Historic Recommendations on Women's Preventive Health Become Law

Amidst all of the terrifically depressing drivel around the debt ceiling, a ray of sunshine has broken through. Today, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, accepted the Institute of Medicine recommendations that key preventive health services for women, including contraception, be covered by insurance without co-pays or deductibles. As we wrote last week, this is a truly historic moment. Most notably, millions of women will now have greater access to the full range of FDA-approved birth control options. The new provisions could also be especially helpful in reducing health disparities across race and class, and very importantly, health care reform will now include a comprehensive, evidence-based framework for women's preventive health, and reflect the fundamental concept that women's health care is basic health care, and should not be subject to extra costs.

Once again, congratulations to our grantees, including Raising Women's Voices, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, the National Women's Law Center, Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice and West Virginia Free, who informed the Institute of Medicine's recommendations, advocated for Secretary Sebelius to accept them as law, and before and since the passage of health care reform, have worked tirelessly to bring health and justice to women, families and communities nationwide.

Health Care Reform Turns One!

Last month, in the wake of Congressional attempts to repeal health care reform, and just shy of the law's first anniversary this week, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a poll that produced startling results: in total, nearly half the country believed that the Affordable Care Act had either been repealed (22 percent) or didn't know enough to say whether it was still law (26 percent).

Wow. This means that not only is there still great confusion over the content of health care reform -- but that the far-right media machine touted the word "repeal" so much that a huge swath of the country began to think its demise was fait accompli. Which is far from the truth, of course: House Republicans knew their vote was a media stunt from the beginning, as repeal was unlikely to pass in the Senate and President Obama's veto was guaranteed.

To be fair, the Affordable Care Act is a mammoth piece of legislation, and with some of the provisions in effect, but many on hold until 2014, it is difficult for nearly anyone to discern how the law could -- or already does -- benefit them, their neighbors, or the country.

That's why this Wednesday, March 23, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, we must do two things: reeducate ourselves about its benefits, and recommit to doing our own PR for the law.

Our grantees -- national and community-based organizations advocating for women's reproductive rights, health and justice -- will help us teach ourselves and others. On March 23, and into next week, several of them will host webinars and events across the US, share fact sheets [pdf] and other useful materials, and provide a platform for women to tell their stories about how health care reform is already producing meaningful results in their lives.

A year into this historic vote -- thanks to groups like the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, National Women's Law Center, and Raising Women's Voices, a coalition of which many of our grantees are core members -- we have even more information to make our case: Instead of simply discussing what the legislation could do, as we did before it became law, we can now discuss what it is doing -- the tangible difference it has made for women, families and communities to date.

And the stakes couldn't be higher. Amidst the haze of confusion produced by the Right's "job-killing" or deficit-swelling claims, conservative legislators continue to try to chip away at health care reform -- their most recent effort an attempt to deny federal funding for core components of the law. So while many apparently think "repeal" is a done deal, neither should we accept that "reform" is in the bag. Yes, the law is on the books. That is a tremendous victory. But as we celebrate on Wednesday, let's also work to be sure we'll be celebrating for years to come.

"The Daily Show" Gets It Right: There's No Such Thing as "Rape-ish"

Looking for a brilliant breakdown of what H.R. 3 and the Right's attempts to redefine rape could mean for the the future of reproductive rights? Then check out the clip posted below, from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Together with Stewart, "Women's Issues" correspondent Kristen Schaal offers a pitch-perfect send-up of how the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" would limit access to abortions by insisting on new, Machiavellian definitions of rape -- and move us ever closer to a time where abortions would once again be outlawed even to save a woman's life. 

Have a good laugh (it's a truly funny bit)-- and then remember that this is no joke. Join Ms. Foundation grantees National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and the National Women's Law Center in their campaigns to make sure that H.R. 3 never passes the House.

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Vote to Repeal Health Care Law Still Looms

Had not the horrors in Arizona taken place this past weekend, today, the US House of Representatives would have staged a largely ceremonial but still dangerous vote on the repeal of health care reform. Ceremonial because even if the vote had passed the House, it wouldn't have passed the Senate (where Democrats still hold a slim majority); dangerous, because it continues to lay the foundation for a repeal of these laws at the state level and "dismantling the law piece by piece."

That would spell real trouble for millions of low- and middle-income people -- many of them women, children and people of color -- who would once again find themselves shut out of the health care system if the repeal takes place.

