Migration Category: Feminist Newswire

Stories from the Feminist News Wire.

Louisiana Set to Pass 15 Week Abortion Ban

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Last week the Louisiana state House passed a bill banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, challenging nearly half a century of legal precedent set in 1973’s Roe v. Wade. The bill has already been passed by the state Senate and now waits the Governor’s signature.

 

Spearheaded by Senator John Milkovich, the bill is pushed by ‘Alliance Defending Freedom’, a group seeking to ban abortions at a state-wide level. If successful, Louisiana women would be denied termination options earlier than the current 20-week mark, with the penalty of up to $100,000 fines and 10 years in prison for any doctor found to have violated the law.

 

The 15 week deadline falls before the medical consensus over when a fetus becomes viable outside the womb, the parameter set in Roe. Federal courts have already ruled that bans before viability, around 24 weeks, are unconstitutional. Women’s rights advocates believe this is one more bill that is intended to wind its way through the court system and potentially serve as a Constitutional challenge to Roe, thanks to a Supreme Court that right-wing politicians plan to stack with anti-abortion justices like Neil Gorsuch.

 

To become law, the Louisiana bill rests on the conclusion of a federal case currently pending in Mississippi, where the government is defending its 15-week abortion ban. While successfully signed into law by Governor Phil Bryant, a federal judge immediately blocked the ban from going into effect following a lawsuit filed by The Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of the only abortion clinic in the state.

 

“This law will absolutely disproportionately impact low-income women and women of color,” said Felicia Brown Williams, Mississippi state director for Planned Parenthood of the Southeast. “Women with financial means will always have access to abortion. They’ll be able to travel to another place to receive services.”

 

Mississippi and Louisiana, along with 16 other states, already ban abortion after 20 weeks.  A federal 20 week abortion ban recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives but failed in the U.S. Senate where it required 60 votes to pass. The overwhelming majority of abortions take place prior to the 20 week mark, and those who seek out abortion later in pregnancy often do so for very complicated and personal reasons, including severe fetal anomalies, most of which can’t be detected prior to the 20 week mark.

 

If you are a resident of Louisiana, you can take action to stop the abortion ban here.

 

 

Media Resources: The Advocate 2/5/18; Feminist Newswire 3/23/18; Rewire News 3/17/18; The Gambit 5/8/18; Right Wing Watch 1/22/18

Federal Appeals Court Hears Title IX Complaint Brought by Feminist Majority Foundation

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Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit heard oral arguments in a Title IX sex discrimination complaint brought by the Feminist Majority Foundation against the University of Mary Washington and UMW’s former president Richard Hurley.

FMF’s lawsuit alleges systemic failure to protect students from a sexually hostile school environment, sexual harassment, sex-based cyber assaults, and threats of physical and sexual violence. Co-plantiffs include Feminist United, an on campus women’s rights group affiliated with FMF, as well as five former student members of Feminists United. Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, a preeminent Constitutional law scholar, argued the appellate case on behalf of the students and FMF.

The case involves incidences that took place throughout the 2014-2015 school year on the Virginia university campus, during which time Feminists United, as well as individually named members, were targeted with cyber-stalking, sexual harassment, and threats of rape and murder on the anonymous social media app Yik Yak. The university took no action to shut down the platform or investigate who was responsible, misguidedly citing First Amendment concerns.

“Threatening women with rape and murder is not protected speech; it is blatant sex discrimination intended to silence, harass and intimidate women students who dared to protest and work against sexual violence,” said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation. “Women cannot enjoy the full benefits of an educational opportunity if they are terrorized and fearful for their physical safety.”

“The University acknowledges that the students were subjected to ‘cyber-bullying,’ harassment in over 700 anonymous online posts, and threats of rape and murder,” said Chemerinsky in a statement. “The campus did virtually nothing and even declared itself powerless to do anything. This deliberate indifference on the part of university officials violates federal civil rights laws and the U.S. Constitution.”

In court last week, two members of the three judge appeals panel stated that anonymous cyber threats of rape and murder are not protected under the First Amendment, and posed an important question to the deputy attorney general representing UMW: If the content of the anonymous Yaks had been bomb threats against the university, would the school not have done everything in its power to find the culprit? They also asked the deputy attorney general what the difference is between anonymous Yaks and flyers that are anonymously posted around campus. Chereminsky argued that just because the threats were delivered online “doesn’t give the university a pass.”

“We feared for our safety and complained numerous times to President Hurley and university administrators, but UMW repeatedly failed to investigate our  reports and took no action to address either the threats made against us, or the pervasive rape culture at school that allowed this behavior to go unchecked,” said Julia Michels, former president of Feminists United. “Even worse, when we tried to advocate for ourselves, President Hurley publicly retaliated against us, making us targets for yet another surge of online sex-based harassment.”

In May 2015, the students and FMF filed a Title IX complaint with the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education. The next day, UMW issued a public statement denying the allegations and suggesting that the students made false accusations against the university, leading to an increase in anonymous Yik Yak attacks against them. A month later, President Hurley released a hostile letter to the entire campus community and numerous media outlets accusing the women, one of them by full name, of making false claims in their OCR complaint. The letter was published in full by the Washington Post, the Associate Press, and other media outlets, and the Yik Yak attacks against the young women once again escalated.

Two years after filing the Title IX complaint with the Department of Education, OCR had yet to release any resolution. With a two year statute of limitations approaching, the lawyers representing FMF and Feminists United pulled the OCR complaint and filed a federal lawsuit. The appeal was brought after a District Court judge dismissed the case in September 2017, finding that the university had not violated Title IX. A ruling from the appeals court is expected in a few months.

