Issues

May 2004

MISSING: Information about Women's Lives

If you were not a union member, where would you turn to find facts and resources to help you fight for your rights and become informed about the things impacting your life? If you said the federal government, you would be wrong.

Government plays an important role in offering non-partisan, accurate information to help women and their families. However, over the past few years, vital data and information has been deleted, buried, or distorted from government websites and publications. A new report by the National Council for Research on Women (NCRW), titled MISSING: Information about Women's Lives, found four key areas where critical government information has gone missing. These areas include health data for women; information and fact sheets on women's economic status; agencies and councils whose specific purpose is to monitor and advocate on behalf of women and girls; and scientific objectivity and expertise on review panels that research women's issues. These omissions and distortions have serious impacts on women's lives.

In the report, NCRW details blatant acts by the government including:

  • Elimination of a valuable Department of Labor publication, Don't Work in the Dark — Know Your Rights, on the rights of women workers;
  • Curtailing of an ongoing series of "Fact Sheets" by the Department of Labor on women workers, widely used by researchers and the media;
  • Postponing of a much-used Department of Labor Handbook on Women Workers that was scheduled for re-release. As of March 2004, no date was available for its publication;
  • Praising by the Census Bureau of the ratio of women's earnings as compared to men — 76 cents for every $1 — as "an all-time high." In 2000, this same figure was characterized as a lack of pay equity;
  • Revision of a fact sheet by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that focused on the advantages of using condoms to prevent sexually transmitted disease. The fact sheet was revised in December 2002 to cast doubt on the effectiveness of condoms, calling evidence on condom use and transmission of HIV and other STD's "inconclusive;"
  • Closing of the Office of Women's Initiatives and Outreach in the White House and the President's Interagency Council on Women, which both sought to ensure that women's concerns were addressed in policy development;
  • Attempted termination by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of a 53-year-old panel, the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS), which focused on issues of equity and access. The committee was resuscitated, but with a new mission to focus on issues such as health care for servicewomen and the effects of deployment on family life;
  • Failure to publish as national study of discrimination against domestic violence victims in the issuing or administration of insurance policies. This report is required under the 2000 Violence Against Women Act and was due to Congress in October 2001. According to NCRW, data in this report would have supported legislation introduced last fall to address insurance discrimination and workplace issues;
  • Removal of references to sexual orientation from a website designed to educate government employees about their rights. In February 2004, a newly appointed official of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel ordered the references removed because he was unsure if federal law protected workers discriminated against because they were lesbians, gay men, or bisexuals; and
  • Attempted appointment of Dr. W. David Hager to chair the FDA's Reproductive Health Drug Advisory Committee. Hager is known for prescribing prayer as a treatment for premenstrual syndrome and refusing to prescribe birth control pills to unmarried women. Only mass public outcry prevented his appointment as chair; however he remains a member of the committee.

Women should be able to trust that their government is working on their behalf and providing them with reliable, accurate and research-based information. Evidence in NCRW's report reveals wide-spread failure on the part of government to advance women's rights and well-being. Information that is distorted, removed or ideologically-biased can have a severe impact on women's health, employment and other issues they encounter in their daily lives.

To read the report, visit NCRW's website.

Did Your State Make the Grade?

The nation and states fail to meet the health needs of women. According to the 2004 edition of Making the Grade on Women's Health: A National and State-by-state Report Card by the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) and Oregon Health and Science University (OSHU), the nation receives an overall grade of "unsatisfactory."

The report uses health objectives set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's Healthy People 2010 agenda to assess that status of women's health. Out of the 27 objectives identified, the nation only met two — percentage of women over 40 getting mammograms regularly and number of dental visits — and failed on nine, including indicators measuring women's access to health insurance, prevalence of diseases such as diabetes, and deaths from coronary heart disease.

