The debt ceiling agreement deals a serious blow to women’s economic security. If approved, it will impose $1 trillion in cuts to family planning clinics, food stamps, college tuition assistance, child care and other programs that disproportionately serve and employ women. The second part of the deal is likely to include cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and possibly Social Security.
Columnist Michelle Singletary of the Washington Post: “With women being left behind in the country’s anemic recovery, it’s unconscionable for leaders to slash programs that disproportionately employ women as well as disproportionately serve them,” said…
Women at the bottom of the socioeconomic hierarchy are least able to participate as feminists. Women who have multiple jobs, children to raise, are single mothers, don’t know English, can’t afford to go to school even if scholarships are available because they have other things to worry about. These women might not even have access to information that would help them identify as feminists, let alone take action.
NOW is concerned that President Obama is about to agree to a deficit reduction package that disproportionately harms women — without even bothering to consult with women leaders in Congress.
David Corn writes for Mother Jones: “[Elizabeth] Warren, the populist Harvard professor who birthed the idea for a government agency that would protect consumers from tricks and traps perpetrated by banks, mortgage firms, and credit card companies, was t…