Thursday TK
February 6 is the United Nation’s International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. This year they have a new report finding that health care costs stemming from FGM amount to ~$1.4 billion per year globally.
Closer to home, I was sorry to see that the Vermont House wasn’t able to override the governor’s veto of a paid leave bill - the past few days, supporters seemed optimistic about its chances. Especially sorry that we’re still doing this piecemeal, state by state, while federal measures either flounder or are BS.
Do not miss The Roots of Racism in Health Care in Teen Vogue, exploring how “the continuous mistreatment of black Americans and the racism rooted in our medical system defines the health risks experienced by black women and men today.”
A bright note: February 6 is also Pay A Compliment Day. According to the day’s creator, “only genuine and soulful compliments are to be made today.”
Abortion
Abortion Is Unlikely Complication in Senate Race in Kansas
Associated Press
A fight in the Kansas Legislature over protecting its power to restrict abortion has become an unlikely complication in the Republican primary for an open U.S. Senate seat, even though the top candidates all oppose abortion.
Iowa lawmakers move abortion amendment to House committee
Rod Boshart, Sioux City Journal
A House Judiciary subcommittee voted 2-1 on Tuesday to advance a resolution giving Iowa voters a chance to amend the state constitution to specify there is no fundamental right to abortion or public funding of the procedure.
Reproductive Justice
The Roots of Racism in Health Care
Camryn Dixon, Teen Vogue
Imagine your body being experimented on without your consent. This might sound like a scene from an alien movie, but for many black Americans, it was reality.
Black mothers and babies are dying in North Carolina
Robin Bravender, Triangle Tribune
Nationwide, maternal mortality rates more than doubled in the United States between 1990 and 2013, according to the World Health Organization. The nation’s preterm birth rate has also been on the rise, with black women impacted disproportionately. In 2018, the overall preterm birth rate rose for the fourth consecutive year, according to Stacey Stewart, president and CEO of the March of Dimes. The preterm birth rate among black women is 49 percent higher than the rate among all other women.
Reproductive Health
California could be one of the first states to ban 'virginity testing'
Gabrielle Canon, USA Today
Lawmakers on opposite sides of the country are considering new legislation that would be the first in the nation to ban "virginity testing." The two separate bills in the New York and California legislatures were introduced after rapper T.I. said that he subjects his 18-year-old daughter to the examinations. The practice is widely considered medically unsound and abusive.
Paid Leave
Think Tanks' Report Calls For Paid Family Leave
Maureen Foertsch McKinney, NPR Illinois
Income of about $1.4 billion a year for Illinois workers would be generated if paid parental leave became law — that’s according to a report out today from a pair of Illinois think tanks.
Work & Money
The economy is booming, Trump says — but for some, so are the costs of housing, health care, child care and college
Andrew Keshner, Marketwatch
President Donald Trump touted the country’s economy in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, saying low and moderate-income workers were seeing some of the biggest benefits.
Fixing The Racial Wealth Gap?
Naomi Cahn, Forbes
Earlier this year, the St. Louis Fed reported that income and wealth gaps between Black and white households have hardly narrowed since 1956. What that means is that the net worth of a typical white family is approximately $162,00, while the typical Black family has $16,000 and the typical Hispanic family as about $21,000.
Trump Called for Paid Family Leave. Here’s Why Few Democrats Clapped.
Claire Cain Miller, New York Times
The bill he supported is limited; it works by allowing people to borrow from their future selves. A large majority of Americans support some form of family leave to take care of young children. President Trump called for paid family leave in the State of the Union on Tuesday, the first Republican president to do so. But the bill he supported does not offer what has generally been considered paid family leave.
What The Victoria’s Secret Harassment Allegations Teach Us About Retaliation
Elana Gross, Forbes
Victoria’s Secret has long been criticized for a lack of diversity and objectification of women in its advertisements and on the runway of its now-canceled annual fashion show. A new report found that the work environment, from the top down, was misogynistic and rife with sexual harassment and bullying.
Women in tech are sending each other to find out how much they're making compared to their male coworkers
Sara McCord, Business Insider
Lizzie Kardon, head of content and engagement for the tech company Pagely, crowdsourced a Google spreadsheet to show how much women make in tech — you can view it here. Her goal was to help women make more money, inspired by a New York Times piece from January.
New York City Government Is Getting Involved With The Fashion Industry’s Race Problem
Sara Radin, Refinery29
It’s no secret that the fashion industry — despite some attempts at progress — is still often quite insensitive about race. While brands like Gucci, Dior, and Prada have apologized for recent offenses on social media and declared their intentions to prioritize diversity, the New York City Commission on Human Rights has now officially stepped in to address recent racist incidents, according to a new report by Vanessa Friedman in The New York Times.
LGBTQ
NYC Park Will Be Renamed After Marsha P. Johnson
Johanna Silver, NowThis News
An NYC park will be renamed in honor of Black trans activist Marsha P. Johnson. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the plan on February 1 during a speech at the Human Rights Campaign Greater New York Gala.
Project Blitz: Christian Nationalist War on LGBTQ
James Finn, Medium
Since Donald Trump became president, right-wing groups have flooded state legislatures with bills promoting hardline conservative Christian views. The bills, many of which are now laws, appear cookie-cutter, and that’s no accident.
California governor to grant clemency to those prosecuted in the past for being gay
Gabrielle Canon, USA Today
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that civil rights leader Bayard Rustin — an openly gay man who was arrested and imprisoned in Pasadena, Calif., in 1953 on a misdemeanor “lewd conduct” charge after having consensual sex with men — has been posthumously pardoned.
Companies Offer Rebuke of Tennessee's Anti-LGBT Adoption Law
Jonathan Mattise, U.S. News & World Report
LGBT advocacy group leaders and representatives from businesses gathered at the Cordell Hull legislative building in Nashville on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020 for a news conference to oppose a state adoption law and other proposals that target the LGBT community.