2010 Legislative and Election Issues Survey

Courtesy of Ellie Lienau, AAUW’s Liaison with ACCR (Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform.)  AAUW Montgomery wishes to thank the Capital Survey Research Center for sharing the results of the survey.

October 8, 2009

Subject:  2010 Legislative and Election Issues Survey

CSRC completed a statewide 2010 Legislative and Election Issues survey of 556 likely voters during the period September 28-30, October 1, 5, 2009.  The survey has a SME of +/- 4.2%. The survey was designed to measure likely voter opinions on a range of topics related to the 2010 legislative session and the 2010 election.

Summary—Alabama voters:

• Are dissatisfied (69%) with the way things are going at the national level and divided (45% to 46%) on how things are going at the state level.

• Believe the state economy is not good (68%) and has seriously (42%) hurt them or their family.

• Strongly support (66%) regulating and taxing gaming in the state and a majority would vote for a lottery (62%) and casinos (54%).  Fifty-one percent states they would be more likely to vote for a candidate for governor who supports allowing, regulating and taxing gaming and gambling in the state, including a lottery and casinos.

• Strongly support raising taxes (17%) or taxing gaming (62%) rather than cut (8%) public school budgets.

• Support (65%) removal of the grocery sales tax, using the Oil and Gas Trust Fund to build roads and bridges (59%) and believe (75%) the state is obligated to fully fund PACT participant tuition payments.

• Are unaware of the teacher ethics code issue, are divided on the impact of the legislator pay raise on the reelection of members who voted for the raise, and would invest education dollars in K-12.

• While expressing a lack of confidence (54%) in the ability of the Legislature to fairly and productively conduct the business of the state, would vote for (49%) the reelection of their senator and representative, and narrowly (51%) oppose prohibiting public employees from running for public office.

• Are evenly split (26% to 27%) on which political party can best provide ethical and productive state government and on which party deserves credit for low state and local taxes (20% to 19%) and are divided  (45% to 49%) on whether low taxes keep the state from promoting economic growth.

• Are divided (39% to 40%) on support of a “Just vote no” on Alabama constitutional amendments until a new constitution is written and adopted .

• Are disappointed and frustrated with both national (39%) and state government (50%) and politics.

• State (29%) that confidence in a candidate’s ability to “get something done” is the leading factor that will most influence their vote for governor in 2010.

• Believe that Alabama religious organizations and churches (66%) have the most positive impact on the operation of state government and politics followed by the Alabama Education Association (61%) and Alabama TV and radio (57%).

• Are fairly evenly divided on political party self-identification—Democrat 37%, Republican 33%, and 30% Independent or other.

For additional information contact:

Gerald W. Johnson

Capital Survey Research Center

Alabama Education Association

334.834.3912

Wage Gap Widens Once Again

The latest Census statistics show that the gap between men’s and women’s earnings widened slightly between 2007 and 2008, from 78 cents to 77 cents .  In Alabama, the gap widened to 72 cents.   Based on the median earnings of full-time, year-round workers, women’s earnings were $35,745 and men’s earnings were $46,367. Median earnings for most women of color are even lower. In 2008, the earnings for African American women were $31,489, 67.9 percent of men’s earnings (a drop from 68.7 percent in 2007), and Latinas’ earnings were $26,846, 58 percent of men’s earnings (a drop from 59 percent in 2007).  Asian American women’s earnings in 2008 were $42,215 — 91 percent of men’s earnings, an increase from 89.5 percent in 2007.

[For a history of the Pay Equity Gap, see the National Committee on Pay Equity's [NCPE]  ”The Wage Gap Over Time” table at:  http://www.pay-equity.org/info-time.html]

The Fair Pay Campaign [http://www.nwlc.org/fairpay/]   is led by the American Association of University Women, the Feminist Majority Foundation, Legal Momentum, the National Organization for Women, the National Partnership for Women and Families, and the National Women’s Law Center, with 250 other local, state, and national groups — including NCPE – joining them.

The next Equal Pay Day is April 10, 2010.  Join AAUW Montgomery at the State House to lobby for Equal Pay.  Keep watching this blog for more information.

