More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Virtually hidden in last week’s job numbers hype was some terrible news for women: 27 times more men than women joined the labor force last month.
As the pandemic (hopefully) continues to wane and jobs come back, we need to look deeper and think long-term about fixes for women that won’t disappear when the next superbug comes along—systemic fixes like establishing a robust care infrastructure, raising the minimum wage, and strengthening workplace protections.
On Jan. 22, 2022, we mark the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States. The case was argued by a 26-year-old female lawyer from Texas: Sarah Weddington, in her first appearance before the Court. Female lawyers were so rare in those days that the Supreme Court lawyers lounge didn’t even have a ladies’ room. There were no female judges; Weddington faced a wall of older white men.
Almost five decades after the decision, Sarah Weddington died at her home in Austin on Dec. 26, 2021, at age 76, after a period of declining health. Rest in power, Sarah Weddington.
While news outlets have been obsessed with much-touted infighting between factions of the Democratic party while negotiating President Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) plan, they’ve completely missed the real villains.
Big surprise: It’s big business—specifically big oil—and their single-minded focus: Kill the climate change provisions.
The main objection to President Biden’s Build Back Better plan by Republicans and so-called “moderate” Democrats is the price tag—$1.75 trillion over 10 years. If that sounds like a lot of money, it is—until you compare it to the boys and their toys.
We don’t need a rocket scientist to tell us why women’s jobs aren’t recovering: a lack of childcare and universal pre-kindergarten, a lack of paid family leave. The Build Back Better Act would go a long way toward fixing that.
When most people hear the term “gender pay gap,” they automatically think of the difference in pay between women and men doing the same or similar jobs. But there’s another kind of gender pay gap few even know about—the venture capital gap.
Ms. Money Editor Martha Burk recently talked with former Rep. Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania about successes and challenges in a most storied record of accomplishment.
“The men in the Pennsylvania delegation were sometimes polite to me and sometimes not, but they certainly weren’t pleased that I was there, and they let me know it.”
Super Bowl cheerleaders are frequently forced to work long hours for no benefits and illegally low wages, while experiencing sexist discrimination.
It’s an all-too-familiar story for working women—low pay, long hours, zero benefits and near-impossible standards of sexiness and appearance not applied to male-dominated jobs. To top it all off, this particular tale also includes not just “the usual” discrimination, but outright wage theft.
To change things at the ballot box, we first have to know where we really stand both at home and in comparison to women in industrialized countries with economies and governments similar to our own.
The COVID-19 pandemic will have a lasting effect on the pay gap, since more women have been forced to drop out of the workforce.
Even if new laws are passed, the fight won’t be over. With the Supreme Court already having narrowed women’s options in fighting pay discrimination, the choices in future elections and Court appointments become extremely important for passing stronger legislation and for safeguarding women from decisions that will further erode the few remedies available.
It’s now a matter of weeks until Election Day, and women’s votes are more crucial this year than ever. We must have not only the will, but also a firm grasp of what we need to hold candidates at all levels accountable for policies that work toward social justice and equity for women.
Health care is a top issue on the minds of most voters. A great deal is at stake for women—not only because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the looming Supreme Court battle.
