Current Debates and Issues for Women
Reproductive Rights
- Currently there is much debate over the restrictions on abortions in the United States.
- Abortion was not made legal until 1973 when the United State's Supreme Court ruled in favor of abortion in the case of Roe vs. Wade.
- Since it has been legalized many states still have restrictions on who can get one and the conditions under which an abortion is legal.
- The most common type of restrictive state abortion laws are medicaid funding restrictions. These restrictions are laws that forbid state funding of abortions for poor women.
- Other types of restrictive state laws require women to wait at least 24 hours before getting an abortion.
- State laws also make it very hard for women under the age of 18 to get an abortion without parental consent.
- Debates on whether a fetus is considered a person or not for federal and criminal law also come into play.
- Advocates against abortion vote for other options such as more available contraceptives and celibacy as well as education about sex and it's consequences.
- The health care act President Obama passed put even more restrictions on abortions.
- Due to the role of religion, the issue of abortion becomes even more complicated and shows that there is still a long road ahead of us before we have a solid, unique and identical abortion policy in all states. Depending on how conservative a state is, the harsher restrictions can be.
Wage Difference
- "Women to this day still only make .77 cents to every dollar a man makes." -Congresswoman Rosa Delaura of Connecticut said.
- The average woman stands to lose more than $400,000 over a 40-year period.
- With this gap it shows that there is still a lot of room to grow when it comes to equal pay for equal work. Women deserve to make the same amount of money that men do when they are working the same type of jobs.
- Even though the Equal Pay Act, passed back in 1963, which mandated equal pay for equal work that did not end the wage discrimination.
- Many women such as, Nancy Pelosi, and the Democratic side of the House of Representatives continue to advocate for equal wages and are working to pass the Fair Minimum Wage Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act but are being met by some severe resistance from Republicans in Congress.
- However there have been many strides already to make the wage gap less of a problem. President Barack Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law in 2009. This act amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and made it easier for equal-pay lawsuits to be filed especially after each pay check was received.
Women as CEO's and Executives
- Women are now becoming more and more important in the business world. It is just now becoming acceptable for women to be in positions of power in large companies. Women are even becoming executives and CEO's and stand to become even more powerful.
- Some of the most powerful women right now are, Sherley Sandburg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, Virginia Rometty , the president and CEO of Xerox, and, Melinda Gates, wife of the founder and president of Microsoft Corporation. With women like these paving the way, it is likely that more women will begin to blossom and become powerful figure heads in politics.
- With more women in positions of power like this, it will hopefully become easier to get equal wages and help women of color rise to power to.
- Women like Sherley Sandburg and Virginia Rometty are helping to pave the way for women to be respected and viewed as capable when it comes to running a large, influential business.
- To help with some of the issues that come with women understanding public policy, we need more streamlined information on government policies, access to decision makers, networking and opportunity as well as, advocacy on behalf of small businesses.
Abuse Against Women
- 1 in 3 women experience physical of sexual abuse.
- The abuse of women has stemmed from a long history of women being considered a man's property and not a person. There has been many improvements in the treatment of women as America has grown but the statistics of women being abused are still far too high.
- Marital rape was not even illegal in all states until 1993
- The Violence Against Women Act passed in 1994, was a major step towards fighting this abuse. This act enhanced judicial and law enforcement tools to combat violence against women. This act was reauthorized by the president in 2013 for another active five years.
“In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.” |