Women weren't given the right to vote; we fought for it

Ninety years have flown by since the passage of the 19th Amendment.

What do you think those fearless women and men who fought for women's right to vote would think if you told them they could only get paid 77 cents for every dollar a man earns for comparable work? [According to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the gap between men's and women's median earnings widened slightly between 2007 and 2008, from 78 percent to 77 percent for full-time, year-round workers.]

What do you think they would think of the small number of women in House and Senate?

Wouldn't they think there might be a connection?  Here's how these two issues are intertwined:

Women get paid less because there's no place to turn for protection under the law. The House has already  passed the Paycheck Fairness Act. More than once. If the Senate hasn't passed it before they adjourn in a few weeks, we start over again at the beginning. Again.

Here in NY, our elected representatives have played games with pay equity legislation, as they have with so many other issues. So, we don't have protection at the state level, either. I think Susan B. Anthony is right.

“There never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers.” -- Susan B. Anthony

 While many men say they support equal pay, they don't seem to be in office. Or, they aren't exerting their influence to get this legislation passed. And, nationally, the number of women in office may actually drop.

An article today by Lisa Mascaro in the LA Times said: 

Women now hold 90 [of 435] seats in Congress: 69 are Democrats and 21 are Republicans. After the November election, Congress could end up with as many as 10 fewer female members, prognosticators now say, the first backslide in the uninterrupted [slow] march of women to Washington since 1978.

So, here are a few things you can do:

• Take Action: Ask our representatives what specific things they will do now to ensure that pay equity legislation is passed now. 
• Ask every candidate this fall for their position on pay equity and whether they will provide leadership for passing pay equity and comparable worth legislation.
• Reach out to friends and family in other states, especially those with senators uncommitted or opposed to the Equal Pay Act, asking them to take action. You can find Congressional voting records on "women's issues" .here.
• Think about the women you know who would make strong candidates for office now or in the future. Encourage them to think about running. There are lots of resources available to help women sort out what it takes and whether to run. You can find a few here.
• Subscribe to the Two-minute Activist to stay abreast of these issues.

Show your support to rescind these regulations

Help Rescind Harmful Reproductive Health Regulations	Take Action!
Image by Getty Images via Daylife This week the Obama administration proposed a rule that would rescind a harmful regulation targeting reproductive health and family planning services published in the final hours of President George W. Bush's term of office. This Obama administration action is a critical first step, a response influenced by the vocal opposition of AAUW Action Network members and others, but now we must take the next step by responding to the administration's call for public comments. Act now and support rescinding this harmful regulation. The Bush administration ignored opposition from citizens, members of Congress, physicians and women's health groups, and even officials in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission when it finalized a midnight regulation that would severely limit women's access to reproductive health and family planning services, including some of the most common forms of birth control. In contrast, this proposed new rule and public comment period highlight a new outlook on reproductive rights and women's access to health care services and information. The Bush "conscience" regulation allows health care employees to refuse to provide any health care service that is in any way contrary to their personal beliefs, without any consideration for patients' guaranteed access to medical care and complete health-related information. This allows individuals to withhold crucial information about health services and refuse to refer patients to other locations where such services could be obtained. It also grants refusal rights to any member of a health care facility's paid or voluntary staff, from appointment schedulers to janitorial staff. Further, the rule may undermine state laws protecting women's access to reproductive health care, including those requiring health insurance plans that provide drug benefits to cover contraceptives as well; laws that require hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape survivors; and laws that require pharmacies to fill patients' valid medical prescriptions. Act now and support rescinding this harmful regulation.

Save NY State's Lever System

The Kingston AAUW Public Policy Committee is working along with many others in NY State to keep our lever voting machines. NY is the only state that's withstood the push for electronic voting.

Dutchess County's legislature passed a resolution to keep levers in December. Columbia County will be voting on a resolution this week. It's time for Ulster County to act.

We've set up a Citizen Speak message -- it's like a local Two Minute Activist -- for people to let Ulster County Legislature's Chairman Donaldson and County Executive Hein know that we expect them to take action.

There's more info on the Unofficial Passions blog about why levers are better and links to sites with even more. We want to get the word out beyond the branch.

Here's the link to send your message.

Get your friends to send a message, too.