Media Resources: Feminist Majority Foundation 5/8/18; Feminist Newswire 5/11/17; Washington Post 5/8/18

Pennsylvania Women Win Big in Primaries

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Pennsylvania currently has no women serving in the U.S. Congress, but that could soon change following a strong performance from women candidates in yesterday’s primary race, many of whom have a good chance at winning their general elections.

On Tuesday, Pennsylvania women won 7 of the 18 Democratic primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives, including in the hotly contested, newly redrawn 7th district where feminist candidate Susan Wild ended three points ahead of pro-Trump, anti-abortion candidate John Morganelli.

Susan Wild, who is endorsed by the Feminist Majority, is a lawyer who became the first woman to serve as Solicitor of the City of Allentown, and is an unequivocal advocate for women and reproductive rights. For years, the district that included Allentown was represented by Republican Charlie Dent, who announced his resignation from Congress only a few weeks ago. Considering that 7th district Democrats turned out almost 14,000 more voters than Republicans yesterday, it is clear that Wild has a very strong chance at the seat.

Political pundits are also expecting Democrats to pick up a seat in Pennsylvania’s new 6th district, where feminist candidate Chrissy Houlahan ran uncontested in yesterday’s race. Houlahan, also endorsed by the Feminist Majority, has worn many hats, as a member of the armed services, as a teacher, and as the COO of a major business that guaranteed health insurance for all of its employees.

These new toss up districts are a result of the newly redrawn congressional map, which was ordered after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the state’s congressional districts violated the state Constitution by unfairly benefitting the GOP. Republican leaders filed an emergency appeal asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hold that redrawing order, which the Justices then rejected.

Since Republicans drew the congressional map in 2011, the GOP has 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. Democrats are hoping the new map could help the party pick up as many as half a dozen seats in 2018.

Yesterday’s primary elections also saw a massive victory for Oregon Governor Kate Brown, endorsed by the Feminist Majority, who won the Democratic primary with an overwhelming 82.7 percent of the vote and turned out over 50,000 more Democratic voters than the Republicans.  In 2016, Brown became the first ever openly LGBTQ person to be elected governor in the United States. Since then, she has passed legislation to make it easier for transgender Oregonians to make changes to their birth certificates, and made Oregon the first state to ensure no-cost abortion, birth control and pre-natal healthcare to all residents, including undocumented immigrants, gender non-conforming people, and transgender individuals.

 

Media Resources: New York Times 5/16/18; Feminist Newswire 2/6/18, 11/11/18, 6/5/17, 8/21/18; Vox 5/15/18

Arizona Teachers Strike to Protest Low Wages and Funding Cuts

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Yesterday, Arizona teachers successfully ended their five day walkout after the Governor signed a plan giving educators a 19 percent pay raise.

The walkout, organized by Arizona Educators United and other advocacy groups, began April 26, with more than 50,000 teachers , staff, and supporters participating in a rally at the state capitol building on Monday to demand higher wages and better funding for education. Approximately 60 school districts in Arizona have been closed due to the lack of staff and teachers during the walkout.

While the teachers got a significant pay raise, they did not get all of their demands. The current budget plan does not increase per-student funding, provide raises for support staff, or allow for hiring additional school counselors. But teachers say they will not stop fighting for these issues.

The teacher walkout in Arizona closely follows the teacher strikes happening in several other states in the last few weeks. In West Virginia, teachers held a nine- day walkout, the longest teacher strike in the history of the state, to demand a pay increase for teachers. In West Virginia, the average teaching salary is $10,000 less than the national average. Governor Jim Justice signed a bill into law that would allow for a 5% pay increase.

Teachers in Oklahoma also led a successful walkout to protest the lack of resources and funding for public schools and the below average wages for teachers and support staff. After several days of protesting, Oklahoma teachers won a $6,000 raise in salary and support staff won $1,250. Though the walkout came to an end, organizers and teaching staff have promised to shift their energy and momentum to electing candidates who will prioritize increased funding for public schools.

According to a US Department of Education Study, more than 75% of public school teachers are women, which, according to many women’s rights activists, contributes to the fact that teachers are undervalued and underpaid across the country. In an interview with USA Today, Carrena Rouse, President of the Boone County, WV chapter of the American Federation of Teachers said “”I think it’s a countrywide problem where somewhere along the way it became OK to disrespect women.”

Media Resources: CNN 5/1/18, 3/6/18; AZ Central 4/30/18; ABC 4/30/18; Feminist Newswire 4/2/18, 2/26/18; New York Times 4/12/18; Tuscon.com 5/1/18; USA Today 4/2/18

Journalists Killed While Covering Explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan

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A suicide bomber who was posing as a journalist detonated explosives among a group of media workers who had rushed to cover the scene of an earlier explosion in Kabul on Monday, April 30.

ISIS took credit for the attacks which killed 30 civilians including nine journalists. The attack took place in a heavily-secured area of the city, which houses the headquarters for NATO and the U.S. Embassy. It came just nine days after a suicide bomber targeted an election facility in Kabul, killing 60 people and wounding dozens.

The same day, a reporter from BBC Pashto was shot by men on motorcycles, becoming the 10th journalist to die that day in Afghanistan.

Monday’s bombing against media was the worst since the one in January 2016 that targeted a TOLO TV staff bus, killing seven and wounding 26.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the attack, stating, “Despite today’s attack, the vibrant media landscape that has developed in Afghanistan will endure, in large part due to those journalists and media professionals who tragically died in today’s attack, but whose courageous and steadfast work helped lay the foundation for Afghanistan’s thriving and resilient independent media.”

AFP chief executive Fabrice Fries, who lost a colleague in the bombing, said in a statement, “This tragedy reminds us of the danger that our teams continually face on the ground and the essential role journalists play for democracy.”

