Migration Category: Feminist Newswire

Stories from the Feminist News Wire.

North Dakota’s Voter ID Law Aims to Disenfranchise Native Americans

Posted on by Erin Gistaro

Last week, the Supreme Court upheld North Dakota’s most recent controversial voter identification law, which many argue was purposely designed to discriminate against the state’s Native American population. That means a voter ID law that disenfranchises thousands of Native voters will be in effect for the November elections.

The law disqualifies all voters whose official ID’s list a P.O. Box instead of a residential address, disproportionately suppressing the vote of Native Americans who often live on rural reservations where many homes do not have street addresses and where many mail carriers will not deliver. Native Americans are also over-represented among the homeless population. The upheld law has left many Native American tribes scrambling to get their members official street addresses through the state, and then updating tribal ID cards to reflect these newly created street addresses.

On the ballot this year is Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp who won her election in 2012 by only 3,000 votes thanks in large part to Native American voters. By attempting to bar many Native Americans from voting in November, Democrats accuse the Republican-controlled North Dakota legislature of purposely suppressing voter turnout to favor the Republican candidate.

This is not North Dakota’s first attempt to suppress Native American votes through surgical voter ID laws. In 2016, a federal court blocked the enforcement of a 2013 state law requiring voters to present one of only four types of IDs when they went to the polls displaying only their current address with no option for a provisional ballot.

North Dakota, with its very small population, has only 3 votes in the Electoral College. For decades, poll workers did not have to keep track of voter rolls and were trusted to simply recognize their neighbors who came to vote. In 2006, North Dakota Secretary of State Alvin Jaeger said he has never received a report of any voter fraud in North Dakota.

There has been a widespread tightening of voter registration and Identification laws across the country. In Ohio, the Supreme Court upheld a law that authorized the purging of voters from voter rolls after 4 years of inactivity, a controversial vote for the state. Similarly, gerrymandering laws in Texas and North Carolina were upheld in June, allowing for districts to be designed to maximize the number of districts that vote for a certain party, in this case, Republican. Finally, New Hampshire passed restrictive residency laws in July, effectively disenfranchising the state’s thousands of out-of-state students. All of these laws mirror past tactics to  bar many of America’s low income, young, and minority adults from exercising their right to vote.

Media Resources: NPR 10/13/18; The Hill 10/11/18

Senators Call on DeVos to Listen to Survivors Before Proposing New Title IX Rules

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

In a letter sent last Friday, a group of Senators, led by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), sent a letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos calling on the Department to engage in meaningful consultation with survivors before proposing new Title IX rules that could impact the rights of student survivors of sexual harassment and assault.

The letter–which was also signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH)–came in response to news reports about the upcoming proposed rule and a subsequent leaked draft. According to the Senators, the draft regulations would not only dishonor the spirit of Title IX, they “would weaken the law, undermine fundamental protections for survivors of sexual assault, harassment, rape, or other forms of sex discrimination, and empower schools to ignore discriminatory, unlawful behavior against students.” Based on their review, the Senators write that they are “concerned that the rule does not reflect input from students and survivors whose voices deserve to be heard,” and ask that they Department not publish the proposed regulations “until it is clear that survivors’ voices have been fully considered and addressed.”

Of particular concern for the Senators are provisions of the rule that would limit the scope of protections for survivors. The draft rules would redefine “sexual harassment,” forcing survivors to endure conduct “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it denies a person access to the school’s education program or activity” before the school would be obligated to act. The new rules would also allow schools to ignore the thousands of sexual assaults that occur off-campus, and permit retaliation against survivors if schools determine that a complaint was made in “bad faith.” False reports of sexual assault are extremely rare, however, whereas survivors of sexual violence often do not report assault because they do not think they will be believed, an issue that was highlighted recently when the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport went viral after President Trump questioned Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s account of being sexual assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh.

The Senators also noted that the new rules would more easily allow religious schools to discrimination on the basis of sex. Under the rules, religious institutions could “exempt itself from Title IX, even when under investigation by the Department,” essentially allowing schools to absolve themselves of responsibility after the fact.

The Trump Administration predicts that the new draft rules would save colleges and universities $19 million and school districts $54 million by decreasing the number of sexual misconduct investigations. Survivor advocates argue that the cost-benefit analysis fails to take into consideration the cost of sexual violence to individual survivors, their families, and the school community. Decreasing the number of investigations does not mean that sexual harassment and assault are not occurring, only that they may not be properly addressed. Survivor advocates, including the Feminist Majority Foundation have been clear that these draft regulations would make campuses, including K-12 schools, more dangerous by encouraging schools to sweep sexual violence under the rug. Failure to address sexual violence could also lead more college and high school students to drop out or transfer schools.

Last year, Secretary DeVos rescinded Obama-era Title IX guidance meant to protect survivors of sexual assault and reduce the sexual violence in schools, including on college and university campuses. The Department then issued new interim rules, despite overwhelming public support for the Obama-era guidance; when the DeVos Education Department solicited comments on whether the guidance should be rescinded, 95 percent of people who responded supported the Obama-era campus sexual assault and harassment guidance.

The Department of Education is poised to release its new proposed regulation on campus sexual harassment and assault in November. Once the proposed regulation is published, the public will have 60 days to comment on the proposal before a new regulation can be finalized.

Media Resources: New York Times 9/10/18, 8/29/18; Feminist Newswire 9/22/17; National Sexual Violence Resource Center

Major Voter Suppression Efforts Surface in Georgia

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

As early voting kicks off, allegations of voter suppression are rising out of Georgia as voters choose between former-state house Minority Leader Stacey Abrams and Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp in the tight race for governor. As Secretary of State, Kemp is responsible for crafting and carrying out voting policies in the state.

Currently, roughly 53,000 new voter registration applications have been put on hold because of Georgia’s exact match law verification process. “Exact match,” a policy that was overseen by Kemp and passed into law last year, states that in order for people to become active registered voters, their voter registration applications must exactly match their driver’s license or Social Security information. The differences can be as simple as missing a hyphen in a name.

Abrams and various civil rights groups are suing the state of Georgia and Kemp saying that “exact match” disproportionately targets minority voters. Of the 53,000 pending voter registrations, 70 percent are for African-American voters. Moreover, many of the pending registrations were voters who were signed up by Abrams’ New Georgia Project, which aimed to boost minority voter registrations. Many of the pending voters were unaware that their voter registration has been held up.