For women, the stakes in this debate are incredibly high. As our friends over at Womenstake, the National Women's Law Center blog, noted:

Repealing the law will return us to the days when women were treated like a pre-existing condition. Insurance companies will be allowed to drop coverage when an enrollee gets sick and deny women coverage if they’ve had a C-section, breast or cervical cancer, or received medical treatment for domestic or sexual violence. Repeal will keep 11 million women from receiving subsidies to help them buy affordable health insurance and prevent 4.5 million low-income women from becoming eligible for coverage through Medicaid.

Consider that just the tip of the iceberg. Our recent grantee Raising Women's Voices -- a leading voice on the importance of health care reform to women -- published a useful fact sheet on the benefits women gained from health care reform in 2010, and just highlighted a few more women friendly policies that will go into effect in 2011, if nothing changes. These include:

• Lowering prescription costs for seniors (many of them women);
• Providing free preventive services, such as vaccinations and cancer screenings, for seniors on Medicare; and
• Requiring insurers to give us rebates if they don't spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on medical care.

But if repeal efforts gain any foothold, these benefits -- along with others like the requirement that new insurance plans provide preventive health care and screenings (such as pap smears and mammograms) for free -- would be gone with the wind.

Read more »

Upcoming Event: Early Childhood in the 112th Congress

Remember how back in December, Congress failed to act on the funding bill that would have spared hundred of thousands of children the tragedy of being cut off from Head Start and other early childcare initiatives for low-income families? Well, if you're interested in learning more about how that happened, and what lies ahead for early child care and education funding in the next legislative session, Ms. Foundation grantee the National Women's Law Center has an opportunity you may want to take advantage of.

Their upcoming conference call, "What's Next for Early Childhood in the 112th Congress," will take place on Thursday, January 13th at 3:00 pm, and will feature commentary on the topic from Helen Blank, Director of Leadership and Public Policy at National Women's Law Center; Danielle Ewen of CLASP; Adele Robinson of the National Association for the Education of Young Children; and Harriet Dichter of the First Five Years Fund.

Register today to participate in what's sure to be an important conversation about the future of early child care and education in America.

The Time for CEDAW is Now

For more than three decades, the failure of the United States to ratify the preeminent international women's human rights treaty has thwarted progress towards equity and justice in the US and around the world.

In 1979, the General Assembly of the UN formally adopted CEDAW -- the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women -- a set of equal justice standards that serve as an international bill of rights for the protection of women. Countries that sign on to the Convention are bound to "undertake a series of measures to end discrimination against women in all forms," including:

• Incorporating the principle of equality of men and women in their legal system, abolishing all discriminatory laws and adopting appropriate ones prohibiting discrimination against women 
• Establishing tribunals and other public institutions to ensure the effective protection of women against discrimination 
• Ensuring elimination of all acts of discrimination against women by persons, organizations or enterprises

Read more »

Act Now: Call on Congress to Preserve Child Care for Hundreds of Thousands

Back to work after Thanksgiving, Congress is about to make a number of crucial votes that will affect the economic security and well-being of women and families: chief among them the renewal of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and Head Start. CCDBG provides federal funding for state-administered child care subsidies and initiatives that improve the quality and accessibility of child care for low-income families, while Head Start provides early education opportunities to pre-schoolers.

Congress has until Friday, December 3 to re-approve these programs. But renewing at current funding levels is simply not enough. Economic stimulus funds that bolstered support for child care and Head Start are about to run out. If Congress doesn’t carry over this additional funding, over 300,000 children would be affected, dealing a devastating blow to families already struggling to survive the ongoing economic crisis.

Read more »

TANF Extended -- Minus Crucial Emergency Funding

Time to share a little "good news/bad news" on the TANF front.

For the good: Just before departing for Thanksgiving recess, the Senate voted to extend TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) funding through September 30, 2011, circumventing what would have been certain disaster for our nation's neediest if the program had been allowed to expire in December, as the bill originally stipulated. According to Ms Foundation grantee the National Women's Law Center, the House will now take up -- and likely pass -- the full bill at some point in the coming days, marking a major win for families in need nationwide.

But there's significant bad news to report as well...

Read more »

Univ of Cincinnati Launches Groundbreaking Law Center for Race, Gender and Social Justice

The University of Cincinnati Law Center is breaking new and proudly feminist ground in the teaching and practice of law: This fall, the University launched its new Center for Race, Gender and Social Justice, providing a formal home for the multi-pronged intersectional work that has been taking place at the law school since the mid-1990s.