According to Afghanistan Journalists Safety Committee, during the past 15 years, more than 80 journalists have been killed in Afghanistan, with over 20 dead in 2017 alone.

A 2017 Survey of the Afghan People revealed that Afghans are more hesitant about their futures and security than in previous years. But despite the increased security concerns, when the survey asked women to name the greatest challenge they face in their area, 38% voiced concern regarding illiteracy and access to education. Following education, women’s primary concerns are economic problems and domestic violence.

Media Resources: Tolo 4/30/18; CNN 5/1/18; Feminist Newswire 11/15/17

Women’s and Labor Rights Advocates hold Enough is Enough Summit on Sex Harassment

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Last week the Enough is Enough Summit and Briefing on Capitol Hill harnessed the momentum of the #MeToo movement to bring together a diverse group of lawyers, activists, and policy makers to think through comprehensive survivor-centered policy solutions to the sexual harassment and violence epidemic in workplaces and schools. The Summit was organized by the Feminist Majority Foundation in partnership with the National Organization for Women, Unite Here!, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, National Congress of Black Women, Legal Momentum, and the National Council of Jewish Women.

Through a series of panels, speakers discussed the benefits, details and unforeseen consequences of legislation that has already been put forward, as well as new initiatives that have not yet been considered.  From the Summit, the partnering organizations are developing a clear list of strategic policy demands that will address the crisis of sexual harassment and violence in workplaces and schools.

According to Chai Feldblum, Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 60 percent of women experience gender discrimination at some point in their career, but 70 percent never report it to anybody. “People who report sexual harassment deserve to be told ‘Thank you!’” stated Feldbum. “Right now that’s not usually what they get.”

“In the sphere of harassment, women of color experience that harassment in much more pernicious ways,” said Deborah J. Vagins, Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Research at the American Association of University Women. “Women of color are paid less, they are underrepresented in high wage sectors, and they are overly represented in low wage sectors.”

Many pieces of comprehensive legislation were discussed, from Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s Ending Secrecy About Workplace Sexual Harassment Act to the Ending Forced Arbitration Act of 2017, which is being championed by former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson.

But one of the prime areas of debate centered around whether or not feminists should endorse opening up Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for amendment. Title VII is supposed to protect against discrimination in the workplace based on sex, but it has many limitations: there is a strict statute of limitations for filing a discrimination complaint; employees who file suit can receive a payout of no more than $300,000 from massive corporations; a person who works at a company with less than 15 employees is not covered at all; and there is no judicial standard for determining what cases of harassment are considered severe and pervasive. While there are many flaws that need to be fixed in Title VII, some feel that opening up the bill during this hostile administration could lead to it being completely gutted all together.

Agricultural workers, who are often considered contractors, are an example of the type of women who are not covered by current law, but who are in desperate need of a solution to the epidemic of sexual harassment and violence. “There are 700,000 farmworker women in this country and for too long migrant women have not been counted as workers. The reality is that women’s work has never been valued the way men’s work has” said Monica Ramirez, Co-founder and President of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas. “90 percent of farmworker women say that sexual violence is a problem for them. For so long people didn’t want to hear about what was happening in our fields. But the moment is now.”

Domestic workers also face high rates of sexual violence on the job, but currently have only weak protections. June Barrett, Leader and Organizer with the National Domestic Workers Alliance We Dream in Black Program stated, “Domestic workers are some of the most vulnerable. When we disappear behind closed doors, we don’t have an HR. These men who are still operating in plantation mode think they can do whatever they want.”

“Before you get to the workplace, you need to teach girls about their bodies and standing up for themselves when they’re in elementary school,” said Carolyn Baldwin Moody, President and CEO of Legal Momentum.

For this reason, Title IX, which seeks to prevent sex based discrimination at educational institutions, was another major area of discussion at the Summit. The Department of Education under the Trump administration and Secretary Betsy DeVos recently rescinded Obama-era policies and guidance that protected survivors of sexual assault and worked to reduce the high levels of sexual assault on college and university campuses. Congresswoman Jackie Speier’s Title IX Protection Act would codify that rescinded guidance into law. Today, one in five women will be assaulted while in college.

Lawyers from the firm Katz, Marshall and Banks discussed the Feminist Majority Foundation’s (FMF) Title IX lawsuit against the University of Mary Washington, which will be heard by an appellate court on May 8. FMF’s lawsuit alleges a systemic failure to protect students from a sexually hostile school environment, sexual harassment, sex-based cyber assaults, and threats of physical and sexual violence.  The lawsuit came after the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education failed to release any resolution almost two years after a Title IX complaint was filed.

“We want to strengthen Title VII, Title XI and the Violence Against Women Act. And every step of the way we are pushing for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment,” said Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation. “We are marching in the streets and we are not stopping. This is a historic moment.”

Media Resources: Office of Congreswoman Carolyn Maloney 4/25/18; Feminist Newswire 10/26/16, 9/22/17, 10/13/17, 5/11/17

Reproductive Justice and Immigrant Rights Activist Detained by ICE Granted Bond

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In March, Alejandra Pablos was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement  (ICE) and was held in the Eloy Detention Center in Arizon for 43 days. Alejandra traveled to Arizona from Virginia for a scheduled check-in with ICE where she was subsequently detained. On April 19, Alejandra was released from the Eloy Detention Center after a judge granted her request for bond.

Alejandra is a vocal activist in Washington, D.C. who works at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health as the Virginia Latina Advocacy Network field coordinator, works with digital and grassroots social organizing hub Mijente, and is an abortion storyteller with We Testify, a program of the National Network of Abortion Funds. These organizations and groups, as well as others across the country, spoke out, organized, and raised funds to make Ale’s release happen.

