Women's Voices. Women Vote. - News Articles

Money Matters: Financial education for women

2008-07-23T13:50:00Z

It’s an unfortunate reality that unmarried women – whether they’re divorced, widowed or never married – face far greater financial challenges than men in retirement. Why? Because women tend to make less money (77 cents for every dollar a man makes) and have shorter working careers (due to raising children and/or caring for aging parents) than men. And less money earned usually translates into less money saved and a lower Social Security benefit when you retire.

Read the original article at The Cedar Creek Pilot.

Dear Savvy Senior

What financial education resources can you recommend to help an unsavvy woman prepare for retirement? I am divorced, living on a tight budget, approaching retirement age and need some help.

Nervous Nelly

Dear Nelly,

While most Americans could stand to brush up on their financial knowledge, it’s vital for unmarried women. Here’s what you should know. Retirement Struggles

On top of that, women live an average of five years longer than men which requires their retirement income to stretch farther. And, according to studies, women also tend to be less knowledgeable and more intimidated about financial issues than men, which means they don’t always handle their money as well as they should.

Because of these issues and more, it’s very important that you, and women like you, become educated about financial matters. Here are some resources and tools that offer financial education that will help you better manage your money now, and prepare for retirement.

Resources for Women

A good place to start is with the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement. A savvy resource that offers easy-to-understand information on topics like money management, retirement planning, saving and investing, as well as Social Security, health care and more. It also provides a retirement calculator and checklists of things you need to know if you become divorced, widowed or a caregiver. You can find this information at www.wiser women.org or you can call 202-393-5452 and order their publications for a few dollars. Two other Web sites worth a look are www.msmoney.com and www.wife.org.

More Help

Go to MyMoney.gov, the U.S. government’s Web site dedicated to financial education where you can get their free “My Money” tool kit that includes a variety of publications on saving, investing, protecting and getting the most for your money. You can order the kit online or call 888-696-6639.

The Employee Benefits Security Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Labor is another smart resource that offers a variety of free publications including the 62-page booklet “Taking the Mystery Out of Retirement Planning,” and “Women and Retirement Savings” brochure. You can see them online at www.dol.gov/ebsa/publications, or call 866-444-3272 and have them mailed to you.

Also visit ChoosetoSave.org, a handy Web site that offers the Ballpark Estimate retirement planning worksheet, more than 100 online calculators, brochures, savings tips and links to resources to help you manage your finances.

Social Security

While Social Security serves both genders, it can be a financial lifeline for unmarried women. To help you get a better grip on your options, the Social Security Administration offers an online resource specifically designed for women that covers how marriage, widowhood, divorce, self-employment, government jobs and other life or career events can affect your Social Security. It also offers information on SSI, Medicare benefits and provides calculators to help you figure out your future earnings at different retirement ages. You can access this information at www.socialsecurity.gov/women or call 800-772-1213 and order their free booklet entitled “What Every Woman Should Know.”

Money Management

There are also a variety of new Web-based services that can help you better manage your money at no cost. Sites like Geezeo.com, Mint.com and Wesabe.com provide secure online tools that can help you automatically keep track of spending, set up budgets and goals, and swap tips with other users on how to save money.

Obama strategy: Equal pay, not abortion

2008-07-15T15:44:00Z

Move over, Jane Roe. Lilly Ledbetter has taken her place as the name on the tongue of Democrats courting female voters.

On June 23, Barack Obama kicked off a “discussion for working women” with a speech directed at working mothers that criticized John McCain for his support of conservative judges, decisions and legislation.

By Avi Zenilman and Carrie Budoff Brown

Read the original article at Politico.

Move over, Jane Roe. Lilly Ledbetter has taken her place as the name on the tongue of Democrats courting female voters.

But he didn’t once mention or even allude to abortion or Roe v. Wade. Instead, he keyed in on Ledbetter, the woman whose suit against Goodyear for pay discrimination was thrown out by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision last year delivered by Justice Samuel Alito. The decision upheld a lower court’s ruling that she only had 180 days after she was hired to discover the pay disparity and file suit.

The court’s decision in the case, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., had already been cited 221 times in decisions by lower federal courts as of late April, according to the Alliance for Justice. Earlier this year, the Fair Pay Restoration Act — which would have effectively undone Ledbetter by giving women more leeway to file discrimination suits and was co-sponsored by both Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — failed to pass the Senate.

“Sen. McCain thinks the Supreme Court got it right. He opposed the Fair Pay Restoration Act,” Obama said. “Lilly Ledbetter’s problem was not that she was somehow unqualified or unprepared for higher-paying positions. She most certainly was, and by all reports she was an excellent employee. Her problem was that her employer paid her less than men who were doing the exact same work.”

McCain, who skipped the vote on the Fair Pay act, told reporters that "I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems."

By shifting his focus toward pay issues and away from abortion, Obama places himself in a far less polarized environment, and steers clear of the “ick factor” that many Americans, regardless of their political views, associate with the practice of abortion.

Last Thursday, Obama again raised Ledbetter in a joint appearance with Clinton before donors in New York.

“This isn't just an economic issue for millions of Americans and their families. It's a question of who we are as a country — of whether we're going to live up to our values as a nation,” he said.

“Usually, when we talk about the Court, it's in the context of reproductive rights and Roe v. Wade,” he continued, affirming — albeit in passing — his support for the 1973 abortion decision. “But the Supreme Court also affects women's lives in so many other ways — from decisions on equal pay, to workplace discrimination, to Title IX, to domestic violence, to civil rights and workers' rights.”

Nan Aron, the President and founder of the Alliance for Justice and a veteran of judicial nomination fights that focused on Roe, sees Ledbetter as “a frame around the Supreme Court in an election year … because it illustrates or exemplifies how this court has caused so much damage.”

In the wake of Clinton’s campaign and a sputtering economy, Obama’s emphasis on equal pay for women signals a shift toward a broader discussion of feminism and women’s rights that some activists have seen as softpedaling or even backpedaling on abortion.

“Equal pay is absolutely central to women’s rights,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who recently released a book on gender equality, “Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated.” “It is appalling that a gender gap still exists in politics 45 years after we passed the Equal Pay Act.”

