When a Mother Has No Choice

While politicians scrambled to distance themselves from Hilary Rosen’s ill-chosen remarks about Ann Romney, the bigger point was overlooked.

“All moms are entitled to choose their path,” the candidate’s wife tweeted.

Unfortunately, that’s just not true.

It’s not a choice for the single mother to work three jobs to keep her family afloat when she would rather be a stay-at-home mom.

It’s not a choice for the woman whose family will lose health care benefits if she reduces her hours to care for her special-needs child.

And it’s not a choice for the woman who can’t afford not to work because her family needs her additional income to survive.

For these women, work offers a lifeline for their families. Without it, they couldn’t put food on the table or clothes on their children’s backs.

On the other end of the spectrum is the growing number of women who would prefer to work but whose salaries won’t cover the high cost of day care. For some of these women, low levels of education are a barrier in attaining jobs that pay well enough. For others, disparities in pay prevent them from earning as much as their male counterparts.

The Ms. Foundation wants every woman to have the same choices that Ann Romney did. That’s why we support organizations like All Our Kin, whose Toolkit Licensing Program helps support women who need access to affordable child care while also creating jobs for women, who constitute the majority of child care providers in the United States.

It’s why we advocate for access to affordable health care services, including contraception. And why we promote policies that help women and families achieve economic security.

Because wealth should not be a prerequisite for choice.

The Ms. Foundation and PreventConnect Launch Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Web Conference Series

The nine session series will explore themes of how to end child sexual abuse and build the network of those committed to addressing this issue.

The first web conference "Including Efforts to End Child Sexual Abuse within the Sexual Violence Prevention Movement" will focus on ways that local, state and national strategies to integrate child sexual abuse prevention within larger sexual violence prevention efforts.

Thurs. May 3, 2012
2:00pm EST (90 min)
Cost: Free
Register now

Hosts: Joan Tabachnick and Cordelia Anderson

Speakers:
Sally J. Lasky, Director of Special Projects, National Sexual Violence Resource Center
Donna Dunn, Executive Director, Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Gina Scaramello, Executive Director, Boston Area Rape Crisis Center

Learning Objectives:

1. Increased understanding of how ending child sexual abuse is relevant to sexual violence prevention efforts throughout the lifespan.
2. Expanded knowledge of local, state and national efforts to end child sexual abuse.
3. Ability to identify three actions that organizations can take to integrate prevention across the lifespan.

What is a Web Conference?
A web conference is an opportunity to attend an online workshop by watching a presentation on your computer screen (using your internet connection) and hearing presenters through your telephone. Prevent Connect web conferences feature an opportunity to participate in online question & answer sessions and live text chat between participants. If for some reason you are unable to join on your computer, you can download the presentation slides from our website and listen on your phone.

Real-Time Captioning Available: Instructions for accessing captioning during this web conference will be provided with your registration confirmation.

Compatibility: The iLinc web conference software used by Prevent Connect is compatible with both Microsoft® Windows® and Apple® Macintosh® computers. Click here for detailed system requirements.

Register today!

Cutting Down Barriers, and Planting Trees, in Underserved Communities

How could a collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service benefit women? The Ms. Foundation for Women is exploring this type of public-private partnership, which could help give women the support they need to develop skills that enable them to compete in male-dominated fields like forestry. This particular opportunity would couple job training in non-traditional fields for women, particularly in Mississippi’s low income communities, with wrap-around services, like childcare, provided by Ms. Foundation grantees. It’s an unconventional arrangement that could yield significant benefits for women.

The Ms. Foundation planted seeds for this type of approach, helping to put nail salon workers’ reproductive safety on the federal government’s radar screen through earlier grants to advocacy organizations. Nail salon workers, many of whom are Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and of reproductive age, face reproductive health consequences from prolonged exposure to chemicals, some known to be carcinogenic. Advocates supported through the Ms. Foundation fought hard to protect the health and safety of nail salon workers and brought government to consider “healthier solutions”.

This type of approach – in the context of worker safety, in particular – was the focus of a recent White House National Philanthropic Briefing on the Asian American Pacific Islander Community, which convened government, philanthropy and the private sector to address the unmet needs of AAPIs. Ms. Foundation Vice President of Grants and Capacity Building Pat Eng and board member Phoebe Eng took part in the gathering, which was an extension of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. It was a real honor to be involved in the discussion -- Security was so tight that even breakfast foods had to show proper identification and pass clearance!