According to Georgia’s voting laws, voters whose registrations are pending have 26 months to fix any issues before their application is canceled, and can still cast a provisional ballot. But this process can be daunting and difficult, especially if it is not addressed until voting day when thousands of likely-unprepared volunteers will staff voting precincts across the state. Abrams believes that uncertainty brought by pending registrations may prevent people from voting.

Meanwhile, in Gwinnett County absentee ballots are being discarded at an alarming rate, more than in any other county in Georgia. According to a report by Politically Georgia, nearly one in ten vote-by-mail ballots have been rejected by Gwinnett County election officials because of mismatched signatures, incomplete forms, or missing residential address. Through Sunday, a total of 390 absentee ballots have been rejected and the majority of rejected absentee ballots were for insufficient oath information. According to the report, Gwinnett County makes up 37 percent of all rejected ballots in Georgia. The majority of Gwinnett county residents are Hispanic, Black, and Asian and due to its large Hispanic population, Gwinnett is the only county in Georgia that is required to provide election materials in English and Spanish.

On Monday, 40 Black senior citizens were told to get off a bus arranged by a non-profit that was prepared to take them to cast their early ballots. The bus was plastered with Black empowerment photos and raised fists and was owned by Black Voters Matter, an organization whose purpose is to increase power in communities through active and effective voting. Black Voters Matter members were touring across Georgia to speak on the importance of voting. After speaking to seniors at Leisure Center in Jefferson County, the seniors asked if Black Voters Matter could take them to cast their ballots. According to The Hill, the group of seniors were ordered off the bus because transporting the group would count as “political activity,” which would violate the county policy. However, Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown told Think Progress there was nothing illegal about the group’s activity since Black Voters Matter is non-partisan and does not endorse a specific candidate.

Early voting in Georgia runs from Monday October 15th until November 2nd.

 

Newswire sources: The Washington Post 10/9/18, 10/16/18; NPR 10/13/18; The New York Times 10/15/18; Politically Georgia 10/15/18; Think Progress 10/15/18; The Hill 10/16/18

Trump Considering New Family Detention and Separation Policy

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

On Friday, the Washington Post reported that rather than reviving the forced separation policy that separated over 2,500 children from their parents in May and June, the Trump administration is considering a new family separation plan called the Binary Choice. This new plan would detain asylum-seeking families together for 20 days. After 20 days of detainment, the government would force parents to make a choice: to be detained with their children for months or years until their immigration case advances, or to allow their children to be taken to government shelters and to potentially be adopted by relatives or other individuals in the U.S.

President Trump confirmed to reporters on Saturday that he is considering new immigration policies and that he believed the family separation policy was effective, saying, “If they feel there will be separations, they won’t come.” There is no evidence to support his claim. In a 60-minutes interview with Lesley Stahl on Sunday, President Trump said he wants to change all immigration laws.The Binary Choice plan brings many questions. Currently, it is unclear where the government would hold families who choose to remain detained together. As the Washington Post reported, ICE does not have detention spaces for a large number of families. What would happen to parents who allow their children to be taken to government shelters also remains unclear. Permanent shelters are at full capacity, with over 12,000 children currently held in federal custody after crossing the border alone or being separated from their families.

According to the Washington Post report, the Trump Administration is confident the Binary Approach will be approved by the courts because the idea of giving families a “choice” was seemingly green lighted by U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw who ordered the government to reunite separated families in June. As of today, 66 children still have yet to be reunified or discharged.

The Binary Choice approach is heavily pushed by senior presidential advisor, Stephen Miller, who also helped write the initial forced separation policy. Miller was also reportedly responsible for sabotaging efforts to resolve the DACA emergency. Miller’s passion is restricting legal immigration, and as an aide to then-Senator Jeff Sessions, he had a heavy hand in undermining the 2013 comprehensive immigration reform bill that was passed overwhelmingly by the Senate but blocked from coming up for a vote in the House. Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly is also considered to be to the extreme far-right on immigration issues.

Last month, roughly 2,000 unaccompanied minor children were quietly removed from shelters and transferred to a temporary Tent City in Texas as part of a mass reshuffling by the Trump administration. The Tent City in the border town of Tornillo currently holds roughly 3,800 children who do not have access to schools, and have limited access to legal services.

 

Newswire Sources: The Washington Post 10/12/18, 10/13/18; Bustle 10/12/18; CBS News 10/15/18.

Trump Administration to Deny Visas to Same-Sex Partners of UN Diplomats and Staff

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

At the beginning of the month, the Trump Administration unveiled a new policy requiring international United Nations staff, officials, and diplomats working at the UN headquarters in New York to marry their partners by the end of the year, otherwise their partners will be deported.

Since 2009, the State Department has granted the domestic partners of UN staff and diplomats working in the United States visas. This policy shift, which will affect at least 10 current UN employees, is extremely discriminatory towards the LGBTQ+ community, especially considering that in over 70 countries homosexual conduct, including same sex marriage, is illegal.

While these employees have the option of marrying their partners in one of the 25 countries where same sex marriage is legal, including the United States, this could put these employees and their partners at risk or criminalize them in their home countries.

This announcement falls in line with a Trump administration agenda of undermining protections for LGBTQ individuals. A year ago, President Trump issued a memorandum attempting to reinstate a ban on transgender individuals serving opening in the United States military and forbidding the Department of Defense from providing needed healthcare to transgender service members. In January, the Trump administration announced the creation of a new division at the Department of Health and Human Services that seeks to defend healthcare workers who choose to discriminate against LGBTQ patients due to moral or religious objections. And just this spring, a federal court ruled against the Trump administration’s position that Title IX does not protect LGBTQ students from educational discrimination.

Media Resources: Human Rights Watch 10/1/2018; Foreign Policy 10/1/2018

First Woman Summits Afghanistan’s Tallest Mountain

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

On August 10th around 6:30pm, Hanifa Yousoufi made history by being the first woman to summit Mt. Noshaq in Afghanistan. Mt. Noshaq is Afghanistan’s tallest peak, and is 4,000 feet higher than the tallest peak in North America.

