The council has for many years worked with the National Women's Political Caucus to mount the Women's Appointments Project, a public relations campaign to pressure incoming presidents to put women in executive posts.
But in an economically pinched year, funding has so far failed to arrive, a blow at a time when hopes for gender parity in government are higher than ever.
"We are continuing to seek funding," Otis said. "It's such an important time for getting half the population to be represented in this new administration."
One major backer has been the Barbara Lee Family Foundation in Cambridge, Mass., a philanthropy that supports programs aimed at increasing women's representation in politics, public policy and the news media.
But this year, Lee focused on electing--rather than appointing--women to office.
"It is my hope that President-elect Barack Obama is committed to diversity in his appointments, including women in key and visible administrative posts," she said.
Otis and other advocates have not given up; Obama was elected only a week ago, and there is still time to secure funding for the appointments project before he puts together his Cabinet and makes hires for other key administrative posts.
But they are preparing a Plan B in case they don't get funding. She and other allies in the women's rights movement plan to hash out their strategy at meetings over the next week.
"Money is not going to get in our way," said Ellie Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, a women's rights lobby in Arlington, Va.
Smeal said women's rights groups are more organized than ever and have new communications tools at their disposal. One possibility would be an online site that would collect recommendations from grassroots women's activists around the country.
Otis' organization, an umbrella group in Washington, has collaborated since 2000 with the National Women's Political Caucus--a political action committee in Washington, D.C., that works to elect pro-choice women to political office--to oversee the project. Before that, the Women's Caucus led the effort on its own.
The first appointments project came after the resignation of Richard Nixon, whose 31 Cabinet positions were all male, according to a history gathered by the two groups that oversee the project.
Advocates have re-launched the project every four years since then.
President Clinton set the standing record by appointing 10 women to Cabinet-level positions during his two terms in office. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Attorney General Janet Reno held two of what are regarded as the Cabinet's four most important posts: the department heads of State, Justice, Defense and Treasury.
President George W. Bush asked eight women to serve in his Cabinet, including Condoleezza Rice, the first African American woman to serve as secretary of state.
Progressive political journal In These Times published a list of Cabinet recommendations that was evenly divided among men and women this week.
Author and activist Rianne Eisler and Linda Basch, president of the National Council for Research on Women, a think tank in New York, have also put out calls for gender equity in government appointments.
"As you roll up your sleeves and consult your most trusted allies about creating a team to take this country into a more secure future, I ask you to keep something in mind: the interests of the women who played such a decisive part in your election," Basch wrote in an open letter to Obama published on the online news site AlterNet.
On Election Day, 56 percent of women cast their ballots for Obama versus 49 percent of men, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick.
Smeal is confident women's advocates will have a receptive audience in Obama's team.
Policy advisers such as Karen Kornbluh, who is advising Obama on women's policy during the transition, "understand these issues from A to Z," Smeal said. "They're brilliant and there's a real commitment."
Obama has not yet made any nominations for the Cabinet.
Two prominent women under discussion for the Treasury Department are Republican Sheila Bair, chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures bank deposits up to $250,000; and Laura D'Andrea Tyson, who chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton.
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has been mentioned as a possible secretary of state.
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and ex-Justice Department official Jamie Gorelick are reportedly under consideration to head up the Department of Justice.
News reports have also played up Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas as a possible head of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Media speculation about the next national security adviser has included the names of women such as Harvard professor Samantha Power and foreign policy expert Susan Rice. Rice and Caroline Kennedy, who headed up Obama's vice presidential search, are also mentioned as possible ambassadors to the United Nations.
Apart from Rice and Napolitano, women on Obama's economic and transition teams include long-time friend Valerie Jarrett; ex-Environmental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner; Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm; Ann Mulcahy, the chair and CEO of Xerox; and Penny Pritzker, CEO of Classic Residence by Hyatt. All of them could find work in the next administration.
At the top of a short list of names that many women's rights advocates want removed is that of Larry Summers, the former president of Harvard University who resigned after suggesting that women were not as successful in math and science because of innate differences between the sexes. He is reportedly under consideration for treasury secretary.
"Women played a large role in getting Obama elected," said Bernice Sandler, a senior scholar at the Women's Research and Education Institute in Washington, D.C., who is known as the Godmother of Title IX, the law guaranteeing equality to girls and women in sports and education. "It just would be a shame if one of his first major appointments was someone who said nasty things about women."
]]>This piece was first published by Women's eNews.
Yet the convention can also be used as a measure for what it is: a showcase of the progress women have made over the last century.
Women's rights activists descended on the Democratic National Convention in Denver a century ago to demand that the Democrats give women the vote--a policy that was not included in the party platform and was not a priority among the Democratic delegates, almost all of whom were male, according to the Denver Post.
The only women in attendance that year were delegates from Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, all states where women were enfranchised, according to the Post. Suffragists staged protests outside the convention to demand enfranchisement, some wearing the latest styles from Paris--"a sheath dress with a slit from the ankle to the knee, flashing the female calf" to stir controversy garner attention, according to the Denver Post.