As a Chinese American and advocate for racial and gender equity, Pat helped plan the briefing’s Civil and Human Rights Breakout session, which focused on safety for AAPIs in the context of schools, workplaces, the broader community, LGBT and women. What this briefing signified for Pat was an understanding that more needs to be done to address the barriers that AAPIs face in accessing government resources and services. It’s a positive first step in bringing groups from different sectors together to help improve the quality of life for AAPIs!

Celebrating Affordable Health Care

Women’s bodies are now the main battleground in the fight for women’s rights. Conservative male pundits, legislators, and political commentators have become more and more audacious and hostile in their attempts to control women’s lives through their bodies. But as we have seen in recent weeks these attacks have had the reverse effect: this reactive environment has galvanized women to stand up, to fight for our rights, and to fight to make the health care law work for us.

So join us, and the Coalition to Protect Women's Health Care, today, as we celebrate 'women’s day' and the two-year anniversary -- the Friday March 23rd -- of the Affordable Care Act. Let’s fight to take back control of our own bodies.

As the National Women’s Law Center shows, health care reform is already helping women and families. It’s making health care more affordable for both insured and uninsured women; it has stopped insurance companies from making the fact of being a woman a “pre-existing” condition; it will (hopefully) ensure that women’s preventative health is universally covered. We know that if implemented correctly -- with women’s health given priority and coverage -- the Affordable Care Act will have a huge impact for women across the country.

But unfortunately there is a ways to go.

The New York Times reports that there is still a gender gap in affordability and the toxic political and cultural environment has made the few gains we have achieved vulnerable to attack. We know that health care reform is good for women, but we must continue to push for positive policy and implementation. That is why we are asking you to help us celebrate the two-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act and stand together with us for women’s health!

You can:

• Get involved locally and press for the implementation of health care reform in your state by finding your nearest chapter of Raising Women’s Voices.
• Tweet about the health care law using the hashtag #herhealth, or just follow the conversation at #herhealth.
• Show your support on facebook by sharing the image from this post.
• Join the movement and have a say by uploading a video for the Coalition's "I Have a Say" campaign.
• Attend or volunteer at the Women's Visibility Event at the Supreme Court on March 27th. Monday, March 26th marks the first day of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) oral arguments at the Supreme Court.

We must stand tall and show that we will not be bullied by rhetoric or political attacks. We must show that we will stand strong for women’s health.

Sex Education Week of Action Urges Solutions to Poor Sexual Health in the South

This week, the Ms. Foundation for Women is joining a diverse group of 20 organizations across 10 states in the U.S. South urgently calling for age-appropriate, medically accurate, evidence-based or evidence-informed sexual health education.

These organizations, brought together by the Ms. Foundation since 2010 through a series of in-person and telephone gatherings, are mobilizing in communities throughout the region to conduct local activities and events—from meeting with legislators and school board members to hosting press conferences and events that showcase the stories of young people—to raise awareness about poor sexual health in the South and advocate for change.

Among the highlights:
• The ACLU of Mississippi, in collaboration with state partners, is hosting gatherings with teen girls to discuss how the absence of comprehensive sex education has impacted their communities. The groups will write letters to the state superintendent and local school board members.
• The Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina is hosting a two-day retreat called “Your Story is Your Strength: Turning Teen Parenthood into Power” in which teen mothers from across the state participate in workshop discussions and a media training.

A report just released by Auburn University at Montgomery’s Center for Demographic Research, “Sexual Health of Young People in the U.S. South: Challenges and Opportunities,” underscores the critical need for improved sexual health education in the Southern region.

Key findings include:
• The South’s sexual health profile ranks below that of every other region in the U.S.
• The teenage birth rate is higher in the South than anywhere else in the country.
• The teenage rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea are higher in the South than in other regions in the nation.
• Poor sexual health among teenagers has real costs in terms of public funds. For example, in 2008 an estimated $2.3 billion from federal, state and local governments was spent on teenage childbearing-related expenses in the South.