In the widely shared picture of Yousoufi at the top of Mt. Noshaq, she is gripping the Afghan flag and fighting against the wind. The weather conditions prohibited the two other women that set out with Yousoufi from finishing the expedition alongside her. The only other mountaineers to conquer Noshaq have all been men.

Outside of the dangers presented by scaling a mountain, the years of political unrest made this feat even more dangerous. Mt. Noshaq had been closed to hikers for 30 years prior to it’s reopening in 2009 because of the threat that local warfare presented in that region. In Yousoufi’s case, her expedition was nearly derailed at the last minute due to Taliban fighting in a neighboring area the day before she was to travel to the base of Mt. Noshaq. Instead of turning back, her group decided to fly into a different airstrip, 13 hours away from their original destination.

Hanifa Yousoufi was married at 15 and later divorced her abusive husband. As a divorced woman in Afghanistan, Yousoufi felt that her prospects were over by the time she was 17. However, a few years after escaping the marriage, Yousoufi found the organization Ascend Athletics, a nonprofit that trains women for 2 years in leadership and physical training. The Mt. Noshaq expedition was fully funded by the nonprofit and totaled $30,000, which was half funded by an individual donor.

At the start of each year, 20 women between the ages of 15 and 23 start the Ascend Athletics program. Aside from participating in physical training for expeditions like the one Yousoufi completed, the women also train in conflict resolution, outreach, public speaking, and leadership. Many of the women have chosen to remain anonymous and work in secret because of the negative attention that outspoken women face in Afghanistan, from the public and the Taliban. For example, in 2016 locals threw rocks at the women while they training at a location site.

However, Ascend Athletics is not alone in pushing boundaries in Afghanistan and empowering women to break glass ceilings. This year, a historic 417 women are running for the Afghan parliament.

 

Media Resources: The Virginian-Pilot 8/20/18; Gripped 8/22/18; Outside 8/23/18; The Christian Science Monitor 8/29/18; Feminist Newswire 6/27/18, 10/10/18

 

FMF Launches Campaign to Oppose Alabama “Personhood” Amendment

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) has launched a campaign to educate and mobilize students against a thinly-veiled “personhood” amendment to the Alabama state constitution on the ballot this November. Amendment 2 would grant full legal rights to fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses, declare that there is no constitutional right to abortion in Alabama, and pave the way to banning abortion and some forms of birth control in the state.

The campaign, “Alabama Students Voting No on Amendment 2,” is working throughout the state to inform students about the potential impact of Amendment 2 and encourage students to get to the polls on Election Day.

“When we talk to young people about what’s at stake with Amendment 2, they are outraged that the government is trying to control what they can and cannot do with their bodies,” said Sherill Dingle, chairperson of Alabama Students Voting No on Amendment 2. “Students deserve to be looking towards the future, not worrying about whether or not they’re going to get dragged back to the 1960s.”

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, a very real threat following the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, abortion would immediately become illegal in Alabama with no exception for rape or incest, and Amendment 2 would allow the government to outlaw abortion even if the life of the pregnant woman is at risk. Amendment 2 would also make it constitutionally impossible for a woman to receive Medicaid funding for abortion care, as is available in 17 states.

Beyond outlawing abortion, Amendment 2 would give rights to fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses, threatening the legality of some forms of birth control, including IUDs and emergency contraception. Procedures that enable pregnancy like in vitro fertilization (IVF) could also be outlawed. IVF requires doctors to have access to many fertilized eggs, some of which will not be implanted. Under Amendment 2, disposing of fertilized eggs and embryos could violate criminal homicide, abuse and assault laws.

Amendment 2 also poses an immediate threat, even without the reversal of Roe. If passed, Amendment 2 would mean that police, prosecutors, judges, doctors, and nurses have a legal obligation to “ensure the protection of the rights of the unborn child,” opening the door for women who experience miscarriage or stillbirth—the result of 15 to 20 percent of pregnancies—to be criminally investigated, prosecuted, and jailed.

According to National Advocates for Pregnant Women, Amendment 2 would allow the state to prosecute pregnant women for assault, criminal endangering the welfare of a child, or child abuse if she engages in actions that are disapproved of by law enforcement. Women could be arrested for smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, failing to attend prenatal care appointments, or continuing to work despite a doctor’s recommendation. Pregnant women who are in car accidents or unable to leave abusive partners could also be prosecuted for engaging in risky conduct. Even women who intentionally or unintentionally give birth outside of a hospital could be arrested.

In fact, even without Amendment 2, Alabama has arrested over 500 pregnant women under a law prohibiting the chemical endangerment of a child, which is intended to punish adults who bring children to places like methamphetamine laboratories. Even pregnant women who were taking prescribed medications as directed by doctors have been arrested under this law, and Amendment 2 would only further bolster its authority.

Because Amendment 2 gives fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses all the same legal rights as children, a pregnant woman could be prosecuted with kidnapping if she leaves the state of Alabama, whether it be to obtain an abortion in another state or to flee an abusive partner. Men could be permitted to seek court orders to force their partners to remain in the state if such travel is suspected.

Personhood ballot measures similar to Amendment 2 have failed in recent years in Mississippi, North Dakota, and Colorado. FMF was active in all of those opposition campaigns.

You can donate to support FMF’s get out the vote efforts here.

Media Resources: Ballotpedia 2018; Slate 7/17/18; National Advocates for Pregnant Women

Historic Number of Women Running for Afghan Parliament.

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

On September 28, candidates for the Afghan parliament launched their campaigns ahead of the October 20 elections. Of the 2,565 people running, a historic 417 are women. According to data by The World Bank, the number of seats in parliament held by women rose from 4 percent in 1990 to 28 percent in 2017.

The United Nations says that women’s participation in the Afghan electoral process is essential to creating a stronger democracy. The Independent Election Committee (IEC) of Afghanistan has said that they are working to increase the number of women voters, including an initiative to hire a woman to staff each polling place.

The number of women running in this election is thanks in part to Mina’s List, a program that is dedicated to inspiring women around the world to run for office. In Afghanistan, the program’s goal was to empower 40 women to run for office, implementing programs such as mentorships and workshops to help with campaigns and financing.