This newly formed Center aims to prepare law students in an unprecedented way to "take the lead in advancing justice." Students are provided opportunities for experiential learning and research in connection with organizations working at the intersection of gender, race and class, whose constituencies and leaders are most impacted by multiple forms of injustice: low-income women, women of color, immigrant women, youth and LGBTQ people.

Co-directed by Ms. Foundation for Women board member, Verna Williams, the Center offers students a unique joint J.D./M.A. program in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies -- a program that was the first of its kind offered in the nation when it was established in 1995. This four-year offering engages participants in a "rigorous, interdisciplinary and feminist study of law and social justice," and culminates with a semester-long externship at one of a number of national public interest non-profits (including Ms. Foundation grantee, the National Women's Law Center).

"Social justice feminism is our guiding principle," says Ms. Williams of the Center's approach to teaching law. "That means we have to focus on the multiple forms oppression can take and utilize multiple tools and disciplines to tackle them. At its core, the Center is about making change in society. Our mission is to to cultivate scholars, leaders, and activists committed to social change."

In addition to running its joint degree program, the Center also publishes the Freedom Center Journal (a joint, scholarly publication of the University of Cincinnati College of Law and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center) and oversees the Domestic Violence and Civil Protection Order Clinic. Through the latter program, students represent victims of domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault and human trafficking, gaining hands-on experience in the practice of this sector of the law. The hope is that students will also eventually apply their practical knowledge to advance policy on behalf of battered women and their families nationwide.

The Center held its formal launch event on October 22nd, with a luncheon featuring Tina Tchen, executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls and director of the White House office of Public Engagement. Congratulations to Verna and the University of Cincinnati for undertaking such an important endeavor!

Upcoming Event: Mothers Behind Bars

On Monday, November 8th, join two Ms. Foundation grantees for an important online conversation about how federal and state correctional laws can better meet the needs of pregnant and parenting women behind bars.

The Rebecca Project for Human Rights and the National Women's Law Center have joined forces to produce an original report called Mothers Behind Bars, which explores the dangerous practice of shackling women during childbirth and other important issues affecting pregnant and parenting women behind bars — the vast majority of whom, the report points out, are non-violent, first-time offenders. The report's authors, Jill Morrison of NWLC and Malika Saada Saar, Executive Director of the Rebecca Project, conducted state-by-state analysis of policies impacting incarcerated women, including prenatal care and family-based drug treatment as an alternative to incarceration; they will discuss their findings and highlight a few much needed solutions during this important online event.

With more women behind bars today than at any other time in our nation's history, and with more than two-thirds of them identifying as mothers, this is a conversation whose time has come. Don't miss it.

WHAT: Mothers Behind Bars webinar
WHEN: Monday, November 8, 2010 at 1:00 pm Easter
HOW: For more information and to RSVP, please visit the event's registration page.

Grantee Shows Census Data Paints Dire Picture for Women and Families

We frequently comment on the devastating impact of the economic crisis on women, particularly low income women, women of color and single heads of households. Our grantee partners are advocating tirelessly for inclusive and just economic policies that support women, families and their communities.

Now, our grantee, the National Women's Law Center, has analyzed the newly released 2009 Census data. The numbers paint a dire picture.

Read more »

NWLC Urges Congress to Act on Behalf of Pregnant and Parenting Teens

Ms. Foundation grantee the National Women's Law Center is pushing Congress to improve the lives of America's youth by passing the Pregnant and Parenting Students Access to Education Act [pdf].

According to NWLC, the legislation aims to "[improve] high school graduation rates and access to post-secondary educational and career opportunities for pregnant and parenting students." In a letter to like-minded organizations, NWLC wrote,

The legislation will set up a grant program to provide needed funds to states and local school districts. Among other things, grantees will be expected to offer academic support and related services to pregnant and parenting students, to designate a coordinator to oversee the education of pregnant and parenting students, and to revise school policies to remove barriers, some of which discriminate based on pregnancy in violation of Title IX. The bill aims to change the culture at schools, so that these students are no longer stigmatized and instead are encouraged to reach their educational goals. It also will help parenting students secure affordable child care and transportation services, and will invest resources in outreach to increase the enrollment and retention of pregnant and parenting students in school.

For more information about this critical piece of legislation, read NWLC's press release on the topic.

Envisioning Equality: Celebrating the 90th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage

Ninety years ago today, American society experienced a long overdue shift in the status quo. On August 26, 1920, after decades of struggle, the United States finally afforded women the right to vote.