Janet Smith, President AAUW Montgomery

Pay Equity

AAUW’s Position on Pay Equity

In June 1963, President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act. Thanks to the hard work of AAUW Action Network members and our coalition of partners, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (http://www.aauw.org/advocacy/issue_advocacy/actionpages/LLFPA.cfm/) into Law on January 29, 2009. Lilly Ledbetter is an Alabama Resident who fought for pay equity and AAUW was there. Read the press release here: http://www.aauw.org/About/newsroom/pressreleases/fairpay0109.cfm.

Now it’s time to join AAUW in continuing the fight against wage discrimination by urging the Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act (http://www.aauw.org/advocacy/issue_advocacy/actionpages/paycheckfairness.cfm)

. To find out more, read the article “A New Push for Equal Pay” in Parade magazine. (http://www.parade.com/news/intelligence-report/archive/new-push-for-equal-pay.html)

According to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2007 the ratio of women’s and men’s median annual earnings reached almost 78 cents on the dollar for full-time year-round workers, up from just under 77 cents in 2006. While women have been hard at work to earn their extra penny, Congress has failed to pass legislation that would give women equal pay protections.

For every dollar a white man makes, a white woman earns 78 cents; African American women make 67 cents on the dollar (African American men make 78 cents); Hispanic women make about 58 cents (Hispanic men make almost 66 cents). New research calculates that the pay inequity shortfall in women’s earnings about $1 million over a working lifetime. And the rates in Alabama are even lower. For an interactive map detailing wage gaps in all 50 states, go here:
http://www.aauw.org/research/statedata/index.cfm)

Working to close this pay gap, AAUW is a participant in the WAGE Project. WAGE Clubs were developed by The WAGE Project (http://www.wageproject.org/), an organization established for one purpose: to end discrimination against women in the American workplace in the near future. The nickname, WAGE, reminds us of the goal we pursue: Women Are Getting Even. WAGE is led by Evelyn F. Murphy, author of Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men and What To Do About It (http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Even-Women-Men-About/dp/0743296397/ref=sr_1_1/002-0423765-0722408?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184271551&sr=8-1)  

 I read the book on the plane during a trip out west, and highly recommend it.

For more information on the pay gap, go to AAUW’s Research Report Page and download the reports at (http://www.aauw.org/research/index.cfm)

AAUW Montgomery strongly urges you to contact your Congressmen and Senators and tell them, “Keep the change until women have real change.” And while you’re at it, tell them “I want my million dollars.”

Blogmistress:  Ariana Goldsby

Anniversary of Passage of 19th Amendment

August 26, 2009 Anniversary of the Passage of the 19th Amendment

From the New York Times, August 26, 1920:

The half-century struggle for woman suffrage in the United States reached its climax at 8 o’clock this morning, when Bainbridge Colby, as Secretary of State, issued his proclamation announcing that the Nineteenth Amendment had become a part of the Constitution of the United States.

The signing of the proclamation took place at that hour at Secretary Colby’s residence, 1507 K Street Northwest, without ceremony of any kind, and the issuance of the proclamation was unaccompanied by the taking of movies or other pictures, despite the fact that the National Woman’s Party, or militant branch of the general suffrage movement, had been anxious to be represented by a delegation of women and to have the historic event filmed for public display and permanent record.

Secretary Colby did not act with undue haste in signing the proclamation, but only after he had given careful study to the packet which arrived by mail during the early morning hours containing the certificate of the Governor of Tennessee that that State’s Legislature had ratified the Congressional resolution submitting the amendment to the States for action.

None of the leaders of the woman suffrage movement was present when the proclamation was signed.

“It was quite tragic,” declared Mrs. Abby Scott Baker of the National Woman’s Party. “This was the final culmination of the women’s fight, and, women, irrespective of factions, should have been allowed to be present when the proclamation was signed. However the women of America have fought a big fight and nothing can take from them their triumph.”