“I think the centrality of this problem has gotten — as it should — a lot more attention” in this election cycle, said Page Gardner, a longtime Democratic strategist and the founder of Women’s Voices, Women’s Vote, a group dedicated to increasing political participation and voter turnout among unmarried women. “Usually it was this one line among a litany of issues in a traditional speech by a traditional politician trying to appeal to, quote unquote, the woman’s vote.”

Many women would like to see the issue receive considerably more attention. A March poll of women taken by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and conducted in conjunction with Women’s Voices Women’s Votes found that 73 percent of those polled said they had not heard enough during this election cycle about equal pay, a higher percentage than on any other issue. Only 11 percent said they had heard enough.

Some activists, though, fear that equal pay is a zero-sum distraction from abortion. "For some reason, they” — meaning the Obama campaign — "don’t emphasize [abortion]. They emphasize other issues. Basically this issue is very strongly held by Republican suburban women,” said Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation. “Everyone keeps talking about shaving margins by reaching out to evangelicals. What about the suburban women who do want for themselves and daughters this fundamental right?”

“It’s a healthy direction for the whole discussion to be moving,” said Dawn Johnsen, who served as legal director of NARAL Pro-Choice America and worked in the Clinton Justice Department. “Women’s issues and families issues are not necessarily focused on abortion. … They experience the decision [of whether or not to have an abortion] in the context of their lives.”

Mark Mellman, a Democratic strategist unaffiliated with the campaign, said the issue resonated as both a cultural and economic issue. "At a time when people are feeling economically squeezed between rising prices and stagnant income, [income inequality] really rankles both men and women," he said. "It is not just a women's issue, it is a central part of an economic platform that talks about increasing income."

“People in this country see [Roe] as settled law, so it doesn’t have the immediacy of the Ledbetter case because people, rightly or wrongly, don’t think its going to be overturned,” added Anita Dunn, a senior adviser to the Obama campaign who was involved in the judicial fights of the 1990s.

“Not to diminish choice,” said Gardner, ”but the whole economic conversation is much more daily and much more primary to [women’s] lives.”

Single women a growing force in housing market

2008-07-11T14:22:00Z

In 2007, more than one of every five homes sold was bought by a woman, according to the National Association of Realtors. Single women bought 22 percent of all houses sold last year, which is up from 14 percent in 1995.

In 1981, the number of single men and single women buying houses was about equal. As of last year, the number of unmarried men who bought houses was 9 percent less than the number of single women who did, despite the fact that single women earned $29,736 compared with $38,936 for single men, according to a Consumer Expenses Survey.

By Samantha Easter

Read the original article at Inside Tucson Business.

Courtney Mosconi was hesitant when her parents first suggested she buy a home instead of rent.

"It’s such a big commitment, both financially and emotionally," said Mosconi. "I was scared to take that step."

That was five years ago. Now, Mosconi owns a home with her sister near central Tucson and is excited about paying it off in the next 10 years.

"I was a little overwhelmed at first, but I’m glad I did it," she said. "It’s nice to have the freedom of owning a home."

Other women feel the same way.

Housing act lowered barriers

Before the 1974 Fair Housing Act, which made gender discrimination in the housing market illegal, there were barriers barring women from buying a house.

Previously, it was difficult for single women to get a mortgage as their income was often discounted because it was assumed they would get married and stop working.

"The idea that a woman could be independent enough to make such a large purchase was not a common one, even 30 years ago," said Patricia MacCorquodale, professor of women’s studies and dean of the Honors College at the University of Arizona.

The Fair Housing Act opened doors to women, and the government sought to help women achieve parity with men.

"The effects of the Fair Housing Act on the levels of women achieving this financial security has been huge," MacCorquodale said.

The percent of unmarried women homeowners reaching double digits during the 1990s came about partly because the Federal Housing Administration allowed women to count child support as income. Financial education has also given women the confidence to purchase a home on their own.

"Because of programs that many businesses and the government have to help women learn about financial responsibility, their financial confidence has risen," said Jerome Niwinski, a local real estate agent with more than 20 years of experience helping women buy homes.

There are many other factors that contribute to the increase.

Later marriages, better pay

Both women and men are, on average, marrying later. Women, according to U.S. Census data from the last 40 years, marry at age 26 on average, six years later than they married in 1960.

The divorce rate has also significantly increased. About half of all new marriages end in divorce.

"With women getting married later, getting divorced or not even getting married at all, it makes sense for more women to buy a home without a husband," said Niwinski. "Women are becoming aware that being financially dependent on a husband is no longer smart, especially with women making more money than ever."

The pay gap is closing quickly, and women have broken through nearly every glass ceiling there is in America. Women have also been the dominant sex on college campuses since the 1970s.

"The number-one thing I see is that the more education a person has, the greater chance they will buy a home," said MacCorquodale, who recently teamed up with a real estate agent to specifically target unmarried women.

Single mothers make up a large percentage of the single women who buy homes. A study published by Harvard University found that a quarter of single mothers spend half their income on housing, compared with 10 percent of men.

"Owning a home provides security that mothers crave, meaning they have the stability, which means they don’t have to move every year," said Niwinski.

This was especially true for Jessica Shettleroe, a single mother of two.

"I wanted to give my kids a home that they could grow up in," said Shettleroe, who has owned her home since 2003. "I was tired of throwing my money away renting an apartment so I borrowed money from my dad to help me with a down payment."

This sense of stability doesn’t seem to be as much of a concern for men.

"One of the reasons that women are buying homes more than men is that women have more of a sense of a ‘place to go’," said Niwinski. "Men are more nomadic."

Men seem to prefer spending their money on smaller, flashier items that increase their current standard of living, MacCorquodale agreed.

"TV’s, cars, anything that can be moved," she adds. "When men are younger, they don’t want to be tied down to a large investment. They want to be able to pick up and go, since they often move with the job."

Untapped Gold in the Single Status Market

2008-07-07T14:08:00Z

Every expert marketer would tell you that you have to identify a target market if you want to make sure that your advertising campaign accomplishes its goal of generating leads for your business.

One of the reasons why you have to do this is because choosing your target market narrows down your focus and attention, so that you are able to provide a more personalized and responsive marketing effort tailor made to that group of people.

Read the original article at Info Pool.