The women responsible for this triumph walked no easy road to victory. Jane Addams, Abigail Adams, Lucy Burns and Alice Paul. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Ida B. Wells. Frances E.W. Harper, Sojourner Truth and Margaret Fuller. Lucy Stone. Lucretia Mott. Susan B. Anthony. Their names may be more or less familiar, but we too often forget how much these women sacrificed, over more than a century, to make possible every advantage today's women now enjoy.

Personal losses were common: some of these women alienated spouses, friends and loved ones as a result of their commitment to seeing women treated as full citizens. Others were shot at. Attacked by mobs. Locked in jail and threatened with death. There was no shortage of creativity when it came to devising ways to try to scare these women out of the streets and back into the kitchen.

And yet, despite all this, they pressed on. They rallied at Seneca Falls in 1848, and hosted a National Women's Rights Convention in 1850. They built formal organizations and associations to further the cause. They advocated in the streets, and organized in the statehouses until one hot day in August 1920, their movement had gained so much steam that 36 states ratified an amendment giving women the right to vote, ensuring that suffrage would be the right of every American woman.

It was a remarkable thing these women did, over so much time, and with so much opposition. They literally changed the world for those of us who live in it now. On this day, the 90th anniversary of their triumph, we pause to honor all they did, and all they gave, on our behalf.

Bringing true honor to these extraordinary women requires us to do more than just nod our heads in remembrance of the good fight they fought. It requires a commitment from those of us who treasure a democracy of full equity and inclusion to continue their work of ensuring that all Americans have equal access to the freedoms and opportunities our Constitution promises.

The grantees of the Ms. Foundation are the embodiment of that fighting spirit. From the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, to the Louisiana Bucket Brigade and the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative; from National Advocates for Pregnant Women to Green for All to the National Women's Law Center -- every one of our grantees works each day to build a more just democracy and help make equality, finally, the law of the land.

Their work is, in so many ways, a direct extension of the groundbreaking work the suffragists did to begin to level the proverbial playing field, and we applaud them for their courage and determination in the face of so the many challenges that continue to block the path to full equality.

Happily, our grantees are not alone in their efforts. The movement to build women's collective power runs broad and deep, and is made up of thousands of social justice organizations driving change.

Among them is a group called Vision 2020, which has launched a decade-long national project dedicated to pick up where the suffragists left off. Their goal is to see gender equality achieved no later August 26, 2020 -- the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment. The group's first public event takes place on October 21-22, 2010, when a congress of national delegates, representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia, will meet at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia to launch an action agenda to move America toward equality by this important date.

It's hard to imagine that the suffragists wouldn't be exceedingly proud. On this important day in women's history, be sure to make your own commitment to honoring their legacy: pledge to support a new generation of women's leadership working to ensure equality for all.

Image: Postcard, c 1913, Library of Congress.

Access Denied: Women in Blue States Struggle to Obtain Abortion Services

Think that just because you live in a state that puts progressives in office you've got relatively unfettered access to abortion and other reproductive health services? Time to think again.

To prove just how restrictive some so-called "Blue states" continue to be when it comes to our reproductive rights, RH Reality Check and the ACLU have teamed up for a "Reproductive Justice Roadtrip" across the state of Illinois, documenting the barriers and challenges women face when trying to access reproductive health services in the Prairie State.

Today's first-person entry into this debate comes from Amy S., a resident of the Chicago suburbs who learned at 25 weeks gestation that her fetus had a "catastrophic brain malformation" -- one that would result, if the fetus was carried to term, in a short life filled with excruciating pain. Amy chose to end her pregnancy, but finding a facility that would comply with her wishes within the state of Illinois turned out to be impossible:

What I had to do [to terminate this pregnancy] shocked and astounded me. In a "blue" state, I never imagined that I would be told my OBs could not induce labor at my local hospital... UIC, Rush, U of C, Evanston, Northwestern, Lutheran General, and my local hospital, Delnor, all said no. I was too far along at 25 weeks. At least at Lutheran General, it got before the ethics committee, but they said no because I was not "their" patient. Where did that leave me? Dr. Tiller's clinic in Wichita, Kansas. Dr. Tiller who was killed last year.
The fee had to be paid in cash, up front. All told, including travel, it cost us $6000. Blue Cross denied my claim as out of network. I appealed and they denied it again.