Individually, some states scored better than others, but no state received a grade of "satisfactory" for women's overall health status. Minnesota ranked the highest followed by Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Colorado, Utah, Maine and Washington. At the bottom of the list were Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

How did your state rank on all 27 indicators? 

It Pays To Be Worker-Friendly

Business Week magazine recently praised Costco Wholesale Corp. for its ability to make a profit while providing for its workers, one-fifth of whom are unionized. Wal-Mart, the epitome of the low-wage business model, is considered by many on Wall Street to be best example for how to make shareholders rich. However, Costco's 25% profit gain in the most recent quarter demonstrates that being good to employees is good for business.

Costco pays its employees much more than Wal-Mart and its subsidiary, Sam's Club, which directly competes with Costco and has lower labor costs (as a percentage of sales) than Wal-Mart. The average Costco employee made $15.97 hourly whereas a Sam's Club worker earned $11.52 and a Wal-Mart employee earned $9.67.

In fact, according to the magazine, Costco beat Wal-Mart on many measures. Costco employees were more productive, motivated to sell and above all, loyal. Employee turnover after the first year is only 6%, compared with Sam's Club where it is 21%. Union negotiator for the Teamsters, which represents 14,000 of Costco workers, applauded the company's pro-employee focus.

Business Week also noted the associated repercussions to the larger society by relying on the Wal-Mart model. Although Wal-Mart argues that its low prices benefit consumers, its low wages can cut into consumer spending and economic growth. Furthermore, low wages can contribute to poverty and force taxpayers to indirectly support healthcare for workers who are not insured by employers.

30 Years of CLUW — Save the date!

The Coalition of Labor Union Women will hold its annual National Executive Board meeting on June 10-13, 2004 in Washington, DC. This year marks 30th anniversary of CLUW, the only organization dedicated to union women. In conjunction with the NEB meeting, CLUW will host a special 30th anniversary celebration on Friday, June 11 to commemorate the organization's achievements.

The NEB meeting will also feature CLUW's annual lobby day. There will be time allotted for members to visit with their legislators and discuss issues important to working women. For more information, visit the CLUW website.

AFSCME on the March

AFSCME was among the 1.15 million marchers who turned out on April 25, 2004 to support the March for Women's Lives. The event was the largest women's rights rally in the nation's capitol and focused on all areas of women's equality, including reproductive rights, equitable access to healthcare, and economic freedom.

Nearly 200 AFSCME members from California, District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and staff marched in solidarity with members of the Coalition of Labor Union Women past the White House and along Pennsylvania Avenue and the National Mall. Whoopi Goldberg hosted the four-hour, post-march rally where political leaders and celebrities vocalized a collective call to maintain women's health, economic and reproductive rights.

AFSCME was proud to cosponsor the March and be the largest union to support the event.

New Book on Women's Leadership

Women are the majority of the US population, and yet, they remain underrepresented at the top. Since the foundation of Congress, 12,000 people have served in office. Only 215 of those people have been women — 73 of whom are currently serving. In fact, out of all the nations in the world, the United States ranked 60th in women's participation in government. Furthermore, in the working world, women hold only 12.4% of all Fortune 500 board positions. For women's issues, such as health, child and elder care, education and work-life balance, to move further into the mainstream and be sufficiently addressed, women need to be part of the policy discussion at all levels of government and the workplace.

A new book, Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World, by Marie C. Wilson discusses the need for women to infuse the workplace with their values — "inclusion, communication across lines of authority, the work of caring, relationship building." Wilson argues the women leaders would better integrate professional and personal life for everyone's benefit. Read more about this new book.

Women’s Rights Department Email List

We are working to build a comprehensive contact email list and would like your help. Please forward this to other AFSCME members that might not have received it and let them know they should contact us via email so we can add them to our database. Write to womensrights@afscme.org and tell us you'd like to be added to the database. Please include your name, local/council/unit number, email address, and mailing address.

WomENews is produced by the Women's Rights Department and written by Karen Swift.

 

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