Over the last eight years, we have just been trying to hold the line. Hard to face it that more pro-woman legislation has happened in the last eight days than the eight years before. That magical phrase "before" has the taken on a whole new meaning. Up until January 20, 2009, it belonged to 9/11 but now it belongs to Barack Obama's audacious hope.
There are many of us who watched the events of inauguration week and thought how different it would have been if Hillary Clinton had won the nomination and presidency. Every time I heard people shriek with pride that now every parent can tell their kids that they can be anything when they grow up, I substituted, "every boy." As the photo ops poured through the media, I searched for women's faces in roles other than wife and mother. I can't help it. Yeah - I heard, Mrs Biden is a doctor, Mrs Obama is an attorney.
But nothing will make up for Hillary Clinton's Beijing 1997 speech ~ nothing. In my dream book you will find a big strike-out of the International Women's Conference for 2007. However we now live after January 20, 2009 and Hope is docked on the shore. And maybe it is only right that a Year of the Women, International Women's Conference, a Presidential Commission on Women and a Cabinet position for Gender Equality had to wait for Hope to be within sight.
Occasionally something truly exciting happens within the American Women's Movement. Several smart, technically savvy women have pooled their skills, ideas and inspiration to found, WOMEN COUNT. Fundamentally they are calling for a Presidential Commission on Women. Be sure to sign the petition! Here is their own statement:
Sometimes there is a watershed moment in history when it becomes clear that things must change and leaders must act. That moment is now for the women of this country.”
We are excited to tell you about an important new effort we have joined, along with many other leading women’s organizations – and we are asking for your support and participation. Along with WomenCount, a non-profit grassroots organization, we are calling on President-elect Obama to create a Presidential Commission on Women in his first 100 days. This Commission will bring together the best minds in the country for a national conversation on women, to make change happen where we know we need it. President John Kennedy formed the first Commission of this kind 47 years ago, and appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as its chair. It’s time to seize the moment and do it again.
Join us in this effort and sign the petition now. Then forward it to your friends and family with a personal note. Help us make this happen. Women DO count. It’s our time!
Zoe, If you know anyoe who has pull on who would serve on this Commission (if it is created and I hope it is)...be to recommend a woman who has served in a high office of one of the enforcement agencies, like the EEOC or OFCCP. The only real way to discover compensation parity would be to require employers to run their numbers through proper statistical analysis to ensure there is no disparate impact against women. They should then be required to report this information to the government or even post it on their web site, just like the feds do with their No Fear Act (they are required to post their EEO complaint statitics on each Agencies web sites. I will sign the petition and pray that this happens. Thanks for all you do for women...and actually, for all people. C~
Posted by: Carol Baker Dawson | February 04, 2009 at 07:19 AM