Pulse of the Peninsula: Demand state legislators support Cuomo’s women’s agenda

Karen Rubin

New York State, the birthplace of women’s rights, is pushing for a second round of legislation to address persistent and institutional gender inequity.

The state Legislature needs to hear from advocates before the April 1 budget deadline.

It is laudable that these initiatives – in categories of Health, Safety, Workplace, Girls, and Family – being forcefully advanced by Gov. Cuomo, came after months of information gathering, listening tours, and the formation of regional Women’s Councils, coordinated by the governor’s director of Women’s Affairs, Kelli Owens.

Just having such a position is notable.

As Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a singular champion of women’s rights in New York State, said in her remarks that opened the Council on Women and Girls Regional Forum at Long Island University on March 1, “The genesis for the Council of Women and Girls came because of Washington – on the day the president said ‘We don’t need to be concerned’ and abolished the [Obama-era] Commission on Women and Girls, our governor, as in so many cases [climate action, environmental protection, gun control], stepped up to fill void created by Washington.”

New York State, which Cuomo never fails to point out has been a progressive leader for the nation, a status he has worked to reclaim, has made some important gains during his administration, including aggressively pushing for economic development opportunities for minority- and women-owned enterprises, for wider access to pre-K programs, gun control, access to health care and guarantee for women’s reproductive rights.

In this second round of legislation and policies – notably several of which need to be adopted by the state Legislature before the April 1 deadline to pass the budget – he is going after sexual harassment, pay equity, domestic violence, women’s health, access to child care and pre-K.

But despite New York’s progressive policies – and being the first to give women the right to vote, in 1917, three years before the 19th Amendment – women still earn less than men: white women 89c, African American 66c, Hispanic women 54 c in New York, “and we’re the good state, where people are better off. Does that not tell you we have a long way to go?” Hochul said.

“We are convening forums around the state, to drill down why this is happening – part is institutional, cultural, part is that women don’t have childcare but want to continue on a career track, have talent, brilliance, but are primarily responsible for making sure their kids are okay but there is not enough childcare.”

“You should be proud your state recognizes this challenge – we now have the most generous paid family leave policy – to relieve the stress of possibly losing a job when you are home with a new baby.”

“It’s about economic empowerment: getting more girls into STEM education and careers. It’s about safety and security – domestic violence” – something that has been crystallized in the Trump White House, notably with the tolerance of a credibly accused wife-beater as Trump’s secretary.

Budget initiatives (see details at https://www.ny.gov/2018-womens-opportunity-agenda-new-york/womens-opportunity-agenda-proposal) include:

Health: pass Comprehensive Contraceptive Coverage Act; codifying Roe v. Wade into state law and constitution; mandate insurance coverage and ensure access to IVF and fertility services; combat maternal depression and establish a maternal mortality review board (New York ranks 30th in maternal mortality.

Safety: pass Equal Rights Amendment to add sex as a protected class; remove firearms from domestic abusers; combat sextortion and revenge porn; extend storage timeline for forensic rape kits at hospitals; amend Human Rights Law to protect public school students from discrimination.

Workplace: combat sexual harassment in the workplace; promote investment in women-owned businesses; close the gender wage gap; provide job training and placement services to women returning or advancing in the workforce; encourage more use of flexible work schedules.

Girls: expand access to computer science and engineering (STEM); launch “If You Can See It You Can Be It,” a day for girls to see what is possible; create K-12 learning module on healthy relationships.

Family: invest $25 million to expand pre-K and after-school programs; increase state funding by $7 million to provide working families with affordable childcare; continue enhanced Child Care Tax Credit for working families; establish a new Child Care Availability Task Force.

Colleen Merlo, executive director, Long Island Against Domestic Violence, said, “All these areas converge…Gender equality cannot be achieved unless we address all these buckets…. We see that women lose time at work because of domestic violence, so if we don’t create safety at home, they are losing time at work, so are not advancing, not getting equal pay or promotion – all are interconnected with safety.”

It’s also about making it easier to vote, adding early voting (which New York State doesn’t yet have), so women who work and care for children aren’t shut out of casting a ballot – part of Cuomo’s “Democracy Agenda.”

What to do? First: contact state representatives, including state Senator Elaine Phillips and state Assemblyman Tony D’Urso, to urge them to vote on the budget and legislation bolstering the Women’s Agenda.

Planned Parenthood of Nassau County, among others, is mounting a lobbying day in Albany on March 13.

Call and write representatives, yes. March, yes, Protest, yes. Vote, absolutely.

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