The first small group session I’m attending at Take Back America is called Women Rising: The Issues That Count. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the room is half full and of 75 participants, only 7 are men. So, women are rising among ourselves, I guess.
The panelists are: Irasema Garza from Working America, Ellen Bravo, Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner from Moms Rising, Cecile Richards from PPFA, Maren Helsa from EMILY’s List and EJ Graff from the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center.
More as the session continues...
tba2007Notes from the discussion:
74% of women are registered to vote above 71% of men. 54% of the voters in 2004 were women, 46% men. This shows the leading role women play in the electorate. The top issues for women and men are not that different. Iraq is the most important for everyone right now, by far.
In 2006, support for women’s access to abortion was a winning strategy for candidates. Not just in blue states, but in “tougher “ states like Ohio, and Montana. At the same time, the ability of women to choose abortion, birth control and motherhood are under attack. Cecile Richards said, "having a Constitutional right to something you cannot access is no right at all." Women of color and low-income women are the ones being left out now. And the Democratic party is complicit. Like someone said during the opening session, we cannot count on politicians to fight for our rights. We have to force them to do it.
In 2008 the war will still dominate, but women are going to elect the next president, because we always do. Regardless of how little the campaigns are capable of remembering this. 1 in 4 women goes to a Planned Parenthood at some point in their life. Doesn’t sound like something that should be marginalized to me. Imagine if that ¼ of women all only voted for candidates that supported Planned Parenthood and all women’s health providers’ existence.
Immigration is the new wedge issue, taking over for gay marriage and abortion. Garza says "it's racist and obnoxious." Agreed. But, don't get confused. Abortion and gay marriage are still wedge issues. We're getting wedged in from every side. And that's not accidental. Fuckers.
I need a drink already. We're spending a lot of time talking about what sucks. We need to move on to what we do to make it better.
I don't mean to talk shit about this session, I think venting and sharing experiences are important, but I do wish this had been more solution-focused.
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Biatch, I see your ass on CSPAN! Ask a question so I can get a better view of you. Silly. ;)
I was over at the youth panel, which unfortunately ran at the same time as the Women's panel. The youth panel was great.
I don't mean to talk shit about this session, I think venting and sharing experiences are important, but I do wish this had been more solution-focused.
I was there until the Q&A started and I completely agree. I think that's true of the entire conference, though.
What's the distribution of that 25%, though? I would think most of them are concentrated in areas where pro-choice candidates are already being elected as a matter of course, so having them vote as a bloc wouldn't actually make all that much difference as not enough of them are in the areas that typically don't return pro-choice candidates.
(Just as I, a guy, consistently vote for liberal candidates, but living in Texas, this means my vote drops screaming into the audient void, never hitting bottom...)