Every expert marketer would tell you that you have to identify a target market if you want to make sure that your advertising campaign accomplishes its goal of generating leads for your business.

And one of the untapped goldmines is the single status market. Indeed, one of the often overlooked markets today is the singles group, particularly the single adult group of women. If you have not tapped this particular market yet, take a look at some of the statistics and it might just change your mind.

In 2000, a report was done by the Census Bureau showing the percentage of single women in categories such as those who never married, those who are separated, divorced, and widowed. Out of the total population of women, they reported that 25.1% never married; 2.4% are separated, 10.2% are divorced, while 10% of the total number of those whose spouses died is women.

As early as 2001, Census has reported that over 17 million women, alone and single, are living in the United States. This is a figure that doubled more than two decades before. They are single, without children, with ages ranging from 25 to 44.

In 2004, Census again showed that out of the 95.7 million unmarried and single people living in the United States, over 53% of that are women. And nearly half of that are registered within the ages of 45 and older. If you go back to that number in 2001, it confirms that the number of single, unmarried women almost tripled since then.

And reports show that they’re not holding back. More and more women are staying single as fast as you could count, not to mention that they are getting their own homes and live independently. Moreover, 1/5 of the population of the United States is single women, with 42% registered as voters.

This single women’s market is definitely a goldmine that should be tapped – fast. If you rely on statistics, you would see that this market group is continually growing at a fast pace. But wonder of wonders, no one has ever thought to tap this particular crowd.

Even politicians are missing the opportunity to convince them. No clear campaign efforts were made to attract the singles women group that in 2000 only 52 percent voted for the presidential election.

With these numbers, you’re probably wondering how it escaped your marketing efforts. The singles women market is definitely something you should look out for. Now is the time to rethink and restructure your marketing plan to include this untapped unit. So when it is time for you to send your print ad to your commercial color printing house, include in your own goal this particular group. It might just be the key to getting the results you have always wanted.

YWCA leads coalition to boost Lake County voters

2008-07-03T18:28:00Z

A coalition of civic organizations in Lake County has joined to register voters from underrepresented groups and hold candidate forums ahead of the upcoming November elections.

The Get Out the Vote coalition, led by the YWCA Lake County, plans to launch its campaign Friday to register 5,000 voters in the 8th and 10th congressional districts. The coalition of nine organizations is primarily targeting young people, African Americans, Latinos, immigrants and young, single women.

By Ryan Pagelow

Read the original article at The Lake County News-Sun.

A coalition of civic organizations in Lake County has joined to register voters from underrepresented groups and hold candidate forums ahead of the upcoming November elections.

If you are a U.S. citizen and 18 years of age by the date of the next election and a resident of your Lake County address for 30 days immediately prior to an election, you can register to vote at the Lake County Clerk's office, 18 N. County St., Waukegan. For more information call (847) 377-2410.

"We're each doing our own separate thing, but coming together under one coalition," said Callie Melton, the coordinator of the program for ,YWCA.

Each group has their own way of registering voters in their targeted demographic, whether it's at churches, grocery stores, high schools, street festivals or going door-to-door.

The coalition will be launching a Web site with information on the candidates and election issues such as health care, women's rights, the war in Iraq and immigration. Candidate forums for the 8th and 10th congressional districts are tentatively scheduled for Oct. 13 and Oct. 18 at the College of Lake County to address some of those issues.

The Web site will also provide information about polling sites, absentee voting and early voting. Additionally the coalition is working on public service announcements in English and Spanish for print media, radio and television to remind people to vote.

The Waukegan Leadership Council is part of the coalition and has been registering mostly Latino and immigrant voters since it formed last year but plans to kick it up a notch this summer, said Jackie Herrera Giron, vice-president of the council. A coordinator will be registering voters on a full-time basis in Latino neighborhoods in Lake County, primarily in Waukegan, through funding from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights' New Americans Democracy Project.

The group plans to hold its own candidates' forum in October, similar to the forum the group held in January for candidates in the 10th Congressional District and 60th House District, she said.

Waukegan is 39.1 percent Latino, but only 27.8 percent of Waukegan's registered voters are Latino, according to estimates from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. The group estimates that in Waukegan there are 5,500 Latinos who are citizens, but not registered to vote, and another 5,500 legal permanent residents who are eligible for citizenship.

The Coalición Latinos Unidos del Condado de Lake also received a grant to hire someone to help register about 300 new Latino voters this summer, said the group's president Ennedy Rivera. Working with the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, the group registered about 1,800 voters last year.

For more information about the Get Out the Vote coalition, visit ywca.org/lakecounty/vote2008.

For years the NAACP has been registering voters in the area, but this is the first time the group is working in such a broad coalition, said Marian McElroy, president of the Lake County branch of the NAACP.

"It helps to keep each of us motivated by seeing what each other are doing," she said.

Her group registers mostly black voters in local churches, grocery stores and beauty and barber shops. The majority are people who have moved and need to update their voter registration with their new address, but the group focuses on finding people who have never voted before.

"With us, we really have to go out there and push. We can't just set up a table and people line up. You almost have to harass them," she said. "It's exciting to get someone who is 25 who has never registered and has registered."

There are currently 381,208 registered voters in Lake County, up from 377,738 in February when there was a 39 percent voter turnout in the general primary election, according to Lake County Clerk Willard Helander.

Other organizations involved in the Get Out the Vote coalition include the League of Women Voters, Citizen Action Illinois and Rainbow Push Coalition.

Vee Bannister of Waukegan registered to vote with her 23-year-old son Gregory Cochran. Bannister, who has voted in the past but recently moved, said this will be the first time her son will cast a ballot.

"All the votes count this time," Bannister said.

What Women Need: Why women should vote

2008-06-29T16:31:00Z

PITTSBURG — Last week a former co-worker e-mailed me a rousing rally cry written to encourage women to register to vote.

After reading it, my curiosity was piqued: How do Kansas women stack up when it comes to not only registering to vote, but actually voting? After all, Kansas has a lot to offer the history books when it comes to strides made by women in politics, dating back to the state’s infancy.

By Andra Bryan Stefanoni

Read the original article at The Morning Sun.

PITTSBURG — Last week a former co-worker e-mailed me a rousing rally cry written to encourage women to register to vote.

