GOP’s economic war on women about to explode - By Joan Walsh
But can feminists put the power of the womens vote behind a populist economic agenda? Theyre about to try
BY JOAN WALSH
I laugh when I hear people warn that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic women are trying to annex economic issues as womens issues, as though theyre being supremely politically crafty, or sneaky, if not downright dishonest. (Even the Huffington Post depicted Pelosis recent framing of a womens economic agenda as rebranding.)
Feminists know economic issues have always been womens issues. The pro-Democrat gender gap that first afflicted Ronald Reagan in the 1980 elections and has mostly persisted since is at least partly driven by womens economic concerns, and their singular economic vulnerability. Back in the 80s I covered a Bay Area group called the Womens Economic Agenda Project, whose slogan was Two out of three adults in poverty are women what if we all were to go to the polls?
Almost 30 years later, thats still a good question. Women still make up three out of five adults living in poverty, as well as two thirds of minimum wage workers and two thirds of food stamp recipients. Women are twice as likely as men (23% vs. 12%) to rely on food stamps over the course of their lives. So that $40 billion cut to the SNAP program, more commonly known as food stamps, orchestrated by Rep. Eric Cantor? Its as much a salvo in the GOP war on women as any new transvaginal probe law or the latest Republican assertion about legitimate rape. Likewise: Paul Ryans budget? Its cuts hit women hardest, of course.
Also 30 years later, though, feminists are still trying to marshal the power of the womens vote behind a populist economic agenda. Lately that movement has taken on new momentum. Last week four powerful progressive groups, not coincidentally led by women the Center for American Progress, Planned Parenthood, the Service Employees International Union and American Women, an affiliate of Emilys List came together behind the Fair Shot campaign, to build support for an agenda that advances womens economic equality. House Democrats have named their economic agenda project When Women Succeed, America Succeeds, labeling that shows a sensitivity to the conservative framing of social progress as a zero-sum game, so that when women succeed, somehow men lose.
full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/25/gop%E2%80%99s_economic_war_on_women_about_to_explode/