In honor of Women's History Month, I'd like to share the stance that the Democratic Party takes for the issues dealing with American women, as well as what the Democratic National Committee is doing to celebrate this month.
Established by Congressional Resolution in 1987, National Women's History Month serves to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of women in American History.
The Democratic Party has vowed to uphold a woman's right of choice, affirmed in Roe v. Wade. Democrats consider it a basic constitutional freedom for Americans - not the government - to take responsibility for making the most trying and private choices involving reproduction and will do the best job with this decision-making.
In 1998, Democrats in Congress and President Clinton passed legislation assuring right to use to contraceptive treatment for federal workers and their families. This year Democrats fought to retain this right after President George W. Bush proposed getting rid of it.
Bush is enthusiastically anti-choice and has pointed out that his administration will possibly challenge Roe v. Wade.
Since his inauguration, Bush has taken every chance to cut off women's reproductive rights by restoring the Mexico City Policy, a funding ban from the Ronald Reagan administration on family planning services all over the world; trying to eliminate guaranteed access to use health-care coverage for contraceptives; and undermining Roe v. Wade.
The Democratic Party also stands for the primary right of working women to receive equal pay. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., have brought forward the Paycheck Fairness Act to try to eliminate paycheck discrimination based on gender.
President Bush has damaged efforts to guarantee equal pay by selecting consultants who refute the existence of the gender gap and by failing to supply sufficient funds to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which implements federal laws opposed to discrimination and supports equal pay.
The Democratic Party was pleased when President Clinton set up the Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach that supported policies to help women. In 2001 the DNC created the Women's Vote Center to help elect more Democrats by educating, engaging, and rallying women voters across the nation.
The Bush Administration showed that issues affecting women are not its priority when it closed the Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach and planned to get rid of other outreach offices maintained by the Department of Labor.
The Department of Labor is the only federal government unit concerned with endorsing the activities of employed American women. Bush has only appointed women to 26 percent of administration jobs during his first year.
The DNC Women's Vote Center announced it will observe Women's History Month with events that bring to light women making a difference.
"The Democratic Party has a long and proud history of promoting, supporting and defending the values of America's women and families," DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe said. "During Women's History Month and always, we remain committed to improving the lives of all women."
On March 13, the center will host a Democratic Voices media training program intended to educate women activists in skills needed to communicate successfully about the issues over the airwaves, at the podium, on the opinion page, and face-to-face with friends and neighbors.
On March 19, the center will host Democratic Women Making History, an event that will honor Democratic Whip Nancy Pelosi and other notable women making a difference in the fight to improve the lives of all Americans.
On March 27, the center will host a seminar for the women's community to share information on the mood of women voters as we reach the 2002 elections.
Write to Courtney at sturgeoncourtney@hotmail.com
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