In 1887, Kansas led the nation when women were permitted by state law to vote in municipal elections for the first time. This soon was followed by the election of the first female mayor in the United States (Susanna Madora Salter), which in turn was followed by the election of the nation’s first all-woman city council in Oskaloosa.

We’ve had female governors, females in Congress, and in recent years a goodly number of female legislators.

In fact, in 1999 the Kansas Legislature ranked fifth in the nation in percentage of women legislators — up from ninth place in 1995 — according to the Center for the American Woman and Politics. In the last decade women have made up about 30 percent of the Kansas Legislature — a number most statisticians consider a “critical mass.”

When it comes to actually voting, a statistic from more than one source kept jumping out at me: Sixty percent of all eligible women voters in Kansas voted in the 2004 election.

Not bad, I thought. It significantly beats at least a few other Midwestern states.

But it led me to wonder: Why not more? With so many issues of critical importance to women up for decisions, why aren’t 75 percent of the women voting? Or 80? Would 85 percent be unattainable?

Ms. Magazine asked a similar question after the 2000 presidential election, when of the 45 million unmarried women in the United States, 22 million — half — of them did not vote.

Who are these women? What issues do they care about? Or not care about?

In this year’s presidential election, Obama and McCain will square off with platforms with issues that impact women perhaps more directly than any other election: The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which would serve to protect women against pay discrimination in the workplace; flextime scheduling, compensation, and unpaid leave for family emergencies; federal tax incentives to help families save for college; the expansion of the Family Medical Leave Act to cover 13 million additional American workers and cover such things as elder care; increased funding for after-school programs; reproductive rights; and raising minimum wage.

I would be shocked — shocked — to learn that there is a woman alive in Kansas who does not care about at least one of those issues. So, in the spirit of suffragists past, I’ll reprint excerpts from that e-mail I mentioned, to be read especially by that remaining 40 percent:

Why women should vote:

“This is the story of our grandmothers, and great-grandmothers, as they lived only 90 years ago. It was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote [in presidential elections]...

Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden’s blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of “obstructing sidewalk traffic.” They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.

Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women. Thus unfolded the "Night of Terror" on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson’s White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food … was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won’t vote this year because — why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn’t matter? It’s raining? It’s too hot?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO’s new movie, Iron Jawed Angels. It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder. HBO released the movie on video and DVD.

I wish all history, social studies, and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote Democrat, Republican or Independent Party — vote.”

Obama, McCain hope to get Clinton's female supporters in their camps

2008-06-27T16:47:00Z

AUSTIN – Most of Hillary Rodham Clinton's 18 million votes – those cracks in the glass ceiling – were from women, and now as her supporters wander a bit dazed from the primary head-thumping, the other campaigns are offering flowery pitches and candied words to attract them.

The prize is considerable: In the 2004 presidential election, 8 million more women than men voted. And so, it was not surprising that only a few hours after Mrs. Clinton gave her June 7 concession speech that both John McCain's and Barack Obama's Web sites featured photos of themselves with the New York senator and an invitation to her supporters.

By Christy Hoppe

Read the original article at The Dallas Morning News.

Both sides recognize the disappointment and anger of many Clinton supporters, and Mr. Obama hopes to assuage those feelings today when he campaigns with Mrs. Clinton in Unity, N.H.

"If they see her genuinely fighting for Senator Obama, out there campaigning and asking her supporters to come on board, saying it's imperative we elect him, I think that will go a long, long way," said state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, co-chairwoman of the Democratic National Convention and a Clinton supporter.

Mr. McCain also hopes to capitalize on those feelings.

"I feel a lot of Democratic women feel this election was stolen," said Mica Mosbacher of Houston, co-chairwoman of Women for McCain.

"Our perception is that there is some resentment by women against the Democratic Party, and maybe along with resentment comes the realization that the politics of the Democrats aren't good enough for women," she said. "As Republicans, I think we have a tremendous opportunity to reach across the aisle."

Women on staff

The McCain campaign recently brought aboard Cathy Gillespie, another Texan who ran President Bush's "W Stands for Women" effort. To showcase its respect for strong women, the campaign has been prominently featuring former chief executives of Hewlett-Packard and eBay – Carly Fiorini and Meg Whitman.

The Obama campaign welcomed new senior adviser Stephanie Cutter, the former communications director for Kerry 2004; former John Edwards Iowa director Jen O'Malley Dillon as battleground state director, and former Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, to serve as chief of staff to the vice presidential nominee.

Meanwhile, Cindy McCain has opened up for a cover profile in Newsweek and Michelle Obama fist-bumped with hosts of The View.

Third-party groups are also getting involved. Within a week after Mrs. Clinton suspended her campaign, Planned Parenthood launched an initiative to inform women that Mr. McCain opposes abortion, mandatory insurance coverage for contraception and sex education that goes beyond abstinence-only.

Even conservative commentator George Will believes Mr. McCain's abortion stance could cost him among Democratic women, who might be angry but will eventually return to the fold over such issues, he said.

"Three-quarters of the country at this point does not know that John McCain is pro-life," Mr. Will told MSNBC's Chris Matthews. "And I think once the Democrats make that known, as surely they will, these people will come scampering back to the Democratic Party in droves."

Indeed, a recent Gallup poll already shows that Mr. Obama is the early beneficiary of Mrs. Clinton's withdrawal. He and Mr. McCain are running almost even among men, but women favor the Democrat 51 percent to 38 percent.

Fundraising also reflects the tilt. Through May, 43 percent of Mr. Obama's contributors over $200 have been women, compared with 27 percent for Mr. McCain, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

'Watershed moment'

Ms. Mosbacher said women don't have to agree with Mr. McCain on all issues, but he will appeal to them through his work for equal opportunity, his 24 years of experience and his push for low taxes and reduced government.

"It's a watershed moment," said Ms. Mosbacher, wife of former Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher. "And we need to mobilize our women."

Ms. Van de Putte said Clinton supporters will come around to Mr. Obama, but she worries that they might not work as hard as they should for his candidacy.

"Too much is at stake for me to say he really wasn't my candidate," she said.

Debbie Walsh, director of Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics, said neither candidate should take the women's vote for granted, and both are going to have to work for it.

