Why
women?
May 2008
 |
WAND
believes that women deserve seats at the tables
of power at every level of government. Women
have different experiences, and perspectives,
and priorities; and proof of this is everywhere.
Kim
Gandy of NOW released this opinion piece in
May of 2008; we send our thanks.
|
Dragging
Society Out of the Dark Ages: Elected Women Make a Difference
by NOW President Kim Gandy
May
16, 2008
Okay,
take a guess. What do the G.I. Bill, the School Lunch
Program, and the Fair Labor Standards Act have in
common? How about federal aid to education, the nationwide
network of veterans' hospitals, and the tax deduction
for child care expenses?
If
you're really stumped, how about Title IX, the equal
educational opportunity law? The Equal Pay Act and
the Family and Medical Leave Act? The Freedom of Choice
Act? The Paycheck Fairness Act and the Fair Pay Act?
Okay, maybe now you're getting the idea.
Yes,
despite their paltry representation, women in Congress
introduced them all, along with countless other reforms
that affect our lives to this day. It might sound
clichéd, but women leaders do make a difference.
Women began serving in Congress less than 100 years
ago, and throughout that brief history they have made
a great impact - a truly progressive, society-transforming
impact.
Organizations
like NOW, and feminists in general, often state that
we need more women in government, from local school
boards all the way to the highest levels of office.
Increasing the number of women in power is a good
thing -- that's just common sense, right? But taking
a closer look at why it's so important has been on
my mind as the November elections approach.
First,
there's simple parity. Currently, women hold a paltry
16 percent of the seats in the United States Congress
and they make up 24 percent of the state legislatures.
Only eight states have women governors, and we all
know that the U.S. has yet to have a woman president
or even a female nominee from a major political party.
And as recently as 1992, women were only 2% of the
U.S. Senate.
With
women vastly under-represented in this arena, and
glass ceilings still to be smashed, women's rights
advocates would be negligent not to try to correct
such an imbalance.
But
there's so much more to the argument than fairness.
It
might seem obvious, but it's worth noting that most
women legislators can be counted on to fight for the
"bread and butter" women's issues that a
legislature exclusively occupied by men might not
bother to tackle. Access to reproductive health services
and child care, the right to equal pay and education
opportunities, ending sexual harassment and all forms
of violence against women - without a doubt, these
issues advance when women with firsthand experience
secure the authority to do something about them.
It
was a woman, in fact, the very first woman ever to
serve in Congress, (WILPFer) Jeannette Rankin, who
introduced the very first piece of federal social
welfare legislation -- a bill to reduce maternal and
infant mortality.
It was a woman, Rep. Edith Green (D-Ohio), who first
introduced the Equal Pay Act way back in 1955, eight
years before it's eventual passage. Green also introduced
a number of bills promoting higher education, and
co-authored Title IX, the law prohibiting sex discrimination
in federally funded educational institutions, with
Rep. Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii), who was herself the first
woman of color ever elected to Congress.
It
was a woman, Rep. Martha Griffiths (D-Mich.), who
in 1964 led the charge to amend Title VII of the landmark
Civil Rights Act to prohibit sex discrimination in
employment. And a few years later, Rep. Shirley Chisholm
(D-N.Y.) and Rep. Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.) fought to provide
the first federal funding for day care for low-income
families.
It was a woman, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) introduced
the Freedom of Choice Act after last year's Supreme
Court decision, in order to legislatively protect
the principles of Roe v. Wade, and Sen. Hillary Clinton
(D-N.Y.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have repeatedly
introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act -- in anticipation
of the day when we will have enough votes in Congress
to pass and a president in office who will sign them.
Okay,
maybe those examples aren't too surprising - maybe
you expect women to introduce laws about "women's
issues" like equal pay, and job discrimination,
and equal educational opportunities, and reproductive
rights. But we also have women to thank for some of
the most significant social legislation in this country.
In
1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act established a national
minimum wage and a guaranteed ceiling over hours in
certain jobs, and prohibited most child labor. According
to the Department of Labor, the bill was stifled before
its enactment and would not have become law without
the efforts of Rep. Mary Norton (D-N.J.), who urged
representatives to sign a petition to extract the
bill from committee control, collecting the 218 signatures
needed to bring the bill to a vote on the House floor.
Not
only did this pivotal bill have a woman champion in
the House, it also had a woman author - Secretary
of Labor Frances Perkins, who was the country's highest-ranking
woman during her tenure from 1933 to 1945 under President
Franklin D. Roosevelt. In addition to the Fair Labor
Standards Act, Perkins drafted a law that protected
workers' rights to organize and she helped design
the Social Security Act.
Rep.
Edith Nourse Rogers (R-Mass.) was the first woman
elected to Congress from Massachusetts, and she holds
the distinction of being the longest serving Congresswoman-35
years, from 1925 to 1960! In 1944, Rogers was co-author
of the G.I. Bill, which provided veterans of war with
education and training benefits and enabled them to
take loans to purchase homes. This bill helped transform
many veterans from renters to homeowners and aided
their transition to post-war life.
Fast
forward to the 1980s and Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-Colo.),
who was the original sponsor of the Family and Medical
Leave Act (FMLA), which eventually passed in 1993.
The FMLA guarantees job security, previously earned
seniority and continued health insurance coverage
for workers who need to take leave to recover from
a serious illness or medical condition, or to care
for a newborn, newly-adopted child or a seriously
ill child, spouse or parent. FMLA also entitles employees
to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for
any combination of family or medical leave.
The
legacy of women's work in Congress is far greater
than I can cover here. A few other examples of woman-powered
policy include: the bill that created the Fair Employment
Practices Commission, federal funding for the education
of children with disabilities, the Fair Credit Protection
Act, and many areas of pension law reform, marital
property reform, consumer protection, and so much
more.
For
centuries women have done the work of caring for their
families - fostering the health, education and social
development of the next generation. Women are also
responsible for doing much of the "grunt"
work of our society - the underpaid and undervalued
jobs that are often exploitative, grueling and dangerous.
Because
of these experiences, women have looked after the
abused and forgotten on a much grander scale when
they have served in government. With the help of some
fine men, of course, women have dragged our country
out of the dark ages and into the light of civilization.
We still have a long way to go, but if we keep electing
more women to office, we will get there, and we'll
all be the better for it.
