Second in Line

Below the Belt: A Biweekly Column by NOW President Kim Gandy

December 22, 2006

Where will you be at 12 noon on January 4th? I'll be on Capitol Hill, watching Nancy Pelosi being sworn in.

Speaker of the House and second in line, after the vice president, for the presidency of the United States.

I hope you'll be watching C-SPAN at that moment. Better yet, encourage every teacher you know to take a special break for the class to watch those five historic minutes. Historic because she is the first woman, but magnificent because she is the first feminist to break the marble ceiling of top leadership in our government.

Yes, in just a few days, we'll be celebrating the start of a new year and a new Congress. As for the latter, it's not a moment too soon!

But while we have many reasons to raise our glasses to the new congressional leadership, there are still about 267 reasons to curb our enthusiasm about the prospect of big legislative changes right away. By 267 reasons, I mean the presence of 219 representatives and 48 senators who will predictably vote against women's rights, especially reproductive rights.

Of course, that also means we have 267 incentives to take action in 2007. After all, we've still got 200 pro-women members between the House and Senate, 68 more who may be swayed to vote our interests (assuming they hear from you), as well as leadership whose influence will determine such crucial things as which bills come to the floor.

That said, perhaps our New Year's cheer should be accompanied by New Year's resolutions to make sure our lawmakers, especially the new ones, are aware of our expectations.

As you may have guessed, NOW has been making our list and checking it twice.

So we've got a rather long legislative wish list (thirty-nine and counting) for the 110th Congress. A few of them are noteworthy either for the very real possibility that with concerted effort we can pass them early in the session, and have some tangible wins, or because they are aspirational (in other words, we don't expect quick passage but they're key advances that are important enough to strive toward):

1. Reduce poverty. Women are the majority of those working at minimum wage, and they are long overdue for a raise. After almost a decade of devastating inaction under conservative, far-from-compassionate leadership in Congress, we're expecting the new majority to quickly vote to raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour, though what we need is a living wage (it would take about $9.00 an hour just to equal 1968 levels, after inflation). The next step is automatic adjustment based on inflation, just like Social Security, so we don't have to come begging for a few more crumbs every couple of years.

2. Expand the federal hate crimes law. Today, federal law remains unjustifiably selective about what kind of bigotry counts as a hate crime. Adding gender, disability, sexual orientation, and actual or perceived gender identity to current criminal law (which already prohibits violence motivated by race, color, religion or national origin) wouldn't be doing half of the population a favor—they'd be doing right by all of us.

3. Make workplaces more family-friendly. How? By expanding and passing the Family and Workplace "Balancing Act." Though conservatives may beg to differ, establishing paid family and medical leave, allowing employees to request flexible schedules, expanding quality child care and after-school programs, among other things, should be a top priority for anyone who gives a hoot about children and families. And employers are already starting to figure out that flexibility helps retain top staff — so it's good for business too!

4. Provide for family planning. Create universal and unfettered access to contraceptives (including the morning-after pill, Plan B). 'Nuff said.

5. Develop a plan for true immigration reform. No one deserves to be exploited or abused, and it's past time for lawmakers to take a fair and comprehensive approach that reflects the social and economic forces affecting the lives of immigrant woman and their families, and the contribution they make to our lives and our country. Such reform should provide a path to citizenship and should provide for immigrant women to have work permits (as opposed to the current dependent visas that prohibit any work, keeping abused women effectively captive to their abusers) and fair wages with increased support for education, access to health care and social services and protection from exploitation and abuse in the workplace.

6. Promote peace and end U.S. involvement in Iraq. Reallocate the billions requested for "emergency spending" to human needs in the U.S. and to humanitarian aid for Iraqis—especially for Iraqi women and children who are subject to daily violence and repression.

7. Expand embryonic stem cell research. We need federal financial support for embryonic stem cell research that includes health safeguards for women who may provide eggs for research, while permitting the donation of embryos that would otherwise be discarded or destroyed. Stem cell research could potentially treat diseases that continually rank in the top five leading causes of death in women (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc), and rank even higher for women of color. Let's not forget that women also consistently bear an unequal burden of caring for the sick in their families—whether children or elders.

But don't stop here — check out more of our legislative wish list and prepare for next year's Action Alerts!

We need your help to educate your representatives and win their support for these initiatives. Granted, the odds of passing many of them in Congress are formidable considering the numbers I described earlier... but it's almost a brand new year, and what better time to have high hopes?

In late February, I'm taking a break from the legislative action for an important overseas gathering of feminist leaders. Okay, yeah, I'm going on the Ms. Magazine cruise. I'm hoping it will be a well-deserved break after an intense two months of passing much-needed legislation, and a celebration of our efforts — please consider joining me!

With the 110th Congress kicking off on January 4, we have only a few more days to kick back and enjoy the holidays. For the moment, roast some chestnuts on an open fire, and tell Jack Frost to back off. Then get the sleigh ready—we're in for a wild ride!

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