For Mr. Obama, the older and working-class women who showed up for Mrs. Clinton are dependable voters who will return in November – a lot more trustworthy at the polls than the tide of youngsters who helped launch his candidacy.

"The women's vote is an absolute must for the Democrats to win. Senator McCain is going to have to cut into that," Ms. Walsh said.

For Mr. McCain, he must look to married women who traditionally vote Republican, and independents, she said.

And women – who are generally more vulnerable in economic downturns – will want to hear from both, primarily on kitchen-table pocketbook issues, she said.

"You can pull out all the old stand-bys for women voters, such as 'soccer moms,' but if you've got to drive your kid to soccer games and it takes $55 to fill your car, that becomes an issue," Ms. Walsh said. "It's the economy that's front and center."

Women’s groups help qualify I-155 for upcoming Nov. ballot

2008-06-26T16:38:00Z

An initiative to expand children’s health insurance in Montana may be the only measure to make the November ballot by petition this year — and it did so with the help of a unique volunteer and political force, supporters say.

Montana Women Vote, a coalition of groups that pursue low-income and women’s issues, teamed up with its member organizations to help put Initiative 155 on the ballot and register women voters as well, says Alysha Goheen Jannotta, outreach director for the group.

By Mike Dennison

Read the original article at The Helena Independent Record.

“It was a great way for us to engage women voters,” she said Wednesday. “They’re seeing issues that actually affect them on the ballot, and it makes it effective for them to register and get out to vote.”

I-155, if approved by voters this fall, would expand Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover as many as 30,000 additional kids who currently have no health insurance. The two programs are funded by the state and federal government, providing government-funded health insurance to children whose family incomes are under a certain level.

I-155 hasn’t been certified by state election officials for the ballot, but supporters said last week they’ve collected enough signatures to gain the certification, which should occur in July.

A half-dozen other initiative petition drives in Montana have either failed or been withdrawn, leaving I-155 as likely the only such measure to qualify this year.

Supporters needed at least 22,308 signatures of registered voters to qualify the measure.

Jannotta said volunteers organized by Montana Women Vote and its members collected about 13,000 of the signatures.

One of the groups, the Montana Human Rights Network, trained 54 volunteers in eight communities across the state on signature-collecting.

“As we talked to our neighbors about I-155, we saw a real understanding that access to health care should not be based on someone’s ability to pay, but instead based on a person’s need,” said Kim Abbott of Helena, organizer for the Network. “We believe that this is the beginning of a movement toward universal health care.”

Stacey McClure, community coordinator for Montana Women Vote in Missoula, said volunteers collected signatures at events like former President Bill Clinton’s visit to Stevensville, a career fair in Billings, a powwow in Great Falls and Bonner Park in Missoula.

“We were registering people to vote and gathering their signatures for I-155 while their uninsured kids played in the sprinkler park,” she said.

Jannotta said in addition to collecting signatures for I-155, the efforts also registered about 1,500 people to vote, two-thirds of them women.

The other groups under the Montana Women Vote umbrella include Working for Equality and Economic Liberation, WORD, Homeward, Planned Parenthood, Women’s Voices for the Earth, the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, YWCA and the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL).

Feminist Groups Prepare to Back Obama

2008-06-17T20:23:00Z

By Dana Goldstein

Read the original article at The American Prospect

Are angry feminists defecting en masse to the McCain campaign? Far from it. Behind the scenes, many women's organizations are preparing to fight for an Obama victory in November.

Ten days after Sen. Hillary Clinton conceded the Democratic nomination for president and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, the National Organization of Women's Web site contained nary a mention of the presumptive Democratic nominee.

"Make History with Hillary!" exulted the now irrelevant banner across the top of NOW's political action page. "Count Florida's Votes," directed another dated headline hawking an old Clinton talking point.

Though some national women's organizations are shifting slowly from primary to general election mode -- or appear not to have shifted at all -- behind the scenes, many of the major players of institutional feminism are preparing to line up behind Obama. The movement's actions, not to mention recent polling of female voters, should put to rest endless rounds of media speculation about whether feminist Clinton voters, particularly older white women, will defect en masse to the Republican Party.

According to NOW President Kim Gandy, the organization's PAC is engaged in "a very extensive internal consultative process" to determine whether to officially endorse Obama after endorsing Clinton in the primary. It is unlikely to be resolved before NOW's national conference, which will take place in Bethesda, Md. July 18-20, but Gandy said the group is already planning media strategies for attacking John McCain.<?p>

"Certainly, we have many friends and allies who are supporting the [Obama] campaign who have reached out to us," Gandy told the Prospect. "Historically we have not been very involved in terms of endorsements. Clinton was our fourth ever presidential endorsement in 40 years. But this certainly is a very critical year." (The other presidential candidates endorsed by NOW include two other women who didn't make it past the primaries -- Shirley Chisholm in 1972 and Carol Moseley Braun in 2004 -- as well as Walter Mondale in 1984, who appointed the first female vice presidential nominee to a major party ticket, Geraldine Ferraro.)

Meanwhile, other organizations are beginning a media push to define McCain as anti-Roe v. Wade and anti-equal pay for women. Planned Parenthood will spend $10 million on such efforts, focusing on viral videos like this one, which calls attention to McCain's Senate vote against requiring insurance companies to cover birth control. Last Thursday, MomsRising, an Internet-based group, protested McCain's opposition to the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in front of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington. When voting against the bill in April, McCain stated that women needed "training and education" more than they needed the right to bring pay discrimination law suits. The protesters delivered "overqualified" women's resumes to McCain's office.

Also last week, feminist leaders including Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and EMILY's List founder Ellen Malcolm, both of whom had endorsed Clinton, held a conference call with reporters to discuss the need for Clinton voters to shift their allegiance to Obama.

The call was significant because Malcom had been accused by some Obama supporters of riling anti-Obama discontent in the Clinton camp. During the primary, Malcolm contended that because of seven "present" votes, Obama had been weak on choice issues while a member of the Illinois State Senate. (In fact, Obama defended choice many times as a state senator.) And when NARAL Pro-Choice America became the first major feminist organization to endorse Obama on May 14, Malcolm called the move "tremendously disrespectful to Sen. Clinton, who held up the nomination of an FDA commissioner in order to force approval of Plan B and who spoke so eloquently during the Supreme Court nomination hearings about the importance of protecting Roe vs. Wade."

