Sunday, July 04, 2010
Happy Independence Day!
Before the fireworks, before you light the grill, or chill that beer take a moment to think about what today really stands for: the day that our founders signed the document that laid forth their grievances and call for independence. We,today, have truncated the list of grievances to "no taxation without representation." We also focus on the 2nd paragraph: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Liberty and equality are the two American values that we hold and cherish,, yet these are the two values that have been contested throughout our history. Today, we are still seeing the tension between individual liberty and our need for national security. Today, equality is still not a given for women, for lesbians and gay men, for minorities, for the poor.
Here are a few examples, a few grievances, if I may, in which equality is still not for all:
Women's inequality
* Women still do not earn the same as males in the same positions or comparable ones. (http://www.nwlc.org/fairpay/ http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C350.pdf)
* Women still do not have full control over their own reproductive health.
(http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/gpr/11/3/gpr110306.html, or more recently the debate on whether or not birth control is preventative medicine :
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/190570.php or when women's lives are trumped by religious doctrine when they go to religiously affiliated hospitals:http://www.aclu.org/reproductive-freedom/aclu-letter-centers-medicare-and-medicaid-regarding-denial-reproductive-health- )
* victim of domestic violence with orders of protection are not guaranteed that the police will respond (see Gonzales v Castle Rock).
Lesbian and Gay inequality
* Gays and lesbians may serve in our military and die for our freedoms but they do not have their own freedom under Don't Ask Don't Tell; and coming to the Supreme Court soon the Westboro Baptist Church claim of freedom of expression to picket outside military funerals. . .
* The majority still thinks that they may reserve the civil and legal benefits and social recognition of marriage to those of the opposite sex ( see for over view of prop 8 case http://prop8trialtracker.com/ http://www.marriageequality.org/ )
* In many states lesbians, gays, anyone who employers think are sexually othered may be legally fired or not hired ( See http://www.hrc.org/laws_and_elections/enda.asp )
http://www.ushistory.org/DECLARATION/document/index.htm )
Minorities and inequality
* That minorities do not have the same freedoms one only has to look at NYC police practices of stop and frisking people of color
(http://www.nyclu.org/issues/racial-justice/stop-and-frisk-practices) or Arizona's new anti-immigration law.
The Poor and inequality
* The poor are treated as if they are the cause of their own poverty and punished. If they live in public housing they do not have 4th amendment rights. Minimum wage is not a living wage. The Personal Responsibility Act (Welfare Reform)requires mothers of children age 3 and above to work, yet there is no child care provision, the act also says that women who get said monies must not be sexually active, and the purpose of the act is to make poor women marriageable, because marriage cures poverty (NOT!).
And, of course, the recent Senate decisions not to extend unemployment insurance because that is just extending the economic recession.
So take a moment to re-read the Declaration of Independence
http://www.ushistory.org/DECLARATION/document/index.htm
and think about liberty and equality before you chill the beer, light the grill and watch the fireworks.
Liberty and equality are the two American values that we hold and cherish,, yet these are the two values that have been contested throughout our history. Today, we are still seeing the tension between individual liberty and our need for national security. Today, equality is still not a given for women, for lesbians and gay men, for minorities, for the poor.
Here are a few examples, a few grievances, if I may, in which equality is still not for all:
Women's inequality
* Women still do not earn the same as males in the same positions or comparable ones. (http://www.nwlc.org/fairpay/ http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C350.pdf)
* Women still do not have full control over their own reproductive health.
(http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/gpr/11/3/gpr110306.html, or more recently the debate on whether or not birth control is preventative medicine :
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/190570.php or when women's lives are trumped by religious doctrine when they go to religiously affiliated hospitals:http://www.aclu.org/reproductive-freedom/aclu-letter-centers-medicare-and-medicaid-regarding-denial-reproductive-health- )
* victim of domestic violence with orders of protection are not guaranteed that the police will respond (see Gonzales v Castle Rock).
Lesbian and Gay inequality
* Gays and lesbians may serve in our military and die for our freedoms but they do not have their own freedom under Don't Ask Don't Tell; and coming to the Supreme Court soon the Westboro Baptist Church claim of freedom of expression to picket outside military funerals. . .
* The majority still thinks that they may reserve the civil and legal benefits and social recognition of marriage to those of the opposite sex ( see for over view of prop 8 case http://prop8trialtracker.com/ http://www.marriageequality.org/ )
* In many states lesbians, gays, anyone who employers think are sexually othered may be legally fired or not hired ( See http://www.hrc.org/laws_and_elections/enda.asp )
http://www.ushistory.org/DECLARATION/document/index.htm )
Minorities and inequality
* That minorities do not have the same freedoms one only has to look at NYC police practices of stop and frisking people of color
(http://www.nyclu.org/issues/racial-justice/stop-and-frisk-practices) or Arizona's new anti-immigration law.
