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April 08, 2004
Discover What's Current in Law and Policy for Women
In this issue:
1. NWLC Scrutinizes Bush Administration Record on Women, Releases New Report
2. Help Us Alert the Public to These Threats and Set an Agenda to Move Women Forward
NWLC Scrutinizes Bush Administration Record on Women, Releases New Report
The National Women's Law Center is taking a close look at the progress of women and girls under the Bush Administration's watch as we move into the fourth year of its tenure. Our review reveals the rollback of women's opportunities to succeed in work and in school, their economic security, and their health and reproductive rights. Although the Administration has taken some positive steps for women, these are greatly overshadowed by the overwhelming number of policies and proposals that already have hurt women, or could do so if enacted. In ways both well-publicized and carefully hidden, this Administration has turned the tide of women's advancement, threatening to reverse years of progress on issues that affect their lives.
NWLC's new report, Slip-Sliding Away: The Erosion of Hard-Won Gains for Women Under the Bush Administration and an Agenda for Moving Forward not only discusses the steps backward but also recommends ways in which policies can expand and protect women's rights and opportunities. Click here for an executive summary.
The report focuses on ten key areas: women at work; girls and women in school; child care and other supports women need to work; tax and budget policies; retirement security; health and reproductive rights; violence against women; women in the military; judicial nominations; and government offices that are charged with safeguarding women's interests. Highlights of the Administration's actions to halt women's progress include:
Rolling Back Equal Opportunity for Women at Work
- The Administration ended the Equal Pay Initiative and has removed all materials on narrowing the wage gap from the Department of Labor's website. The Department of Justice has also dropped cases challenging sex discrimination in employment.
- The Labor Department repealed a rule to help employees obtain paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child.
Backtracking on Equal Opportunity for Girls and Women at School
- The Department of Education, without explanation, "archived" Title IX guidance on preventing sexual harassment in schools, making it unavailable to administrators and parents trying to protect children from sexual harassment.
- The Department of Education reduced Title IX enforcement while it established a Commission to find ways to weaken athletics policies that open opportunities for female students.
Shortchanging Child Care and Other Supports Women Need to Be Self-Sufficient
- The Administration's budget would cut nearly half a million children from child care programs by 2009 as compared to 2002.
- The Administration's policies would radically alter and undermine the successful Head Start program, which is unique in its comprehensive approach to supporting poor children and families.
Starving Programs Women Need to Pay for Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
- The Administration's tax cuts and resulting budget cutbacks drastically reduce supports low- and moderate-income women rely on while providing little tax assistance to help them.
Increasing Retirement Insecurity for Women
- A plan to privatize Social Security that the Administration supports would require deep cuts in Social Security benefits for all future retirees, whether they participate in a private account or not. For example, a woman retiring in 2075 (working at an average wage) would receive benefits 46% below current levels if she did not participate in a private account and 69% below current levels if she participated in a private account. And her participation in a private account could not make up for this loss in benefits.
Sabotaging Women's Health and Reproductive Rights
- More women could find themselves without health insurance as a result of the Administration's plan to "restructure" Medicaid.
- Women's reproductive rights are being taken away by Administration-backed laws criminalizing abortion and giving the rights and status of "personhood" to fetuses and embryos.
- Medical research is being undermined and scientific information distorted to serve an anti-abortion and anti-family planning agenda. For example, the National Cancer Institute posted information on its website that falsely suggested there may be a link between abortion and breast cancer.
Weakening Efforts to Combat Violence Against Women and Help Its Victims
- The Administration has appointed leaders of an organization that has harshly attacked the Violence Against Women Act to a national advisory committee on domestic violence, and proposed funding emergency shelters, crisis hotlines and other domestic violence services at 26% below authorized levels.
Failing to Support our Women in Uniform
- The Administration limited the role of a 55-year-old advisory committee designed to promote recruitment and retention of women in the military and appointed all new members to the commission, at least one of whom does not support opening new opportunities to women and has reportedly called the Army "a vast day-care center, full of unmarried teen-age mothers using it as a welfare home."
Packing the Courts with Judges Opposed to Women's Rights
- The Administration has selected judicial nominees opposed to essential rights for women and girls. One judicial nominee wrote that wives must "subordinate" themselves to their husbands.
Closing and Undermining Government Safeguards for Women's Interests
- Just weeks after taking office, the Administration closed the White House Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach.
- The Labor Department moved to close key offices of its Women's Bureau, backing off only after protests from women's organizations and members of Congress.
In place of these damaging and dangerous policy changes--some already being implemented, others still under consideration--the Bush Administration should seize the opportunity to advance and protect the legal rights and expand the possibilities for women and girls all across the country. View the full report to see the Center's recommendations for the actions the Administration should take.
Help Us Alert the Public to These Threats and Set an Agenda to Move Women Forward
NWLC will continue to monitor these and other federal policy developments outlined in the report and share those with you through the E-Update newsletter and Info-Exchange bulletins and by posting the updates on our Web site at www.nwlc.org.
Once you have read the report, take the next step:
- Share the report with your friends, colleagues, and networks;
- Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper in response to opinion pieces or news stories about the topics contained within the report, including broadly focused stories on the economy, health care, or education;
- If you are a member of an advocacy organization that focuses on women's issues, help publicize the trends described in the report. Contact our communications office at info@nwlc.orgfor help drafting a press release using our data and drawing on your local context and examples of the effects of these policy changes.
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