According to Peace is Loud, the organization that runs Mina’s List, Afghan women are fighting to increase their political participation and representation, but gender discrimination still runs deep. In comparison to their male counterparts, women candidates do not receive as much encouragement from their communities or as much financial support for their campaigns. They also face challenges once they are in office.

In 2017, Masooma Muradi, the former Governor of Daikundi and the sole female governor in Afghanistan at the time, was involuntarily removed from office and replaced by a man after receiving continued opposition due to her gender. Sima Joinda, the former Governor of Ghor province, was also removed from her position less than one year after being appointed because she was the target of numerous gender-based protests.

The Taliban has threatened to target attacks in an effort to stop voter registration and the parliamentary election. Elections. In April, the Taliban killed 57 people in Kabul who were waiting to receive their voter IDs. Locals say Taliban threats twill not deter them from participating in elections.

 

Media Resources: The Washington Post 9/28, 10/8, 4/22; The Sacramento Bee 9/28; The World Bank; The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan 4/3; Peace is Loud 5/8;  Feminist Majority Foundation 10/10

Brett Kavanaugh Confirmed to the Supreme Court Despite Sexual Assault Allegations

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

On Saturday, Brett Kavanaugh was quietly sworn in as the 114th justice of the United States Supreme Court after the Senate voted 50 to 48 to approve his confirmation. The only Senators to break from party lines were Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin (D). It was the narrowest voting margin for a Supreme Court confirmation since 1881.

The Senate vote was cast as thousands of protesters, led by survivors of sexual violence and their allies, swarmed the grounds of the Capitol and Supreme Court in opposition to Kavanaugh’s nomination. Women in the Senate gallery screamed “Shame” as moderate Senators cast their votes in favor of Kavanaugh.

“Tens of thousands of survivors made themselves vulnerable and spoke out against putting an accused sexual predator on the Supreme Court, testifying on the importance of believing survivors,” said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority and Feminist Majority Foundation. “We have a responsibility to them to keep this movement alive in the streets, with policies like a robust and well-funded Violence Against Women Act, and at the ballot box.”

The vote followed weeks of protest and outrage over the sexual assault allegations made against Kavanaugh by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez.

On Wednesday, the FBI completed a report on those allegations, but their investigation did not include interviews with Dr. Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh, or any of the dozens of people who said they could corroborate significant parts of the two women’s allegations. Republicans were quick to point to the lack of corroborating witnesses as proof of Kavanaugh’s innocence.

“The White House and Senate majority are pointing to a rushed and limited FBI report as if it sheds any light on the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh,” said Smeal. “It patently does not because the investigation that produced it was purposely designed to give cover to nervous Senators who want to vote yes, not get to the truth.”

The condensed FBI investigation was conducted after numerous Republican Senators raised concern over the allegations. On September 28, the day of the Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Kavanaugh, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake announced that unless there was an FBI investigation into the allegations, he would not support Kavanaugh’s nomination in a Senate floor vote. Senators Manchin and Collins seconded his call for an investigation. All three Senators eventually voted in favor of Kavanaugh.

Republican’s empty demands for an FBI investigation came after Dr. Christine Blasey Ford gave credible, fruitful, and impactful testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in which she stated that she was one hundred percent certain that Kavanaugh is the man who sexually assaulted her when she was 15. Kavanaugh followed her appearance with his own testimony, during which he lost his temper and peddled in conspiracy theories against the Democrats.

Progressive groups were working to oppose Kavanaugh’s nomination even before the sexual assault allegations emerged. Kavanaugh is “a right-wing political operative, a jurist who thinks the president should be above the law, and an opponent of abortion and birth control access.” Learn more here.

Media Resources: New York Times 10/6/18; Feminist Majority 10/6/18, 10/4/18

Unaccompanied Migrant Children Transported at Night to Tent City

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Roughly 2,000 unaccompanied migrant children have been quietly removed from shelters and transferred to a temporary tent city in Texas as part of a mass reshuffling by the Trump administration. Permanent shelters are at full capacity, with 12,800 undocumented children currently in federal custody after crossing the border alone or being separated from their families.

Each week, children are being transported from some of the 100+ shelters across the country to the Texas tent city in the middle of the night. According to the New York Times, children are not notified about their move to the tent city ahead of time, traumatizing children who were not given time to emotionally prepare or say goodbye to their friends. Further, transporting migrant children in the middle of the night increases children’s vulnerability to human trafficking, exploitation, and abuse.

Tent City is a temporary shelter located it Tornillo, a border town southeast of El Paso. Tent City was first opened in June and housed nearly 200 children. By the end of September, the temporary shelter expanded from having a maximum capacity of 200 beds to 4000 beds. Currently, roughly 3,800 children are housed in Tent City where they are put in groups of 20, are separated by gender and sleep lined up in bunks. Although Tent City offers air conditioning and medical care in the tents, children do not have access to schools, have very limited access to legal services and receive inadequate protection against physical abuse, sexual assault and/or emotional torment. There are almost as many children in Tent City as there are residents in a nearby town of Tornillo.

Some of the children are detained due to Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy. This summer that policy was carried out through family separation, under which parents were immediately sent into criminal custody while children were classified as “unaccompanied alien children.” However most of the children now residing in shelters crossed the border alone.

Currently, the number of detained migrant children has significantly increased and is at a record number even though the number of border crossings have remained steady. The increase in detained migrant children is due to a new sponsor requirement by the Department of Homeland Security which states that sponsors who are willing to care for detained migrant children must submit their fingerprints and information. Since some potential-sponsors are undocumented, the strict new guidelines mean they are less likely to risk applying. A number of those who did apply have been arrested on immigration charges.

 

Newswire Sources: The New York Times 9/30/18, 10/1/18; The Huffington Post 10/01/18, 6/18/18, Feminist Newswire 6/20/18

Protests against Kavanaugh Continue in the Wake of Sexual Assault Allegations

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Capitol Police arrested fifty-six people yesterday on Capitol Hill during a protest against Supreme Court Nominee and alleged abuser, Brett Kavanaugh.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in the Dirksen and Hart Senate Office Buildings chanting “We believe Anita Hill” and “We believe Christine Ford.” Professor Christine Blasey Ford came forward earlier this week, after her request for privacy and confidentiality were dishonored, with allegations that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her as a teenager.

