THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501100496
SECTION: HAMPTON ROADS WOMAN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 194 lines
THREE-HUNDRED fifty-seven, 356, 355. . . . the year has begun, and it's time to envision, to plan, what 1995 will bring for women.
Last year, Americans analyzed sexual discrimination through the lens of The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute, two of the nation's oldest military institutions, which tried to keep women out of their ranks.
Domestic violence finally became a serious issue as battered women were featured on every major newspaper, magazine and news show in the country, courtesy of the O.J. Simpson murder case.
What will 1995 bring politically and socially for women? What do women have to hope for? To fear? We asked several women leaders that question. Here are their thoughts.
ELIZABETH THORNTON
President
League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters celebrates its 75th year in 1995. Our commitment to the community is to educate citizens about public policy issues and to encourage citizens to participate in government.
Our hope for 1995 is that registering to vote will be made easier; that the cities of Hampton Roads will continue to find ways to cooperate; that the fragile environment we have will be protected; and that all will join to support policies and programs that enrich education and promote the well-being, development and safety of all children.
BETTY WADE COYLE
Executive director
Hampton Roads Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse
My wish for 1995 is for all people to believe that children are our most valuable asset; that love and caring accomplish more than punitive measures and negativity; that decisions made for selfish, shortsighted reasons or political gain will eventually bankrupt our children and their children. The fate of our nation is inextricably interwoven with common interests, values and desires, despite class, cultural, sexual and racial differences.
Women especially need to commit themselves in ways large and small to assume leadership in making our community a better and more loving environment for our children and families.
MARY PAT LIGGIO
Director
Tidewater Community College's Regional Women's Center.
In terms of the coming year or two, I am deeply concerned about policy coming down the pike - state or federal - affecting women and our status as citizens. Public policies and goals that are being articulated these days smack more of the 19th century paternalism (e.g. women are better off married and home with the children) than visionary projections about women's role as equal partners shaping the world of the 21st century.
Let's take a look at welfare reform, for example. I suspect that the politicians who are making the most noise are the farthest removed from the realities of the lives of the women and children receiving AFDC (Aid to Families and Dependent Children). First of all, we have to wonder what all the noise is about, since welfare costs on both the state and federal levels amount to around 1 percent of those budgets respectively.
If the concern is about a system that creates and sustains dependency, then we need to offer ideas that go further than merely cutting out programs. That is certainly not going to make poverty go away, as any woman who is currently juggling resources as a single parent can verify. It will only increase the number of women and children living in poverty in this country.
The answer is good-paying jobs and opportunities for advancement. But I'm not convinced that we have the moral will and commitment to advance public policy that promotes this type of solution, especially since it serves those with the least political clout. I'm afraid we will take the easy route of cutting back supports without offering any long-range planning ,unless you call Governor Allen's Virginia Volunteers the answer.
We need to see more women in political and public offices and in the corporate board rooms in this country, those places where public policy is shaped and carved into law. But not just any women. We need women in public office who are willing to give voice to those unique concerns and issues that women face every day of their existence, issues such as reproductive freedom and privacy rights, the glass ceiling in the workplace, affordable day care, safety from sexual and physical assaults.
But more than that, we need the voices of these women to bring gender balance to a lopsided structure, one based on old paradigms of power rather than the changing realities of American lives as we head into the 21st century.
The recent elections don't make me feel particularly optimistic even, though the number of women serving in the House of Representatives (47) remains the same for the new session of Congress. But this total of 47 women is still too low. And, six of the 11 newly-elected women are against a woman's right to choose abortion.
This is different from 1992 when all 24 of the new women elected to the House defined themselves as pro-choice. Add this to the fact that women like Leslie Burn, Virginia's first and only female representative in the House, lost her bid for re-election. At least in the Senate, one more female joined the ranks there, giving us now a grand total of eight out of 100 seats!
On the state level, the number of women serving in state legislatures decreased by 14. Only one woman will serve as governor in 1995, down from four in 1994. And in Virginia, it is doubtful that we will see many more women running for state office next year when all the seats in the General Assembly are up for election.