Amy and her family had the means to ensure that she could indeed end her pregnancy as she wished. Many, if not most, women would have been denied that opportunity because they simply couldn't have afforded it. The notion that any woman should have to go to such extreme means -- financial, logistical and emotional -- to defend her own right to choose strikes us as simply unacceptable, and offensive, so many years after Roe vs. Wade became the law of the land.

We applaud RH Reality Check and the ACLU for shining a light on the many, complex ways the fight for reproductive justice impacts women's lives -- and we urge you to learn more about the laws in your own state and how the debate is unfurling at the federal level. As we speak, there is legislation winding its way through Congress that would seek to make permanent the provisions of the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding of abortion services (currently the amendment has to be reaffirmed by a congressional vote every year; this new bill would set the law in stone). Measures like these make accessing reproductive health services more difficult for all women, but they have an undue and disproportionate impact on low-income women and women of color -- who are literally trapped by the economic barriers that stand between them and their right to decide the fate of their own bodies.

We're so glad Amy was able to make the decision that was right for her. Here's to the day when every woman in America has access to the same set of choices.

The Ms. Foundation for Women has been working to support reproductive rights, health, and justice since our inception -- and together with our grantee partners, we are dedicated to ensuring that stories like Amy's are increasingly rare. To see some of our grantees' work in action, check out Family Planning Advocates' website, or visit the National Women's Law Center's "Reproductive Choices" page.

Help support these organizations and programs today! Donate now and a special matching grant will double your support -- dollar-for-dollar -- for reproductive justice organizations led by women of color.

Urge Congress to Pass the Child First Act!

Ms. Foundation grantee The National Women's Law Center wants you to ask your member of Congress to support the Child First Act of 2010 -- and so do we!

What is the Child First Act? According to NWLC's Womenstake blog, it's a crucial piece of legislation that would,

...increase child care funding through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF) by $800 million a year over five years, with an adjustment for inflation. The increased funding would allow approximately 117,500 more children to have access to safe and affordable child care.

In addition, the Act would ensure that the minimum child care health and safety standards required for providers receiving Child Care and Development Block Grant funding also apply to providers receiving funding through TANF.

Finally, the Act would ensure that states could not withhold or reduce cash assistance to a single parent with children under age 13 who does not meet TANF work requirements because of the unavailability of appropriate, affordable child care arrangements. Currently, this provision only applies to parents with children under six, despite the importance of safe care for school-age children.

The act was introduced by Senators John Kerry and Blanche Lincoln and Congressman Joseph Crowley on Wednesday -- but if it's going to pass, it needs the support of many more members of Congress. Reach out to your representatives and senators today and urge them to support this important piece of legislation for America's children!

Check out how another Ms. Foundation grantee, The Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative, is working to provide quality childcare for children across the state of Mississippi.

President Urges Senate to Support Paycheck Fairness Act

On Tuesday July 20, 2010, President Barack Obama expressed his support for the Paycheck Fairness Act and urged the US Senate to pass the bill, which the House has already approved. In his written statement, the President noted:

In America today, women make up half of the workforce, and two-thirds of American families with children rely on a woman's wages as a significant portion of their families' income.

Yet, even in 2010, women make only 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. The gap is even more significant for working women of color, and it affects women across all education levels.... Paycheck discrimination hurts families who lose out on badly needed income. And with so many families depending on women's wages, it hurts the American economy as a whole. In difficult economic times like these, we simply cannot afford this discriminatory burden.

[snip]

We cannot do this work alone. So today, I thank the House for its work on this issue and encourage the Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, a common-sense bill that will help ensure that men and women who do equal work receive the equal pay that they and their families deserve. Passing this bill is one of the Task Force's key recommendations, and I hope Congress will act swiftly so that I can sign it into law.

Let's hope the President is successful in encouraging the passage of legislation that helps bring pay equality to all. It has been a long fight for this bill. We reported on its House sponsor Representative Rosa DeLauro [D-CT] (August 2008), and (June 2010), and on Ms. Foundation grantee the National Women's Law Center's fight for it in May 2010. For more on the NWLC's advocacy on fair pay, see its Womenstake.org blog.

No-Cost Contraceptives a Possibility Under New Health Insurance Rules

Each year, 3 million unplanned pregnancies occur in the United States. Though there are any number of complicated reasons why women find themselves facing parenthood unexpectedly, one of them is quite simple: the cost of contraception.

