MWPC's Blog

Friday, February 13, 2015

After 50 Years, Supreme Court Justice Pushes Forward in the Fight for Women's Rights

At the age of 81, current Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has devoted over half a century of her life to the fight for women's rights, and she is not about to quit. Ginsburg is the second female justice in US history, appointed after Sandra Day O'Connor, and the only justice with previous experience in women's rights advocacy. Now, the only remaining female justice, since O'Connor's retirement in 2006, Justice Ginsburg is even more dedicated to breaking down "arbitrary barriers…in women's way" and changing the country's negative "unconscious bias" toward women.

Throughout her career, she has ruled cases over topics such as pay discrimination, abortion restrictions and college admissions for women, making her an unstoppable force on the quest for gender equality that has caught the eye of many liberals and young activists. Those who are most difficult to influence, however, are her male colleagues, she said, "who haven't had the experience of growing up female." Having faced discrimination from the day after she graduated from Columbia Law School, a class of nine females amongst 500 males, she makes it a priority to teach her colleagues to appreciate the obstacles women often face throughout their lifetime.

Justice Ginsburg's voice will be heard loud and clear during the upcoming court cases on gay marriage, health-care laws and perhaps one of the most important issues for women across the country, the workplace rights of pregnant women. Hopefully, we can expect to see some legal change in the imminent future on these important social issues.

For more details about Justice Ginsberg's career, and to watch her interview with Bloomberg, visit:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-02-12/ruth-bader-ginsburg-isn-t-giving-up-her-fight-for-women-s-rights?hootPostID=c888c76f3542353a86c3fc143b48a152

Friday, February 6, 2015

#LikeAGirl

The MWPC and its surrounding community is buzzing today with thousands of proud football fans outside of the office cheering on the New England Patriots in their victory parade. This year's Superbowl was the most viewed television event in U.S. history, with 112 million viewers tuning in to watch. However, even as important as the game itself are the commercials; many of which come with a hefty price. A 30 second ad during the Superbowl costs a whopping $4 million, a price that many companies are willing to pay for airtime with such a large audience. Perhaps the most exciting part is the new trend in Superbowl commercials that tug at your heart strings and even address key social issues.

One of this year's most talked about commercials was an advertisement for the feminine hygiene company, Always. The commercial brought light to the phrase, "like a girl," particularly for its common use as an insult. The commercial spoke volumes about the ways society has grown to disempower women, girls and their skills and abilities. When asked to do something "like a girl" such as run, fight or throw, teenagers and young adults responded by acting out the movements in a weak, pathetic manner. In contrast, when young girls were asked to perform the same actions "like a girl" they responded by completing the tasks with all of their strength, power and energy.

The lesson: When we use this phrase, we teach girls that they are incapable and weak; that they are not as strong or as capable as their male counterparts. Eventually, they start to believe it, especially when they hear it during their more vulnerable years (from ages 10 - 12), as they try to find themselves.

Immediately after the commercial, social media buzzed with the hashtag #LikeAGirl, serving as an outlet for women to share what makes them strong.
Here are a couple tweets that serve as great examples of the hashtag:

To read more, click here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/03/why-like-a-girl-is-so-important_n_6598970.html

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Things to know about Attorney General Maura Healey!

Those at the MWPC were first introduced to Maura Healey in the beginning of 2014 shortly after she announced her campaign to run for Attorney General of Massachusetts. MWPC board member Amy Burke insisted we meet with this fantastic woman and later in the year, Amy would serve on the Healey campaign's fundraising team. After the election, the Attorney General-elect hired Amy to plan the inauguration of "The People's Lawyer" at the historic Faneuil Hall which was held this past January. Filled with long-time supporters and volunteers, as well as fellow power players in Massachusetts politics, the Globe quoted a Republican insider in an article this week stating “That, with a dollop of exasperation and a pinch of healthy regard, was the inauguration of the governor of the Democratic Party.” It was a tremendous affair marking the end of a hard won campaign and the beginning of Maura Healey's term as Attorney General, where she will tackle tough challenges such as opiate addiction and for-profit colleges.

Here are some interesting things to know about Attorney General Maura Healey:

Maura was Chief of the Civil Rights Division in the Attorney General's Office.

Maura led the nation’s first successful challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federal law that discriminated against same-sex married couples.

She also defended the Massachusetts Buffer Zone law and protected women’s access to reproductive health care.

Healey graduated from Harvard in 1992 and received her JD from Northeastern University.

Considered an underdog when she first entered the race, Healey defeated former state senator Warren Tolman in the Democratic Primary with 62.5% of the votes.

During her campaign she broke a fundraising record for a first time, female state-wide candidate to raise more than 1 million dollars - she raised $1.5 million!

As part of her swearing in ceremony, the Attorney General also had to swear in over 200 assistant attorneys general.

Her swearing in ceremony, held at Faneuil Hall, was at maximum capacity of 800 guests. In addition, nearly 200 people watching the ceremony streamed live from the Omni Parker House Hotel.

Friday, January 30, 2015

MWPC Board Member Comments on New Attorney General

In a recent article published by the Boston Globe, MWPC's own Board Member and Secretary, Meredith Warren, was quoted describing Massachusetts' newly inaugurated Attorney General. Democrat Maura Healey was elected Attorney General during the midterm elections this past fall and has already proved herself unique from her predecessors. Healey is the first openly gay attorney general in the United States and had quite an interesting professional basketball career before rising into a top position in former Attorney General Martha Coakley's office. MWPC Board of Directors Secretary, Meredith Warren, commented on the new attorney general, describing her as "exciting, dynamic and tough", while noting that she will be a "formidable candidate (for governor) at some point." She has also been described by other local political figures as "the most intriguing political figure in Massachusetts" and "the future of the Democratic Party." It looks like Healey has high expectations to live up to, but if her productive first week in office is any indication of what her next four years will look like, the position is in great hands.

To read the article in its entirety, visit: http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2015/01/29/one-week-into-her-term-maura-healey-faces-unusual-question-what-next/YdwXcTn00eL2nhKjNrfRDN/story.html

Thursday, January 29, 2015

The State of the Union as it Relates to Women

President Obama’s State of the Union address on January 20th, 2015 was said, among many things, to be transformative and progressive. In the 2014 address, the president validated the feelings of women across the country by acknowledging the wage gap between men and women. Many felt that one of the greatest quotes from last year's address was the following, “Today, women make up about half of our workforce, but they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment. Women deserve equal pay for equal work.” With that in mind, women were rightfully anticipating equal or greater representation in this year's SOTU. According to an article written by Emily Tess Katz from the Huffington Post, the president met these expectations. There were four key points that the president made in his 2015 SOTU address that left women across the country cheering:

1.) Mothers should have access to affordable and quality child care. While this is an issue that affects all or most parents, it has the most significant effect on mothers and specifically single mothers.

2.) All working people should be afforded paid sick time. This arguably has the largest impact on single mothers who are left with very few options when they or their children become sick.

3.) Over the past year, the wage gap has closed in by a mere penny. The current statistic holds that for every dollar that a man makes, a woman makes 78 cents. The president continues to stand by his position that women deserve equal pay for equal work.

4.) Women deserve paid maternity leave. The president states that it is unacceptable in a nation as advanced as ours that we do not have a mandated paid maternity leave for mothers.

While women are pleased with the president's acknowledgement of these issues, it is clear that they also intend to demand action to follow. Read the article in its entirety here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/21/maternity-leave-state-of-the-union_n_6516658.html