Womenstake

A Bleak Employment Picture for Women – and Shelter from the Storm

by Valerie Norton, Public Policy Fellow, 
National Women's Law Center 

The unemployment data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics paint a bleak employment picture. The economy lost 467,000 jobs over the last month and the nation’s unemployment rate climbed to 9.5%, the highest rate in nearly 26 years. At the start of the 4th of July weekend, we’d like to be thinking about sunny days and summer fun – but we know for millions of families, the rain is unrelenting. 

Unemployment among women who maintain families – who have no other income to fall back on and are especially vulnerable – jumped to 11.7%, an increase of 17% in three months. Unemployment among African-American and Hispanic women  reached 11.3% and 11.5%, respectively.

There are efforts underway to provide families some shelter from the storm. We’ve previously written about the Economic Recovery Act, which is providing assistance to many in need and creating jobs for women and men. And, thanks to advocacy by a coalition of civil rights, environmental and labor groups, including the Center, the climate bill (American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009) passed by the House requires the creation of a Green Construction Careers Demonstration Project that will help targeted groups, including low-income women, gain access to quality jobs. But while those storm clouds persist, we know there’s more work to do.

Stand Up and Serve

by Amy Rosenthal, Outreach Intern, 
National Women's Law Center 

In a recent message, President Obama has called on Americans to “stand up and serve.” The Corporation for National & Community Service is carrying the message coast to coast this summer through its “United We Serve” program which encourages people from all backgrounds to “become engaged in issues such as education, health care, energy independence, economic renewal, and other issues.” 

Become involved by creating your own project, finding a volunteer opportunity, and recruiting other volunteers.  To learn more, check out the Corporation for National & Community Service website.

The National Women's Law Center believes strongly in standing up and supporting others.  United We Serve is providing an exciting opportunity for doing so.

D.C. Graduation Rates Continue to Drop

by Kolbe Franklin, Program Assistant,   
National Womens Law Center 

A new study has found that on-time graduation rates for D.C. public schools have dropped below 50 percent. The study examined data from 1996 to 2006 and found that from 2005 to 2006, the city’s graduation rate fell 8.8 percentage points to 48.8 percent. The graduation rates of nearby states, Maryland and Virginia, stood at 73.5 percent and 69.2 percent respectively. With the national average also at 69.2 percent, President Obama recently allocated $50 million for dropout prevention efforts and set a goal for the United States to have the highest percentage of college graduates in the world by 2020. For information on NWLC’s dropout prevention work, check out our website.

No Justice for Rape Victims: Realities of Budget Cuts

by Amy Rosenthal, Outreach Intern, 
National Women's Law Center 

Many cities, in attempting to balance their budgets in light of decreased revenues, are making deep cuts into women’s health service, including rape kits. Administered in hospitals and then turned over to the police, rape kits contain DNA and have the power to help place the guilty behind bars and exonerate the innocent. Their efficacy is remarkable, with Human Rights Watch estimating that their use has contributed to a 30 percent rise in arrest for rape in New York City. 

A recent editorial in the New York Times drew attention to the huge backlog of rape kits that have yet to be tested because of budgetary concerns. Citing “a shortage of funds” the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has decided to cease testing rape kits. This is particularly interesting, and disheartening, given the city’s over $2 billion dollar budget of which some money is earmarked for additional employees in the city crime lab who are trained to test rape kits.

These women are already rape victims. We should make sure they aren’t also victims of a poor justice system.

Arkansas School Sued for Actions Against Pregnant Student

by Kolbe Franklin, Program Assistant, 
National Womens Law Center 

A student in Western Arkansas filed a suit against Trinity Christian School, claiming that she was interrogated by the principal’s office following rumors of a pregnancy and forced to undergo a pregnancy test and counseling at a pregnancy crisis center. At no point did the school or First Choice Pregnancy Center contact the student’s parents and her medical information was released to school employees. The school’s policy of interrogating and expelling pregnant students violates a number of state and federal laws, including Title IX. The lawsuit includes charges of invasion of privacy, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and sex discrimination. For information on NWLC’s work regarding pregnant and parenting students, check out our website.  

