The Political Voices of Women

Truly, what I love best about conservatives is their highly developed ability to speak out of both sides of their mouths. It’s an impressive talent.

Case in point: Gov. Palin’s pregnant 17 year old daughter. If Joe Biden’s daughter or Hillary Clinton’s daughter suddenly presented an unmarried pregnancy, I know that we would never hear the end of how evil and valueless these adult women are. The nerve of them, fornicating outside the sacred bonds of marriage! Yet another symbol of how Democrats and liberals bring Sodom and Gomorrah right here to our beloved United States, God bless it. Only people with no values would let their children stray into active sexuality. Clearly, they are not fit to lead the good people of this nation! In fact, it is likely God’s wrath for the behavior of these harridans, these wanton sluts that sent Gustav to punish Americans for tolerating this slatternly behavior.

Instead, since it is their sweet evangelical governor/vice presidential candidate whose teen daughter indulged in extramarital sex, we get lectured for not minding our own business. After all, this is a family matter! Who cares if Gov. Palin supports abstinence for the rest of our children until they are married?!?! How dare anyone say anything about it!?!? Plus, as an alternate delegate told the New York Times, “Now she’s a typical American family.”

Boggles the mind. That said, I do feel bad for the kid. It’s got to be pretty awful to have a nation discussing your unintended pregnancy.

Cross-posted at CUSS & Other Rants

 Here is a guest post by community member Deb Della Piana from Turn Left.

[If you would like to be a guest blogger on The Political Voices of Women, just join our community, and start posting.]

Like many others, I consider 17-year-old Bristol Palin’s pregnancy a personal family issue. I can see absolutely no reason to drag a child through the mud of a political campaign. However, there is a story here about whether or not abstinence-only sex education works. In Bristol’s case, it did not. It also has not worked for the children of several other people I know. While the abstinence-only approach is advocated by tunnel-visioned President Bush and the nation’s Christian conservatives, the failure to present a comprehensive sex-education approach to America’s youth is doing them a disservice. There was no need for Bristol to have to grow up sooner than her parents had ever planned, as Sarah Palin put it today.

Read more »

Jane Fonda on the Problem of Teen Pregnancy

Here is a guest post by Pamela Lyn at Pam’s Coffee Conversation.

(If you would like to be a guest blogger on this site, please join our community)

Many of my fellow bloggers and I have been more than taken aback by the level of overt misogyny that surfaced during the Democratic Presidential Primary race. However, after reading Ammu Joseph’s, article for Women in Media and News (WIMN) maybe we shouldn’t have been.

Is it possible that the “baby boomers” have actually raised a generation that has a harder time accepting a women in a leadership role than they did?

In her article “The Stories That Children Are Watching“, Ms. Joseph reports:

In the largest-ever detailed analysis of children’s television worldwide, researchers based in different parts of the globe tracked gender representation in nearly 20,000 fictional programmes from 24 countries. According to the international, scholarly team led by Dr. Maya Götz, who heads the Munich-based Internationales Zentralinstitut fur das Jugend und Bildungsfernsehen (IZI) and Prix Jeunesse International, the results show under-representation and stereotypical depiction of female characters across the world.

Studies of children’s television in the United States of America and Germany (”The main characters of German children’s TV,” Maya Götz, 2006) have already established gender imbalances and stereotypes within the national context of those countries.

Close scrutiny of over 26,000 fictional characters revealed certain clear trends. For example, there are twice as many boys as girls on children’s television across the world:

• Only 32% of all main characters on children’s TV are female, while 68% are male
• In animation programmes, the imbalance is even greater: 87% males and 13% females — especially in shows featuring animals as main characters

The demographic reality of 51% females to 49% males in the world population is obviously not represented on children’s television.

Another trend concerns race/ethnicity: the majority of heroes and heroines in children’s television is white. In their analysis of the skin colour of the nearly 15,000 human characters included in the study, researchers found that 72% were Caucasian (white). Only 12% had what could be viewed as Asian physical traits, 6% were black and 3% could be classified as Latina/o.

Interestingly, women/girls seem to be represented as Asians, Africans or Latinas more often then men/boys.

Clearly Senator Hillary Clinton found more support among older women than their younger counterparts. Given the fact that Senator Clinton and Senator Obama’s voting records are, for the most part, identical what was the deciding factor for younger voters? It would make an interesting study.

Just one more thing to consider when analyzing those election demographics.

Here is a guest post by Emily Kronenberger from New Wave Grrrl. [What I think: As a mother this issue infuriates me, and I have written about it in a post titled Teen Pregnancy Rising - Abstinence Only Not Working.]