Protesters, organized by the Women’s March and the Center for Popular Democracy Action, occupied the office of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) demanding that he postpone a hearing on the new allegations against Kavanaugh until an impartial FBI investigation takes place. Groups of people also protested at the offices of Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Bob Corker (R-TN), and Jeff Flake (R-AZ). Protesters wore buttons proclaiming, “I believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford,” and some told personal stories of sexual violence.

Since coming forward, Dr. Blasey Ford has expressed, through her attorneys, a desire to have the FBI investigate her allegations against Kavanaugh. Neither the White House—which routinely engages the FBI to complete background investigations on all of its nominees—nor Chairman Grassley has honored that request. Several groups, including leading anti-violence organizations, have denounced that decision.

“For years, numerous organizations and scholars have developed best practices to conduct trauma-informed investigations that are sensitive to the survivor, fair and thorough. It is shocking for the Senate majority to ignore decades of progress and treat these allegations with even less regard than Anita Hill received, which was also inadequate and unfair,” said Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal, appearing at a press conference yesterday with women’s rights advocates and experts on sexual assault and gender-based violence. After Anita Hill made allegations against now-Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991, the White House ordered an FBI investigation into the matter before Professor Hill appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“They say there is no time,” continued Smeal. “But there is plenty of time when we’re talking about a lifetime appointment to this nation’s highest court and ensuring that our judicial leaders hold themselves to the gold standard when it comes to violence against women.”

President Trump, himself accused of sexual harassment and assault by numerous women, tweeted in defense of Judge Kavanaugh this morning, calling him “a fine man, with an impeccable reputation.” Trump also appeared to accused “radical left wing politicians” of not wanting the truth, despite numerous calls for an FBI investigation, tweeting “they just want to destroy and delay. Facts don’t matter.” As of August 1, 2018, the Washington Post reported that President Trump has made 4,229 misleading claims in 558 days.

Trump also took to Twitter to question Dr. Blasey Ford’s credibility because she did not immediately report the assault.

Indira Henard, Executive Director of the DC Rape Crisis Center, however, explains that “when a survivor of sexual assault tells their story, they are telling a story of traumatic memories and it common for them to have delayed reporting, gaps in memory as well as coming forward much later. This is in large part due to the way in which the body not only holds and stores trauma, but the way in which the brain stores and recalls memory.”

Trump’s latest attack prompted a viral Twitter response using the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport. Advocates have also stressed that Dr. Blasey Ford is not on trial.

Protests are expected to continue throughout the country over the weekend and into next week. Activists are using the hashtag #Believe Survivors and #WeBelieveHer.

Media Resources: ABC News 9/21/18; CNN 9/20/18; Ms. Blog 9/20/18; Washington Post 9/16/18, 8/1/18; Twitter

Kavanaugh Accused of Sexual Assault

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

California professor Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were both in high school in the early 1980s.

According to an account Ford gave to the Washington Post, Kavanaugh was intoxicated when he trapped her in a bedroom at a party, pinned her to the bed, groped her, grinded his body against hers, and attempted to remove her clothing. She alleges that Kavanaugh held her down when she tried to get away and covered her mouth with his hand when she tried to scream for help. Eventually she was able to escape, and says that for decades she has been coping with the trauma from that night.

This morning, Ford’s lawyer, Debra Katz, said that the professor is willing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee concerning her allegations against Kavanaugh, which Ford herself has described as an attempted rape.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has not yet announced whether or not they will hold additional hearings in light of the allegation. The Committee was scheduled to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination on Thursday, which would then move his nomination to the full Senate for confirmation.

“We unequivocally support her right (to testify), and demand that Chairman Chuck Grassley delay Thursday’s vote on Kavanaugh and hold a hearing to allow Professor Ford to share her truth,” said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority, in a statement released Monday. “If they fail to extend even this basic courtesy to Christine Blasey Ford, they are further weakening the transparency of our democracy and dismissing the experiences of survivors of sexual violence.”

Though the allegations are just now coming to public attention, Ford had contacted the Washington Post in early July before Kavanaugh was officially named as the nominee, but declined to be interviewed on-the-record. Following Trump’s announcement of his nomination, Ford sent a letter to her Congresswoman, Rep. Anna Eshoo, as well as to her Senator, Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein. The letter detailed her allegations and she asked that her identity be kept confidential.

The story began to break on Wednesday of last week, when news outlets reported that Sen. Feinstein had turned over a letter concerning sexual misconduct allegations to the FBI for investigation. Ford said that although her name was not published, reporters began contacting her home and office, and she feared if she did not come forward to claim the letter, that her identity would eventually be revealed in the media.

“Christine Blasey Ford asked for confidentiality. Instead she was forced into the most unwanted of spotlights and asked to share with the world one of the most traumatic experiences of her life,” said Smeal.

Sen. Feinstein has come under scrutiny for not releasing the letter to Committee members sooner. But Feinstein has defended her actions, saying she was committed to respecting Ford’s pleas for confidentiality, and that she took steps as best she could to protect Ford and ensure a just nomination process.

“Senator Dianne Feinstein’s decades-long record of defending women’s rights is unimpeachable, which is why she is committed to respecting the woman’s wishes for confidentiality,” said Smeal in a statement released before Ford’s name was revealed.

Since Kavanaugh’s name was announced, Republicans have been accused of forcing his nomination forward at breakneck speeds, refusing to release the overwhelming majority of documents related to Kavanaugh’s time in the George W. Bush White House. Strategists speculate that Republicans are rushing to confirm Kavanaugh before the November elections when they risk losing control of the Senate.

Media Resources: Washington Post 9/16/18; Feminist Majority 9/14/18, 9/17/18

Voters Are Choosing Progressive Women of Color

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Last week, near the end of a primary season marked by an unprecedented numbers of victories for progressive women of color, Ayanna Pressley won the Democratic primary for the 7th district of Massachusetts, unseating ten term incumbent Rep. Mike Capuano. Massachusetts’ 7th is considered heavily Democratic, which means Pressley is poised to be the first black woman ever elected to Congress from the state of Massachusetts.

Capuano’s policy positions are closely aligned with Pressley’s, and he has had no major scandals during his twenty years in office. Democratic strategists say Pressley’s win is in line with a national trend of voters’ preference for Representatives they feel they can relate to, namely younger individuals, women, and people of color.