The report, commissioned by the Ms. Foundation for Women, also highlights opportunities decision-makers have to improve the sexual health of teenagers in the U.S. South, including new federal grant programs for adolescent sexual health and teen pregnancy prevention, which provide funding for the implementation of evidence-based and evidence-informed programs that teach young people how to delay sexual activity and avoid risky sexual behaviors.

Among other topics, these approaches include information about abstinence but also teach information on healthy relationships, contraception and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. The report also found that nearly 90 percent of people in the U.S. South favor the teaching of sex education (covering a range of topics) in public schools.

Photo (c) Elizabeth Rappaport & the Ms. Foundation for Women

Happy International Women’s Day! A Blog Carnival Calling All Women to Send a Message of Strength

[This post originally appeared on the MomsRising.org blog carnival]

by Anika Rahman

Happy International Women’s Day, and welcome to the first #callingallwomen blog carnival. This March – Women’s History Month – 25 women’s funds from across the U.S. are uniting to promote solutions to the critical issues that women face.

Against the backdrop of an intensified war on women, the “Calling All Women: Send a Message of Strength” campaign is raising awareness of the inequality that exists and highlighting the change that women’s organizations are advancing in communities around the country. The campaign is encouraging women to “Sound Off” about the issues that matter most in their lives.



As this video demonstrates, equality for women has not yet been fully realized in 2012. With women still earning only 77 percent of men’s pay – and disparities in access to health care and education pervasive, we cannot afford to take any steps backward. Yet, some politicians are openly supporting a reversal of women’s rights – from attempts to deny us access to contraception to deeming us unfit for military combat.

The Calling All Women campaign is spreading the message far and wide that women must harness our collective power for change. Together we can support creative solutions to injustice. We can transform the lives of women, families and communities nationwide.

Help us spread the word! Watch and share the video on our campaign’s website, and tell us which issue is most pressing in your life on our “Sound Off” blog. You can also help amplify our voices by following us and sharing posts on Twitter (#callingallwomen). And support Ms. Foundation for Women’s campaign by texting WOMEN to 50555 to donate $10 to fund women’s programs.

Our blog carnival features women’s personal experiences with inequality – and their optimism for a brighter future. Read more below about the positive change happening in your community, and mine.

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The Value of a Woman, Joy Rose
Rhode Island: We’ve Got Your Back for Paid Family Leave, Gayle Goldin
Women Voters and Voter ID, Faye Anderson
State-Sanctioned Shaming and the Battle for Reproductive Rights, Madeleine Gyory
Challenging Women’s Imprisonment in the United States, the World’s Top Jailer, Rachel Roth
Latte Factor: End Breastfeeding Discrimination, Genevieve Colvin
Barefoot and Pregnant: What This “War on Women” is Really About, Phoebe Taubman
We’ve Come a Long Way, Maybe: Women’s History Creates the Future, Gloria Feldt
Gloria Steinem Speaks Out on the War on Women, Rush Limbaugh, Angela Hill
Super Tuesday: It’s the Women’s Vote, Stupid!, Mona Gable
Has Political Discourse Hit Rock Bottom?, Andrew Rosenthal
When States Abuse Women, Nicholas Kristof

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Read more: http://callingallwomen2012.com/2012/02/26/blog-carnival/

Ms. Foundation Leads Coalition Launching Women’s History Month Campaign

Happy Women's History Month! Prompted by intensified attacks on women’s rights this election year, the Ms. Foundation for Women is leading a coalition of 25 women’s funds from across the country to increase attention to the issues affecting women and girls nationwide.

Throughout Women’s History Month, the “Calling All Women: Send a Message of Strength” campaign is raising awareness of the inequality that exists, highlighting the change that local and national women’s funds are advancing in communities around the country, and encouraging us all to stand together and support women nationwide.

Join us. Text WOMEN to 50555 to donate $10, which will be distributed to participating women’s funds. Watch and share the video on our campaign’s website, tell us which issue is most pressing in your life on our “Sound Off” blog, and join the conversation on Twitter #callingallwomen.

As our campaign video demonstrates, equality for women has not yet been fully realized in 2012. With women still earning only 77 percent of men’s pay and disparities in access to health care and education pervasive, we cannot afford to take any steps backward.

Your support of the Calling All Women campaign this Women’s History Month will help us make inequality a thing of the past. Together, we can send a message of strength!