Womenstake

The Patriot Tax

by Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security 
National Women’s Law Center

The House is set to vote tomorrow on an amendment to the supplemental appropriations bill that would expand veterans’ education benefits – and raise taxes to pay for it. The proposal would increase the marginal tax rate for individuals with incomes above $500,000 and couples with incomes over $1 million by 0.5 percent. The tax increase was included largely due to the House Blue Dog coalition, a group of fiscally conservative Democrats that supports the veterans’ education measure but insisted that it be paid for under House pay-as-you-go budget rules. The Blue Dogs have dubbed the tax measure “The Patriot Tax.”

It’s a real sign of progress that this election year, some members of Congress are rejecting the idea that politicians have to oppose raising taxes on anyone, for any reason, at any time, to survive. The public has figured out that the massive tax cuts of the Bush years helped the very rich grow even richer – but haven’t done much for them or the economy. Making the investments the country needs and raising the revenues needed to make those investments in a progressive way is good policy – and good politics. And patriotic – whether the revenues are to give today’s veterans the same opportunities for education that veterans of World War II had, or to make sure that families have access to the child care, health care, and education they need to get ahead.

NYT Magazine Focuses on Girls' Sports Injuries

by Neena Chaudhry, Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

Sunday’s edition of the New York Times Magazine featured an extensive piece on the sports injuries, particularly knee injuries, that many girls have experienced and the need for injury-prevention training.   

For more, check out Sudha Setty’s excellent post on the article over at Title IX Blog.

It Should Shock You

by Julia Kaye, Health Policy Associate
National Women’s Law Center

This post is part of a daily series for National Women's Health Week.

I’ve noticed that the phrase “particularly women of color” shows up in a lot of our health-related fact sheets and reports. It seems that almost every time we write about women’s ongoing battles with the health care system, women of color have it worse. Our Report Card on Women’s Health pointed out that lack of health insurance is a problem for many women, but all the more so for women of color — for example, while 18 percent of all women in the United States are uninsured, nearly 38 percent of Hispanic women are without insurance. Women disproportionately suffer the consequences of unprotected sexual activity, such as unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections — but Black women are at especially high risk for both, especially HIV/AIDS. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender women of color, at the intersection of two minority communities, suffer from particularly severe health disparities.

The fact that women of color are disproportionately affected by the failures of the U.S. health care system has become so “obvious” that I fear it has lost its shock factor — and sometime it takes a little shock to move us out of complicity and into action. In honor of National Women’s Health Week, let’s remind ourselves that these realities need not be inevitabilities — so long as we take pointed action to identify the scope of the health disparities among women and their many underlying causes, and then develop and implement both short- and long-term health reform strategies to eradicate them.

TODAY at 1pm, the Kaiser Family Foundation is broadcasting a live webcast on State Initiatives to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. (The webcast will be permanently available here if you miss the live broadcast.)

It's a No-Brainer – Healthy Women Need Contraception

by Jen Swedish, Health Law Fellow 
National Women’s Law Center

This post is part of a daily series for National Women's Health Week. 

As we celebrate National Women’s Health Week, we’d be remiss if we didn’t emphasize the importance of women’s reproductive health to their overall well-being.

Access to reproductive health services is essential for healthy women. Yesterday’s blog post encouraged women to get regular check-ups, and experts recommend routine pelvic exams, Pap tests, and screening for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). In addition to routine gynecological care, reproductive health care includes family planning services, abortion, sterilization, and infertility treatment – that is, services related to women’s ability to have children.

A woman who wants only two children must use contraceptives for roughly three decades of her life. Yet, at a time when one in five women age 15 to 44 is uninsured and many more are underinsured, many women simply cannot afford to pay for contraceptives on their own. According to the Guttmacher Institute, approximately 17 million women are in need of publicly-subsidized contraceptive services and supplies, and this number is likely to increase even more as a result as of the growing population of uninsured Americans and the recent rise in the cost of birth control.

Sexual Harassment in Schools is No Laughing Matter

by Jill Morrison, Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

When sexual harassment in elementary schools makes headlines, typically it is some version of this:
“For Little Children, Grown-Up Labels As Sexual Harassers.” The usual spin is that schools are going too far in labeling children “sexual harassers.” Fortunately, NWLC’s education group is on the case, and is quick to point out that while some schools are a tad overaggressive in doling out labels, such cases must not overshadow schools’ legal duty to address the very real and all too common problem of sexual harassment.

In further support of NWLC’s vigilant reminder that sexual harassment is no joke, a recent study shows that sexual harassment causes serious harm to its victims’ health. As compared to those who are bullied at school, students subjected to sexual harassment suffer more negative physical and mental health effects. The most important thing to remember about this new study for anyone who cares about children (I’m guessing that includes you) is its conclusion: the distinct health harms caused by sexual harassment mean that it shouldn’t be addressed as just as another form of bullying, but something separate and distinct.