In similar fashion to Pressley, several other prominent women of color have won their primaries. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won her primary in New York against the current chair of the Democratic Caucus Rep. Joe Crowley, who outspent her 20-1. In Texas, political newcomer Gina Ortiz Jones is running to be the first out lesbian, the first Iraq War vet, the first Filipina-American, and the first women to represent the 23rd district. In New Mexico’s 1st district, Deb Haaland is hoping to be the first Native American woman ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Ilhan Omar, a Somali immigrant, is a favorite for the seat in Minnesota’s 5th district, a win that would make her the first Muslim woman ever elected to Congress. And in Georgia, Stacey Abrams is running to be the first black woman in the entire country to be elected Governor.

As of today, 187 Democratic women have won their primary for the U.S. House of Representatives, 15 Democratic women won their primary for the U.S. Senate, and 13 Democratic women won their primary for Governor. These are record smashing numbers.

Pennsylvania currently has no women representing the state in the U.S. Congress, but that is likely to change as women won 7 of the 18 Democratic primaries for the U.S. House. These women will be running in newly redrawn congressional districts, a move that was ordered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court after finding that the old districts violated the state’s constitution by unfairly befitting the GOP. The old map enabled the GOP to hold onto 13 of the state’s 18 seats in the U.S. House despite the fact that Democrats have almost 800,000 more registered voters than Republicans.

Last year, Democratic women dominated in the Virginia House of Delegates race, unseating 11 incumbent men and ending the GOP’s 17-year super majority in the legislature. Many of the victors were first time candidates, inspired by the current political climate, running in districts that hadn’t seen Democratic challengers in years. That blue wave, which resulted in a 51 Republican-49 Democrat split in the House of Delegates, led to Virginia becoming the 33rd state to approve Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

 

Media resources: Slate 9/4/2018; Washington Post 1/11/18, 8/14/18; New York Times 9/4/18; Mother Jones 2018; Rutgers 9/10/18; The Nation 6/19/18, 6/1/18

Today is Equal Pay Day for Southeast Asian American Women

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Today is Southeast Asian equal pay day, a day dedicated to increasing awareness of the wage gap faced by Southeast Asian women in the United States. On average, Asian American women earn 85 cents for every dollar earned by a white man, however, the gender pay gap differs among ethnicities and Southeast Asian women have one of the highest pay gaps comparatively.

Currently, the average Southeast Asian American woman make 61 cents or less for every dollar a white man makes. Breaking it down even further, Burmese women make 51 cents, Samoan women make 56 cents and Hmong women make 59 cents for every dollar a white man earns. The wage gap among Asian women also varies with age and education attainment, with older women and women with lower educational levels receiving lower wages.

According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, the pay gap results in over $7,000 of lost wages for Southeast Asian women each year. That amounts to roughly $349,000 of lost wages throughout an entire career.

South Asian Equal Pay Day marks the end of a month-long observance of Southeast Asian Equal Pay Days including the Hmong Women’s Equal Pay Day on September 11, the Vietnamese and Cambodian Women’s Equal Pay day on August 12, and the Lao Women’s Equal Pay Day on August 31.

Eliminating the wage gap could provide major changes for Southeast Asian women, many of whom are living in poverty. According to the National Partnership, 35 percent of Burmese people live in poverty and 30 percent of Hmong people live in poverty. Eliminating the wage gap could provide Asian women with additional months of childcare, tuition fees, food supplies, mortgage and rent payments.

Newswire Sources: National Partnership for Women and Families 04/18; NAPAWF aapiequalpay.org; The National Women’s Law Center 03/17

Republicans are Playing Politics Kavanaugh’s White House Records

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

On Thursday morning, Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee leaked documents from Brett Kavanaugh’s time in the George W. Bush White House that had previously been marked as committee confidential, a designation meant to protect matters of national security.

The documents that were released by Senators Cory Booker, Mazie Hirono, and Patrick Leahy were not however related to national security, but rather to issues such as racial profiling, Constitutional protections for Native Hawaiians, and Kavanaugh’s knowledge of stolen Democratic memos in 2002 respectively. Some of these materials suggest that Judge Kavanaugh knowingly lied under oath during his confirmation hearings for the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in 2004 and again in 2006.

In addition to the committee confidential materials that Senators were barred from discussing publicly, there were 100,000 documents that were excluded from Committee review altogether after the Trump administration cited executive privilege over their contents.

Private lawyer Bill Burck is responsible for reviewing and classifying all requested documents related to Kavanaugh’s time as White House counsel and then as staff secretary to President Bush. In an opening statement on Tuesday morning, Judiciary Committee member Dick Durbin stated, “By what authority is this man holding back hundreds of thousands of documents? Who is he? Who is paying him?”

Durbin wasn’t the only Democrat to raise concerns over Burck’s conflict of interest. Burck previously worked for Brett Kavanaugh in the George W. Bush White House, and currently represents multiple players in the Mueller investigation, including former-chief of staff Reince Priebus, former-chief strategist Steve Bannon, and soon-out-the-door White House counsel Don McGahn.

The National Archives acknowledged that the inclusion of an outside group has never been done before in the document review process and there is fear that it may set a precedent for future confirmations. A growing concern regarding the outsourcing of the document review process lies in the fact that Mr. Burck’s team is not responsible for following the same legal standards as are outlined for the National Archives.

Democrats have consistently questioned the validity of holding hearings without access to all relevant materials. From the start, Chairman Chuck Grassley had requested the National Archives provide only a fraction the relevant documents and refused to consider pleas from Democrats for a greater scope. The National Archives said it would take them until late October to completely fulfill Grassley’s limited document request, which is expected to total over 900,000 pages.

Republicans are rushing to confirm Kavanaugh before the Supreme Court term begins in October, and before the November elections in which they risk losing control of the Senate. The vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination is expected to take place in approximately two weeks, a full month before all of the documents have been vetted by the National Archives.

 

Media Resources: NPR 9/6/18, 9/8/18; Vox 9/4/18; The Washington Post 9/4/18; Grabien 9/4/18; The National Law Journal 9/4/18; The New York Times 9/2/18; Daily Hampshire Gazette 9/3/18, Time 9/4/18; Slate 9/7/18

Denying Justice to Campus Sexual Assault Survivors Saves Colleges Money

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Yesterday, an Education Department analysis revealed that Secretary Betsy DeVos’s newly proposed Title IX rules would significantly decrease the number of reports of and investigations into campus sexual misconduct, therefore saving colleges and school districts millions of dollars over the next decade.