Mijente launched a petition for Alejandra’s release that gained over 20,000 signatures and social justice activists and organizations from across the country wrote letters in support of Alejandra’s release.  Supporters raised the necessary $8,000 to pay Alejandra’s bond on April 19.

Several organizations suspect Alejandra was detained due to her political activism and her participation at a protest outside the Department of Homeland Security just a few weeks before she was detained.

Media Resources: Rewire News 4/19/2018, 3/7/2018; USA Today AZ Central 4/19/2018; Mijente 4/19/2018

Desiree Linden Becomes First American Woman to Win Boston Marathon in Over Three Decades

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Desiree Linden won the women’s division of the Boston Marathon on Monday; the first American woman to win the race since 1985. It was a big day for American women, who claimed seven of the top eight spots in the race. The conditions were terrible  But Linden pushed her way through a powerful headwind and cold rain to triumph at the Boston Marathon- the first time a U.S. woman has won in 33 years. Linden was almost speechless as she crossed the finish line embracing her husband and coach. “It’s supposed to be hard,” Linden told reporters after the face, shivering with a wreath atop her head. “It’s good to get it done.”

While her winning time of 2 hours, 39 minutes and 54 seconds isn’t her personal best, it was enough to bring her to victory given the poor weather conditions. In the 2011 Boston Marathon, Linden came in second, just two seconds behind winner Caroline Kilel. Linden is also a two-time Olympian medalist. Winning this years’ marathon has been a personal goal of Linden for years.

Linden represented the United States at both the London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.

Activists Observe Inaugural Black Maternal Health Week

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On April 11, the Black Mama’s Matter Alliance launched the inaugural Black Maternal Health Week  (April 11-17) to promote awareness about the high mortality rate for Black mothers in the United States.

According to the Black Mama’s Matter Alliance, the events of the inaugural Black Maternal Health Week “serve to amplify the voices of Black mamas and center the values and traditions of the reproductive and birth justice movements. Activities during BMHW are rooted in human rights, reproductive justice, and birth justice frameworks.”

Activists wrote articles, launched digital campaigns, hosted webinars, held movie screenings, and facilitated community discussions in several states to bring attention to the dangerous health crisis that impacts Black mothers and their children, families, and communities.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, Black mothers die at more than 3 times the rate of white mothers due to pregnancy related conditions and complications nationally. In Texas, the state Maternal Mortality Task Force found that while Black women only account for 11.4% of all births, Black women constituted 28.4% of maternal deaths in the state. In New York City, Black mothers are 12 times more likely to die than their white counterparts.

Black maternal mortality gained media attention after Serena Williams, internationally recognized tennis champion, almost died after giving birth to her daughter in September of 2017. She had previously suffered from a pulmonary embolism and when she felt shortness of breath after having a C-section, she quickly alerted her medical team. She was rushed back into surgery where the doctors were able to save her life. Williams’ experience is very similar to that of many other Black mothers in the United States. In 2017, an NPR and ProPublica report told the story of Shalon Irving, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just three weeks after giving birth, Irving died from postpartum blood pressure complications. A report on maternal morbidity in New York City released in 2016, reported Black women with advanced degrees are more likely to die from childbirth complications than white women without a high school diploma.

According to several studies, the reason for the higher rate of Black maternal mortality is due to systemic social inequalities and racial biases in the medical profession. Studies have shown that doctors often take the pain of women and Black patients less seriously, and therefore fail to prescribe the appropriate medication. Additionally, research has found that many medical professionals still hold baseless presumptions of biological difference between Black and white people. resulting in a lower quality of care for Black patients.

Media resources: NPR 12/7/2017; New York Times 4/11/2018; Feminist Majority Blog 8/24/2017; Rewire News 4/11/2018, 4/17/2018; CNN 2/20/2018; Black Mamas Matter Alliance; The Guardian 8/10/2016

Illinois Senate Votes To Ratify the Equal Rights Amendment

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Yesterday the Illinois State Senate voted 43-12 with no debate to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The initiative now heads to the Illinois House, where advocates warn passage is not a “slam-dunk.” While both chambers have approved the ERA in the past, it has never cleared both the Senate and the House in the same legislative session.

All 12 of the nay votes came from Republicans, and all but one woman Senator voted to ratify. It is the first piece of legislation ever endorsed by the newly formed bipartisan women’s caucus.

“I think voting to ratify the ERA helps give voice to (the women of the #MeToo movement) and say, ‘We hear you, we are with you and we agree,” said Senator Healther Steans. “It’s high time we provide equal rights to women across the country.”

Like many state Capitols across the country, Illinois’ has faced multiple sexual harassment allegations against lawmakers and top aides. This week, they began newly required training aimed at combatting sexual harassment and discrimination.

The ERA passed both houses of the U.S. Congress in 1972, and like every proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution, was sent to the states for ratification. The amendment lost momentum after the arbitrary ten year ratification deadline set by Congress came in 1982. The amendment was three states short of the 38 needed for ratification. But the push for the ERA has received renewed attention following the election of Donald Trump, and a year ago, Nevada became the 36th state, and the first state since 1982, to ratify the ERA.

Many Constitutional scholars believe that because the time limit is in the pre-amble of the amendment, and therefore not part of the wording voted on by the states, it is subject to an extension by a vote in Congress. Thousands demonstrated in Washington in 1978—the original ERA deadline—and Congress granted an extension until June 30, 1982.

The ERA’s passage would be far from symbolic; it will help women in cases of discrimination in education, employment, wages, insurance benefits, scholarship, military service, social security, violence against women, and more. Without the passage of the ERA, women have been forced to gain equality law by law. If the ERA is ratified by 38 states and becomes the law of the land, there would be a Constitutional provision against the Supreme Court, Congress or state legislatures gutting equality on the basis of sex.

