Right now, via every channel we each used to communicate our preferences and our desires from the public servants who sought our votes, we need to tell those who have been elected what we expect from them. We need to begin to beat our drums until they ring so loudly they cannot be ignored.
I live in Washington D.C. I have no representation in the Senate and my House member does not have voting rights. (To learn more, look here.) Talk about disenfranchisement.
With no representation in the U.S. Congress, I am especially reliant on the President of the United States to represent my interests. The President is the only federal level official who represents the people not only of all the United States but especially of the Washington, D.C.
So as our President-Elect starts making plans and pondering appointments, I have a request. As we were continually reminded up through yesterday, this President-Elect will probably have the chance to make multiple Supreme Court appointments. I expect him, and his successors if he does not have the opportunity to make sufficient appointments, to appoint women and only women until the make-up of the court approximates the make-up of the general population: that is until there are five women justices and four men.
With a robust Democratic presence in the Senate and a huge pool of talented women from which to draw, this would be one of the easiest ways for President-Elect Obama to demonstrate genuine recognition of gender imbalance in political life.
Oh, and Mr. Obama, you have the power to ask Congress to remedy that disenfranchisement problem we folks in the nation's capital suffer from. My voteless representative will be working to make sure legislation is introduced to solve the problem. I expect you to support this legislation unreservedly.
I do hope that you are right about this. My gut feeling is that Pres. Obama will be as refractory to suggestion as Pres. Reagan.
Posted by: chatblu | November 06, 2008 at 06:38 AM
Love this series Heidi Li. They're all keepers and I have been referring friends to them.
Posted by: purplefinn | November 06, 2008 at 07:25 AM
Heidi
I'm not counting on him to do anything for women or gays, PERIOD. He had a chance to demonstrate leadership on these issues yet he didn't lift a finger to condemn the sexist treatment of Hillary and Sarah, nor did he promote the rights of the GLBT community by encouraging his "new coalition" to defeat Prop 8 and others like it.
I’m serious guys. PUMA needs to have a “civil rights” conference focusing on Women and Gays. The Lightbringer has addressed the AA community now we need to find a counter-strategy to the Sexisthomophobacrat Party.
We need a planning committee…STAT. And Gdamnit…Hillary and Sarah need to be in attendance. This is a non-partisan crisis.
Posted by: stateofdisbelief | November 06, 2008 at 07:47 AM
Statehood for the District would be priority one for me at the moment with full gay rights on it's heels. Civil rights for all would go a long way toward any fights to defeat the ism's, ie sexism, racism, ageism. Full rights for the GLBT community and the citizens of Washington, DC would benefit those who have them already as resources -money, attention, time- can merge into a common purpose.
Posted by: democraticjack | November 06, 2008 at 10:57 AM
DC statehood should be addressed at the beginning of President Obama's term, before we lose the Dem Congress. I doubt that it will be - but I'll have a lot more respect for the Obama Administration (and more hope for it) if it is.
Posted by: dcattorney | November 06, 2008 at 11:55 AM
Report finds pay gap for UT women faculty
AUSTIN — Women full professors at the University of Texas at Austin make $9,000 less annually on average than their male colleagues.
That's according to a report prepared by a 22-member UT task force.
The Austin American-Statesman reports UT President William Powers Jr. praised the report for "identifying issues we must address to support the professional growth of our faculty."
Provost Steven Leslie, who established the Gender Equity Task Force, said steps would begin immediately to address the report's recommendations, which include developing a five- to 10-year plan to reduce or eliminate gender inequities in hiring, promotion, salaries and governance.
UT professor of molecular genetics and microbiology, Shelley Payne, says there's a perception among the administrators that women are simply not as good as men.
The report noted shortcomings in everything from promotion opportunities to the overall campus climate for women faculty members.
November 5, 2008 - 2:16 a.m. CST
Posted by: Cindy | November 06, 2008 at 12:57 PM
I signed
Posted by: votermom | November 07, 2008 at 11:18 AM