Improve, Don't Limit, Reproductive Health

Oppose Administration Regulations that Limit Family Planning Services	Take Action!
We invite our friends to join us in letting the Secretary of HHA know our distress over the regulations the agency is preparing. Last week, the New York Times reported that the Bush administration was preparing regulations that would severely limit women's access to reproductive health and family planning services, including some of the most common forms of birth control. While current law does prohibit providers from using federal money to perform abortions, as well as prohibiting discrimination against employees who refuse to perform abortions, the possible new regulations would go many steps further. Proposed Changes Among the most startling of changes in the draft regulations proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services is language that would redefine abortion to include "any of the various procedures - including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action - that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation." Under this broad definition, many common forms of birth control, including birth control pills, IUDs, and emergency contraception would be falsely labeled as abortion. The possible proposed regulations would also permit health care providers to refuse to perform any service they deem morally objectionable. In addition, the proposed regulations would trump state laws that protect women's access to reproductive health care, including those requiring health insurance plans that provide drug benefits to include coverage of contraception; laws that require hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape survivors; and laws that require pharmacies to fill patients' valid medical prescriptions. The proposed regulations also could severely limit access to counseling, education, contraception, and preventive health care services for low-income and underinsured women and men-those who need it most. Our Position AAUW supports the right of every woman to safe, accessible, affordable, and comprehensive family planning and reproductive health services and believes that access to complete reproduction health information and services enhance women's reproductive choices. We urge the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to improve the reproductive health and safety of all women and girls, rather than limit it. Take Action! Send a message to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt urging him to reconsider this attack on family planning. Simply click on the "Take Action" link in the upper right corner or copy and paste the following URL into your Internet browser. Then follow the instructions to send your message. http://capwiz.com/aauw/issues/alert/?alertid=11665371 For more information, please read AAUW's position paper on reproductive rights.

Photo by littlemisskool

Garden City AAUW Celebrates "Clean Elections" Resolution

Past and Present Presidents of Garden City AAUW and Public Policy Chairperson meet Assemblyman McKevitt (left to right) Georgene Harrison (Co President), Margaret Delahunt, Rose Ann Palmer (Public Policy Chairperson) Assemblyman McKevitt, Mary Knox, Jane Cox (standing) and Sylvia Ebert (Co-President)


Nice going AAUW Garden City! Read this Clean Elections article in the Garden City News:

Women (AAUW) are in a celebratory mood over passage of a 'Clean Elections' resolution at the organization's annual state convention. (See end of article to read the resolution} The branch Public Policy Study Group chose 'Clean Elections' for its annual project, then arranged to have a Resolution: Clean Money: Clean Elections presented by its author, Ms. Irene Miller, AAUW member and member of the Board of Trustees of 'Citizens' Action New York' at the New York State AAUW convention at Cooperstown in April. The resolution passed by an overwhelming majority vote and will be presented to the New York State Legislature.

The reason for celebrating is that 'Clean Elections' could save taxpayers lots of money, allow candidates to run for state offices without begging for dollars, and restore the principle of one person, one vote. How? By providing full and equal public funding to all qualified candidates who refuse private money so that they can feel free to work in the public's interest rather than in that of contributors to their next campaign." [Read more]

That's the kind of press we need all over the state. And, our own Kingston Branch member (Public Policy Chair) Irene Miller, wrote and sheparded the proposal through the state convention. Thanks, Irene.

RESOLUTION SUPPORTING CLEAN MONEY CLEAN ELECTIONS

This resolution was passed by the AAUW NYS convention, April 26, 2008:
WHEREAS: Clean Money Clean Elections creates a system of public financing for candidates who agree to strict spending limits in their campaigns for statewide and legislative offices and is supported by Governor David Paterson and

WHEREAS: Clean Money Clean Elections would enhance democracy by eliminating the deleterious influence of money in the political process, removing access to wealth as a major determinant of a citizen’s influence in the political process, and restoring the principle of “one person, one vote”, and

WHEREAS: Clean Money Clean Elections would level the playing field to give qualified citizens without access to big money a fair chance at winning office based on their ideas, ability, and integrity rather than how much money they can raise, and

WHEREAS: Clean Money Clean Elections would stop the endless money chase so that candidates are free of the constant need to raise money and those elected have more time to serve the public interest rather than constantly raising funds for their next campaign, and

WHEREAS: Clean Money Clean Elections would reduce the escalating costs of elections, and

WHEREAS: Polls show an overwhelming majority of citizens support public financing of campaigns so long as the candidates abide by spending limits and

WHEREAS: Partial reforms such as "matching funds" public financing systems will not meet the goals of greatly reducing the influence of large, private donors or allow citizens of modest means the ability to run competitively for public office and

WHEREAS: Clean Elections would enhance AAUW's ability to achieve our goals of equity for women and girls and increase the number of women able to run for elective office, therefore let it be

RESOLVED: That the American Association of University Women of New York State (AAUW NYS) urges the New York State Legislature to enact a Clean Elections system of full public financing into law in order to break the hold money interests have over the principle of one person, one vote and

FURTHER RESOLVED: that the AAUW NYS President and Public Policy Director send copies of this resolution to Governor David Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, and assembly members and senators.