Speaking tonight at the woman’s suffrage meeting in Poll’s Theatre, Secretary Colby made the following references to President Wilson:

“There never was a man more deeply or profoundly convinced of the justice of the suffrage cause than Woodrow Wilson. And there never was a party leader who held his party with more stern, austere and unbending insistence to the performance of a duty dictated by high principle:

“The President called me on the telephone this morning. It is a private wire that connects the office of the Secretary of State with the library of the President. And he asked me if I had been invited to address this meeting tonight. He expressed his pleasure when I told him that I had, and said: ‘I hope you will let nothing interfere with your attendance.’ He said:

“‘Will you take the opportunity to say to my fellow citizens that I deem it one of the greatest honors of my life that this great event, the ratification of this amendment, should have occurred during the period of my administration.’

“‘And he said, further:

“‘Please say also that nothing has given me more pleasure than the privilege that has been mine to do what I could to advance the cause of ratification, and to hasten the day when the womanhood of America would be recognized by the nation.”

Blogmistress:  Ariana Goldsby

Farewell to a Friend

Farewell to a Friend

AAUW Montgomery mourns the loss of our friend, Senator Edward Kennedy.

Ted Kennedy made significant contributions to civil rights and, in turn, race relations.  In 1969, he fought for the renewals of the Voting Rights Act and the Fair Housing Law.  Fourteen years later, he helped to prevent the Reagan administration from weakening the Voting Rights Act.  According to the New York Times, Ted Kennedy was known to refer to civil rights as “still the unfinished business of America.”

Kennedy was also an advocate for health care reform.  “[Q]uality care shouldn’t depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face. Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to.  This is the cause of my life. It is a key reason that I defied my illness last summer to speak at the Democratic convention in Denver—to support Barack Obama, but also to make sure, as I said, ‘that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American…will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege.’ For four decades I have carried this cause—from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me—and more urgency—than ever before. But it’s always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years.”

Rest in Peace. Senator.

Blogmistress: Ariana Goldsby

Health Care

For more information about us see our Archives of August 2009.

Information about health care from our friends at the National Women’s Law Center:

From: Judy Waxman, National Women’s Law Center  (action@nwlc.org) 

Subject: Know the facts about health reform 

Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2009, 1:29 PM

Know the Facts:  http://nwlc.org/reformmatters/sharefacts.html 

Forward this email to your family, friends, and co-workers to make sure they know why women can¹t wait for health reform.   Summer may be coming to an end, but the fight for health reform is just heating up. And with the misinformation machine in full swing, it is crucial that each of us educate our network about why we can¹t wait for health reform.

Tell your family, friends, and co-workers why affordable, accessible, and comprehensive health care is important for all by forwarding this email to them.

Every day, 14,000 more Americans lose their health insurance. More women delay medical care because of high cost. And more people will be denied health care coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

 Did you know…

• More than 17% of women are uninsured, and even more are underinsured.
• Between 1999 and 2008, health insurance premiums increased 119 percent (3.5 times more than wages during the same period.)
• 3 in 5 women are unable to pay their medical bills.

 Learn more important facts about why women and their families need health reform this year:  http://action.nwlc.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage

Reform opponents have spent the summer spreading lies and using scare tactics to block health reform. Make sure that your family, friends, and co-workers have the facts about why health reform can¹t wait. Forward this email to them today.  Together we will win health reform that meets the needs of women and their families.

Best regards,

Lisa Codispoti

Senior Counsel

National Women’s Law Center 

For AAUW’s position on health care, go here:  http://www.aauw.org/advocacy/issue_advocacy/actionpages/healthcare.cfm

Anna Blair

AAUW Alabama State Policy Chair

 

Blogmistress: Ariana Goldsby

Welcome to the AAUW Montgomery Blog

American Association of University  Women 

Breaking Through Barriers for Women and Girls

Advancing equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research

 This blog will be a forum for women all over the globe to give their input into the important issues concerning all women today.

What is AAUW, you ask?  AAUW is the oldest and most respected women’s advocacy group in the country.  AAUW works to break through barriers for women and girls.  AAUW’s voice has long influenced legislative debate on critical social issues such as education, sex discrimination, civil rights, reproductive choice, affirmative action, Title IX, welfare reform, vocational education, pay equity, family and medical leave, and health care reform.

