Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Big Gains for Women in Politics, but Reproductive Health Still on the Backburner
In 1976, National
Public Radio correspondent Pauline Frederick joined a panel of men for a Ford-Carter
presidential debate, but was not permitted to ask any questions. 40 years later, women outnumbered men 3 to 1
at the sixth Democratic presidential debate of this political season. Co-anchors and managing editors of PBS
Newshour, Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff, made history yesterday as the first
anchor team comprised only of women to moderate a Democratic presidential
debate. This is the second
history-making accomplishment for Ifill and Woodruff, who became the first
female co-anchor team on a U.S. broadcast network in 2013. Fox Business Network’s Sandra Smith and Trish
Regan co-anchored the earlier undercard Republican presidential debate a month
prior to Ifill and Woodruff. A boost in
women moderators followed a 2012 petition to the Commission on Presidential
Debates. Started by Emma Axelrod, Elena
Tsemberis and Sammi Siegel, the petition demanding a woman moderate one of the
presidential debates gathered 122,339 signatures.
Women have also called
for candidates to discuss gender equality, including healthcare, family leave,
wage equity and abortion access. NARAL
Pro-Choice criticized previous moderators for ignoring women’s reproductive
rights during debates, starting the #AskAboutAbortion hashtag to urge Ifill and
Woodruff to address the hot-button topic.
The moderators shied away from reproductive health, however, focusing on
women’s waning support for Clinton.
NARAL and other pro-choice groups will continue the fight. NARAL president Ilyse Hogue tweeted
post-debate, “Asking abt support of women is NOT the same as laying out plans 2
expand abortion access. Still need 2
@AskAboutAbortion.”
--Kathleen Melendy, MWPC Intern