Under the new rules, investigations into college campus sexual misconduct would drop 39 percent, and investigations into sexual misconducts involving elementary and secondary education institutions would drop 50 percent.

According to a New York Times report, DeVos is proposing new rules that would narrow the definition of sexual harassment, reduce liability for schools and universities, and strengthen protections for students accused of assault, harassment, or rape. Schools would be required to approach all investigations under the presumption that the accused is innocent, placing the burden on the victim to prove they were assaulted.

“The Trump administration is sending us back to an ugly time when rape victims suffered in silence in our schools, and perpetrators were able to assault multiple women with impunity,” said Gaylynn Burroughs, Director of Policy and Research at the Feminist Majority Foundation, in a previous statement.

This new rules adopt the Supreme Court’s definition of sexual harassment, which is defined as “unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex that is so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive that it denies a person access to the school’s program or activity.”

According to the New York Times report, this new standard would find an institution in violation of the law “only if its response to the sexual harassment is clearly unreasonable in light of known circumstances.” Further, the proposed rule allows schools to decide whether to have an appeals process when addressing sexual assault and allows the use of mediation between the victims and perpetrators, essentially forcing victims to “work it out” with their rapists.

Last year, DeVos rescinded policies and guidance that protected survivors of sexual assault and worked to reduce the high rates of sexual misconduct on school campuses. “Through this action, we are left wondering whether Secretary DeVos takes equal access to education for survivors seriously,” testified Burroughs before Office of Postsecondary Education. “By withdrawing the 2011 and 2014 guidance, this Administration has unfortunately sent the message that women’s education is disposable. They can either put up with sexual violence or get out.”

One in five women and one in sixteen men will be sexually assaulted while in college, and 90 percent of survivors will never report the attack.

 

Newswire Sources: The New York Times 8/29/18, 9/10/18; Feminist Newswire 10/6/17, 9/22/17

 

Again, Judges Rule North Carolina’s Congressional District Map Unconstitutional

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

On Monday, a three-judge panel on the Circuit Court of Appeals ruled North Carolina’s congressional district map as unconstitutionally gerrymandered to favor Republicans.

The judges ruled that they are reluctant to let voting in November take place until a new map is drawn. The court is still uncertain on whether to allow the general assembly to re-draw the map. According to the Washington Post, Republican legislators have stated that the map was redrawn to help Republicans and gives a partisan advantage to 10 Republicans and three Democrats. If the court agrees to give state officials another chance to draw a new map, their plans must be enacted no later than September 17.

This is the second time that North Carolina’s congressional map was ruled as unconstitutional. The same decision was reached in January and made its way to the Supreme Court. However, following the Court’s decision in Wisconsin’s gerrymandering case in June, the Supreme Court sent the North Carolina case back down to the lower court after finding that the plaintiffs did not have grounds to bring a suit.

North Carolina’s congressional map is one of the worst cases of gerrymandering in the country, according to Brennan Center for Justice. North Carolina’s map enables Republicans to take more of the state’s congressional seats, as evidenced by the 2016 election results where Republicans took 10 out of 13 of North Carolina’s congressional seats, despite only winning 53 percent of popular votes.

Since the court ruling can potentially impact which party holds control of the House after the November elections, North Carolina legislators may ask the Supreme Court to step in again. However, since Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s retirement, the Supreme Court only has eight members and a tie vote would leave the lower court’s decisions in place.

The only gerrymandering case that has so far resulted in the redrawing of districts was decided in January by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and upheld in February by the U.S. Supreme Court. In that case, the state Supreme Court ruled that the Pennsylvania’s congressional districts violated the state Constitution, not necessarily the U.S. Constitution, and therefore had to be redrawn. Under the old districts, the GOP held 13 of the state’s 18 seats in the House of Representatives despite the fact that Democrats have almost 800,000 more registered voters than Republicans. The districts have since been redrawn, and the new districts will be in place for the 2018 elections.

Newswire Sources: CNN 8/28/2018, The Washington Post 8/27/2018, The Hill 8/27/2018, Feminist Newswire 6/26/2018, The Washington Post 6/19/2018, The New York Times 6/25/2018, The Washington Post 1/10/2018, Brennan Center for Justice 2017

Protesters Unite for Justice and Reject Kavanaugh

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

With 200 events all across the country, protesters gathered on Sunday for the single-day #UniteForJustice action, demanding Senators reject Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. The #UniteForJustice day of action was organized by more than 30 organizations including NARAL Pro-Choice America and the People’s Defense, to raise awareness about the fundamental rights that would be at risk if Kavanaugh is confirmed as the next Supreme Court Justice.

“Every indication is that Brett Kavanaugh will gut Roe v. Wade, which will lead to the criminalization of abortion in many states,” said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation. FMF recently released a video featuring women who oppose Brett Kavanaugh citing their own experiences of how a lack of access to abortion care has impacted their lives.

But as protests, rallies, and actions are taking place across the country to block Kavanaugh’s nomination, Republicans in the Senate are racing to hold confirmation hearings at the beginning of next week, despite the fact that Senators have yet to see the overwhelming majority of documents related to Kavanaugh’s time working in the George W. Bush White House.

The National Archives has refused to provide Senate Democrats with relevant records, citing a policy that the Archives can only respond to requests from committee chairs, positions currently held exclusively by Republicans. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has requested that the Archives provide only a fraction of relevant documents.

Even that fraction of documents, which is expected to total over 900,000 pages, will reportedly take the Archives until late October to fulfill, long after confirmation hearings are now scheduled to begin on September 4.

Furthermore, the individual charged with reviewing the documents before their release was a former colleague of Kavanaughs who worked as a lawyer in the Bush White House, causing alarm among many Democrats who fear he will exhibit bias. The small number of documents that have so far been approved arrived in the Senate offices with parts redacted without explanation, further frustrating lawmakers who are seeking full transparency in the confirmation process.