Teen Parents Can Succeed

by Melanie Ross Levin, Outreach Manager, 
National Women’s Law Center 

Sorry, no typo here. Teen parents "CAN" succeed is the correct title of this post. While it is true that pregnancy and parenting responsibilities play a significant role in many girls' decisions to drop out of school, some schools have figured out a way to provide the right supports, in order to help make the path to graduation less daunting. Last week, we posted about new materials NWLC has released to help advocate on behalf of pregnant and parenting students. Last week, the Washington Post featured photographs of one of the many success stories -- a student who is making it to graduation because of the supports provided by Project Opportunity. Project Opportunity at Bryant Adult Alternative High School in Fairfax, Virginia, offers assistance to pregnant and parenting students, including a block scheduling system, transportation for students and their children and in-school child care, among other things.

Declare Your Independence from Insurance Companies

by Judy Waxman, Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights, 
National Women’s Law Center 

This week, as our nation celebrates its independence, we want you to think about your own:

Are you tired of having insurance companies dictate the medical treatment your doctor can give you? Are you sick of knowing that your insurance company can deny health coverage due to a pre-existing condition?

Declare your independence from the insurance companies!

We need to fight for health care reform that meets the needs of women and their families — and make sure that we, not the insurance companies, control our health and bodies.
It is an unprecedented time in our fight for health care reform. With the unveiling of different health care proposals in Congress, making our voices heard is more important than ever. Declare your independence from your insurance company:

• Tell President Obama today that you want health care reform that meets the needs of women and their families. With just a 30-second video, a Facebook wall post, or 140 characters on Twitter, you can join President Obama’s online town hall on health care reform. The town hall will take place today, Wednesday, July 1, at 1:15 p.m. Eastern / 10:15 a.m. Pacific. Contribute to the town hall by posting your questions today.
  
• Sign the Petition to Declare Your Independence from Insurance Companies. By adding your name to the petition, you are telling Congress that we need an American solution to meet our health care needs. It’s time to have a choice when it comes to our health insurance.
  
• Join our National Health Care Reform Call-in Day on Monday, July 6. Sign up to contact your Members of Congress and demand quality, affordable, and comprehensive health care for all. And if you want to take a more active role in this effort — sign up to become a Call Captain and activate your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers to take part in the call-in day.

This summer, we will be in a tough fight to take our health care back from the hands of the insurance companies. This fight will affect the health and well-being of generations of Americans to come. Make sure you are with us and declare your independence from the health insurance companies today.

Emergency Contraception – Some Good News and Some Bad

by Ellen Newcomb, Program Assistant, 
and Jen Swedish, Health Law Fellow, 
National Women’s Law Center 

Last Wednesday, the FDA approved a generic version of the emergency contraception pill, Plan B. For now, this new generic version of emergency contraception (EC) will only be available with a prescription to women ages 17 and under. The generic (thus, less expensive) version may become available over-the-counter to women 18 and over in August, when Duramed Pharmaceuticals will no longer hold marketing exclusivity for nonprescription use of Plan B. (You may recall that a court recently ordered the FDA to make EC available to 17-year-olds without a prescription and to reconsider its decision to impose any age restrictions at all on nonprescription use of EC. The FDA has begun the process to enable 17-year-olds to access EC over-the-counter, but – for now – 17-year-old women still need a prescription, but they will have access to the generic version of EC.)

Currently, over-the-counter Plan B can cost up to $55 for women 18 and older. Private insurance companies may not cover Plan B because drugs sold over-the-counter are often not covered by insurance, and some state Medicaid programs won’t cover it at all. The generic version will lower the cost of EC, making EC more accessible for the women who need it.

But, with the good comes the bad. Arizona and Louisiana are both about to enact laws that will make it more difficult for women to access EC and other vital reproductive health care services.

A harmful refusal bill in Arizona has successfully made its way through the state House and Senate and is waiting for Governor Jan Brewer’s signature. Among other anti-choice provisions, HB 2564 allows any pharmacy, hospital, or health professional, or any employee thereof, who cites a moral or religious objection, to refuse to provide EC. If this bill is enacted, Arizona hospitals could deny EC to sexual assault survivors and pharmacists could refuse to provide EC to women who need it, even though EC is a time-sensitive drug that is most effective in the first 12-24 hours after birth control failure, unprotected sex, or sexual assault. In addition to allowing refusals for EC, the Arizona bill would also allow pharmacists and pharmacies to refuse to fill prescriptions for some of the most widely used forms of birth control. We’re hoping that Governor Brewer recognizes that this bill will harm women’s access to vital health services and that she’ll veto the bill.