With the roll out of new health-care mandates in the fall, however, an opportunity may arise to finally take the cost burden out of the picture for many women. The overhaul will force new insurers to provide a number of preventive care services to women at no cost -- and according to a recent Washington Post article, activists for reproductive justice are working to ensure that contraception becomes one of the no-cost services every insured woman qualifies for.

The article, which quotes spokespeople from the National Partnership for Women and Families and the National Women's Law Center -- both Ms. Foundation grantees -- notes that even the $20 -$50 co-payments currently required by many health plans that do cover contraception can often prove too much for young and low-income women. The goal, then, would be to remove cost barriers from access to birth control on the consumer side (as is done with "well-baby" visits for infants and young children, for example), which also protects the bottom lines of insurers and employers -- by helping prevent pregnancies that cost thousands of dollars to cover, versus the relative pennies contraceptives cost.

Predictably, religious and other conservative groups are opposing the measure, some on the basis that, "Fertility is not a disease to be cured." The final decision about whether contraception will make the grade as a covered service will be based on the recommendations of the Health Resources and Services Administration, which may take up to a year to come to a decision -- but from where we stand it's a no brainer: no woman should find herself facing an unwanted pregnancy because she can't afford birth control. The government has it within its power to make sure this is never the case; asking insurers to provide full coverage for contraception strikes us, quite simply, as the right -- and rational -- thing to do.

Oklahoma Bars Health Insurance Discrimination for Domestic Violence Survivors

Ms. Foundation grantee the National Women's Law Center is highlighting some great news out of the state of Oklahoma on its Womenstake blog.

Though in recent weeks Oklahoma's given us more to boo at than to cheer, we're happy to report that the state's governor has now signed into law legislation that's worthy of applause: SB 1251, which bars discrimination against domestic violence survivors in health insurance.

From Womenstake:

The bill, which was introduced by state Senator Jim Wilson, prohibits any insurance plan issued or renewed on or after November 1, 2010, from denying, cancelling, or refusing to issue or renew coverage based on an applicant’s status as a DV survivor, denying a claim based on an applicant’s status as a DV survivor, or treating domestic abuse as a pre-existing condition. It passed both chambers of the state legislature unanimously.

With the bill's passage, Oklahoma becomes just the third state in the nation (behind Arkansas and North Carolina) to protect domestic violence survivors from health care discrimination.

Congratulations to NWLC -- which has been working on the issue since 2008 -- and to the people of Oklahoma, for finally scoring a win on behalf of women in the state!

Act Now to Support Quality Affordable Child Care

Remember a few days back when we highlighted how the lack of low-cost, affordable child care is pushing more and more women out of the job force? Well now, thanks to Mom's Rising, there's a way for you to tell Congress what you think about cuts to child care funding that are leaving many mothers simply unable to afford to work.

By signing on to the petition currently running on their site, you can urge Congress to put families back to work by investing in affordable, quality child care. At least twelve states are now in the process of slashing funding to child care assistance programs and/or quality child care initiatives -- a number that could rise as state economies continue to struggle. Yet we know that providing families with access to affordable child care is absolutely crucial to economic recovery; without it, mothers will increasingly have little choice but to turn to welfare and other assistance programs to support their families.

Remind Congress that working families are essential to our nation's economic recovery -- SIGN the Mom's Rising petition today.

And if you're interested in learning more about what a healthy, robust child care agenda for this nation would actually look like, Ms. Foundation grantee the National Women's Law Center has put together a fabulous campaign on the subject, replete with all the facts and figures, state and federal updates, and action alerts you need to stay current on the topic. This is an issue too important to ignore -- our nation's future depends on our actions today.

Fair Pay: Imagine the Difference $10,000 Could Make

Ms. Foundation grantee the National Women's Law Center is offering its constituents a great opportunity to speak out on the pay gap between women and men -- which currently adds up, on average, to just over $10,000 per year.

Via NWLC's Womenstake blog:

What if you found out you were owed $10,622?
There’s a $10,622 gap between the median yearly earnings of men and women. For many women and their families, fixing the wage gap would mean enough for a year’s supply of groceries, three months of rent or child care, six months of health insurance, and more.
What would it mean to you? Send us a photo that shows how $10,622 would improve your life!

On June 10th, the anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, NWLC will gather these photos together and send them to Congress to press for quick passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act. They'll also publish the pictures on their site.

So how would equal pay impact your life? Let NWLC know. And learn more about NWLC's campaign to close the gendered pay divide once and for all.