As staff secretary, Kavanaugh managed the flow of document into the Bush Oval Office. He had the ability to provide notes and recommendations on the executive documents, as well as prioritize issues by deciding what materials were sent directly to the President as opposed to his advisors. These documents cover a wide range of issues that President Bush was involved in, including records on the Iraq War and its aftermath, the PATRIOT Act, a federal abortion ban, and controversial torture policies used against detainees under the Bush Administration.

Only 28 percent of women in the United States support his nomination, according to a CNN poll.

 

Media Resources: The Washington Post 8/15/18; Feminist Newswire 8/13/18, 8/21/18; UniteforJustice2018.com; CNN 8/16/18

 

Kavanaugh Hearings to Move Forward Without White House Records

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Today the National Archives doubled down on their refusal to provide Senate Democrats with relevant records relating to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s time in the George W. Bush White House, citing a policy that the Archives only responds to requests from committee chairs, positions currently held exclusively by Republicans.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley requested that the Archives provide only a fraction of relevant documents and has refused to consider requests from Democrats for a greater scope. Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein noted that wide-ranging document requests were fulfilled during Justice Elena Kagan’s nomination. Justice Kagan is the last Supreme Court nominee to have worked in the White House before joining the bench.

The National Archives says it will take them until late October to fulfill Grassley’s document request, which is expected to total over 900,000 pages.

Yet despite the October delivery, Chairman Grassley announced on Friday that Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings would begin on September 4, angering Democrats who want full transparency into Kavanaugh’s involvement in Bush administration policies.

Senator Patrick Leahy released a statement chastising Chairman Grassley for “[deciding] the American people do not need to see anything from Judge Kavanaugh’s three contentious years as Staff Secretary to President George W. Bush – a time the nominee himself described as ‘among the most instructive’ for him as a judge, when he provided advice ‘on any issues that may cross [the president’s] desk.’”

Senator Leahy, who presided over Kavanaugh’s D.C. Circuit Court confirmation hearing, warned that Chairman Grassley’s failure to release all of the records is even more troubling given that “the last time Judge Kavanaugh testified before the Senate, he appeared to provide a misleading account of his work on torture and detainee policies in the White House. Now we may never learn the full truth.”

As staff secretary, Kavanaugh managed the flow of documents into the Bush Oval Office. He had the ability to provide notes and recommendations on the executive documents as well as prioritize issues by deciding which materials were sent directly to the President as opposed to his advisors. These documents cover a wide-range of issues that President Bush was involved in, including records on the Iraq War and its aftermath, the PATRIOT Act, a federal abortion ban, and controversial torture policies used by the Bush Administration.

At the beginning of the month, protesters took over all three Senate Office Buildings, cramming the hallways, preventing Republican Senators from meeting with Kavanaugh. Seventy four people were arrested for civil disobedience, and were led out of the Hart Senate Office Building with their fists in the air as they sang, “Hear the voices of the sons and daughters, protect our freedom now!”

If Kavanaugh is confirmed as the next Supreme Court Justice, he would tip the balance of the Court, threatening rights for women, immigrants, workers, the environment, and our democracy for generations to come. Kavanaugh was chosen from a list of 25 jurists who were handpicked by the Federalist Society. As an extreme conservative, Kavanaugh would rank nearly the same as Justice Clarence Thomas on the ideological spectrum.

Learn more at Feminists Fight Back.

Media Resources: The Hill 8/13/18, 7/27/18; Senator Patrick Leahy Press Release 07/27/18 ; Senator Dianne Feinstein’s letter to National Archives 07/27/18

Black Women Demand More on Equal Pay Day

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

This year, Black Women’s Equal Pay Day is August 7, the point into 2018 that black women must work on average to earn the same amount that white men earned in 2017 alone. That’s over 8 months of labor. Black women are paid 63 cents to every dollar that white men earn. When compared to white men, black women earn 38 percent less, and they earn 21 percent less than white women.

National Equal Pay Day this year was held on April 10 to mark the extra months necessary for all working women to earn the same as white men. Holding a separate Black Women’s Equal Pay Day serves to emphasize the even greater disparities between white men and black women. Black women experience both gender and racial discrimination, which combine to worsen the pay gap. Because 80 percent of black mothers are also the primary income providers for their families, the wage gap has a particularly devastating effect.

Lean In, Survey Monkey, and the National Urban League conducted a survey and found that 1 in 3 people are unaware of the pay gap between black women and white men and half of the population is unaware of the gap between white and black women.

Advocacy efforts regarding the pay gap for black women underscore the importance of an intersectional approach to ending pay disparities. Other racial and ethnic minorities also see a wider gender pay gap than the national average. Latinas make 54 cents to each dollar a white man makes, and Native American women make 57 cents. Even after accounting for differing careers and levels of education, race and gender-based wage gaps remain.

At the state level, laws currently in place regarding equal pay vary drastically. In April, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed the nation’s strongest equal pay legislation to date. The law allows victims to seek repayment for up to six years of discrimination and, most significantly, requires equal pay for “substantially similar work” instead of just “equal work.” The provision permits employees to compare their work to that of similar employees with other titles or in other divisions.

On the federal level, the battle for gender pay equity has been waged for over 60 years now. The first Equal Pay Law was signed by President Kennedy in 1963, making it illegal to pay women less money for doing the same job as men. However, a Supreme Court ruling later limited the amount of time that a woman could file a wage discrimination suit against her employer to within 180 days of the first discriminatory pay check. In 2009, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, allowing women to file suit for wage discrimination no matter how much time had passed since the discrimination first began.

But in 2014, Senate Republicans unanimously blocked a bill that would have made it illegal for employers to punish employees who discussed their wages. Likewise, the Trump Administration stopped a rule passed by the Obama administration that required large employers to provide data on their employee’s pay checks broken down by gender, race, and ethnicity.

For lasting change, raising the federal minimum wage, passing pay transparency legislation like the Paycheck Fairness Act, strengthening laws that prohibit wage and employment discrimination, and expanding educational opportunities and affordable job-training programs will help to narrow the wage gap, particularly for black women.

 

Media Resources: HuffPost 8/7/18; Vox  8/7/18; Forbes 8/7/18; Equal Pay Today 8/7/18; Feminist Newswire 7/31/18; National Conference of State Legislatures 8/23/16; HuffPost 4/10/18; NBC News 8/31/17

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