Women and Politics

The Senate has voted to confirm Rosie Rios as the United State’s next treasurer.  She will become the third consecutive Latina to hold that position, advising Secretary Geithner on matters of currency and other government production interests.

President Obama nominated Rios in May, citing her extensive experience in financial, real estate and urban planning sectors.  She took time off in 2008 to work on Latino voting in Virginia, and later serving on the President’s Treasury transition team.

Prior to campaigning with the Obamas, Rios worked at McFarlane Partners, dealing with high end real estate in East Bay, CA.  She also worked in urban financial planning for the City of Oakland, San Leandro and Union City, CA.  In total, Rios has over 20 years of real estate and community development experience.

WCF applauds Rios’ appointment and confirmation, and believes this is an important step towards reaching gender parity in public life, especially in the male-dominated financial sector.

This post was submitted by Jamie Bence, one of WCF’s Summer 2009 Fellows.

I have been wanting to write a blog post about Michelle Obama for a very, very long time. Sure, we all know her as the First Lady, but she also has a resume that (until recently), many say out shined her husband’s. I could hardly wait to write about her.

But when I sat down to begin my research, I realized that I was learning a lot about Michelle Obama’s toned arms, her dresses and her hair styles, but not very much about her policy initiatives. I was distraught. Was this remarkably gifted and accomplished woman taking a back seat in the White House?

As it turns out, she isn’t. Not at all. Although the media may be more interested in Mrs. Obama’s designer running shoes than her commitment to alleviating poverty in the DC area, she has actually committed to tackling a lofty and challenging array of issues since taking residence on Pennsylvania Avenue.

To be sure, Michelle Obama has enough experience from her pre-Washington work to spearhead just about any initiative she sees fit. In brief, she was raised on a tough neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, but quickly headed east, attending Princeton University and then Harvard Law School.

Mrs. Obama returned to Chicago to work for one of the oldest law firms in the world, but quickly turned to more political pursuits, working for Mayor Daley and eventually administering the University of Chicago Medical Center, and served as an associate Dean in the University. Oh, and she is also mother to Malia and Sasha, and campaigned tirelessly for her husband, culminating in the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

But that’s all in the past, and Michelle Obama is all about moving forward.  Today, the First Lady is focusing on a few important issues where she can have maximum impact.  The First Lady was vocal in explaining how the recent stimulus bill would impact urban laborers and government workers.  Her nationwide volunteer initiative, launched in May, brings her past success to the White House (she oversaw a 500% increase in volunteers while at the University of Chicago Medical Center).

Since being hired in March, the First Lady’s Chief of Staff, Susan Sherr, has set the East Wing ablaze with new ideas and a more vocal approach to policy. Sherr, along with the First Lady and Desiree Rogers, have aimed for a “seamless” relationship with the West Wing.  Mrs. Obama has utilized her close ties with Valerie Jarrett to ensure that her husband’s message is in line with her own.  Mrs. Obama has also made an effort to popularize organic gardening, which she says is a viable alternative for healthy food without paying exorbiant prices.

Most recently, the First Lady has entered the health care debate, weighing in on the difficult choices facing lawmakers.  She has taken a refreshing approach, candidly admitting that no option will be easy or without its shortcomings, but expressing the imperative of fixing our current system nonetheless.  I hope to hear more from Michelle Obama in the months and years to come- as her varied life experiences, extensive career accomplishments, and unique position of power inform her perspective on politics.

This post was submitted by Jamie Bence, one of WCF’s Summer 2009 Fellows.

When Hillary Clinton became the nation’s third female Secretary of State, she brought a strong background in women’s rights and reproductive justice to her job.  More than any of her predecessors, Clinton imbues her work with a sense of how reproductive rights and global security are connected.

Secretary Clinton has been a well-recognized advocate of the global women’s rights movement since her historic speech at the 1995 United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing.  There, Clinton famously declared: “Women’s rights are human rights, once and for all.”

Women and girls are still the majority of the world’s poor, unschooled, unhealthy, and underfed.  Thus, it is still vitally important that women have access to the knowledge and resources that allow them to plan their families.  Nations which respect women’s rights to contraception and female health care are more likely to be progressive partners in Democracy.  According to the United Nations, gender equality is an important indicator of national stability.

It seems that Secretary Clinton’s preeminence on this issue may be inspiring change in Washington, which has long been stagnant on international women’s issues.  Shortly after Congress convened in January, Senator Barbara Boxer announced that she would be heading the first ever Senate Subcommittee on Global Women’s Issues.  In March, the White House Council on Women and Girls (led by Valerie Jarrett) was created to study gender implications of federal initiatives.  The International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act is making its way through Congress, and another, the International Violence Against Women Act, will likely be brought to a vote in the next session.

The United States can act in consort with the United Nations to improve the station of women around the world.  Though both have acknowledged that rape has been used as a tool of war, there has never been a trial in any U.N. court for committing or allowing rape as a war crime.

However, the United States could gain credibility by ratifying CEDAW, the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.  Besides the United States, the only other countries that have refused to ratify CEDAW are Sudan, Somalia, Iran, and a few Pacific Island states.  Moving forward, Secretary Clinton has much she can do to make the U.S. a leader in ensuring women’s rights around the world.

Hopefully, she will have continued, expanded support in the White House and Congress to accomplish her task.

For more information on Secretary Clinton’s weekend trip to Mumbai and what she said to students there about women in the world, click here.

This post was submitted by Jamie Bence, one of WCF’s Summer 2009 Fellows.

President Barack Obama named Dr. Regina Benjamin as U.S. surgeon general in an announcement this morning at the White House.  WCF applauds this appointment of a woman as the voice of the American medical community.

The White House cited an upcoming major overhaul of healthcare and Dr. Benjamin’s experience working with low-income patients as two reasons for her appointment.

In 2008, Dr. Benjamin was named a MacArthur Fellow for her work with underserved indigenous populations in the Bayou.  She founded the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in 1990.  Dr. Benjamin rebuilt her clinic twice after it was brought down by hurricanes in 1995 and 2005.  She has treated many uninsured patients and frequently travels in Alabama and Louisiana to reach immobile patients.

If confirmed, Dr. Benjamin would be the fourth woman in U.S. history to hold that post.  Stay tuned for news updates on Women and Politics as Dr. Benjamin faces confirmation hearings!