The last week of March 2016 became the week of women - in politics, sports and science. A unique trifecta was created highlighting women’s issues forty plus years after they should have been settled. Women are a key demographic to win the upcoming presidential election.
We have seen Republican presidential candidates publicly demean and victimize women during this campaign while continuing to strongly oppose a woman’s legal right to choice when it comes abortion. They have made it clear they want to overturn the 1973 landmark Supreme Court ruling, Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal. This week Donald Trump told us that any woman who seeks an abortion should be subject to “some form of punishment” if the procedure is banned. While he later changed his mind, his initial thinking on punishing women who have abortions is on record.
Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, was formally arrested on battery charges for allegedly putting his hands on reporter Michelle Fields as she was trying to ask Trump a question. The candidate continues to defend Lewandowski’s action, at the same time he tells women how much he loves them. He had no qualms posting this on his Twitter account: “No one has more respect for women than Donald Trump.” It's a classic abusive mentality.
Trump’s opponent Ted Cruz is on record voting NO on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act in 2013. And let's not forget the third candidate in the race for the White House at this point, John Kasich. As Governor of Ohio earlier this year, he signed a bill defunding Planned Parenthood. On the campaign trail he said maternity leave should be left up to employers to "be creative.” Both Cruz and Kasich have said they oppose Trump's position on criminalizing women who have abortions. What a group.
On the issue of equal pay, our country's top five women soccer players finally had enough of being treated unequally, and filed a federal complaint accusing U.S Soccer of wage discrimination. Equal pay for more than equal work does not seem to apply to these soccer players, even though they’ve won three World Cup championships and four Olympic championships. The men's team doesn't come close in athletic comparison, posting a strong losing record. Yet, according to the complaint filed on March 31, the men earn 60% more than the women playing the same game. Who of us doesn't want to encourage any of our interested daughters to play sports today? But not if they're treated unequally. That's what Title IX was all about. We want them to look up and see role models like Billy Jean King who led the fight for women tennis players to be paid equally, enabling current tennis greats like Serena Williams to win over eleven million dollars in tournament play last year.
The Food and Drug Administration announced a change this week in their guidelines for use of the abortion pill, easing access and saying their action is based on updated medical science. They extended the time in which a woman can take the prescribed pill from seven to ten weeks, and decreased the number of doctor visits for the procedure. The Guttmacher Institute, which tracks women's reproductive health issues, reports that 37% of women obtaining abortions identify as Protestant and 28% identify as Catholic.
Both the Republican and Democratic parties are aggressively courting women voters. The latest Fox News poll shows that Republicans must win more women voters to succeed. Re-thinking their positions on equal pay, equal opportunity and choice might help. So might showing women greater respect.