Don’t Call It a Man-cession

by Rose O’Malley, Program Assistant, 
National Womens Law Center 

Here at the Center we’ve spilled a lot of ink (and bandwidth) talking about how the recession, and the subsequent recovery package, has affected women and families. According to our old friend Christina Hoff Sommers, we are being terribly sexist and we should stop.

In her new column for the Weekly Standard, Ms. Sommers accuses feminist groups of hijacking the issues of economic recovery, ignoring the needs of “burley men” to focus on our selfish agendas of…health care, education, unemployment benefits, food stamps, and child care. I mean, how dare we?

Let’s set aside for the moment the fact that Ms. Sommers decides to completely ignore some basic facts about women’s unemployment (namely that women’s rate of unemployment is rising faster than men’s, that women are less likely to be eligible for unemployment benefits, and that women are more likely to have already been in economically vulnerable positions prior to the recession because of that pesky wage gap thing). And let’s move past the fact that if the Weekly Standard had its way, there would be no recovery package, for men or women. Let’s even ignore the way she paints women’s groups as smug and manipulative; it’s a tired trick, and I have no patience for it.

Instead, we’ll concentrate on her strange assumption that by arguing for an expansion in areas other than construction and manufacturing, women’s groups have sold out men. It’s true that the Center, along many other women’s organizations, has advocated, and continues to advocate, for the expansion of social programs, but it’s not because we want to ignore or punish male workers; it’s because we believe the expansion of these programs will help alleviate the effects of the recession and get workers of all stripes back to their jobs. We’re not ignoring infrastructure, we’re just looking at it in a broader way. Child care is infrastructure; it creates jobs and allows parents the security they need to get back to work. Health care is infrastructure; preventing families, including those of construction workers, from losing health insurance coverage makes them more likely to make ends meet and less likely to fall into poverty. Education is infrastructure; without it how can we expect our workforce to compete in a global market? Recovery won’t come about by simply replacing the jobs that were lost, but by rethinking how the government can help in a variety of sectors, human infrastructure and physical infrastructure.

A Day at the Supreme Court: First-Hand Impressions of the Ricci Decision

by Kinara Flagg, Legal Intern, 
and Rachel Mehlsak, Legal Intern, 
National Women's Law Center

Today was an exciting day to be a law student visiting the Supreme Court. At 10 a.m., the Court convened for its final session of the term, in which it handed down two of the three remaining opinions (the Justices scheduled the third and final opinion for rehearing in September).

As mentioned earlier, one of the opinions the Supreme Court decided this morning was Ricci v. DeStefano, with Justice Kennedy reading the majority opinion, and Justice Ginsburg reading her dissent.

For us, hearing Supreme Court justices read their own opinions from the bench brought the law to life, especially after having spent the last year reading edited opinions in casebooks at school. Justice Kennedy's delivery was direct and dispassionate as he explained the new standard that the court had created. The U.S. Marshals quieted everyone and told us to be silent during the reading of the opinions, but it was still surprising that the crowd had no visible or audible reaction to such a significant change in the standard for applying Title VII.

Justice Ginsburg, in contrast to Justice Kennedy, spoke quietly but emphatically, making clear her disagreement with the majority’s outcome. Justice Ginsburg cited the importance of Title VII in combating discrimination, especially the kind historically to be found in fire departments like New Haven’s.  She was particularly expressive in noting that basing promotions on a written exam is a “dubious” practice. It was clear that Justice Ginsburg approved of the City of New Haven's efforts to curb the discriminatory impact of their firefighter promotion test and respected the City’s efforts to remedy its own history of discrimination. It was an inspiring moment for us, as two young women, to hear the Court’s only female justice speak up for the underrepresented—and it was moving that the only woman on the court was representing the minority viewpoint. It is unfortunate that Justice Ginsburg has had to read for the dissent frequently over the last few years. We hope that the next time we have the privilege of hearing her read an opinion taking a stand against discrimination, it will be for the majority.