new faces, more voices session 2

Note–this post is long! You’ll probably prefer to skim it; I didn’t try to shorten because I wanted everything here for my own reference later (you know, since I’ll probably lose my actual notes)!

I’ve been meaning to create a post from my notes from the second session of the New Faces, More Voices program for a few days now. The topic of the program, which took place on Thursday, June 16, and was so exciting it inspired me to create this blog, was “Help on the Home Front: Effective Advocacy Strategies for Domestic Women’s Issues” and featured a panel of three fabulous career feminists who talked about their work and current challenges for American women’s rights. I think some of their discussion was awesome and want to share it with folks back in Chapel Hill!

The first speaker was Rachel Lyons, Work and Family Government Affairs Manager for the National Partnership for Women and Families, a group that advocates for U.S. women’s economic justice. The National Partnership is particularly concerned with workplace and work-family balance issues and frequently works with my internship organization, IWPR. Lyons got her start working on Democratic political campaigns before turning her career toward policy. She suggested that campaign work was a great “crash course” for activists because it helps them get a feel for the political dynamics they’re up against.

Lyons explained some of the work the National Partnership has done for specific policy goals. She explained that current workplace policy in the U.S. doesn’t reflect the reality of the work force–even though 50 percent of the work force is now comprised of women, and many of them serve as heads of household, workplace policy still reflects a time when women stayed home caring for children while their husbands worked. This antiquated assumption about the nuclear family as the norm is why the U.S. has embarrassingly sub-par provisions for maternity and sick leave, as well as pay equity, compared to other developed countries.

Paid sick leave is one of the National Partnership’s most important policy areas. It has pushed for the Healthy Families Act, which would allow for seven paid sick days for full-time workers, at the federal level as well as simultaneous action at the state and local levels, a strategic move that allows for smaller “testing grounds” for new legislation before pushing for broader approval. Sick leave was approved in San Francisco in 2006 (and was proved successful) and was passed in Connecticut only a few weeks ago. Ballot initiatives in Seattle, Denver and New York City are pending, as is legislation in Philadelphia.

Lyons also mentioned the National Partnership’s work attempting to expand the Family Medical Leave Act, pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (side note: I met Lilly this year! Maybe I’ll post the photo soon), and collaborate on the Wal-Mart class action lawsuit for pay equity. She said she thought the next battle for women would be against pregnancy discrimination.

Pat Ruess was the second speaker. She’s a lobbyist for the YWCA who served for many years as policy adviser and lobbyist for NOW. Ruess is an expert on the Violence Against Women Act and was instrumental in its passage. Not only is she a trailblazing feminist, she’s a total badass. Ruess described the devastating history of the violence prevention movement and her personal story of radicalization, which started with her advocacy to establish the first domestic violence shelter in Montana. She became a strong anti-violence advocate and worked with the NOW Legal Defense Fund to build a coalition that would help pass VAWA, which would win federal funding for shelters across the country. It wasn’t until then-Senator Joe Biden became interested in violence against women advocacy in the late 1980s (supposedly after someone approached him at a fundraising dinner and told him his daughter was at risk, just like every other young woman in America) that the proposed bill began to make headway. VAWA was originally bipartisan when it was signed under President Clinton in 1994, and it was passed nearly unanimously through both houses.

But now VAWA faces its fourth reauthorization in a hostile environment for women’s rights. Ruess hopes this time to include special provisions for women in ethnic communities, disabled women, older women, teenagers (where are their resources if they’re in abusive relationships that aren’t necessarily domestic?), Native American women (who suffer sexual violence at two times the rate of the general population), women in the armed forces and members of the LGBTQ communities. She hopes these topics will be included in an omnibus reauthorization bill, but since VAWA has unfortunately become a partisan issue in the years following its first passage, her goals may become too controversial for acceptance. You know, because disabled women, old women, young women and lesbian women just don’t quite count much to legislators these days…

The final speaker was Angela Sutton, Senior Health Policy Associate for the Black Women’s Health Imperative. Sutton described her organization’s extensive advocacy for reproductive justice, explaining the intersecting oppressions that must be considered when fighting for justice, as well as its work on maternal health and breast cancer. Black women are four times more likely to suffer maternal mortality and are disproportionately diagnosed with breast cancer.

Right now the Health Imperative is focusing on the budget negotiations and controversial debate regarding the level of the debt ceiling. It also is concerned with cuts to Medicaid, which would severely limit access to family planning and reproductive health services for low-income women. The organization has begun campaigns working to address sociocultural breast cancer disparities (check out “Moving Beyond Pink“) and to combat the negative anti-choice messages recently targeted at black and Hispanic women.

Sutton said one of the lessons she’s learned from the attacks on reproductive rights in recent months is that when the national temperature is hostile toward progressive policies for reproductive health, even if it’s possible to stave off federal attacks, they’ll achieve far more success at the state level.

When asked about how to gain victories in troubling times like these, Lyons said the National Partnership sometimes attempts smaller victories at administrative levels. An example would be the Department of Education’s recent statement to universities on their responsibility to enforce Title IX regulations when dealing with sexual assaults on campus.

Ruess said violence prevention advocates at universities should collaborate on their efforts to identify weaknesses and define need.

Check out the hashtag for New Faces, More Voices at #2011nfmv. I’m trying to get some other members of the program to collaborate on it!