The Poor and inequality
* The poor are treated as if they are the cause of their own poverty and punished. If they live in public housing they do not have 4th amendment rights. Minimum wage is not a living wage. The Personal Responsibility Act (Welfare Reform)requires mothers of children age 3 and above to work, yet there is no child care provision, the act also says that women who get said monies must not be sexually active, and the purpose of the act is to make poor women marriageable, because marriage cures poverty (NOT!).
And, of course, the recent Senate decisions not to extend unemployment insurance because that is just extending the economic recession.
So take a moment to re-read the Declaration of Independence
http://www.ushistory.org/DECLARATION/document/index.htm
and think about liberty and equality before you chill the beer, light the grill and watch the fireworks.
Labels: equality, lesbians and gays, liberty, minorities, the poor, women
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Recognizing Women
In Modern Political Thought class the other day we read Olympe de Gouges (1791), Mary Wollstonecraft (1792) and the Declaration of Sentiments (1848)--all criticizing the new modern liberal states for not recognizing women. De Gouges literally lost her head for criticizing the French Constitution of 1791.
I asked my students who was the first woman to run for US President. I gave them hints after Hillary Clinton's name came up--such as her running mate was a black man; and the date was 1872. None knew Victoria Woodhull's name, there was some recognition of Frederick Douglas.
I then asked: Would it have made a difference if young women and men learned about this try for the presidency, when they studied the abolition movement the Civil War, Reconstruction and women's suffrage in middle or high school?
I then asked in college, which female philosophers did they studied in Phil. 101--Introduction to Philosophy, or in the 3rd year class on Ethics...only 1 said they studied maybe 1 or 2 women (Wollstonecraft and Ayn Rand), the rest they read only male philosophers.
What of Sappho, who ran an academy; who Plato called wise and the tenth muse? What of all the 93 women who are listed on Women-Philosophers.com's index? There were women doing philosophy from 2354 BCE to today.
And, then we wonder why a health care bill can discount the needs of women.
I asked my students who was the first woman to run for US President. I gave them hints after Hillary Clinton's name came up--such as her running mate was a black man; and the date was 1872. None knew Victoria Woodhull's name, there was some recognition of Frederick Douglas.
I then asked: Would it have made a difference if young women and men learned about this try for the presidency, when they studied the abolition movement the Civil War, Reconstruction and women's suffrage in middle or high school?
I then asked in college, which female philosophers did they studied in Phil. 101--Introduction to Philosophy, or in the 3rd year class on Ethics...only 1 said they studied maybe 1 or 2 women (Wollstonecraft and Ayn Rand), the rest they read only male philosophers.
What of Sappho, who ran an academy; who Plato called wise and the tenth muse? What of all the 93 women who are listed on Women-Philosophers.com's index? There were women doing philosophy from 2354 BCE to today.
And, then we wonder why a health care bill can discount the needs of women.
Labels: women
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
51% need health care reform NOW!
And that is because 51% of the people living in the United States are women who are regularly denied by the current health care insurance for being victims of domestic abuse (can we say re-victimized?) or for having delivered a baby via C-section; who are charged more for maternity coverage; and women pay higher premiums than males (on top of average women earning substantially less than men).
This information is from a report by the National Women's Law Center. http://nwlc.org/reformmatters/NWLCReport-NowhereToTurn-WEB.pdf
We need a health care reform now!
At minimum, if we keep the private health care insurance companies they should be made provide equal coverage to women (without raising the cost to males to insure profits). For instance, New York State has a law that says that there can not be "gender-ratings" when figuring out premium costs. Women should not be penalized or re-victimized by health care insurance companies.
This report should open all our eyes to the bias in the profit driven health care insurance industry. This report should be mandatory reading for all our legislators.
We need single payer health insurance.
This information is from a report by the National Women's Law Center. http://nwlc.org/reformmatters/NWLCReport-NowhereToTurn-WEB.pdf
We need a health care reform now!
At minimum, if we keep the private health care insurance companies they should be made provide equal coverage to women (without raising the cost to males to insure profits). For instance, New York State has a law that says that there can not be "gender-ratings" when figuring out premium costs. Women should not be penalized or re-victimized by health care insurance companies.
This report should open all our eyes to the bias in the profit driven health care insurance industry. This report should be mandatory reading for all our legislators.
We need single payer health insurance.
Labels: healthcare insurance, NWLC, women