(If you would like to be a guest blogger on this site, please join our community)

Last week, on Wednesday April 23rd, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on Abstinence Only Until Marriage (AOUM) curriculum programs. testimony was heard from both AOUM advocates and advocates of Comprehensive Sexuality Education programs, which include information on abstinence, family planning, contraception and condom usage. AOUM programs are still widely used in public middle and high schools across the US, despite the evidence-based conclusions and consensus among researchers, community health educators, and other professionals that they are ineffective in reducing the number of unintended pregnancies and decreasing the transmission of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) among young people.

In addition, aside from not being an effective tool in the prevention of unplanned pregnancies or STIs among US teens, these programs have not been able to deliver on improved knowledge outcomes, and do not increase baseline knowledge or core competencies among young people on health subjects.

In these tumultuous economic times, and within a current budget season where both Federal and state budgets are experiencing massive cuts to some critical programs that make up the very fabric of our nation’s safety net, Republican AND Democratic members of Congressional Committees have still approved vast funding increases for AOUM programs in public schools over the past several months. Ongoing approval for these programs which lack evidence of improved outcomes and efficacy is outrageous! Not only is this a public health issue (and a public health failure I might add), but it is also an economic and accountability issue. Why continue to fund a program that simply DOES NOT WORK?

For more information on this issue, visit the following links:

*Committee Holds Hearing Assessing the Evidence of Domestic Abstinence-Only Programs:
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1888

*”Content of Federally-Funded Abstinence-Only Education Programs,” better known as the Waxman Report, Prepared by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20041201102153-50247.pdf

*Testimony by Shelby Knox, Comprehensive Sexuality Education Activist and subject of the HBO Documentary, “The Education of Shelby Knox:”
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20080423120409.pdf

*Statement by James Wagoner of Advocates for Youth on the most recent Oversight Hearing:
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/news/press/042308.htm

—

More Political Voices of Women…

We now have over 400 women political bloggers on our list, here are the I’s…

Iddybud Journal

I Hate Your Opinions — A cynical political blog with 2008 election coverage, book reviews of autobiographies of presidential candidates, and more

I Wish I Were In Paris

Impudent Ways — tattooed tea enthusiast. like that’s original.

In Jennifer’s Head

In The Pink Texas — Humorous Texas and national political blog targets a readership of influential legislators, lobbyists and media. Has received over 700,000 hits since it launched last year.

In Women We Trust

Inches Away From Sanity

Independence Lost

Informed Voters 2008 — I’m a 30-year old wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend, veteran, citizen, patriot, wanna-be environmentalist and conscientious voter.

Irrational Woman

Is That All You’ve Got?

It’s Curtains For You - nanc is a breath of fresh air in a stale world.

It’s My Right To Be Left of the Center — The truth doesn’t care where you or I stand on an issue. I want to see through the bullshit of it all and find the Truth. It’s there somewhere.

Empowered Women Make An Environmental Difference – by Catherine Morgan

Last week I had the pleasure of being part of a phone conference (turned podcast), with Diane MacEachern, the author of Big Green Purse. It was truly an informative and inspiring hour for me personally. I say that because, even though I recycle, and use re-usable shopping bags, I’ve never felt that I was doing “enough” to be a truly environmentally conscious woman. I thought that if I couldn’t be totally eco-perfect, I couldn’t really make a difference.

However, Diane has changed all that. She helped me realize that all women do have the power to make a significant environmental difference, and there is no need for total perfection. When we collectively make small changes, it has the potential for overwhelming impact. I came away from this conference with tons of ideas for simple things I can do to become more eco-friendly. And I’m now inspired and excited about implementing many of the changes Diane spoke about.

You can check out the podcast for yourself here…

Below is a list of all the bloggers who participated in this podcast…

Read more »

March 4th For Child Care and Head Start – Posted by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at the Care2 Election Blog)

Today is March Forth For Child Care and Head Start day, and you can help make a difference by calling or emailing your members of Congress. All day today, advocates for children will be joining-in to voice their support of an increase in funding for the Head Start program. This is such an important issue, and I hope you will consider taking action to support our children.

Earlier today, I wrote about my personal experience with this program, in a post at BlogHer — Bush’s War on the Single Mother. Here is an excerpt from a comment by Suzanne Reisman…

Head Start is one of the most cost-effective programs we have in this country. We need more Head Start, and we need full day Head Start programs (much of the funding only pays for a few hours of services) so that low income working parents can take advantage of the enormous benefits Head Start offers children and families. It is a comprehensive early learning program that supports the total well-being of children.

. . .

Further, study after study shows that quality early childhood programs like Head Start significantly reduce the incidences of teen pregnancy, juvenile crime, being held back in school, and other social ills that develop later in life. Every $1 we invest today in these programs saves taxpayers somewhere between $7 and $17 in future costs due to negative consequences of poverty.