That kind of rhetoric, in which Clinton surrogates cast aspersions on the feminist credibility of Obama supporters, renewed debates over the role of race in feminism. There was no question that many grassroots supporters of the Second Wave women's groups -- and of Clinton's campaign -- were not as excited by the idea of the first black president as they were by the prospect of putting a woman into the Oval Office.

"Some of these women have been involved in advocating for women's rights for 35 to 40 years," Gandy said of NOW grassroots members. "They are suffering an actual loss. Imagine that you've dreamed about something your whole life and on one day it's been dashed. And the next day, you're told to hope that dream for someone else."

Even NARAL political director Elizabeth Shipp, who is already planning an elaborate pro-Obama get-out-the-vote strategy, advocates giving die-hard pro-Clinton women some breathing room. "Right now they just need people to leave them alone," Shipp told the Prospect. "They need to get over the loss in their own way and in their own time. Then they will vote against John McCain and they will vote for Barack Obama."

So far, the evidence suggests that is true. A Gallup poll conducted between June 5 and 9 found Obama leading McCain 51-38 among all women. According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, Obama leads 46-39 among white women, a swing demographic that supported George W. Bush over John Kerry by nine points in 2004. And a NARAL poll released yesterday found Obama gains 13 points among pro-choice Independent women and nine points among pro-choice Republican women when they learn that McCain opposes Roe.

As the campaign progresses, feminist organizations will not only attempt to increase Obama's lead over McCain, but will focus heavily on their longtime goals of registering women voters and getting them to the polls. NOW will spend several hundred thousand dollars reaching out to its members. NARAL has a $10 million budget for targeting pro-choice Republican and Independent women.

Perhaps the biggest drive to get women to the polls in 2008 is being conducted by Women's Voices, Women Vote. The group, which does not endorse candidates, was founded in 2004 to target unmarried women of all ages, one of the most progressive demographics in America. Unmarried women are 9 percent less likely to register to vote than other Americans, and 13 percent less likely to go to the polls.

Research shows that unmarried women find voting inconvenient; many of them are low-income single parents. That's why WVWV sends voter registration packets straight to women's homes and encourages them to participate in early mail-in balloting, the group's president, Page Gardner, told the Prospect. WVWV has registered 530,000 voters thus far this election season and has a target of registering 1 million before November 4. But in the run-up to the May 6 North Carolina primary, WVWV came under fire for a series of robocalls and mailed registration packets that some Obama supporters interpreted as attempts to suppress the African American vote and give Clinton a boost. The robocalls failed to identify Women's Voices, Women Vote as the sponsoring organization, as required by law. And the group's voter registration packets sometimes arrived after primary election registration cut-offs. That confused some voters and led to a small number double-registering, which in some states could have caused them to be ineligible at the primary polls.

Considering that controversy, it's not surprising that Gardner sat down to an interview with the Prospect alongside a public relations handler, Ira Arlook, a managing director at progressive communications firm Fenton Media. Gardner said her organization's strategy had been misunderstood as a primary-focused effort when in fact, the goal was to use excitement generated by the primary process to encourage eligible women to register for the general election. Research does show that voter registration increases dramatically around and just after deadlines. And in fact, WVWV registered 26,000 voters in North Carolina between February and April, approximately 57 percent of whom were African American.

"Look, when you're registering a million voters, you get noticed," Gardner said by way of explaining the scrutiny her group has attracted. "We're actually creating a tremendous amount of work for Secretary of State offices." In response to questions about the legality and propriety of its robocalls and mailings, WVWV has hired attorneys to re-vet their documents and make sure no mailings are sent out during primary registration windows, Gardner said. The group is focusing on 24 states, including the swing states of Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Wisconsin, and Virginia -- notably, the group will not be working again in North Carolina this year.

In addition to mailings, WVWV will be airing television and radio public service announcements. Their slick TV ads feature female veterans in one spot and celebrities, including Julia Louis Dreyfus, in others. The key message, which has been focus group tested, is "this whole notion of taking part in a democracy and having a voice," Gardner said.

Still, more traditional women's get-out-the-vote efforts, such as NARAL's, remain focused on single-issue politics. "At the end of the day, our issue -- choice -- is the one that cuts through, frankly, all the other crap that happens in an election season," Shipp said. "The one issue where voters can make a clear and consistent choice very quickly is on the issue of abortion."

Women's vote could be a big factor in Nov.

2008-06-06T10:50:00Z

Women vote in larger numbers than men, and they often lean Democratic, making them a sought-after demographic. The last time a Republican won the women's vote was 20 years ago when George H.W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis. But a Republican candidate doesn't necessarily have to win the majority of the women's vote as long as he can narrow the gap between women and men enough to still win the popular vote, political scientists say.

By Anne Ryman

Read the original article at The Tennessean.

Now that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's chance for the Democratic presidential nomination is over, expect Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama to court the crucial women's vote.

Female voters, especially older white women, were among Clinton's key supporters, and she carried the women's vote in most of the 22 contests she won.

"The women's vote is important to both their campaigns. Women will decide this election," predicted Dianne Bystrom, director of the Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University.

With just a couple of exceptions, the states that Clinton won were the same states where she carried 52 percent or more of the women's vote, Bystrom said.

McCain has work to do

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center indicates that McCain may have a tougher time with female voters. Both Clinton and Obama led McCain among registered female voters by double-digits — Clinton 53 percent to 39 percent, and Obama 52 percent to 39 percent.

Among white women, McCain had a slight edge over Obama with 46 percent to 45 percent, but trailed Clinton 45 percent to 48 percent.

If past elections are an indication, McCain could win as long as the gender gap — the difference between men and women voting for a candidate — is narrow. President Bush's ability to increase his share of the women's vote from 43 percent in 2000 to 48 percent in 2004 is viewed as a major reason he won re-election.

McCain could face a tough sell with women, said Bystrom. They were the first demographic group to turn against the war in Iraq, something that McCain has staunchly supported.

The fact that McCain is Republican is also a challenge. More women tend to be Democrats. They generally want government to take a larger role in their lives than the traditional Republican stance of limited government, she said. Men, by comparison, tend to lean more Republican and prefer a limited role of government.