Two Down, Three to Go.

by Fatima Goss Graves, Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

Ward Connerly. In some ways, Connerly introduced me to activism. In 1995 I was a student at UCLA (Go Bruins!) when he announced his campaign to eliminate affirmative action in the University of California system. At the young age of 19, I attended my first protest and learned to articulate the many reasons that Connerly’s initiative would be bad for California and bad for UC students. Unfortunately, despite the strong efforts of students and activists throughout California (and indeed the nation) Connerly succeeded first in implementing anti-affirmative action measures in the UC System and then, through the passage of Prop 209, throughout the state of California. 

Connerly followed up his “success” in California with statewide initiatives in the state of Washington (Prop. 200) and most recently in Michigan (Prop. 2). The California and Washington initiatives have been in place long enough that we can measure their detrimental effects. And our fears about these initiatives have come true – we now know that the passage of these initiatives resulted in a decrease in the percentage of women working in the skilled trades, fewer valuable science and math programs that target women and minorities, and fewer government contracts for women and minority small businesses.   

Check Out a Check-Up

by Brigette Courtot, Policy Analyst
National Women’s Law Center

This post is part of a daily series for National Women's Health Week. 

Today is National Women’s Health Check-Up Day, which kicks off National Women's Health Week (NWHW). According to the official website, this week-long observance of women’s health "empowers women across the country to get healthy by taking action."

It’s certainly important for a woman to see a health care provider regularly (providers usually suggest a yearly visit) so that she can be screened for conditions such as breast, cervical or colorectal cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure or cholesterol, and osteoporosis. Screening tests may help find these conditions early, when they are easier and less costly to treat. Getting to a health care provider for a check-up could save a woman’s life (the National Cancer Institute reports that as many as 35 percent of premature cancer deaths could have been avoided through screening) or prevent more serious health problems and disability in the future.

So, ladies, get a health check-up! Make sure that the women that you love get their health check-up!

Having said that, let’s put a twist on NWHW: it is not enough to encourage women to take action to protect and improve their health — we must also make sure that our federal and state policies protect and improve women’s health!

Weekly Round-Up

by Mary Robbins, Program Assistant
National Women’s Law Center

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that women who quit smoking reduce their risk of early death and cardiovascular disease just five years after they quit.

Thomas at Feminste posts about food as a feminist issue: “Women are roughly 50% of the world’s population, do two thirds of the work, but earn 10% of the income and control just 1% of the world’s wealth.”

The report from a five-month Title IX investigation into the athletics program at Scotts Valley High School in California was released last week. 

The Michigan state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that local governments and state universities can’t offer health insurance to workers’ same-sex partners (via Think Girl).

Ellen Bravo writes about what she thinks women really need for Mother’s Day.

Jessica at Jezebel writes about the issues faced by elderly women living in poverty. 

The New York Times Magazine featured a piece about the increasing number of girls participating in sports, as well as the increasing number of injuries.

Let's Get Physical

by Neena Chaudhry, Senior Counsel
National Women’s Law Center

A new report by the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport reveals how far we still have to go to help girls become and stay physically active. The health and well-being of future generations of girls depends on it. 

The report shows that girls’ participation in all types of physical activities consistently lags behind that of boys. While girls’ participation in organized sports is at a record high, we know that they still receive only 41 percent of the opportunities to play high school sports and do not receive equal benefits when they do play. And according to the report, girls’ participation outside of organized sports is declining, especially for black girls. One-third of girls are barely meeting minimum physical activity standards and another third are completely sedentary. 

Perhaps what is most troubling, though, is that despite the increase in the number of amazing female role models, gender stereotypes and norms persist in limiting girls’ participation in sports and physical activity. Research shows that boys’ popularity depends directly on their physical ability but girls’ participation in sports is somehow at odds with their femininity. The media doesn’t help, with its excessive focus on female athletes’ appearance and sexuality. Girls, who are already struggling with their self-esteem and body image, get the message loud and clear that their outward appearance is what is really important, instead of the multitude of physical and mental health benefits that physical activity provides. And overweight and obese girls face particularly harsh discrimination and ridicule, which is awful and only compounds the problem.

We must do something to improve this dire situation, and the report suggests a requirement for daily, quality K-12 physical education in schools, among other policy recommendations. Greater enforcement of Title IX is also sorely needed and would help encourage more girls to play school-sponsored sports. Finally, leading by example can go a long way towards erasing the gender stereotypes that limit such behavior. So let’s all get moving!

A Mother's Day Wish List

by Helen Blank, Director of Leadership and Public Policy
National Women’s Law Center

As we celebrate the mothers in our own lives this Mother's Day, we should also remember that many parents are denied the best gift of all — knowing that their children are in high-quality child care.

This care gives parents the support and peace of mind they need to be productive at work, and helps children learn and develop skills they need to succeed in school and in life. However, if current federal funding trends continue, more and more children will lose child care assistance, and will not be able to participate in Head Start.

In honor of Mother's Day, please write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper, reminding our nation’s leaders to make child care and Head Start national funding priorities — and please also send an eCard to your family, friends, and co-workers inviting them to do the same.

And check out MomsRising’s Mother’s Day eCard. 

When America supports child care, we encourage children, families, and our nation to reach their full potential.