Error: Unable to create directory /home/demockra/public_html/wp-content/uploads/2010/09. Is its parent directory writable by the server? Women and the Obama Administration

The election of Barack Obama has signaled a potential turning point for the people of the United States. Millions have been inspired by Obama’s hopeful message of change, and for the first time ever, a man of color occupies the nation’s top position. Many Americans of all classes and creeds, to say nothing of race, are looking forward in hope for an improved economy, an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a more respectable reputation abroad. With all this talk of change, however, more attention needs to be paid to the concerns of women in the United States. With so many competing pressures at home and abroad, many women’s groups and feminists fear that gender equality will not be a priority of the Obama administration. This essay intends to explore three imminent problems American women face today: pay inequity, lack of representation in leadership positions, and limitations on the right to choice. Congress and past presidents have given some attention to these matters in the past; however much work awaits us if there is to be significant improvement in these areas. Under the new Obama administration, there may never be a better time to make such progress.

While the women’s movement is not as active as it was during its heyday of the 1960s and 1970s, women have by no means achieved an equal status to men. One of the most frustrating problems facing women today is unequal pay. Although employers are barred from discrimination based on gender, and equal pay has been on the books since 1963, women still on average make 77 cents for the man’s dollar. Race and class intersect with gender to structurally disadvantage poor women of color the most. While some middle-class white women can almost touch the glass ceiling, far too many working-class women with darker skin tend to scrub the floors below. There are numerous reasons for women’s lower wages, including but not limited to: the fact that discrimination is extremely difficult to prove in court, the devaluation of women’s work, inadequate family leave policies, and ideals of masculinity/femininity that prevent women from occupying the “top” positions. Solutions to the problem must be multifaceted and should address inequalities that occur at different stages of life. For example, girls need encouragement to develop their interests in traditionally “masculine” enterprises like math and science, and women who become mothers should be entitled to a reasonable amount of paid leave.

Currently, The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) only grants twelve unpaid weeks to employees who wish to care for a family member, although some employers may choose to offer more time off and pay for it. While the FMLA represents some progress in addressing women and family’s needs, the law is embarrassingly stingy compared to the more generous policies of other western countries. In the United Kingdom, for example, women are entitled to 26 weeks of paid maternity leave. Also, paternity leave should be encouraged. Providing leave to only mothers reinforces the idea that women are and should be the primary caregivers to all children. If we strive to make care giving an equally shared responsibility in order to open up opportunities to women, then men should also be incorporated into such leave policies. Clearly, U.S. family leave policy is severely out of touch and inadequate to meet the real needs of working women and families. Family leave policies are generally very politically popular, and there is real opportunity for significant bills to be passed in this area over next four years under President Obama.

In addition to pay equity issues, women are also severely underrepresented in public service. At the date of this writing, women hold a mere 16% of congressional seats and governed only 8 states. In most other forms of political participation, women are equal or almost equal to men, and in some cases even surpass their male counterparts (e.g., women tend to vote at higher rates compared to men). However, when it comes to the most powerful and prestigious positions in our society, such as elected officials, the number of women is dismally low. Spectators have attributed the low number of women in office to a plethora of reasons, including the political opportunity structure, gender discrimination, and the fact that women simply do not run at the same rates as men. However, childcare responsibilities may represent the primary reason why women dangle at the bottom of the political rope. Women are more likely than men to begin their political career later in life after their children are grown. Thus, politically minded women usually lack time (and energy) to gain the requisite experience needed for higher offices. However, with the election of a black president, along with Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin’s historic bids, women may have more of a chance than ever to break the glass ceiling of politics. At the very least, the 2008 elections taught young girls that the President doesn’t always have to be white and male. The President can be black or possibly female. Aside from providing excellent role models, the Obama administration should encourage women to run for office by providing extra support for mothers. As with pay equity issues, paid family leave is essential and a compensation program for elder care-givers (the large majority who are women) might be considered. In addition, because the seeds of Senators and Presidents are first planted at the grassroots level, Obama’s famous technological grassroots organizing techniques could be expanded to help recruit women candidates to run at all levels, including for offices such as in the city council and the state legislator. Many groups, such as Emily’s List, already have the infrastructure in which to invest new techniques. With any luck, such a program would help breed tomorrow’s female Senators, Governors, and even Presidents.

Finally, many women also lack control over their own bodies. Reproductive rights and freedom have slowly but steadily been eroded over the years, and Roe v. Wade may hang by a thread. There are a plethora of restrictions on access to abortion in some areas of the country, and the women who often are the least likely to be able to access abortion services are poor women and women of color. In general, poor women are more likely than affluent women to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, either because of indigency or the lack of reproductive providers in their area. Poor women are also more likely than affluent women to have abortions later in their pregnancies, which increases the likelihood of complications and health risks. In the area of abortion rights, President Obama may have the power through appointment to help shape broader access to abortion in the coming decades. He can appoint strong pro-choice justices to the Supreme and federal courts and put pressure on certain states to provide more funding to indigent women who want or need abortions. Obama may also consider becoming a champion for policies that may prevent unwanted pregnancies from occurring in the first place. Such policies would promote comprehensive sexual education for all public school children, which stresses protection and accountability. Abstinence-only education in schools has been shown to be inadequate and ineffective in preventing premarital sex. Such policies would also make contraceptives more widely available to at-risk children. Also, in order to prevent abortions, women need to be able to freely choose to become mothers or not. Without adequate public assistance, childcare subsidies, and paid family leave, many women feel forced by their economic situation to terminate a pregnancy rather than live in poverty. We have to remember that reproductive freedom is not only about the right to abortion, but also about providing women with the means, resources, and opportunities to choose whether to raise a child.

This essay points to three major issues that affect women’s lives–pay inequity, lack of representation in the political world, and restrictions on reproductive freedom. Although women’s issues may not be perceived as important as they once were, the urgency of problems that afflict women in 2009 is just as strong as it was several decades ago. While the substance of each issue discussed is different, the roots of these problems are similar. Women are still the primary caregivers to children and elder parents, despite the fact that both men and women have increasingly expressed agreement with egalitarian ideas about sharing domestic responsibility. To compound the problem, women are not allotted enough reproductive liberty to freely choose motherhood and are not allotted political liberty to be represented by their peers. Additionally, the problems discussed are not discrete, independent issues, but rather are very much interrelated to one other. More women in public office are likely to encourage more family-friendly policy, and attention to reproductive freedom may increase. More reproductive freedom is likely to allow women to take advantage of the same opportunities as men, including moving up in the working and political world. These problems and their solutions thus cannot be addressed individually in a vacuum, but must be addressed together as part of a comprehensive plan to elevate the status of women.

The inequalities women face in the United States are symptomatic of an unequal democracy. If women do not possess as much power, influence, and control over their own lives as men do, then we cannot say that “we the people” rule our country. Obama’s election inspired a hope for a more egalitarian society in which freedom and prosperity could flourish. In order to accomplish this utopian vision, attention needs to be paid to what Simone de Beauvoir termed the “second sex.” Women’s needs should be taken into account, not only to raise the status of women, but also to create a society of true equals. I have hope that the next four years can begin to lead us in that very direction.