Our Survival Depends Upon Women's Votes
Posted by Sharon Grosfeld on October 26, 2007 at 12:24 PM
On October 18th and 19th, the Women's Leadership Forum held its 14th Annual Issues Conference in Washington D.C., and it was a huge success. Over 300 participants attended the conference and were energized by the speakers throughout the two day event.
The nation's first female Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, was the honored guest and luncheon speaker. Unfortunately, due to the president's unfathomable veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program(SCHIP)legislation, our steadfast leader of the House was critically needed for the vote taking place on the 18th to override the president's veto and thus she was understandably unable to join us.
Sadly, the two-thirds vote necessary to override the veto came up short due to the Republicans in Congress, and the SCHIP bill went down by a vote of 273 to 156 (290 votes were needed), in spite of the fact that originally the bill had a fair degree of bipartisan support, at least until the president began his campaign of misinformation and Republican arm twisting. The legislation would have extended health insurance coverage to four million children whose families cannot afford to buy it themselves. Once again the "family values" practiced by the Bush Administration and Republicans in Congress are only relevant when they are intended to control the lives of women rather than foster healthy families.
But the Democrats are valiantly trying again, working to bring health insurance to those four million children who should have received it on the first go-around. The Democrats are also working on other important legislation to correct the harm caused by President Bush and his Republican followers.
Recently, the House of Representatives passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, (H.R.2831) which addresses the mistaken decision by the Supreme Court that denied Lilly Ledbetter the equal pay she deserved, and now the U.S. Senate will consider its own version called the Fair Pay Restoration Act (S.1843). These bills are vitally important in the effort to end the wage discrimination based upon sex and race still occurring and close the large gap between men and women's earnings. In 2005, median annual earnings for caucasian women were seventy-seven cents for every dollar men earned. For African American women the difference is seventy-one cents to every dollar and for Latinas it is fifty-eight cents to the dollar. Eliminating this gap in wages would cut the poverty rate in half! It is time for change.
The Global Democracy Promotion Act (H.R. 619 and S.1744) repeals the Global Gag Rule enacted by President Bush, that disallows U.S. funding to family planning clinics outside the U.S. if those clinics provided abortion services, including merely giving out information about abortion. As a result of this Act, family planning organizations have been severely limited in the important work they perform overseas. Restoring essential funds to international family planning programs that provide comprehensive reproductive services is vital to the health and well-being of women and girls all over the world.
Until we have a Democrat in the White House and more Democrats in Congress, these battles over simple basic human rights will be relentless. At the WLF Conference, we heard from experts about what it will take to achieve those Democratic victories. The answer was women.
Women's votes put Democrats back in control of Congress in 2006 and they can do the same for the presidency in 2008. We must all work to get women registered and out to vote, and we can do this by connecting with and engaging women in discussions about the issues that directly affect their personal lives. In addition to the issues previously mentioned, women have very serious concerns about national security, the environment, equal education, and other social, economic, political and international issues. Let us never forget that women hold up more than half of the world and we neither like nor appreciate the erosion of our rights by the Republicans and the Bush Administration.
From the beauty parlor to the Board Room, we must reach out to women wherever we find them. We must be courageous and fearless. Our survival depends upon it.
(Sharon Grosfeld is the Executive Director of the Women's Leadership Forum)
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