In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Speak up for women and families in the economic recovery package

Rachel

I got an email through one of the progressive listservs earlier last week that said House offices were getting flooded with phone calls from conservatives telling them to vote no on the economic recovery package. You know they managed to get the provisions protecting reproductive health care for low-income women dropped, in an effort to garner Republican votes.

Well, we can see where that got us. Not only did we lose out expanded health care services, but Republicans didn’t support the damn bill anyway! So what was the point?

As the Senate starts to debate this, they need to hear from us. The right is typically very successful at rallying their troops and getting calls and emails into their Hill offices. Now we need to do the same. You can email through the National Women’s Law Center, or you know I’m a big proponent of picking up the phone. The Capitol Switchboard is (202) 224-3121, or if you go to your senator’s website, he/she probably has a toll-free number.

More from NWLC:

The Senate’s plan, while somewhat different from the bill that

passed the House, also includes a number of measures that are

especially important to women and their families:

More details about the key provisions of the House and Senate bills are available on our website at www.nwlc.org/economicrecovery.

3 thoughts on Speak up for women and families in the economic recovery package

  2. I’m planning to write Dick Durbin about the need to take measures to increase the number of women in the trades for all the infrastructure and green jobs. A division should be created within the Department of Labor to recruit and promote the entrance of women into the trades.

    The smartest thing I ever did in my life was to apply for an apprenticeship. If you’re currently in a dead-end job and are considering going back to school and retraining—-please think about the trades. Excellent wages, great benefits, and no student debt. You earn while you learn, with regular raises. Oh, and you get paid exactly the same as the men. Think about it!! The skilled trades are going to need more people in the workforce as the baby boomers retire (as an example, the average age of a line worker—that’s electrical transmission/distribution—is in the late forties).

    Yes, there is still resistance and discrimination towards women in the trades. However, from what I’ve read on the Internet, it sounds to me as if the situation is far worse for women academics. Neither area is going to improve until critical mass is reached. Being in a union helps immensely, and the workplace culture is such that there is room for fighting back—more so than in many other fields.

    Ok, off my soapbox now!

Comments are currently closed.