States Defund Women's Commissions

Submitted by anthony on Mon, 2009-07-06 21:36

Story here. Excerpt:

'(WOMENSENEWS)--This year, at least five women's commissions--in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and California--are facing closure threats.

"State-local budgets are tight and women are the first to go," said Bonnie Coffey, president of the National Association of Women's Commissions, also known as NACW, based in Rockville, Md.
...
Coffey urges voters to contact local legislators to protest any defundings that they know about in their states.

"What appears to be the most help is for people in individual states to be aware of the need for women's commission and to raise a ruckus when they're threatened with de-funding or dissolution," she said.
...
"Women are not being put into the lifeboat first, they're being thrown overboard," he said. "How shortsighted and stupid do we have to collectively be to stop funding women's commissions, the only access, voice and power in government for girls and women, when issues of gender inequality still require far more federal government attention?"'

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Comments

THIS IS GOOD!

At least something is positive coming out of this recession.

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Submitted by Luek on Tue, 2009-07-07 15:45

Should a state be on the fence in terms of whether or not to ax a Commission on the Status of Women, or anything amounting to that...

...all it has to ask itself is "is there already a Commission on the Status of Men (and no, the government doesn't count -- that's a huge pet peeve of mine by the way)?" If the answer is no, then... byebye.

I cannot even begin to tell you how glad I am that the women's commission in my home state (commonwealth) of Pennsylvania is facing closure threats. Gotta love poetic justice!

______________________________________

Vince
http://againstmisandry.blogspot.com

"What is popular is not always right, what is right is not always popular."

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Submitted by Vince on Tue, 2009-07-07 22:46

Here's why: If these commissions and state-funded women-only services were being cut because they were determined to be sexist and violate the Equal Protection clause, then that would be reason for celebrating. Or, if they were being closed in favor of a new set of institutions that filled the needs of people regrdless of their sex (eg: DV shelters that were open to people of both sexes, or a shelter system with the same services available to men as women, etc.), then that too would be reason to celebrate. But alas, such is not the case.

These services are being cut *despite* the fact that these are "sacred cows", untouched for years even in the worst times previous, even when pols know they are going to take a bunch of heat for it from advocacy/feminist groups. In short, these programs getting cut are a canary in a coal mine - only this time it isn't just the canary that is in risk of dying.

Another thing to note: It is not that women don't need or don't have a use for services such as DV shelters, etc. It is that men *also* have a need for these things. These programs getting cut are not even a Pyrrhic victory. They are in fact no victory at all, for anyone.

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Submitted by Matt on Tue, 2009-07-07 23:43