Local governments have joined the fight for ratification. In January, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously for a resolution in support of the Virginia legislature ratifying the ERA. And in 2016, the Durham City Council passed a resolution calling on the North Carolina state legislature to ratify.

Media Resources: Chicago Tribune 4/12/18; Feminist Newswire 4/24/17, 1/25/18

Appeals Court Hands Down Major Equal Pay Win

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Yesterday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it is illegal for employers to consider a woman’s previous salary when determining pay for her new job, as it perpetuates pay discrimination between men and women. The groundbreaking decision came the day before the national Equal Pay Day, which marks the point into 2018 that women must work on average to earn the same amount earned by men in just 2017.

The case was brought by a California teacher who learned in 2012 that she was earning thousands of dollars less than her male colleagues. In 2009, when she initially took the job in Fresno County, the policy of the superintendent was to add 5 percent to the previous salary of all new hires.

But the 11-judge panel unanimously determined that this practice is inherently discriminatory under the Equal Pay Act due to the fact that previous salaries could have been the result of gender bias, thus the new salary perpetuates a cycle of underpaying women for the same work as men. This decision overturns the one reached by a 3-judge panel of the same court. The Fresno County superintendent says he will appeal to the Supreme Court.

“Employers always point to salary history to justify paying an employee less, which just institutionalizes the discrimination,” said employment attorney Debra Katz to the Washington Post.

According to salary data from 2015, women make an average of 80 cents to a man’s dollar, but the racial disparity in the gender wage gap is vast. For every dollar earned by a white man, Asian American and Pacific Islander women earn an average of 87 cents, white non-Hispanic women earn 76 cents, black women earn 62 cents, American Indian women earn 58 cents, and Hispanic/Latina women earn 54 cents.

The fights for gender pay equity on the federal level have been a back and forth tug for over 60 years. 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. However, a Supreme Court ruling later limited the amount of time that a woman had to 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.

In August, the Trump administration stalled a 2016 Obama-era initiative that empowered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to collect pay data sorted by gender, race, and ethnicity from businesses with 100 or more employees. The Trump administration called the rule, which would have required employers to provide only summary data, not specific salary information on individual employees, “enormously burdensome” and unhelpful. But most employers were already prepared to file this data and a number of large public companies began widely disclosing this information in recent years. The policy was purposefully crafted with the employer community in mind and the goal of efficiency. Since then, the National Women’s Law Center and other women’s rights organizations have filed a lawsuit to keep the program in place.

 

Media Resources: Washington Post 4/9/18; Vice 4/10/18; Feminist Newswire 8/30/17

Flint Residents Will No Longer Receive Free Bottled Water

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Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced late last week that the state would no longer be supplying residents of Flint with free bottled water, despite the fact that Flint is still suffering from dangerously high levels of lead in their tap water.

State officials are arguing that the city’s water supply meets federal standards, however that water becomes contaminated when it flows through the thousands of lead pipes that the city has yet to replace. Replacements are not expected to be completed until 2020, and many Flint residents rightly do not trust the tap water for drinking, eating or bathing.

“We did not cause the manmade water disaster, therefore adequate resources should continue being provided until the problem is fixed and all the lead and galvanized pipes have been replaced,” said Flint mayor Karen Weaver. Weaver found out about the state’s decision only moments before it was announced, and said she would speak to the governor about extending the water bottle distribution.

57 percent of Flint residents are black and 42 percent are impoverished. High lead levels are especially dangerous to children, pregnant women, and fetuses. Thus, the lead-tainted water in Flint has disproportionately impacted people of color, people living below the poverty line, women, and children.

The Flint water crisis began in April of 2014, when Flint switched water sources from Detroit to the Flint River, partially as a cost-saving measure. Residents immediately complained that the water from the Flint River looked, tasted, and smelled unclean, and that it caused hair loss, rashes, and other health complications. However, Flint government official continued to insist that the water was safe, ignoring studies that showed high levels of lead in the water and signs of lead poisoning among Flint children, until September 25, 2015. It was then that Governor Snyder first public acknowledged that the water contained high lead levels.

A 2016 study by the American Journal of Public Health found that lead rates in Flint’s children doubled after the city switched water supplies, and the lead tainted water has been linked to 12 cases of Legionnaires disease that resulted in death. Legionaires disease is a form of bacterial pneumonia caused by inhaling water vapor that contains Legionella bacteria.

In June 2017, head of the Michigan state health department Nick Lyon, former Flint water manager Howard Croft, former Flint Emergency manager Darnell Eearly, and Michigan Environmental Quality members Stephen Busch and Liane Shekter-Smith  were charged by the Michigan attorney general with involuntary manslaughter for their failure to address water safety in Flint.

In his charging report, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said these officials had failed to properly inform the public of the Legionnaire’s disease outbreak, and of the possibility that other outbreaks could occur. Schuette said that Lyon had, “willfully disregarded the deadly nature” of the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, which resulted in the death of Flint citizens.

This year, over a dozen states sued the Trump administration over their decision to suspend implementation of the 2015 Clean Water Rule, which clarifies which waterways are protected by the Clean Water Act, extending environmental regulations to streams, wetlands, and other small waterways that provide drinking water to a third of Americans, some 117 million people. The states are arguing that the administration’s decision was made without consulting scientific evidence.

Media Resources: New York Times 4/8/18; ABC News 4/9/18; Feminist Newswire 6/16/17; Bloomberg 2/6/18

Oklahoma Teachers Strike Over Funding Failures

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Teachers in Oklahoma are boycotting school and taking to the state Capitol today to demand better wages and more school funding in the wake of a successful teacher strike in West Virginia last month.

