Women News, September 22, 2009

Jane: There has been a lot of news concerning women this week. For this reason, we are giving you a snap shot of the news. For more in-depth coverage, check out the links in the transcript of Women News on the Women Matter web page.

Health Care News:

One million U.S. women need abortions each year, and one-third require this procedure at some point in their lives, according to the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, but the topic of abortion is a political hot potato. So, rather than deal with it, last Wednesday Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) introduced a spinoff of the Obama-favored Health Care Reform plan that excludes a government program and said by doing this he was disposing of the abortion politics that go along with it.

Joan: We mentioned previously that the Hyde Amendment prohibits the use of tax dollars for abortions, so this so called spin-off was not necessary. Keep your eyes on the bouncing ball! This appears to me to be one more way to move the focus of the discussion from a viable health care plan to abortion. By saying “We aren't going to deal with that problem” Baucus and his colleagues can say no to the public option and basically blame it on the women who may need an abortion.  Just get rid of the whole public option. That's just my opinion. But women most of all need the public option. Let's look at what Michelle Obama has to say about it:

Michelle Obama is starting a program with a “dedicated focus” on health insurance reform and the implications it has for family and kids, focusing on where policy and people intersect. In her speech last Friday, Mrs. Obama raised the many problems facing women with respect to health care. She pointed out that women are disproportionately affected by this issue not just because of our roles with respect to family, but directly because we are women. A woman can be excluded from health insurance if she has had a c-section delivery or if she has been the victim of domestic violence. Women are more likely to have jobs without benefits, working part-time or for small companies or businesses that don't provide benefits. And, she pointed out, women are discriminated against because of gender. A 25 year old woman might be charged as much as 45 percent more than a 25 year old man for the identical coverage. At age 40, that difference goes up to 48% more. And for those women who have health insurance, often it doesn't cover basic women's health services like maternity care and preventive care such as mammograms or pap smears. Some states have laws regulating that, but not all. Ms. Obama called the current situation unacceptable, stating, “No one in this country should be treated that way. It's not fair. It's not right." She went on to say, "So I think it's clear that health insurance reform and what it means for our families is very much a women's issue."

Jane: September is Infant Mortality Awareness Month. According to a 2006 Save the Children, report, the United States is ranked near the bottom of industrialized nations with an infant mortality rate of 5 deaths during the first year of life per 1,000 live births. Even more distressing according to the CDC, is that African American babies have 2.3 times the infant mortality rate as non-Hispanic whites. Researchers say lifelong conditions of high stress and low support may contribute to poor nutrition and physical responses that put fetuses at risk. Kimberly Seals Allers, editorial director of Women's Enews, says the US needs to discuss these racial health disparities and reducing the pressures on black motherhood

Economy:

Joan: Friday,the government announced the Florida unemployment rate hit 10.7% in August. The recession is driving affluent women back to work. The proportion of 25 to 44 years old women with a college education who are living with a spouse and working or looking for work increased to 78.4 percent in the first half of 2009, Economists say this is surprising because the percentage of people in the work force usually drops as unemployed workers grow discouraged and stop looking for work in a recession.

Jane: Several weeks back we reported on a woman who lost her case in court after being fired from her job at Tote/Isotoner for taking what were called unauthorized breaks to pump breast milk. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) introduced the “The Breastfeeding Promotion Act.” If passed, her bill would amend the civil rights law of 1964 to  ensure that women cannot be fired or discriminated against for pumping their breast milk during lunch or breaks. It would also require employers to provide break time to pump and to make a reasonable effort to find a private place for a new mom to do so. Employers could receive a tax credit for up to fifty percent of their related expenses.

Joan: Even though it is not rare for a woman to be a police officer, in 2008 there were only 212 female police chiefs in the United States, less than 2 percent of the total number of chiefs, said Margie Moore, a spokeswoman for the National Center for Women and Policing, which conducted the survey. Last Wednesday, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio appointed Tampa's first woman police chief, Jane Castor. Women make up just under 12 percent of police officers nationwide, more in large cities, less in smaller cities.

Jane: According to the recently released report HIDDEN CASUALTIES Trade, Employment Loss & Women Workers, job displacement from manufacturing jobs for U.S. women in the past 10 years is a recurring feature of today's economy and especially of international trade. Women are disproportionately employed in manufacturing jobs in import intensive areas such as shoes, textiles and clothing. As more of these goods are imported, women in the United States are losing their jobs, and when they lose manufacturing jobs, they rarely manage to get back into jobs with similar pay or benefits. Jobs in manufacturing are among the better paying jobs for women lacking a college education, though they are not the best. But publicly financed training programs, through the Trade Adjustment Act (TAA) or Workforce Investment Act (WIA), often re-train women for jobs that pay less than the manufacturing jobs they were squeezed out of by the effects of NAFTA often re-enforcing occupational segregation, along with the gender wage gap.

Politics:

Joan: Are women more effective lawmakers than men? Apparently so, concludes a study conducted by researchers at Stanford University and the University of Chicago. According to the study, women in Congress, on average "introduce more bills, attract more co-sponsors and bring home more money for their districts than their male counterparts do." The study, which examined the performance of House members between 1984 and 2004, found that women delivered roughly 9 percent more discretionary spending for their districts than men. Women today make up 17 percent of House members. Imagine how much better off we would be with more women legislators!

World News:

Jane: Last Monday, the U.N. voted to consolidate four existing U.N. agencies that deal with women's issues thereby creating a new, more powerful agency, Reuters reports. U.N. Swedish Development Minister Gunilla Carlsson, speaking on behalf of the European Union, said that the move would strengthen women's rights, an area where she said the U.N. has "long been too weak." However, Daniela Rosche, head of Oxfam's gender campaign, said that the creation of a new agency is "potentially exciting" but would "mean absolutely nothing if member states fail to give it a clear mission"