From Womenstake: March Forth For Child Care and Head Start

Today, all across the country, thousands of advocates are joining together to March Forth in support of increased funding for child care and Head Start by calling or e-mailing their Members of Congress.

We are joining together because our children deserve a better and brighter future. Under the President’s budget, 200,000 low-income children and their families will lose child care assistance, and 14,000 children will lose Head Start.

Please add your voice by calling or e-mailing your Members of Congress today.

Here is how you can take action and help…

To call your representatives, use the script below and dial toll-free at 1-888-460-0813. The operator who answers the phone will ask which Senator or Representative you would like to speak to. To find out who your Senators and Representative are, search our directory before you call.

Tell the staffers who answer the phone in your representatives’ offices:

• Hi, my name is (INSERT NAME.) I’m a constituent. (If you are also a parent, child care provider, community leader, etc., feel free to mention that as well.)
• I am calling because I believe that child care and Head Start are essential programs for children and families. I urge Senator/ Representative (INSERT NAME) to support an increase of $874 million for child care and $1 billion for Head Start in this year’s budget.

I found this interesting statistic in a New York Times Op-Ed by Bob Herbert — The $2 Trillion Nightmare

And he cited the committee’s own calculations from last fall that showed that the money spent on the war each day is enough to enroll an additional 58,000 children in Head Start for a year,

Also See:

State Aide Helps Head Start…

The national Head Start program, which was a legacy of President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society,” offers preschool to families unable to afford a private program. We don’t know how it functions elsewhere in the country, but in Morris County, Head Start is as refreshingly bipartisan as can be. Republicans and Democrats are on its board, and Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, R-Harding, long has been a supporter.

and

Children from poor families need a head start

I hope you will consider taking a moment today, to take action on this important issue.

There is an interesting dialog on the issue of Pro-Life, going on at BlogHer. Shannon has written a post titled Why I’m Pro-Life (there are already over 50 comments).

I wasn’t always pro-life.

In the early ’90′s, I was a card-carrying, sign-waving, Clinton-campaigning pro-choicer. I held to the notion that a fetus couldn’t fully be life, since it was dependent entirely on another for its existence. And I believed the notion that abortion is unfortunate, but it wasn’t any of the government’s business.

I wish I could point you to a specific point on my journey where my views shifted entirely. There was no dramatic morning where I woke up suddenly pro-life. My thoughts on the subject have meandered down many roads before winding up where they are today. I’ve been asked to tell you why I believe the way I do. — read full post at BlogHer

This is how I feel about the subject…

Read more »

Mon Chany is in the middle

This is a post from Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

The America’s Giving Challenge will be over in another ten days. Thanks to the generosity of everyone here, we are still in the running to win the $50,000K. If we win, we can help many children like Mon Channy have a better life. And all for a donation of $10 and asking your friends to do the same.

Mon Chany’s Story

Frequently, children in very poor families work in order to bolster the family’s income, and this prevents them from attending school. For Mon Channy,10, The Sharing Foundation’s Khmer Literacy School has provided huge opportunity. Mon Channy is the only child of his widowed mom, who supports herself and her child through her work on the TSF farm. Channy, who is very small, probably due to early malnutrition, is proud to be going to school as his mother never did (see photo). He looks forward to advancing to the village school. His teacher, Ying So Ry, says Channy is a very attentive, hard working student, and she sees a bright future for him.


Both Bora and Nhuong, young people from Cambodia, who are donors to Sharing Foundation, know this story all too well:

As Bora says, “I don’t know what I can do as a single Cambodian citizen to help next generation of my country. But I know for sure that all of our contributions will make different. Our $10 donation can help one child to go to school for the whole month. vuthbora.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-year-welcoming-donation…

Nhuong says,”I understand how difficult it is to obtain an education when you have no money and more importantly when food and clothing are scarce. For most children in Cambodia this is a story that is all too common. Most children are illiterate and work on the family farm. As the country industrializes and leaves behind the agrarian lifestyle, these children grow up to be migrant workers with nowhere to go. Unlike those children, I was lucky enough to come to America and receive an education. This is why this cause is important to me. theasianeconomist.com/?p=6

Global Giving is offering additional incentives to heat up the competition – over the next five days, the organizations that get the most donations in a single 24 hour period will receive an additional $250, plus the largest donation will be matched. So, if you haven’t contributed yet, this would be an excellent time to donate $10!

• Donate $10 or more to the Sharing Foundation through Global Giving Fundraiser set up by Blogger Michele Martin of the Bamboo project!
• If we are four of the top causes to get the most unique donors, we’ll win $50,000 for the Sharing Foundation as part of America’s Giving Challenge. With $10 you can help improve the lives of over 1,500 children in one of the world’s poorest countries.