Oklahoma pays its teachers one of the three lowest average salaries in the country. For years Oklahoma has been cutting taxes, especially for the oil and gas industries, leading to a severe budget problem that has pushed lawmakers to reduce education spending by 28 percent over the last decade. Lawmakers are resistant to raising taxes on the oil and gas industry above 5%, by far the lowest state tax rate for oil and gas in the nation.   “We feel our state Legislature has chosen the oil and gas industry over our kids,” stated one teacher.

The state’s education advocates are now demanding a $10,000 raise for teachers, a $5,000 raise for support staff, and an additional $200 million budgeted for education funding.  Last week, state lawmakers attempted to avert the walkout by passing a weakly constructed funding bill that includes a $6,100 raise for teachers, $1,250 raise for support stuff, and an additional $50 million in education funding. But teachers say that is not good enough. The $50 million increase the state gave is not even enough to buy one textbook per student in Oklahoma. One superintendent said it would cost a million dollars alone to replace his district’s outdated math textbooks.

“Why are we walking?” asked Alicia Priest, president of the Oklahoma Education Association. “There are 700,000 reasons why: our students. And they deserve better…They see broken chairs in class, outdated textbooks that are duct taped together, and class sizes that have ballooned.”

Teachers aren’t the only public sector employees in Oklahoma who are threatened by the tax giveaways to massive corporations, especially the oil industry. Social programs are being stripped, state troopers are forced to ration their gas, and prisons are dangerously overcrowded. “It’s almost like the oil and gas people have more say than the people that actually voted (lawmakers) in,” said teacher Alberto Morejon.

Kentucky teachers are also leading a walkout today to protest a lack of education funding and threats to their pensions. Teachers in Arizona are also considering going on strike if their demands for a 20 percent pay raise are not met. After nine days of protesting, teachers and school staff in West Virginia received a 5% pay increase last month.

Media Resources: Huffington Post 4/2/18; CNN 4/2/18, 4/2/18

 

Kentucky Works to Outlaw Common & Safe Abortion Procedure

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

This week Kentucky lawmakers voted to outlaw a common and safe procedure known as dilation and evacuation that accounts for 95% of abortions performed after the first trimester, essentially banning all abortions after 11 weeks.

The bill has been sent to the anti-abortion Governor and abortion-rights advocates are already promising to file a lawsuit if the ban is signed. Courts have already blocked similar laws in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. Kentucky already bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Last fall, a federal judge struck down HB 2, an anti-abortion law that required patients seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound before the procedure. HB 2 also required abortion providers to describe the image on the ultrasound and play audio of the fetus’s heartbeat in the hopes of deterring patients from following through with the procedure. Judge David Hale of the Western District of Kentucky handed down the decision that the law violates the First Amendment and “appears to inflict psychological harm on abortion patients.”

There is one abortion clinic left in the entire state of Kentucky: EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville. Current Governor Matt Bevins successfully shut down every other abortion clinic by pursuing licensing disputes through the State Cabinet for Health and Family Services. So far, he has blocked the Planned Parenthood from continuing to perform abortions, closed the EMW clinic in Lexington, and worked tirelessly to try and shut down the Louisville health center.

The EMW Louisville was ordered by Governor Bevin to stop performing abortions in April because of a “deficient” license, but the clinic was granted a temporary restraining order by a federal judge. Governor Bevin’s brother, Tim Bevin, has even been involved in a protest outside of the clinic.

The embattled single abortion clinic is frequently targeted by extremists. Every morning, Tuesday through Saturday, the political debate over abortion spills to the front door of the Louisville clinic, where anti-abortion extremists gather to hurl insults and fake inflammatory images at women who walk by. Clinic escorts are forced to strategically stand at points around the block to help women safely enter the healthcare center.

In May, Operation Save America (OSA)—an anti-abortion extremist group—performed a blockade at the health clinic, leading to the arrest of ten people. Blockading the entrance to a clinic is a federal crime under the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance (FACE) Act. Among those arrested was Rusty Thomas, leader of OSA, who has publicly advocated for punishing women who obtain abortions by charging them with murder. A year ago, Governor Bevin actually addressed leaders of OSA in a 30 minute speech.

The Feminist Majority Foundation’s (FMF) 2016 National Clinic Violence Survey recently found that 91.1 percent of clinics experience some type of anti-abortion activity, such as protesting, with 63.2 percent of providers experiencing activity at least once a week, and a quarter of clinics experiencing it every day. Blocking access to a clinic is considered one of the most severe types of threats and violence experienced by clinics. The number of clinics that report these experiences has skyrocketed since 2014, from 19.7 percent to 34.2 percent.

Media Resources: USA Today 3/29/18; Feminist Majority 10/5/18, 7/17/17

Linda Brown, Icon of School Desegregation, Dies at 75

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Linda Brown, who as a child was at the center of the historical Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, died on Sunday in Topeka, Kansas at the age of 75.

Brown grew up in a fairly integrated neighborhood. In a 1985 interview, she recalled, “I played with children that were Spanish-American. I played with children that were white, children that were Indian, and black children in my neighborhood.”

Her parents were dissatisfied that despite having a white school in her neighborhood, Brown was forced to walk long distances through dangerous traffic to get to the black elementary school. When they tried to enroll her in the local white school, she was denied, and her father filed a lawsuit with the assistance of the NAACP.

The case was argued before the Supreme Court by Thurgood Marshall, who magnificently reasoned that the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) was an unconstitutional method for keeping black people “as near slavery as possible,” leading to a ruling that effectively ordered the end of segregation in America’s public schools. By the time the ruling came down, Brown was already attending an integrated middle school. Unfortunately, school segregation would continue for years after the ruling, until nine black students entered what had up until that point been an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, escorted by federal troops against the orders of the Governor.

In 1979, Linda Brown reopened a version of the original case, arguing that Topeka had not done a sufficient job integrating the public schools. The courts agreed with her, and the case led to the opening of several magnet schools.

Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, stated, “Linda Brown is one of that special band of heroic young people who, along with her family, courageously fought to end the ultimate symbol of white supremacy—racial segregation in public schools. She stands as an example of how ordinary schoolchildren took center stage in transforming this country.”

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 8/20/18; New York Times 3/26/18; NPR 3/26/18

Thousands March For Our Lives

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

On Saturday, thousands of people took the streets of more than 800 cities and towns around the world to take part in the March For Our Lives, a student-led movement advocating for commonsense gun reform in the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 students and teachers on Valentine’s Day.

Students from Parkland used the march in Washington DC to lift up the voices of young people of color from communities across the country that experience gun violence every day.  Stoneman Douglas students continuously pointed out that the Parkland shooting received significantly more attention than the majority of gun deaths in America, largely because it took place in an affluent, majority-white community.

A number of the impactful speakers at the main march in DC were not even yet teenagers. Martin Luther King’s 9-year-old granddaughter Yolanda Renee King stunned the crowd when she announced that she had a dream of living in “a gun-free world.” And Naomi Wadler, an 11-year-old who led a walkout at her Alexandria, Virginia elementary school, brought attention to the black women and girls who are killed by gun violence in disproportionate numbers, stating “For far too long, these names…have been just numbers. I’m here to say ‘never again’ for those girls, too.”

Many students were wearing price tags that read “$1.05,” the amount of money that Marco Rubio has received from the National Rifle Association (NRA) divided by the number of students in the state of Florida. “This is how much we’re worth to the…government. It’s our price tag,” said Stoneman Douglas freshman Lauren Hogg.

The students have been demanding that politicians address the epidemic of gun violence and are calling out those who take money from the NRA in exchange for silence and inaction. Despite the majority of Americans supporting policies like universal background checks, bans on assault weapons, and barring gun purchases for people on the terrorist watch list, the NRA has succeeded in blocking almost all federal legislation over the last ten years that would have implemented stronger gun laws.

Recent gun control activism on the part of young people pushed lawmakers in Florida to pass a law this month raising the legal age for buying rifles to 21, but also allowing the training and arming of teachers and school administrators. The new law also bans bump stocks, makes it easier for police to confiscate weapons from dangerous individuals, and institutes a three day waiting period on all gun sales. Hours after it was signed into law, the NRA filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida arguing that the age restriction violates the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

A week after the Parkland shooting, Oregon lawmakers passed a gun control bill closing a loophole that allowed abusers who had been convicted of domestic violence, but did not live with, marry or have children with their victims, to purchase and own firearms. The new law closes the so-called “boyfriend loophole” and will also apply to those convicted of stalking or people under restraining orders. One in three women and one in four men will be the victim of intimate partner violence in their lifetime.

Media Resources: CNN 3/25/18; BBC 3/10/18; Feminist Newswire 2/20/18, 3/1/18

Judge Blocks Mississippi’s 15 Week Abortion Ban

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

On Tuesday a federal judge temporarily blocked a new Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, the most restrictive abortion law in the country.

The suit was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi. At the time the lawsuit was filed, 3 women were scheduled for abortions at 15 weeks.

The judge stopped the law from going into effect the day after it passed, writing “The Supreme Court says every woman has a constitutional right to ‘personal privacy’ regarding her body.” The 15 week deadline falls before the medical consensus over when a fetus becomes viable outside the womb, the parameter set in Roe v. Wade. Federal courts have already ruled that bans before viability, around 24 weeks, are unconstitutional.

State Senator Deborah Dawkins (D-Pass Christian) tried to add on four amendments to the abortion ban bill: one requiring the state to pay for childcare for any woman who opts out of an abortion between 12-15 weeks gestation, one providing that woman with the same health insurance that Mississippi lawmakers enjoy, one providing that health insurance to her child, and one covering state college tuition for that child. All of the amendments were thrown out.

Women’s rights advocates believe lawmakers intend for the bill to wind its way through the court system and potentially serve as a Constitutional challenge to Roe, thanks to a Supreme Court that right-wing politicians intend to stack with anti-abortion justices like Neil Gorsuch.

“In Mississippi we have no money for roads and bridges, we have no money for Medicaid, we have no money for schools,” said Felicia Brown-Williams, Mississippi state director for Planned Parenthood Southeast. “The fact that legislators are choosing very intentionally to focus on this issue…that will suck up state resources is irresponsible and unconscionable.”

Mississippi, along with 17 other states, already bans abortion after 20 weeks. Women in Mississippi are forced to travel up to six hours roundtrip just to access an abortion. And because the state requires a 24 hour waiting period, the trip often has to be made twice.

“This (law) will absolutely disproportionately impact low-income women and women of color,” said Brown-Williams. She continued, “Women with financial means will always have access to abortion. They’ll be able to travel to another place to receive services.”

A federal 20-week abortion ban recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives but failed in the U.S. Senate where it required 60 votes to pass. The bill was based on the false idea that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks. This argument has been refuted by the vast majority of medical professionals, with the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecologists finding that a fetus’s capacity for pain “does not develop until the third trimester at the earliest, well past the period between 20 weeks and viability.”

The overwhelming majority of abortion take place prior to the 20 week mark, and those who seek out abortion later in pregnancy often do so for very complicated and personal reasons, including severe fetal anomalies, most of which can’t be detected prior to the 20 week mark.

Media Resources: Reuters 3/20/18; Rewire 3/21/18

Supreme Court Hears Case on Fake Reproductive Health Clinics

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard the first abortion-related case of the Trump Administration. The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Becerra could determine whether or not fake reproductive health centers are allowed to mislead patients about their legitimacy as health centers and what kinds of medical services they provide.