Since its first meeting in 1881, AAUW has been a catalyst for change. Today, with more than 100,000 members, 1,000 branches, and 500 college and university partners, AAUW contributes to a more promising future and provides a powerful voice for women and girls—a voice that cannot and will not be ignored.

For more than 127 years, AAUW members have examined and taken positions on the fundamental issues of the day — educational, social, economic, and political. Our commitment to our mission is reflected in all aspects of our work:

• Public Policy Advocacy
• Community Programs
• Voter Education Campaign
• Leadership Development
• Conventions and Conferences
• Diversity Initiatives
• International Connections

AAUW Fellowships, Grants, and Awards:  AAUW has a long and distinguished history of advancing educational and professional opportunities for women in the United States and around the globe. Each year AAUW provides millions of dollars in fellowships, grants, and awards for outstanding women around the globe and for community action projects. AAUW also funds pioneering research on women, girls, and education.

AAUW Leadership Programs:  Through Leadership programs, women and girls acquire the skills they need to succeed and assume leadership roles in their academic, professional, and personal lives. Programs include Campus Action Projects, The National Conference for College Women Student Leaders in Washington, D.C., the Student Advisory Council, and Campaign College.  Find out more about these programs here:  http://www.aauw.org/.

AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund:  The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund (LAF) works to combat sex discrimination in higher education and workplaces through campus outreach programs, an online resource library, and research reports. LAF also provides support to workplace sex discrimination cases that have the potential to make a difference for all women.  For more on this topic, go here:  http://www.aauw.org

For other chapters in Alabama, go to our state website here:  http://www.aauw-alabama.org/.  Here you can find a list of our board members, Alabama AAUW Branches, outstanding programs such as Ready to Run™ and the WAGE Project, as well as a copy of our Daybreak newsletter.

AAUW Montgomery invites you to get involved.  Now, more than ever, it is critical that today’s women work to create a legacy for tomorrow’s women.  To that end, we invite you to attend one of our meetings here in the city.  For more information, please contact aauwmontgomery@gmail.com.  The Montgomery Branch will celebrate its 89^th anniversary in 2010.  Montgomery was one of the first two branches in the State of Alabama.

The AAUW Montgomery Branch is gearing up to do great things.  We hope to have our website up within the next month.  On our website, we will post dates and times of meetings, list our training seminars, and keep members (past, present and potential) up to date on what AAUW is going locally, statewide, nationally, and globally.

And now, we’d like to know what you think.  Our first topic is the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA.)  Do you think it’s time the ERA was passed?  For more information, please go to the ERA website at http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/faq.htm.  The ERA site will answer questions you may have about the ERA.  AAUW Montgomery wishes to offer this brief summary: 

The complete text of the ERA:

Section 1:  Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Section 2:  The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3:  This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

The ERA would provide a fundamental legal remedy against sex discrimination for both women and men.  It would guarantee that the rights affirmed by the U.S. Constitution are held equally by all citizens without regard to sex.

The ERA was written in 1923.  In 1972, it passed the Senate and the House by the required 2/3 majority and was sent to the states for ratification.  An original seven-year deadline was later extended by Congress to 6/30/1972.  When the deadline expired, only 35 of the necessary 38 states had ratified the ERA (3/4 of the states is required.)  The ERA has been introduced in every session of Congress since 1982.  In the 110^th Congress, the ERA was sponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Representative Carolyn Maloney, of New York.  Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum has been an opponent of the ERA since the ‘70s.

The 15 states that have not ratified the ERA are:  Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.

Only a federal ERA can provide U.S. citizens with the highest and broadest level of legal protection against sex discrimination.

What do you think?  Let us hear from you.   If you have a topic you’d like to discuss, please feel free to contact me via email at aauwmontgomery@gmail.com.

 I encourage you to bookmark this page so you can keep up with the issues affecting women and girls in Montgomery and the nation.

 

Janet Smith, President AAUW Montgomery

AAUW of Alabama State Membership Chair

 

Blogmistress:  Ariana Goldsby