Focus will be on issues

Bystrom predicted that McCain will fail to win the majority of the women's vote, but if he can narrow the gender gap to 6 or 7 percent, that may be enough to win the election.

McCain also needs to reach out to female voters on issues they care about such as the economy and health care, Bystrom said. McCain will have the most success targeting married, white women who tend to lean Republican. Often referred to as "soccer moms" or "security moms," they could help him narrow the gender gap.

For Obama, the key is to target unmarried women: young single women, divorcees, single mothers and widows, experts said. They tend to lean Democratic.

Obama also needs to emphasize his differences with McCain, Bystrom said.

One topic Obama hasn't talked about much, she said, is his opposition to a constitutional amendment or federal law banning abortion. McCain, by contrast, opposes abortion except in cases or rape or incest or to protect the mother's life.

Obama "needs to start talking specifically about issues that women are interested in. Women are going to want to have a lot more details on his proposals on the economy, on health care," she said.

Women's vote spotlighted in Missoula

2008-06-02T14:01:00Z

Montana's primary is coming on Tuesday and members of the non-partisan group "Montana Women Vote" hit a Missoula park on Saturday to spread the word.

Montana Women Vote is a group designed to empower women who have traditionally been left out of the voting circle either because of a low income status or a number of other challenges that women face.

By Brittany Tait

Read the original article at Montana News Station.

Montana's primary is coming on Tuesday and members of the non-partisan group "Montana Women Vote" hit a Missoula park on Saturday to spread the word.

Advocates spent part of Saturday at Bonner Park where they encouraged women to educate themselves on who is running so that they can make an informed decision on Tuesday.

Women also discussed the Initiative I -155, the Healthy Montana Kid's Plan, which is an initiative that if passed would increase the eligibility for both CHIP and Medicaid in Montana, covering 30,000 out of the now 37,000 uninsured kids.

Officials tell us that me it's the local choices that will have a tremendous impact here on the Montana home front.

"While we have a lot of publicity and energy around the presidential election, there are some important local races" explains Montana Vote Missoula Coordinator Stacey McClure. "Superintendent of Public Schools is really important, and the levy we have for preventative programs is really fantastic. A lot of people don't know that info. Getting out here today, we see a lot of smiles from people who are surprised and excited to get out and vote."

It's important to note that Montana is a same day voting state, so voters can register Monday or Tuesday and vote right on the spot.

From silver screen to ballot box, single women call the shots

2008-05-30T01:06:00Z

Women (and maybe a few men, too) are waiting to see whether Carrie Bradshaw will become Mrs. Big when the "Sex and the City" movie opens Friday.

Carrie should stay a card-carrying member of the Miss clan. She is patron saint to that new breed of spinster - over 40, unmarried and successful - who belie the stereotypes that have been engraved into our collective consciousness: a single, long-suffering, hardworking woman who gets overlooked by her boss and who wants more than anything to find a husband.

By Lion Calandra

Read the original article at The Daily News.

Women (and maybe a few men, too) are waiting to see whether Carrie Bradshaw will become Mrs. Big when the "Sex and the City" movie opens Friday.

Popular culture has tried to define what it means to be a single woman. First there was "That Girl," which introduced us to aspiring actress Ann Marie. Then, the fiercely independent career-minded Mary Richards sprang onto the scene in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Later, there was Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction," followed by Melanie Griffith in "Working Girl."

Then along came Carrie.

But today's single women are not all sashaying around town in Manolos drinking Flirtinis or waiting for the perfect moment to toss their tam-o'-shanter in the air. They are not just one bad date away from cooking the family pet.

Those profiles belong, if they ever really did, to other generations. Single women today are still working hard, but now they're holding executive positions at major corporations, giving birth without a mate or adopting kids on their own. They are even buying homes at a faster rate than their male counterparts. They are happy.

Life without a husband is not some fractured fairy tale. Of course, being single isn't for everyone, but it has been the right choice for me and there are a lot of women like me out here - women in their 40s who have decided that you can have a meaningful life without being married.

If Carrie Bradshaw stays a free agent it would be fitting, because, in 2008 for the first time, it's single women - those who never married, the widowed and divorced - who are poised to have a huge impact on who will become the next President.

This year, the participation of unmarried women in primaries has reached historic levels. In Iowa, unmarried women represented about one in five registered voters, but were 28% of Democratic caucus-goers. In New Hampshire, unmarried women are 19% of the state's registered voters, and were 22% of Democratic primary voters. In South Carolina, they made up 30% of primary voters.

In every primary since, unmarried women voters have set records for turnout. Overall, they made up 26% of the electorate in the Feb. 5 Democratic primaries - a number which exceeds their share of registered voters in these states.

Unmarried women cast ballots for the winner in 15 out of 16 states and proved critical in Sen. Barack Obama's slim win in Missouri, as well as Sen. Hillary Clinton's victories in California, Massachusetts and New Mexico.

Unmarried female voters make up more than a quarter of the electorate, and prefer a Democratic President 66% to 29%.

The current trend can trace its roots to 2004, when John Kerry got 62% of the single women's vote, and just 44% of the married women's vote.

Women make up 54% of single Americans, and if the turnout on Nov. 4 follows the trend of this year's previous battles, single women are on target to elect the next President. They could be to this year's Democratic nominee what evangelical voters were for the Republicans in the last presidential election. Carrie has replaced the Soccer Mom.

It's time for candidates to realize that single women are interested in substantive issues. Polls show that a healthy economy is paramount for the unhitched. Many single woman fear that if they lose their job, there's no one else to take up the slack.

Anyone serious about winning the White House must acknowledge single women and get them to turn out in November because, for this year at least, they won't be ignored.

Courting Single Women - Take Notice

2008-05-30T00:12:00Z

Have you noticed lately that there is a lot of talk on the streets about courting Single Women and I am not talking about the dating! What’s all the buzz about, Real Estate and Politics, why because the numbers are impressive: Single women are the fastest growing demographics buying real estate today with 22% and then there is the Political arena, where single women compose of 26 percent of voters, that is 1 in 4.

By Kelly Turbeville

Read the original article at Real Estate Possibilities For Singles.

So girls we need to get out there and vote, take a stand and continue on the path to improve opportunities for us and the girls that following. Below is a listing of web-sites and resource that you may find interesting, I know I did!