At issue is a California law requiring fake health clinics, otherwise known as crisis pregnancy centers, to disclose that they are not licensed medical providers and to post notices providing information about California’s public programs offering access to family planning, prenatal care, and abortion services. The fake clinics argue that this is a violation of their right to free speech. The law has already been upheld by federal courts.

California’s law represents an effort to curb the proliferation of anti-abortion, faith-based fake health clinics and address the public health threat posed by their deceptive practices. Fake clinics frequently pose as comprehensive women’s health centers and advertise under “abortion” and “family planning” services, but do not offer abortions, contraception, or referrals, and have been repeatedly shown to provide false or misleading information about reproductive health services.

If the Court does strike down the law, it could hurt efforts to expose fake clinics, but it could also help abortion rights supporters in their attempts to undue state laws requiring doctors to share medically false information to patients seeking abortion.

 

Media Resources: Huffington Post 3/20/18

Saudi Women Can Now Win Custody of Kids After Divorce

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

According to a statement from the Saudi Information Ministry, women in the country can now gain custody of their children after a divorce without having to file a lawsuit as long as there are no disputes between the parents.

Women previously had to petition courts to win custody after a divorce in a process that could take many years. They now only have to apply for custodianship, though it still goes to the father by default. In addition to retaining custody, they can also collect child support and apply for and collect their children’s passports. However, women are still not allowed to leave the country with their children lacking a judge’s permission.

This change comes as a part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which includes many social and economic reforms with the goal to strengthen the country’s economy, modernize aspects of their society and establish Saudi Arabia as “the heart of the Arab and Islamic worlds, the investment powerhouse, and the hub connecting three continents” according to the project’s website. Lessening Saudi Arabia’s economic dependence on oil and empowering Saudi women are two movements within Vision 2030. This is because much of the economic change Vision 2030 wants to see depends upon women in the kingdom who previously were barred from participating in the economy in many ways.

This movement has been spearheaded by the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. One of the most notable changes seen so far is the royal decree issued in September 2017 announcing that women would have the right to drive a car, which was justified by a Saudi prince as an economic necessity. Women have also recently been permitted to enter a stadium to watch a soccer game and to join the military (though only in certain positions).

These monumental steps forward for women would not have been possible without the brave feminist activists in Saudi Arabia who have been participating in acts of civil disobedience for decades, like driving illegally, to protest bans on their rights.

Many advocates across Saudi Arabia, and other human rights activists believe that Saudi Arabia still has significant room to grow. The World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Saudi Arabia 138th out of 144 countries on gender parity. The kingdom is accused of formal legal discrimination based on gender, and has laws that require women to obtain permission from a male family member in order to apply for a passport, travel, marry, get divorced, open a bank account, get a job, or have certain medical operations. Women are also separated from men outside of their family and required to wear abayas, full length robes, in public.

 

Sources: Al Jazeera 9/27/17; BBC 1/13/18; CNN 3/12/18; Khaleej Times 3/12/18

Today is International Women’s Day

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Women’s Day was launched in March of 1910 in solidarity with the women garment factory workers who had been striking for 11 weeks in New York City. At the time, union leadership was dominated by men, but these women, mostly teenagers and immigrants, took it upon themselves to demand better working conditions and higher pay, as well as women’s suffrage.  Passion to join the movement was ignited around the world and global feminists immediately proposed making the day an international one.

In recognition that we are all in this together, many feminist organizations in the United States and around the globe focus not just on the empowerment of women in their own communities, but around the world, including the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF).

Through the Campaign for Afghan Women & Girls, FMF sponsors scholarships, supports Afghan women-owned businesses, and facilitates briefings between Afghan activists and American lawmakers. Since 1996, FMF has been committed to building a grassroots constituency around foreign policy that invests in Afghan women and girls, the same work for which FMF was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Centering the voices and experiences of Afghan women and girls is key to forging lasting peace policy in the country.

At a Congressional Briefing hosted by FMF this past summer, Afghan women’s and human rights activists detailed their recommendations for future U.S. policy in Afghanistan and outlined positive changes that have occurred over the past 20 years. Portrayals of Afghanistan in the American media most often show war, women in burkas, and extreme violence. In reality, however, women and girls now have much more opportunity to attend schools and access healthcare facilities. There are also a growing number of women participating in free media, music programs, advocacy, athletics, the military, and the electorate.

Throughout the last year, FMF has also been fighting to end President Trump’s extended Global Gag Rule, a deadly U.S. policy that forbids international aid programs that receive U.S. global health funding from providing, counseling on, or even referencing the word abortion, even if these actions are done with non-U.S. sourced funds. Marie Stopes estimates it will lead to the deaths of an additional 21,000 women over the next four years. FMF has protested in front of the White House, spread awareness about it in the media, and fought for legislation that would repeal the deadly policy.

“Trump is shamelessly trading the lives of the poorest women of the Global South for political points at home,” said Eleanor Smeal, president of FMF. “We are calling on Congress to stop this blatant disregard for women’s lives and pass the Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights (HER) Act, which would permanently revoke the Global Gag Rule.”

Additionally, FMF advocates for increased U.S. global family planning initiatives. As the largest donor to global health funding in the world, the United States should be prioritizing greater birth control access, which is required if we truly want to empower women around the world to achieve their full potential. FMF’s campaign requires not only advocating for funding in Congress, but also putting pressure on the Trump administration to fill key State Department positions that focus on women and girls, like the Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues.

In the next year, FMF will continue all of this important work and more. Consider making a donation so that FMF can continue to say that American feminists stand with women and girls around the world. Happy International Women’s Day!

Media Resources: Teen Vogue 3/8/18; Feminist Newswire 6/21/17, 3/9/17;

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