suggestions you might have to make the next State Summit even better!
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New Research on Female Political Candidates
Our friends at the The Barbara Lee Family Foundation have just published new research showing gains for women candidates in campaigns for executive office and pinpoints key areas for women to master. The research shows that in 2010:
• Women candidates ran on a more level playing field;
• Voters prioritized more gender-neutral traits than in past years;
• Women candidates showed some distinct advantages over men;
• Younger women are no longer a reliable voting bloc.
Turning Point: The Changing Landscape for Women Candidates is the latest addition to their landmark Governors Guidebook Series, Turning Point is designed to be accessible and relevant to citizens, students, campaign consultants, and candidates at all levels and across parties.
Ohio passes more anti-choice bills
On Tuesday this week, the Ohio House of Representatives passed a package of anti-choice bills that, if passed through the Senate, will further infringe on women's rights in Ohio. The most controversial of the three bills is the one referred to as the "Heartbeat Bill," which would make it illegal to have an abortion after there is a detectable heartbeat from the fetus, which can be found as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
One of the other bills instead draws the line for abortions at around 20 weeks or when the fetus is deemed viable outside of the womb. The last bill "excludes abortion coverage from the state insurance exchange created by the federal health care law."
All three of these bills will encroach upon women's rights, but pro-life organizations saw them as a huge victory. However, the "Heartbeat bill" may be considered unconstitutional if enacted and will most likely be taken to court since it likely violates the previous decision of Roe vs. Wade.
Women fighting Wal-Mart shut down by Supreme Court
Yesterday the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco dismissing a case of sex-discrimination against women workers at Wal-Mart. The case Wal-Mart vs. Dukes was a class action suit seeking to battle discriminatory pay and a flawed promotion policy that promoted men before women despite performance evaluations.
The Supreme Court decision on this case was a huge victory for big businesses like Wal-Mart but it was also a "devastating defeat" for people fighting for equality in the workplace. Justice Antonin Scalia, leading the majority opinion in a 5-4 vote, said that there was not enough convincing proof of "companywide discriminatory pay and promotion policy" and that there were just too many women holding jobs at Wal-Mart to wrap it all into one lawsuit. The examples of segregating departments, for instance, with women working in the baby departments and men working with the electronics and pay disparity between those departments and low management promotion rates among women in spite of performance was apparently not enough support for the case against Wal-Mart.
Further analysis of the majority opinion leads to the precedent being set that discrimination will only be prosecuted if it appears in tangible policy or bylaws. Large companies will no longer have to worry about being held accountable for discrimination in the workplace, as this decision is "stripping away important legal protections, the Supreme Court has sent a loud-and-clear message to the American people: you're out of luck and on your own," according to American Association for Justice President Gibson Vance.
Abortion Legislation and Lawmaker's Commentary
When Kansas state Representative Pete DeGraaf made comments about his recently-passed law requiring women to hold a separate insurance policy for abortions in case they ever are raped as appropriate measures to "plan ahead," women were not as angered as CNN Opinion writer LZ Granderson felt they should be. The fact is that there have been other similar comments made by lawmakers trivializing rape and the effects it can have on women and there has not been enough pushback against these comments.
Not only is Representative DeGraaf comparing his new policy toward abortion to holding life insurance or carrying a spare tire, but Idaho State Representative Brent Crane went as far as to say that rape, "is the hand of the Almighty at work." Furthermore, Tea Party member Sharron Angle of Nevada said that women who become pregnant through rape or incest and don't have an abortion are taking a "lemon situation and making lemonade."
People with these views are shaping policy regarding everyday women's rights and only those women can make the moves toward preventing these policies by not voting for candidates who play down issues such as rape. It is all a matter of increased awareness and participation so we don't have to hear any more silly clichés or metaphors made about serious issues that women, no matter what their political affiliation, should care about.
Women in Politics
Did you know that women hold less than 20% of House and Senate seats and less than 25% of seats in state legislatures? In a recent blog on the Huffington Post's website, Yashar Ali discusses the lack of women in public office and political campaign work, which he blames on the men running the campaigns.
Ali notes that it is hard for women to be motivated to run for office when it is always men running the campaigns. The downward trend of women's involvement needs to be fixed, as America is ranked 92nd in women's parliamentary involvement out of 181 countries for which data was provided.
The issue of women in positions of power was addressed this morning further on Morning Joe on MSNBC. Host Mika Brzezinski has recently published a book entitled "Knowing Your Value," and discussed the differences between women and men in the workplace that may lead to the issues Ali talked about in his blog. Brzezinski and her Morning Joe counterparts brought up some points that women often wait to be noticed while men more typically assume they have the right to lead. Watch more of the discussion.