On the other hand, the trend away from equal rights as indicated by recent state and federal elections just might have the effect of mobilizing more women to run for public office. At least, it can provide the energy women need right now to get organized behind our issues before we lose important ground.
Let's hope that history will show that just as women came together for suffrage at the turn of the last century, we came together again at the end of this century to protect and advance equal rights beyond the vote. We don't have to wait long or look far to begin, not with all of the judgeship vacancies opening up in Hampton Roads.
SANDRA BRANDT
State chairwoman
Women's Political Caucus< There are a variety of issues - some old, some new - that we must face in 1995.
For some time now, we have been dealing with the issue of welfare. This issue directly relates to three major issues which will continue to face us in 1995, specifically as they relate to funds.
As a welfare recipient, one needs training for a job and a certain level of education to enter the training. Many welfare recipients have a high school diploma, general equivalency diploma or less, and have difficulty entering specific training programs or education components because they lack adequate reading and math skills.
To get a job that offers a high enough hourly wage with benefits, we must focus on informing women and men about nontraditional jobs. These are the jobs that usually are dominated by men and offer fringe benefits. If women are informed, they might accept the opportunity to be trained and work where they have upward mobility.
Furthermore, transportation is a problem because trainees need to get to the training sites. Public transportation and continued support of funding is important to people who do not drive, own a car or have other means of transportation. For example, how does someone in Courtland get to the closest community college campus or vocational center if they don't have transportation?
Child care is the third issue. Those of us who work on a regular basis have to seek out quality and affordable child care for our children. This is no different for those receiving welfare. Day care might be plentiful in urban areas, but it's most likely also costly. Part of what the welfare program, JOBS (Job Opportunities and Basic Skills), will do is pay for child care, which helps prepare them for school.
With 1995 comes elections in Virginia for the House and Senate in the General Assembly. My hope is that the number of women in both houses will increase. Women make up over 54 percent of the voting population. However, according to the Center for the American Woman and Politics at Rutgers University, Virginia ranks 44th of all state legislatures in the country for having women legislators, with 11.4 women.
More women need to run for all elections at the local, state and national level. We need the face of the population of Virginia represented in the General Assembly.
The same is true for our courts. According to the Supreme Court of Virginia, as of Nov. 1, Virginia had 366 judges, 10.6 percent women. Soon, the General Assembly can make changes in the courts by appointing women to the bench.
Yes, 1995 will bring challenges to all levels of government. We will work hard to maintain many of the things we already have and hope that we maintain those services which Virginia needs to continue to make a difference in the lives of its citizens.
FREDDI MOODY
Co-founder
American Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs
I can only speak for black women because white women tend to be more conservative. They look at Gingrich and Dole as their savior, but remember Reagan and his trickle-down economics? We'll feel the trickle-down effects of this. I don't think a lot of people realize how it will impact us all, particularly black women.
The cutouts, cutbacks and cut-ups, as I call them, will hurt women-headed households and working women - women who are trying to hold their families together. Gingrich is talking about taking children we are trying to hold onto and putting them in ``homes''; we're talking about creating a worse generation. An orphanage isn't even the equivalent of a halfway competent mother.
These cutbacks will affect Social Security, pensions, food stamps; it's not only going to affect lower or middle-class individuals, it will hit the upper-class as well.
Cutting back on public broadcasting - that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Cutting back on cultural arts programs will affect the corporations who won't be able to give as much or give as freely.
I'm just hoping we get through it. The folks on the Hill, the Doles and the Gingriches, don't see it as racism, and I don't care how many barber shops you visit or who you let cut your hair, you still see the tree shavings from all those lynchings coming out of their hair. They've thought of another way of keeping out minorities and other individuals who don't agree with what they have to say.
For me this will be a year of fear and apprehension. A year of waiting to see what's going to happen. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI/Staff
TAMARA VONINSKI/Staff
by CNB