Women Holding the Line

What is a woman’s life worth in today’s economy? The price of a pap smear? Savings from cuts to HIV/AIDS programs? Unfortunately, policymakers across the country seem to be bartering in just this way with women’s lives.

Over the past year government has cut essential social services at all levels, denied women access to reproductive health, and laid off huge numbers of workers in female-dominated sectors in the name of austerity and deficit reduction. The specter of debt has been used time and again to attack women’s lives. Funding cuts to programs that help families have the potential to set women’s progress back decades, and make it nearly impossible for low-income women and their children to get a leg up in our economy.

Our grantee partners tell us how deeply cuts to social services affect women on the ground who are trying to survive in these uncertain times. As Attica Scott, coordinator of Kentucky Jobs with Justice, explains “today, 814,000 Kentuckians participate in the federal food stamp program; more than 1,000 homes face foreclosure in our state every month; and 576,500 Kentuckians lack health insurance.”

Our 2011 Community Voices on the Economy poll showed that Kentucky is not alone. The economic recovery never reached these women and families in Kentucky and it completely by-passed millions of other women nationwide. Rather than experiencing a real “recovery,” our economy is now in a “womancession.” Today, this already unstable foundation is being rocked by significant cuts to programs that sustain communities through tough times, helping to ensure their ability to recover, and hopefully, one day, to thrive.

Despite this dismal picture, however, there is reason for hope. Across the country, women are standing up for themselves, their families, and their communities, demanding that their voices be heard and advancing policies that protect their most basic rights.

The National Domestic Workers Alliance and Mujeres Unidas y Activas are working together with groups throughout California to fight for labor protections for the state’s more than 200,000 domestic workers. Family Values @ Work, a coalition of organizations working to make paid sick leave a universal labor right passed the first-ever state paid sick days legislation in Connecticut earlier this summer. And most recently, groups like Raising Women’s Voices convinced the Department of Health and Human Services to mandate preventive health services for women, including contraception, be covered by insurance without co-pays or deductibles as the new health reform legislation is enacted.

So while the rights and well-being of women and families are under attack in Washington and statehouses nationwide, let's not forget that strong women are holding the line. Against all odds, women are igniting change, standing up for the values of equity and inclusion, and the urgent needs of the most marginalized. The more we can share their stories of strength and power, hope and inspiration, the better equipped we will all be to defend our rights in the years to come.

This blog is part of the #HERvotes blog carnival

See this post on the MomsRising blog and read the rest of the #HERvotes commentary.

Photo: Elizabeth Rappaport - Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance

[Video] Anika Rahman: Women Still Struggle in Wake of Recession

Two years into what was characterized as a shift from "recession" to "recovery," the latest unemployment numbers continue to paint a dire picture for women, suggesting that what women reported in a Ms. Foundation poll earlier this spring -- that many are faring far worse than even one year ago -- shows no sign of abating. Just last week, Spotlight on Poverty, an anti-poverty initiative led by a diverse group of foundations, policymakers, and advocates, produced the following webcast interview with Ms. Foundation President and CEO Anika Rahman, who discusses the ongoing relevance of the poll's findings and what she and growing numbers of people are calling a "womancession."

Obama's Twitter Town Hall: Where Are the Women?

Spending my summer at the Ms. Foundation for Women, I was immediately struck by one thing after watching a live feed of the July 6 Twitter Town Hall with President Obama on the economy and jobs: women were completely absent. This is particularly striking given how active women are on Twitter and how they choose to use it: Radian6, an organization that analyzes social networking trends, estimates that women have over 98,357 conversations about politics, of which 70 percent are about women and politics and 40 percent about the economy [i]. So why wasn't this reality reflected in Obama's town hall? Why was there not one single question about women and the economy selected? Of the 169,395 questions that were tweeted, I find it hard to believe that issues concerning women and the economy did not trend.

A breakdown by Radian6 of the most common questions #AskObama shows that financial security was one of the most tweeted topics (33.6%). Aren’t women and families seeking answers to financial security as well? We know they are, we know that they are having these conversations on Twitter, and we know that they #Ask[ed]Obama. To highlight a few:

@LisaMaatz: I'd still luv answer @BarackObama: how R U fighting4 #fairpay 4wmn after WalMart vDukes #SCOTUS decision? #askobama #walmartwmn #aauw #fem2

@9to5: We're rebuilding our economy 4a new era &need jobs that r #familyfriendly! Will U include #paidsickdays in rebuilding economy? #AskObama

@Thetaskforce: #AskObama 46% of Fortune 500 co have #lgbt nondiscrimination policies - how will you ensure fed. employment protections?

