Nancy Pelosi: We need more women in politics

[struggle4progress]

The Minority Leader discusses feminism, Nancy Drew and how we can create an environment that empowers women
By Chloe Angyal
Tuesday, Mar 12, 2013 11:57 AM EDT

... Nancy Pelosi: ... It’s interesting to note .... that in the last Congress, the Senate, in a bipartisan way, passed the Violence Against Women Act, but it took almost another year for it to be passed in the House and for another bill to be passed in the Senate. It’s interesting that 138 Republicans voted against it; it’s stunning to me. I understand almost everything around here, from the standpoint of understanding motivation and constituencies, but for 138 to vote against the Violence Against Women Act is taking it all to a new place in terms of their lack of understanding of what the challenges are that women face.

And then the sequester takes $20 million right out of Violence Against Women funding. But the sequester act is harmful to women in so many other ways. Many of the jobs lost will be lost by women. Since the end of the recession, women have lost more jobs in the public sector, and further cuts in the public sector, as well as the impact that has on the private sector, will hurt women. The issues that relate to women and families, whether it’s WIC, whether it’s Head Start or other initiatives like that… We have a situation where because the Republicans refuse to close special interest tax breaks, they instead choose to reduce funding for military families, and that affects women, and healthcare for military families, and that affects women, reduced funding for Meals of Wheels – four million Meals on Wheels will be cut, and many of those seniors are women and many of their caregivers are women – all because they want to protect corporate jet tax breaks and tax breaks for corporations sending jobs overseas. They don’t want millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share, and that’s why we’ll lose 750, 000 jobs, many of them women. It’s just a stunning display of their value system, and it’s very harmful to women ...

We need to have women in elected positions to make their voices heard and to get policy improved, but it’s important because of what it means in the lives of America’s families, and I think the big challenge that we have is achieving public policy for quality, affordable childcare. I see it historically. The suffragettes fought for the right to vote over ninety years ago. And then World War II, women in the workplace, out of the home and into the workplace. Then the higher education of women in the next couple of decades after that. Then women in the professions. But the missing piece all along has been affordable quality childcare. And it’s not just the responsibility of the mom, but largely it has been, and if we’re going to unleash the intellect, the determination and courage of women, the clarity of thinking of women, onto the world, we need affordable quality childcare.

If you reduce the role of money in politics and increase the level of civility, you’ll have more women elected to public office, and sooner, and that nothing is more wholesome to the governmental and political process than increased participation of women. I’m very proud of what we’ve done, we’ve increased the number of women in the House, especially on the Democratic side, but it’s not enough. We’re talking incrementally all the time and I think we need to be talking in a different way; we need to make our own environment. We can’t just sit back and say, “Well, we got ten more, and soon we’ll have eight more, and in two hundred more years we’ll be at parity.” No, I think we say, “What are the factors that inhibit the increased role of women?” ...

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/12/nancy_pelosi_we_need_to_make_our_own_environment_partner/

[freshwest]

1. Good.

[grilled onions]

2. They Have So Many Disadvantages

They often lack the money,the clout to get involved. Many churches frown on their female members to get the masculine side of politics. They think they are fine to bake the cookies or shuffle papers but really should stay off the campaign trail.
But isn't it odd(or maybe it isn't) that almost all the issues of woman,about women, against women are voted on by the men. T his alone should have many more women fighting for a political career as well as the rights of women everywhere.