Fast forward a century and women are on the inside, running much of the show.
To be sure, the spotlight is still on men. Barack Obama will accept his party's presidential nomination on Thursday, and another man, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, will run alongside him in the No. 2 spot. Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, meanwhile, was chosen to give the convention's keynote address--an opportunity that launched the political careers of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, to name a few.
But women, as I reported this week in Women's eNews, have unprecedented power at this year's convention.
For the first time ever, all four convention chairs--the people who preside over convention proceedings--are women. And women hold five of the seven senior leadership positions on the convention committee and are in charge of managing day-to-day strategy and operations.
Women also have major speaking roles the first two days of the convention. Michelle Obama headlines on Monday, Aug. 25, and Clinton will speak on Tuesday, the 88th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote.
Several other prominent female politicians will also give prime-time speeches, including Pelosi; Lily Ledbetter, who lost a Supreme Court case for the right to sue employers for wage discrimination; and early female Obama backers including Sebelius, Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, all of whom were mentioned as possible vice presidential nominees.
The 186-member Platform Drafting Committee, headed by Napolitano, approved inclusion in the platform of an enhanced section on women's rights that states, "We believe that standing up for our country means standing up against sexism and all intolerance...Responsibility lies with us all."
The Democratic National Convention may not be what many of Clinton's fans were hoping for, but it still represents undeniable progress in the march for women's equality.
]]>Allison Stevens is Washington Bureau Chief of Women's eNews.
While recent first ladies have focused on everything from drug abuse to highway beatification, few modern first ladies have put a high premium on issue of particular concern to women -- issues like breast cancer, the cost of child care, and reproductive rights. To be sure, Hillary Clinton was a strong ally to women during her stay in the White House, but she made the broader issue of health care -- rather than issues of particular concern to women -- her highest priority.
As I reported in Women's eNews, Obama says her top concern is issues facing women in the workplace -- that is, pay discrimination and difficulties women have balancing the demands of work and family.
Policy issues that fall under that rubric include efforts to amend fair pay laws and initiatives to allow employees to take paid leave to take care of themselves or family members, encourage companies to offer flexible work schedules the opportunity to telecommute -- all initiatives that would help women because they shoulder the nation's caregiving responsibilities in addition to work responsibilities.
While playing the conventional role of a political wife in her speech on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Obama stuck in a plug for equal pay -- sparking thunderous applause by the delegates in the convention hall.
In her speech she also paid tribute to the suffragists, noting that Tuesday marks the 88th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. And she gave a nod to Hillary Clinton, thanking her for putting "those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling"--a reference to the votes she received in the primary contest--"so that our daughters and sons can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher."
Obama has made issues of importance to women a common refrain on the campaign trail.
"What about the vast majority of women, who are the lifeblood of our society -- nurses, schoolteachers, bus drivers, single-parent mothers -- who don't have that structure?" asked Obama, a working mother, in a 2007 interview with National Public Radio. "Is there a way that we can invest differently in this country to bring more support and attention to the issues that are basically strangling the family unit?"
If her husband wins the White House, Michelle Obama, in fact, may be the best friend women's rights advocates have had in the White House for a long time.
]]>Allison Stevens is Washington Bureau Chief of Women's eNews.
While recent first ladies have focused on everything from drug abuse to highway beatification, few modern first ladies have put a high premium on issue of particular concern to women -- issues like breast cancer, the cost of child care, and reproductive rights. To be sure, Hillary Clinton was a strong ally to women during her stay in the White House, but she made the broader issue of health care -- rather than issues of particular concern to women -- her highest priority.
As I reported in Women's eNews, Obama says her top concern is issues facing women in the workplace -- that is, pay discrimination and difficulties women have balancing the demands of work and family.
Policy issues that fall under that rubric include efforts to amend fair pay laws and initiatives to allow employees to take paid leave to take care of themselves or family members, encourage companies to offer flexible work schedules the opportunity to telecommute -- all initiatives that would help women because they shoulder the nation's caregiving responsibilities in addition to work responsibilities.
While playing the conventional role of a political wife in her speech on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Obama stuck in a plug for equal pay -- sparking thunderous applause by the delegates in the convention hall.
In her speech she also paid tribute to the suffragists, noting that Tuesday marks the 88th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. And she gave a nod to Hillary Clinton, thanking her for putting "those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling"--a reference to the votes she received in the primary contest--"so that our daughters and sons can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher."
Obama has made issues of importance to women a common refrain on the campaign trail.
"What about the vast majority of women, who are the lifeblood of our society -- nurses, schoolteachers, bus drivers, single-parent mothers -- who don't have that structure?" asked Obama, a working mother, in a 2007 interview with National Public Radio. "Is there a way that we can invest differently in this country to bring more support and attention to the issues that are basically strangling the family unit?"
If her husband wins the White House, Michelle Obama, in fact, may be the best friend women's rights advocates have had in the White House for a long time.
]]>And they want it now.
Next year, when the presidential campaign further polarizes Capitol Hill, the kind of bipartisan compromise needed to pass reproductive health bills will be next to impossible to reach, advocates fear.