@Msfoundation: July2009-May2011 women lost 100,000 jobs while men gained 900,000. How will you stop women from losing out in the recovery? #AskObama #fem2


@RWV4Healthcare: Pls, RT! In tough times women cant pay xtra 4 preventive healthcare. Will u tell insurers to drop copays 4 contraception? #AskObama #RWVCiP

Every day, individuals and organizations across the country engage in discussions online about economic injustices that women face including barriers to paid sick leave, equal pay, and health care coverage.

So, again, what happened on July 6? One problem could have been inequality in decision making. Eight curators were chosen by Twitter to help select questions for the town hall. At first glance, it appeared that three of the eight were women -- an obvious injustice right there. Then looking more closely, I discovered that one of the curators, ModeledBehavior, is a team of 3 men. That means only three of ten curators fielding questions were women. [ii] What would have happened if women had been equitably represented?

Perhaps the issues being raised by women were not retweeted frequently enough to attract attention. And yet CBS News in their Political Hotsheet overview of questions posed to Obama highlighted a popular retweet surrounding reproductive justice advocacy:

“A variety of organizations that advocate for reproductive rights, such as Planned Parenthood, are retweeting a question from the group Raising Women's Voices that presses the president on extending his health care reforms. Mr. Obama's health care reforms included a provision to make preventive care free for patients, but these groups say that policy should include contraceptives. "Pls, RT! Women shouldnt have to pay xtra for preventive healthcare. Will u tell insurers to drop copays 4 contraception?"

Since the curators come from news backgrounds themselves, it seems improbable that CBS News would notice a trending women’s advocacy tweet that 10 other news reporters could not find.

I understand; the town hall was only able to field 18 questions in little over an hour. And I didn't expect every question to highlight the contextual issues that keep women in poverty. However, when questions concerning NASA (wasn't this forum about jobs and the economy?) are chosen over those economically pertinent to over half the US population, I begin to get confused. Especially given the rise of what Ms. Foundation President and CEO Anika Rahman has been calling a “womancession.” Between July 2009 and May 2011, women lost 109,000 jobs while men gained 959,000.[iii] Even more disheartening, of the 1.762 million jobs added to the economy between January 2010 and May 2011, only 17.3 percent went to women. [iv]

Yet despite how poorly women are faring, they continue to be ignored in national policies related to job growth and the economy. And if we can’t even receive the appropriate attention in a social media forum such as Twitter -- where we know we have such a huge presence -- how can we hope to make real progress within politics? It's well past time that reporters and politicians alike give equitable attention to women's voices speaking out against social injustice. The only way we can fight the jobs crisis and really fix the economy is if politicians hear women's resounding call for policies that address the entire US population. More than half of our country -- and our economy -- cannot be ignored.

By Stephanie Kershaw

Stephanie Kershaw is a communications intern at the Ms. Foundation for Women as part of Duke University's DukeEngage Moxie Project. "As my senior year approaches," she says, "I have been spending my summer immersed in the world of feminism, activism, and social justice for women in order to better understand how I can impact social change." 

__________________________________

[i] Coates, G. (2011, July 5). Radian6 Goes to Washington: Twitter #askobama Townhall. Retrieved July 7, 2011, from Radian6: http://www.radian6.com/platform-blog/2011/07/radian6-goes-to-washington-twitter-askobama-townhall/#idc-container
[ii] https://twitter.com/#!/townhall/july-6-curators/members
[iii] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2010, February 26). Databases & Tools: Data Retrieval: Employment, Hours, and Earnings (CES): Table B-5. Employment of women on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted. Retrieved June 8, 2011, from United States Department of Labor: http://bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cesbtab5.htm
[iv] Id.

[Video] Anika Rahman on CBS MoneyWatch: The Womancession and Women's Unemployment

Last week, CBS MoneyWatch featured Ms. Foundation President and CEO Anika Rahman in this story by Jill Schlesinger on today's "womancession" and the escalating crisis of women's job loss and unemployment.




Jill Schlesinger is the Editor-at-Large for CBS MoneyWatch.com.

Learn more about the impact of today's economy on women.