Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Valerie Jarrett & Tina Tchen to Chair White House Women's Council


So this sounds like the President is putting money (let's hope) and muscle behind issues that can have a negative impact on the most vulnerable in our patriarchal society: women and children. Per Lynn Sweet:
Obama will sign an executive order creating the council--run by two high level Chicagoans in the White House--designed to "provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families."

According to the White House, "the Council will begin its work by asking each agency to analyze their current status and ensure that they are focused internally and externally on women."


Well a big hurrah is in order IF this isn't simply window dressing and policies will be enacted, reevaluated or scrapped if they are proven to be ineffective towards helping improve the lives of all women, but especially the poorer ones. Jarrett is brilliant so let's hope she has the authority to crack the whip so to speak and push along an often willfully ignorant bureaucracy.

As we know AIDs, HIV, STIs and human trafficking of girls is a huge problem that overwhelmingly impacts women and girls of color. So putting the family planning provision back into the stimulus bill was a good move. From signing the Ledbetter Act to this I am pleased these gestures have been made. Let it continue and let it be permanent.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How is paying for a poor black women's abortion good for them? African/American population is on the decrease. Margrete Sanger's dream would be to have an African/American president as her puppett. Write the truth
http://blackgenocide.org/

Faith at Acts of Faith Blog said...

Well any concerns you have should be addressed to them directly. As it stands the gov't doesn't have to control a woman's reproductive choices - nor should they. On a personal level Sanger's involvement and motives doesn't have anything to do with the choices of some women today. If women had more support and perhaps even chose better partners I'm certain the abortion rate would change. Right now there's a 70% out of wedlock birth rate for black women which means men are abandoning women and their children at an alarming rate. So perhaps your efforts might also include looking into remedying that if you're so concerned. You have to look at the complete picture not just one aspect.