Feminist Legislator Spotlight on: Carolyn Maloney

I've been inspired as of late by Washington DC and the copious amount of legislators fighting in Congress for women's rights. Therefore, I want to initiate a Friday Feminist Legislator Spotlight for my next six weeks here, sharing with y'all some deets about inspiring congress-people who are taking our fight to the floor.

This first week I decided to start with Carolyn Maloney, who I had the pleasure of meeting yesterday! I hadn't heard of Maloney before I came to Washington, but her name is like an institution in the women's orgs in DC; she is our champ. I'm now shocked that I didn't know who this BAMF was, so let's make sure you do too!

Maloney serves in the House as a Representative of 14th District of New York (which is the East Side of Manhattan, Astoria, and Queens). She was first elected to the House 1993, previously serving on the New York City Council for 10 years. Maloney is the first woman to ever represent this district!

This is a lady who, while facing a competitive primary this year, has maintained her legislative fight for women’s rights, something that is almost completely unheard of in national politics. Two week ago, she introduced a bill called “Stop Deceptive Advertising in Women’s Services.” This awesome piece of leg aims to hold Crisis Pregnancy Centers accountable for their deceptive tactics (something that we here at FMF have been fighting for with our "Expose Fake Clinics" campaign). Maloney is also the chief house sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment and introduced legislation in 2009 to move the National Women's History Museum to the National Mall (more on that soon).

Us of the college aged crowd may also be interested in the work Maloney has done as Chair of the Joint Economic Committee, namely passing the "Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act", which enforces regulations on credit card companies so they can't hike their interest percentages without warning.

Maloney has been a force for women's rights in the house and has become one of my idols in a matter of four weeks just by sharing a city with her. To learn more about her, check out her website!

"Always Treating Employees Horribly, Always"

ABC News recently did a story about Walmart and how it could possibly be helping to perpetuate the H1N1 pandemic. According to testimonials from employees, Walmart penalizes those who miss work if they or their children are sick, and often automatically deducts eight hours worth of pay if an employee calls out. (Of course Walmart denies any and all allegations.)

According to Charles Kernaghan, the director of the NLC, "They live in fear and dread. Employees at Walmart have no choice but to get themselves to work, no matter how sick they are."

Soooo with this in the back of my mind I went to my Civil Rights and Liberties class where, coincidentally, we were discussing Title XII. My professor spent a large portion of class talking about the Title XII Class Action suit filed against Walmart in 2001.

**A quick refresher for those who don't know: A group of female Walmart employees filed a Title XII class action suit against Walmart in 2001 accusing Walmart of discrimination. The women claimed Walmart was paying women less than men and giving fewer women management positions. The suit was filed on behalf of about 2 million current and former female employees, and is the largest class action suit in our nation's history.**

Walmart is notorious for refusing to "settle," so the case is still going on. There are statistics that show the starting salary for women at Walmart IS lower than it is for men. Furthermore, Walmart is one of the ONLY remaining corporations that uses the "tap-on-the-shoulder" method of promotion; which fosters the "he-man-woman-haters-club" attitude that leads to male supervisors picking other male supervisors, etc. and has left Walmart way behind competitors like Target and JCPenny in terms of females in management positions. If the women win (or should I say WHEN they win) Walmart will have to pay up BIG TIME!

Click here to read the PBS Nightly Business transcript of a conversation with a few of the women involved.

Photocredit: logoboy95 from flickr.com

US Still Denies Majority Population Equal Rights

Ever since the Equal Rights Amendment fell three states short of ratification in 1982, it has been consistently reintroduced into Congress every subsequent year, in an attempt to finally and permanently secure basic civil rights for women.

In July, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney took up the task of introducing the ERA once again. Will this finally be the year that the majority population will be able to sleep soundly and know that their rights will no longer be subject to manipulation, regardless of shifting political tides?

A recent post at the Huffington Post takes a look at why women everywhere might be overlooking the crucial significance of the ERA.

... And don't forget to check out the awesome photo at the bottom of the blog post where FMF President Ellie Smeal and current DC intern Maggie Skelton showed their support for the reintroduction of the ERA on July 21, 2009.

HERstory 89 years in the making...

Yesterday (August 18) marked the 89th anniversary of the Tennessee legislature's ratification of the 19th amendment.

One week from today, August 26 - Women's Equality Day, we celebrate the anniversary of the 19th amendment officially becoming a part of the US Constitution--at long last extending the vote to women!

Now if we can only work on getting equal recognition THROUGHOUT the Constitution...

Photo: Inez Milholland Boissevain seated on a white horse at the National American Woman Suffrage Association parade, March 3, 1913, Washington, DC. Courtsey of flickr.com/Bobster855

Friday Funday: Capitol Hill event Tuesday!

Rep. Carolyn Maloney will be reintroducing the Women's Equality Amendment on Tuesday, July 21st, at 10 a.m. at the House Triangle (on the Capitol side of Independence Avenue across from the Rayburn House Office Building).

This should be a great event, and we'll probably go. If you go too, let us know!

American women's suffrage activist Alice Paul drafted the first version of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1923 to enshrine gender equality in the US Constitution. She rewrote the amendment in 1945, and the 1945 language has been reintroduced in every session of Congress since. The text reads:

THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

Both houses of Congress passed the amendment in 1972, but by 1982, only 35 states had ratified the amendment, 3 short of the 38 states needed for the amendment's passage. Since then, members of Congress have reintroduced versions of the ERA every year.

Aside from suffrage rights, the Constitution contains no enumerated protections against discrimination on the basis of sex or gender. Including such language in the highest law of the land would hasten the attainment of gender equality and bring us closer to a more perfect union.