MMO: What will it take to get mothers’ issues— such as paid
parental leave, paid sick leave for all workers, adequate health
care for low-income mothers, affordable, high-quality preschool
and after school care, social security, a stronger social safety
net to help more mothers get out and stay out of poverty
—on the political map before the next presidential election
cycle?
Kristin:
Good
question! Women’s issues were blatantly missing from the national
political dialogue in both the Democratic and Republican parties
during the 2004 elections.
In a country where women
make 75 cents for every dollar made by men, and a full quarter of
children under age six live in poverty, there is no excuse for this
oversight.
Here’s an example
of how women’s issues were missing this last go around: In
only one of the three 2004 Presidential debates, was the gender
wage gap even mentioned. The statement, “Women make 76 cents
to a man’s dollar,” was dropped in the middle of an
answer to another question. And it was stated like a bad pick-up
line in a seedy bar without real sincerity, depth, or intent to
follow through with a commitment.
It’s time to say
it again, only this time with the serious attention it deserves:
American women make only 75 cents to a man’s dollar. In fact,
women have lost a cent between 2002 and 2003, according to the U.S.
Census. We are going backward. Women face an entrenched gender wage
gap and literally no public dialogue about root causes or solutions.
This issue deserves more
than a sentence. It deserves a clear mandate for change. Women deserve
more than half-hearted come hither lines from politicians.
And, what many politicians
haven’t yet acknowledged is that the voting patterns of American
women changed in this last Presidential election, due, in large
part, to the oversight of pertinent women’s issues.
In the United States,
there has been a significant gender gap in voting behavior between
women and men since 1980— with women, as a whole, traditionally
voting democrat at a higher frequency than men in national elections.
In this 2004 election, there still was a gender gap. But it got
smaller.
This time around, 5 percent
more women voted Republican than last time in 2000. In 2000, 43
percent of women voted for Bush. In 2004, an increased 48 percent
of women voted for Bush. 5 percent is actually a big number. 5 percent
can make or break a candidate.
Wondering why women voters
shifted away from the Democrats this past election? They weren’t
given a reason to stay. Women, their children, and their families
face economic hurdles and social inequalities each and every day.
And these very same hurdles have been ignored in the national political
arena.
Yet the fight has barely
started— in part because many people think we are in a time
of post-feminism, meaning that women have already achieved full
social, political, and economic equality— which is the bland
dictionary definition of feminism.
Of course, if these issues
were solved, over, and done; if we truly are in a time of “post-feminism,”
then there’s no need to talk anymore. But it’s not over
and done.
On the social front,
violence against women continues at an alarming rate. In the United
States, approximately 1.5 million women are physically assaulted
by a current or former spouse, cohabitating partner, or date each
year. This is not equality.
Politically, American
women are struggling as well. Women comprise a paltry 14 percent
of the U.S. House and Senate, despite the fact that they are half
the population. This is not equality.
In fact, the United States
ranks a dismal 57th (of 121 democratic countries), tied with the
Principality of Andorra, in women’s representation in national
legislatures.
And, as the one-liner
alluded to, economic equality has yet to be achieved. Add the 75
cents to a man’s dollar to the fact that women account for
only 5.2 percent of top earners at Fortune 500 companies, despite
the fact that women now make up 47 percent of the entire labor force.
This, certainly, is not equality.
Case in point: 82 percent
of American women become mothers by the time they are 44, and slightly
more mothers than non-mothers are in the workforce. Yet studies
show that the wage gap between mothers and non-mothers is now larger
than the gap between women and men. Single mothers make only 56
to 66 cents to a man’s dollar in a country where childcare
costs between $4,000 and $10,000 a year. Do the math, and then think
about the direction of public policy and political dialogue relating
to these issues.
Frankly, America is striking
out on the three big parameters that define equality. Social, political
and economic equality are all far from base hits. Alas, there’s
no “post-feminism” here.
It’s time for women
to remind both political parties that women’s issues are central
to the nation (and central to winning electoral campaigns)!
MMO: What else can women do— individually
and/or collectively— to expand their political presence over
the next four years?
Kristin:
One of
the first things that women can do is to take stock of where they
stand and see what personal issues they have in common with other
women. Some examples include the gender wage gap, paid family leave,
health care, and social security. It’s time to start talking
again. It’s time to share the burden of the economic, social
and political hurdles we face, instead of facing them alone.
Many of the issues mentioned
can be addressed, solutions presented, and fixes made in the electoral
political arena— that means voting, working on legislative
issues, and running for office. Let’s look at those three
areas and see where women have leverage.
1. Voting:
First of all voting is the basis of our democracy. And women still
have tremendous latent political power in this area, particularly
young women.
Let’s start with
a little history: It took women 144 years from the start of the
country to get the right to vote— many endured hunger strikes,
jail, forced feedings, commitment to mental institutions, and other
horrors in the fight to cast a ballot (and this was just 84 years
ago, in my own grandmother’s lifetime). Today’s women
only have to turn 18.
Today’s women have
the power to put important issues at the forefront of the political
arena, not just in presidential election years, but in all the years,
cities, counties, states, and local offices in between. It’s
not nearly as hard as getting the vote in the first place.