Women's Voices, Women Vote
Every Women Counts
National Association of Women Business Owners
Women Entrepreneur

Report finds women can anticipate nearly half the retirement income of men

2008-05-28T20:19:00Z

Women are at a much higher risk than men of facing economic uncertainty in retirement and, on average, they'll enter retirement with considerably less savings than men will.

Women face these unique challenges because they spend fewer years in the workforce, earn less income and have longer life spans than men, according to a report released May 7 entitled, ''The Female Factor 2008: Why Women are at Greater Financial Risk in Retirement.''

Read the original article at The St. Louis American.

(NNPA) - Women are at a much higher risk than men of facing economic uncertainty in retirement and, on average, they'll enter retirement with considerably less savings than men will.

Multiple factors combine to cloud women's retirement security, including less time in the workforce and lower lifetime earnings then men. The report finds that women earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, which translates into a median retirement income of just 58 percent of men's. Additionally, due to family caregiving responsibilities, women are in the workforce an average of 12 years less than men are. This translates into fewer years saving or participating in an employer-provided retirement plan. The median salary for a woman working full-time in 2006 was $32,515 compared to $42,261 for men. The disparity is even more dramatic for minority women, with African-American women's median income at $27,535 and Hispanic women's median income at $22,285.

Women also live, on average, five years longer than men and are far more likely than men to be widowed and living some part of their retirement years alone. Older women living alone — whether widowed, divorced or never married — face much higher rates of poverty than men do. Approximately one in five unmarried elderly women are poor.

''With more years out of the workforce to care for family, combined with lower wages and a greater life expectancy, it's clear that simply being a woman in our society may jeopardize your financial security,'' said Cindy Hounsell, President of Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER) and author of the study.

Hounsell joined Representatives Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH) and Phil English (R-PA), as well as Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) and women from around the country today in calling for public action to mitigate the real risk of poverty that American women face in retirement.

'The legislation my colleagues and I have introduced, The Retirement Security for Life Act, will help Americans secure a steady stream of retirement income. This will be especially helpful for women without access to traditional retirement plans, who, as this report shows, are at greater risk of having a financially insecure retirement,'' said Representative Tubbs-Jones.

''As this report shows, all too often women are reaching retirement age without adequate savings. It's time we recognize these challenges and put public policies in place that help women take control of their financial futures,'' said Senator Conrad.

The report finds that lifetime annuities are an important tool that women can use to plan for a more secure retirement. Life annuities relieve the risks and burdens of managing a nest egg and can maximize savings' value over the course of an individual's retirement years. Life annuities are the only vehicle besides pensions and Social Security that provide a steady stream of income for life — a ''paycheck for life.''

To encourage Americans to secure a steady stream of income in retirement, Senators Conrad and Smith in the Senate and Representatives Tubbs-Jones and English in the House are the main congressional sponsors of The Retirement Security for Life Act (H.R. 2005, S. 1010). This legislation would provide a 50 percent tax exclusion on the income from the payout of a lifetime annuity, up to $20,000 per year. For an average American taxpayer in the 25 percent tax bracket, this would result in $5,000 of tax savings. The legislation enjoys broad bipartisan support with 66 co-sponsors in the House and 10 in the Senate.

''With more than one out of every 10 women retirees living in poverty, it is important for the federal government to help women save for retirement.'' said Senator Smith. ''As this report demonstrates, simply being a woman can put a person at greater financial risk in their golden years. We must implement solutions such the Retirement Security for Life Act, to help women plan and save for the future.''

Representative English (R-PA), a senior member on the House Ways and Means Committee, said, ''While Congress has acted to encourage retirement savings through many other vehicles, it is equally important that Congress focus on the disbursement side of retirement security,'' The Ways and Means Committee has jurisdiction over tax policy.

''By having a steady stream of income through a lifetime annuity, individuals can remove the uncertainty of knowing if their savings will be there throughout their retirement years,'' he said.

Other findings of the report include:

- More than 1 out of 10 female retirees and one out of five single women over age 65 live on less than $10,000/yr.

- A typical 25-year-old woman with a college degree will make $523,000 less in wages over her lifetime than a typical college-educated man.

- The average social security benefit for women is $800 per month, compared to $1,177 for men.

- Of the 22 percent of women over age 65 who received income from an employer-sponsored retirement plan in 2004, the median annual benefit was $4,488 - less than half of the median annual benefit for the 29 percent of men over age 65 who received this income.

Statement Of Maude Hurd, ACORN National President

2008-05-06T16:00:00Z

Women’s Voices, Women Vote, an organization that does first-rate work to register unmarried women and African American voters, has recently been wrongly accused of engaging in voter suppression.

The reality is the opposite. In just the past six months, WVWV has submitted 400,000 voter registration applications. About 1/3 of these are minority voters. In North Carolina, from February until the primary registration deadline it helped 26,000 people register to vote. The majority of these voters are African American. It is because of WVWV’s work that they are able to vote in the primary.

Women’s Voices, Women Vote, an organization that does first-rate work to register unmarried women and African American voters, has recently been wrongly accused of engaging in voter suppression.

Could WVWV have stopped its registration efforts once it was too late to register to vote by mail for the general election? Yes. But the Department of Motor Vehicles and public assistance agencies routinely continue registration during this period as do many voter registration organizations. The result is that thousands of people who would otherwise not get registered at all are at least able to vote in the general election.

Given the heightened interest in this year’s primary, and North Carolina’s new procedures for registration at early voting, it would have been better if WVWV had been willing to pause its efforts and settle for registering fewer voters, or had shifted to a different registration strategy. That doesn’t mean they had bad intentions, or that their net effect on minority turnout in the primary was negative, or even that they were sloppy. It means that they overlooked how the special North Carolina circumstances this year would interact with their standard gameplan.

The right-wingers who mastermind the real voter suppression efforts must be doing high-fives as they watch progressives attack a progressive organization that plays such an important role in registering voters. When an ally slips, we should reach out a hand to help them up – not kick them when they’re down.

All of us who represent and fight for poor and working people should congratulate Women’s Voices Women Vote for the great work it has done over the last several years, and put the misunderstanding about its North Carolina efforts behind us.