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Women's Rights
What's New? - Archive
WomenMatter will continuously post updates on all this and other issues as we monitor the continuing philosophical and practical debates nationwide.
Please check back often for updates. Past updates are available for reference on the Women's Rights Archives page.
Since Women's Rights is in many ways an umbrella issue, WomenMatter will highlight related updates from other Life Issue areas here:
Have You Heard of Equal Rights and Equal Dignity?
Along with 26 Democrats as co-sponsors, Tom Daschle introduced legislation meant to combat discrimination of all kinds. His bill addresses discrimination based on class, race, gender, and sexual orientation; it attempts to protect Americans’ privacy and voting rights.
It is, in a word, huge. The Equal Rights and Equal Dignity for Americans Act of 2003 is a cluster of smaller bills (labeled “titles," but each of these “titles" could be its own bill). The Equal Rights and Equal Dignity Act attends to everything from racial profiling to voting rights to the mismanagement of the financial trust for Native Americans. It tackles a motley group of issues that, when grouped together in this way, are of importance to a broad swath of the American population.
So why haven’t we heard anything about it?
This bill was introduced in January of 2003 when the Democrats who had lost the Senate majority in November had a few weeks left as the majority party. When the Republicans took charge in the new Congress at the end of January, this bill with the Democrats agenda inside disappeared from the radar. It was “introduced" to the Senate (meaning read to the Senate) and then brushed off to the Committee on Finance. This committee has merely recognized that the bill has been referred to it, but since every committee has a majority of the majority party, there is no intention to bring it up for hearings in committee and certainly no intention for it to reach the Senate floor for debate.
Again, this bill is so gigantic and so complete that there is deliberately something in it for everybody. It is the Democrats’ agenda, served up as a reminder of what they would have pushed if they had won in November. As we go through its main points, it is an opportunity for each of us to check off in our minds whether these are worthwhile uses of our strength as a government or are we glad that these efforts did not happen.
Diversity is its middle name.
Not only does this bill promote diversity, it is, itself, diverse. Anyone from a Native American to a law enforcement officer to a woman suffering from pay inequity could be affected (a Native American woman law enforcement officer who doesn’t get the pay she deserves would be thrice affected, and you know she’s out there).
The whole family can find something of interest in this one. So, let’s go through it step by step.
Title I – Local Law Enforcement Act
Title I expands the definition of “hate crime" to include crime based on gender, sexual orientation, and disability. Currently, crime is only considered hate crime if its motivation is based on race, religion, or national origin.
Civil rights groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) believe that crimes based on gender, sexual orientation and/or disability are equally serious, and should be labeled “hate crimes" as well. Hate crimes carry a stiffer penalty and usually gain more media attention.
Title I also gives money to state and local programs that try to prevent hate crimes.
Title II – Increase in Funding for Enforcing Civil Rights Laws.
Title II increases funding to agencies like the Office of Civil Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. These programs enforce Civil Rights laws already in existence such as Title VII, Title IX, and the Age Discrimination Act.
The Office of Civil Rights resolves complaints based on discrimination and helps institutions come up with creative solutions to prevent discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established by the Civil Rights Act and specifically deals with discrimination in places of employment.
The bill’s sponsors feel that to abolish discrimination, we must strengthen the enforcement of civil rights laws that already exist.
Title III –Supporting Indigent Defense.
Title III restores the funding of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), which provides legal representation to people who cannot afford it on their own. The funding for the LSC has been cut dramatically; the bill reinstates the funding to its 1994 level.
Title IV –Indian Trust Asset and Trust Fund Management and Reform.
Title IV creates a federal office dedicated to the management of the American Indian Trust Fund. This section of the bill is meant to give Native Americans more control over their collective money. It would create a tribal advisory board to aid in the management of the Trust Fund.
Title V –Sense of the Senate on Racial Profiling.
Title V makes a statement but does not create a law, an organization, or provide funding to any agency. It simply expresses the Sense of the Senate on racial profiling. It declares racial profiling to be a dissolute practice that should be stopped.
Title VI –Paycheck fairness.
Title VI strengthens the Equal Pay Act, which requires employers to pay men and women who do “substantially equal" jobs to receive equal pay. However, there are loopholes in the Equal Pay Act. Employers who pay men more than women (with comparable jobs) often get away with it by claiming an established seniority or merit system is responsible for pay discrepancies. Title VI would help to close these loopholes and make employers more accountable for discriminatory practices.
Title VII –Employment Non-Discrimination.
Title VII would protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in the workplace. Right now, gays and lesbians are unable to fully defend themselves against harassment and other unfair treatment in their places of employment.
Title VIII –Genetic Non-Discrimination.
Title VIII would prevent people from being discriminated against because of their genes. This portion of the bill ties together two of its main themes: discrimination and privacy.
Usually, people are discriminated against because of a characteristic or set of characteristics that everyone can see; race, gender, disability, age, all have identifying markers that people can read. One’s genetic information is private.
However, health insurance companies often have access to medical records, including genetic information. This act prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage based on this information. It also requires these companies to obtain informed consent before looking at patients’ genetic info.
Titles IX and X –Protecting Americans’ Privacy.
Title IX defends medical privacy by limiting how medical information can be used for marketing. Title X protects US citizens from intelligence gathering conducted by the Department of Defense. Both titles help to keep private information private.
Title XI –Election Reform.
Title XI provides more funding to election reforms inspired by the 2000 presidential election. Many states are working hard to implement the Help Americans Vote Act but don’t have the money to replace voting machines or to train poll workers. This section of the bill allocates more funding to voting modification.
What does all of this mean?
Basically, this bill discourages discrimination and encourages privacy. It does this by increasing funding to various government agencies that work to combat discrimination. It increases the size of government by creating an Office of Trust Reform and a tribal advisory board. It also makes clear statements about racial profiling, gay and lesbian rights, and the right to privacy.
It is clearly not a Republican bill and has not, therefore, reached the Senate floor. Republicans claim to decrease government spending and the size of government. Many Republicans are not in favor of increasing gay and lesbian rights and do not believe that the right to privacy is essential to freedom.
WomenMatter tracks legislation every day. All bills that come up for debate have to have the approval of Republican committee chairpersons and the Republican leadership in both houses of Congress. The Democrats, as the minority party (even with an almost equal number) have to use the right to offer amendments as their way of being heard. The media seldom report amendments. They can, however, make a difference as legislators trade votes with each other to get what they want. WomenMatter keeps us up to date.
To discuss this agenda with other WomenMatter readers, [click here]. To contact your Senator and let her or him know how you feel about any part of The Equal Rights and Equal Dignity for Americans Act of 2003, [click here].
Article Posted on: 8/13/2003
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