One hundred years of Feminism

PHUKET, Thailand — Stiffening the American line against Iran, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Wednesday that the United States would consider extending a “defense umbrella” over the Middle East if the country continued to defy international demands that it halt work that could lead to nuclear weapons.

President Barack Obama has begun his term with some very heartening measures designed to improve women’s status and economic opportunities.

His very first piece of legislation as President was the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay [...]]]>  

President Barack Obama has begun his term with some very heartening measures designed to improve women’s status and economic opportunities.

His very first piece of legislation as President was the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Bill designed to allow women to sue for lost earnings due to not receiving equal pay. In announcing the intention of the legislation, President Obama said:  

”It’s also fitting that we’re joined today by the woman after whom this bill is named — someone who Michelle and I have had the privilege to get to know ourselves. And it is fitting that we are joined this morning by the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. (Applause.) It’s appropriate that this is the first bill we do together. We could not have done it without her. Madam Speaker, thank you for your extraordinary work. And to all the sponsors and members of Congress and leadership who helped to make this day possible.

Lilly Ledbetter did not set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She was just a good hard worker who did her job — and she did it well — for nearly two decades before discovering that for years, she was paid less than her male colleagues for doing the very same work. Over the course of her career, she lost more than $200,000 in salary, and even more in pension and Social Security benefits — losses that she still feels today.

Now, Lilly could have accepted her lot and moved on. She could have decided that it wasn’t worth the hassle and the harassment that would inevitably come with speaking up for what she deserved. But instead, she decided that there was a principle at stake, something worth fighting for. So she set out on a journey that would take more than ten years, take her all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, and lead to this day and this bill which will help others get the justice that she was denied.

Because while this bill bears her name, Lilly knows that this story isn’t just about her. It’s the story of women across this country still earning just 78 cents for every dollar men earn — women of color even less — which means that today, in the year 2009, countless women are still losing thousands of dollars in salary, income and retirement savings over the course of a lifetime.”    

Read the President’s full speech upon signing this Bill:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/RemarksbythePresidentUponSigningtheLillyLedbetterBill/

To mark International Women’s Day, he created a very high-level White House Council of Women charged with ensuring “a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families.”  Membership of the Council includes Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, and all other members of the Obama Cabinet.  Announcing the Council, President Obama said, “… it’s up to us to carry that work forward, to ensure that our daughters and granddaughters have no limits on their dreams, no obstacles to their achievements — and that they have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers never dreamed of.  That’s the purpose of this Council.  Those are the priorities of my presidency”. Read the President’s speech: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/03/11/Opportunities-their-mothers-and-grandmothers-and-great-grandmothers-never-dreamed-of/

No government has ever created such a powerful body to monitor the impact on women and families of all areas of government policy.  Read the President’s announcement of the Council here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Announces-White-House-Council-on-Women-and-Girls/

You can read the White House Agenda for Women here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/women/

From Elise Labott CNN State Department Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The power of women hit the State Department on Wednesday when first lady Michelle Obama joined Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to celebrate champions of women’s rights around the world.

Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton present the State Department Women [...]]]> March 11, 2009 — Updated 0233 GMT (1033 HKT)

From Elise Labott
CNN State Department Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The power of women hit the State Department on Wednesday when first lady Michelle Obama joined Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to celebrate champions of women’s rights around the world.

Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton present the State Department Women of Courage Awards.

The event was to celebrate the State Department Women of Courage Awards, but highlighted how both the current and former first ladies have made women’s rights a signature issue.

Since calling women’s rights a human rights issue at a women’s conference in Beijing in 1995, Clinton has made it a personal mission to champion the rights of women. Her first two trips as secretary of state have been packed with events promoting the importance of women’s rights.

“These personal experiences have informed my work, and I will continue to fight for human rights as secretary of state in traditional and especially nontraditional ways and venues,” Clinton told the audience.

You “can’t solve problems of financial crisis, climate change, disease and poverty if half of the population is left behind,” Clinton said. The rights of women will “always be central to our foreign policy.”

In a commentary published Monday in honor of International Women’s Day, Clinton warned that “women still comprise the majority of the world’s poor, unfed and unschooled.”

“Global problems are too big and too complex to be solved without the full participation of women,” she wrote in the article, which ran in more than 50 newspapers around the world.

“Strengthening women’s rights is not only a continuing moral obligation — it is also a necessity as we face a global economic crisis, the spread of terrorism and nuclear weapons, regional conflicts that threaten families and communities, and climate change and the dangers it presents to the world’s health and security.”

Ambiga Sreenevasan, a Malaysian lawyer who won an award Wednesday for her work on behalf of justice for women, called Clinton “a woman of courage who has encouraged woman around the world.”

Clinton’s speech declaring that women’s rights are human rights, Sreenevasan said, has “resonated with a lot of us here.”

Clinton also heaped praise on the current first lady, saying that in a very short time, Michelle Obama “through her grace and her wisdom [has] become an inspiration to women and girls, not only in the United States, but around the world.”

Obama spoke about the importance of proper health care, education and justice for women in ensuring strong families and communities.

“The difference between a broken community and a thriving one is the presence of women who are valued, where relationships among women and between women and men are based upon mutual respect,” Obama said.

Obama said the work done by the honorees has not just changed their own circumstances, but by inspiring hope and motivating others to act, that work also has changed women’s lives around the world.

“This is how real change occurs, one determined woman at a time. And change is coming,” she said. “The women we honor today teach us three very important lessons. One, that as women, we must stand up for ourselves. The second, as women we must stand up for each other. And finally, as women we must stand up for justice for all.”

On Wednesday, President Obama created a White House Council on Women and Girls, charged with devising a coordinated federal response to various challenges faced by American women.

The council, which will be led by senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett and which will include most members of the president’s Cabinet, will be charged with ensuring that all governmental agencies take the needs of women into account.

The president said the council will also help ensure a more coordinated federal response on a range of issues, including equal pay, family leave and child care.

He also nominated Melanne Verveer, Clinton’s chief of staff when she was first lady, as ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues.

In addition to Sreenevasan, the Women of Courage honorees make up an impressive list of advocates on behalf of women under difficult and often dangerous circumstances.

Hadizatou Mani escaped caste-based slavery in Niger to help fight for rights of other people still enslaved in the country. Veronika Marchenko was honored for her activism on behalf of slain soldiers’ families in Russia.

Suaad Allami won an award for running a nongovernmental organization on behalf of women in Sadr City, Iraq, that is considered a “one-stop shop” for legal, educational and domestic violence counseling for women.

Mutabar Tadjibayeva is one of the most vocal activists in Uzbekistan fighting on behalf of women’s rights, despite being arrested and beaten by police.

In Guatemala, where an average of two women each day die a violent death, Norma Cruz provides support to families of women who are murdered.

One honoree, 12-year-old Reem al-Numery of Yemen, was unable to attend because she is in court fighting her forced marriage to a 30-year-old cousin who allegedly raped and beat her. Her battle in the courts to divorce her husband has sparked an avalanche of activism on behalf of Yemeni preteens sold into wedlock.

Read the article here

http://angryblackbitch.blogspot.com/2008/01/im-worried-too-ms-steinem.html

http://pandagon.blogsome.com/2008/01/09/steinems-massive-misfire/

http://www.reappropriate.com/?p=949