Believe it or not, there
is even power in a single vote. Think all elections are bought and
sold by a few powerful corporations with money to burn?
Well think again. A ballot
is what decides elections in the end. Nearly 19 million young women
between the ages of 18 and 34 decided not to cast a ballot in the
2000 Presidential election; an election that was basically decided
by 537 votes in Florida. Five hundred and thirty seven.
This 2004 election cycle
will show similarly close vote counts. In the state of Washington,
a Governor’s race is hanging on just a 158 votes as of this
week.
Even if your vote was
lost in a sea of opposing ballots for the Presidential race, there
is also a lot of power in “down ballot” voting—
voting for more than just the President on the ballot— voting
for city, county, and state offices. And this is particularly true
in “Off Year” elections. “Off Year” elections
are held in the years between presidential elections, which only
happen once every four years.
Whether we recognize
it or not, our personal issues and experiences are impacted each
and every day by policy decisions— many made at local government
levels— from the safety of the streets, to the cleanliness
of the air, to the quality and access to education, job availability,
health care and much more.
More than one candidate
has been aptly named “Landslide Jane” for winning state
or local elections with less than ten votes. Ten votes. That’s
you and your friends.
2. Legislative
Issue Advocacy:
This brings us right to the next part of electoral engagement: Legislative
issue advocacy.
The connection between
spending time to volunteer in, say, a soup kitchen to help homeless
victims of domestic violence, and working on legislation to prevent
people from having to be at the soup kitchen in the first place
is not there— even though often more people could be fed by
policy changes than passing a plate.
It’s not time to
drop the plates; it’s time to add electoral politics. More
specifically, it’s time to add advocating for issues in the
city, county, state and federal legislative arenas.
It’s a “both
and situation,” not an “either or.” 73 percent
of young people volunteered in the last year, most more than once.
But it’s safe to say that most aren’t volunteering in
the electoral arena advocating for issues.
If even 10 percent of
that volunteer time was spent advocating for issues that women deem
important in the legislative arena, changes would happen, issues
would be addressed, and missing perspectives would be heard.
Voting and legislative
issue advocacy are just two of the many ways to get women’s
issues back into the national political dialogue.
3. Running for
Public Office:
Following right behind them is putting more women in the pipeline
to direct political power.
More women need to run
for public office. Right now, fewer and fewer women are running
for office according to the Center for American Women in Politics,
Rutgers University.
Don’t be shy. Run
for office, or recruit and help someone you think would represent
you to run.
Studies show that women
tend to need to be asked to run for office, while men will throw
their hat in the ring on their own.
To get over this, and
the other big hurdle which is fundraising, I advocate starting a
rumor and fundraising campaign: Tell everyone that your friend “Jane
Smith” is running for office so please send $30 to her campaign.
(Of course, Jane Smith will be surprised and delighted by her blossoming
campaign!).
Also, there are very few young women in the pipeline to political
power. Only 14 percent of elected officials that are thirty-five
years old and under are women (86 percent are men). This is significant
because over half the members of the U.S. Congress were elected
to their first office by the time they were thirty-five years old,
and of the past 19 Presidents, 12 held their first office by the
time they were thirty-five years old. There simply aren’t
enough young women in the pipeline to political power. More women
need to run for office.
We need to work to get
electoral politics— voting, working on legislation, and running
for office— back in the political toolbox each and everyday.
Women’s rights
certainly have advanced in the past fifty years. But women still
face unequal social, economic, and political hurdles. And though
you won’t hear it mentioned in the political arena, there
are big problems with the fact that the Equal
Rights Amendment (ERA) never passed. All the rights that women
currently do enjoy are embodied in legislation or court rulings—
rights which can be changed fairly easily with the election of new
representatives or the appointment of new justices (by elected representatives).
There isn’t any grounding in the U.S. Constitution.
Now is not the time to
rest on our laurels. This struggle didn’t end on November
2nd, sorry to say. No, that struggle is still beginning.
We can do better than
this. In a democracy, true power rests in the hands of the citizens,
of all citizens.
One of the things I’ve
been thinking about lately is the need to call together a national
meeting of women of all ages to create a new agenda for a reinvigorated
women’s movement— this wouldn’t be a linear agenda,
but a “wheel of issues.” Each issue would be a spoke
in the wheel and have a caucus of supporters behind it. The issues
would then take turns being the top issue so one type of agenda
doesn’t preclude others. The wheel would keep turning. (Feel
free to contact me at gateway@halcyon.com
if you are interested in this idea).
Today’s women have
a chance to turn the country on its ear. Not that all women share
the same views, or the same political parties, but simply that the
act of adding millions of missing votes into the electoral process
could move mountains— and bring critical issues forward.
It’s time to start
talking again. It’s time to share the burden of the economic,
social and political hurdles we face, instead of facing them alone.
It’s time to get
involved in the legislative process for shared issue advocacy. It’s
time to make our voices heard. It’s time to demand more than
empty pick-up lines from politicians. It’s time reclaim the
F-word. Because after all, as the saying goes… Democracy
is not a spectator sport! |