"We absolutely need Congress to act," Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in New York, said about a bill to allow pharmaceutical companies to return to their practice of selling birth control drugs at steep discounts on college campuses and clinics. "Every day we don't solve this problem there are more and more people who don't have access to birth control."
Higher prices are an unintended consequence of a provision in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, an omnibus spending bill passed in 2006. New York Democratic Rep. Joseph Crowley introduced legislation that would restore eligibility for discounted contraceptives for college and low-cost health providers on Nov. 1. Democratic Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Claire McCaskill of Missouri followed suit with similar legislation on Nov. 13.
If Congress does not pass the bill, women will continue to pay up to 10 times as much for birth control at clinics serving college and low-income women, Richards said.
Prices began to increase in January, when the Deficit Reduction Act took effect. Some clinics were able to temporarily defray the higher costs by purchasing low-cost contraceptives in anticipation of the change, but those stocks are nearly depleted. Now prices are as high as $40 or $50 a month--up from $5 to $10--at hundreds of clinics.
The House and Senate bills have the backing of Democrats and some moderate Republicans. Party leaders have signaled support, Crowley said in a telephone conference earlier this month, but have not scheduled committee or floor action.
The bill could win speedier passage if it is attached to major legislation currently in Congress, such as one of the 13 annual must-pass budget appropriations bills.
"We have some time here before we leave Washington, and I'm very hopeful we can get this passed this year," Crowley said.
But passing the contraceptive bill through both chambers will be difficult at a time when lawmakers are under pressure to complete action on 12 of the 13 spending bills, reach agreement on funding for the war in Iraq, reauthorize a 2002 farm law and change federal tax policy.
Working Women into the Agenda
Also on advocates' holiday wish list is a bill to increase federal family planning funding by $28 million. The increase--the largest in 25 years--is included in a $151 billion bill funding the Labor and Health and Human Services departments that cleared Congress earlier this month. But Bush vetoed the bill on Nov. 13 because he considered it too expensive.
Advocates are also asking for legislation that would finance federal programs to raise awareness and study postpartum depression. The bill cleared the House in October and now awaits action in the Senate. It has support from such groups as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America; Washington-based NARAL Pro-Choice America, the leading abortion rights lobby in the country; and Postpartum Support International in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Moving pro-choice legislation has not been as easy as was predicted at the beginning of the year, when California Democrat Nancy Pelosi--a staunch advocate for women's reproductive rights--became the first female Speaker of the House.
Even though Congress is now controlled by Democrats--a party that officially backs the right to abortion--the majority of lawmakers in both chambers still oppose full reproductive rights, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America. That opposition includes moderate Democrats who support some restrictions.
Cutting Deals in Congress
The numbers have meant that pro-choice lobbyists have had to give up some ground.
In order to move the postpartum research bill through a narrowly divided House, for example, Democrats brokered a deal with anti-choice Republicans to include language that calls for studies on depression after abortion and miscarriage.
The language furthered anti-choice efforts to legitimize "post-abortion syndrome," a disorder coined by anti-choice activists that is not recognized by either the American Psychiatric Association or the American Psychological Association. The language has since been watered down to require research on all outcomes of pregnancy rather than just the post-abortion syndrome.
Congress was able to secure more money for family planning services in the Labor and Health and Human Services spending bill. But to do that, Democrats supported increased funding for abstinence-only sex education programs by $28 million even though they were found to be ineffective in an April study authorized by Congress.
Enhanced abstinence-only education is "the most significant setback" this year, said Donna Crane, director of government relations at NARAL Pro-Choice America. "It's very disappointing. It's going to take more than one year to turn that ship around."
Pushing for Victory
Still, pro-choice groups have had reason to celebrate.
Congress is forcing a showdown with Bush over the so-called global gag rule, which bars distribution of U.S. family planning funds to clinics in other countries that provide abortion or abortion counseling or lobby on abortion policies.
The Senate passed a foreign spending bill that would overturn the rule, while the House voted to weaken it by allowing the United States to provide condoms to groups that are otherwise ineligible for aid.
The foreign spending bill faces a likely veto from Bush, who threatened to block "any legislation that weakens federal policies and laws on abortion or that encourages the destruction of human life at any stage."
Without solid majorities in favor of full reproductive rights, pro-choice lawmakers have largely taken a defensive rather than offensive posture.
In October, the Senate rejected an amendment to the Labor-Health bill that would have barred federal funding to Planned Parenthood and other health care clinics that perform abortion services. The House beat back a similar amendment in July.
Lawmakers also rejected an amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program bill to codify a Bush administration policy that allows states to make embryos and fetuses eligible for government insurance programs, a move to elevate the status of the fetus and lay the legal foundation for granting rights of personhood. (The bill has since been vetoed.)
"We were very excited about the anti-choice attacks we were able to beat back with new leadership," Crane said. "We are also very aware that the numbers will continue to pose a real problem for us. We need to make some more gains in the 2008 elections before we can make some real progress."
]]>This article was first published by Women's eNews.