Womenstake

Commemorate Women's Equality Day…But Don't Break Out the Champagne Just Yet

by Katie Carroll, Intern, 
National Women’s Law Center 

Today, as we reflect on the extraordinary legacy of Senator Edward Kennedy on behalf of women and their families, we also note that it is Women’s Equality Day – a day to commemorate the passage of the 19th amendment giving women full voting rights. But it’s also a day to remember the inequality that persists. 

When I started looking for my first full-time job, gender inequality was on my mind. I couldn’t help but wonder whether my first paycheck would be less than that of my male counterparts…and even if it was, how would I know?

And in between school and my first gig, would I be forced to get health insurance in the individual market where I could be charged more for coverage than would a male my age?

Today is a good day to think about the great impact that Senator Kennedy had on women’s rights.  And it’s a day to think about using the right we gained 89 years ago to influence our elected leaders and make sure we right the wrongs that remain to narrow the gaps.

If 450,000 Doctors Don't Know What is Best for me and My Family I'm Not Sure Who Does

by Katie Carroll, Communications Intern, 
National Women's Law Center 

With 450,000 stepping up to support health care reform now, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Herndon Alliance are asking, well, how can they be wrong?

The groups sent a letter to senators yesterday expressing the urgency for meaningful comprehensive health care reform: “Our patients cannot wait another year, another term, another day.”

Since medical professionals experience first hand the shortfalls of the current health care system, Heal Health Care Now, and initiative of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Herndon  Alliance, gathered doctors to speak out about health care reform. Check out the video here.

The group is also asking everyone to help spread the message by forwarding the video to friends and family, and asking them to call Congress at (202) 224-3121 to voice their own support for health care reform now.