- House GOP drafting legislation to "modestly ease" oversight on toy makers with regards to how much lead is in their products.
- 10% cuts proposed to the budget of the WIC food assistance program. (The link provided is labeled as an opinion piece, but the numbers are there.) Just for the sake of recording it, "WIC" stands for "Women, Infants and Children."
- The much-more discussed elimination of funding to Planned Parenthood (passed the House, most likely will not pass through the Senate, yet). I will repeat what's already been repeated: it is already the case that federal funds--taxpayer money--cannot go to abortions at Planned Parenthood. That's been the case for a while--the Hyde Amendment was passed the year I was born, 1976, and other limits like it have passed since then.
- House GOP members are supporting toy makers in their quest to block the creation of an online resource for finding reports about injuries to kids because of toys and baby gear.
- And, finally, just recently Michelle Obama dared to talk in public about what can be done--legislatively, that is--to support breastfeeding moms. Well, prominent GOP members were up in arms!
(As an aside: It would be just as easy, these days, to talk about a "War on Working People" or a "War on the Poor" or other phrases like that, and I believe they are just as real and valid. I'm focusing on this area specifically because this is the nature of this blog. It's a place for me to process my thoughts about parenting issues, both on the level of our immediate household, and in a larger sphere.)
This is NOT about the so-called "Mommy Wars." This is about things that would benefit all mothers and families, regardless of their own individual home/work balance issues. Many of these things, in fact, are specifically geared towards supporting mothers who work outside of the home: legislation for breast pumping facilities and time, paid maternity leave, and WIC funds for low-income working mothers are the first that come to mind. I think we can all agree, can't we, that FMLA's twelve measly weeks of unpaid maternity leave time is a joke, particularly when compared with the rest of the world? I am a part-time working mom whose life wasn't impacted one way or another by this policy, and even I can see how pathetic that is. Again, it's not about "stay at home" vs. "working" (that useless dichotomy which is so imaginary in real life)--it's about an economic and legislative war on the things that make life possible and feasible for all of us!
Finally, bringing all of this home for me on a personal level is this: while it makes me sad to say it, I thank my lucky stars that I'm not a classroom teacher right now. I don't think I could handle the political and economic assault on my fellow women as well as the brewing assault on public employees. I've said it for years and I still say it: I think teacher tenure, collective bargaining, salary steps, job security, good health benefits and good retirement packages are over. My guess is that they will be largely gutted and/or gone before Maia and Eli graduate from high school. Is it a coincidence that teaching is a "pink collar" job (as in, dominated by women)? I think not.
7 comments:
Where are the angry responses? It's like the tumbling tumbleweed over here compared to your FB account (and maybe Twitter?).
http://www.truth-out.org/the-republican-war-women67987
I've been thinking...
I know that class issues weren't the focus of your attention here, and that's totally valid. But it strikes me (and I know you'd agree) that these absolutely are class issues, as much as or more than they are culture-war issues. Wealthy women and children aren't really affected by any of these policies, because they are going to be fine no matter what.
Take paid maternity leave, for example. Sure, perhaps wealthy women would benefit from paid maternity leave, but in those cases it's a luxury rather than a necessity: wealthy families can survive just fine without six or eight or twelve weeks of mom's income, so she has the choice to stay home for a while. Same for child care. Wealthy families have the stability and flexibility to make a whole range of choices, even if government assistance and subsidies are reduced or cut entirely.
Additionally, wealthy women will continue to have access to safe reproductive health care, and even abortions, if they so choose. Abortions have always been performed, and they always will be performed, throughout history and around the world; the question is simply whether they are safe. Wealthy women have always been and will always be able to find access to doctors who will perform the procedures safely. They can travel if necessary; they can pay any fee. Cutting government aid to services like those offered by Planned Parenthood will disproportionately affect middle, lower-middle class and poor women, women without access to affordable and safe contraception, and particularly those who lack health insurance. These women will experience more unwanted pregnancies, be forced to seek unsafe abortions, and/or be forced to bear children that they cannot afford to raise. (No one can convince me that adoption is really a viable alternative; take a look at the foster-care system.)
I'm on a roll now...
Even when it comes to teachers: Wealthy families send their children to private schools in a heartbeat if they imagine, rightly or wrongly, that their local public schools are sub-standard. If public school teachers suffer the consequences of Republican union-busting, and consequently public schoolchildren suffer, it still won't affect the wealthy. They always have better options.
It's middle class, lower-middle class and poor women and children that are getting screwed, here. If wealthy women and children were getting screwed as well, I suspect the Republicans wouldn't be waging this war in the first place.
As I said, I know that your focus is on women and children, and not on class. Totally fair. I just see the whole world through class-colored lenses, these days while I am living well below the poverty line, and you know me: I've gotta throw my two cents in. (Or two dollars, as the case may be.)
(* Editorial note: I realize that, when it comes to paid maternity leave, it's not a matter of reductions to government assistance, because there currently is none.)
Check this out:
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/02/tax_breaks_infographic.html
Makes my eyes roll back in my head.
Oh, Johanna, thank you for sharing that ... it's disturbing and distressing, but oh wow does it make a point. I will be posting it on my Facebook feed IMMEDIATELY.
As a follow-up point...
Yesterday, at the rally to protest proposed funding cuts for Planned Parenthood, B. and I found ourselves hanging out with a small group of women in their sixties and seventies. Reflecting on some of the comments from people on the podium, the women were recalling their memories of the pre-Roe days when "only rich women had access to contraception and abortions."
So I guess those were the golden good ole days to which conservatives yearn to return...
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