The goal of this article is to evaluate how women and women's issues have fared during President's Obama's first term. We'll examine the entire four years in order to gauge progress and unresolved shortcomings.
Those of you who have followed my writings here and at the Daily Beast, know I was an early critic of Obama on women's issues. To his credit, I have watched Obama evolve since then. To wit, his recent appointment of Debbie Wasserman Schultz to DNC Chair, after he irked women's group early in his term by selecting anti-choice Tim Kaine. Whether Obama's evolution is personal growth or politically motivated, I will leave to you, the reader, to decide.
I need to lay out two disclaimers. First, Obama is not directly accountable for all metrics. For example, as relates to jobs, he cannot direct gender hiring preferences in the private sector (although, he can lead by example). Second, this article does not examine whether the GOP offers a better alternative in areas of weakness. For example, while Obama's efforts on the Paycheck Fairness Act may be disappointing, the GOP is patently against legislative equal pay, period. Let's begin.
1. Supreme Court Appointments: A+
During his presidency, Obama appointed two Supreme Court Justices: Sonia Sotomayor and Elana Kagan. Obama gets an 'A' for boosting women's representation to 33% and a 'plus' for appointing our first Latina to the SCOTUS.
2. Equal Pay: C
Here's the bottom line: the Obama administration failed women on equal pay. When Obama entered office, the Paycheck Fairness Act ("PFA") had already passed in the House. For two years, while the Democrats had a strong majority in the Senate, the administration lapsed on pushing to bring the PFA to the Senate floor. The Democrats finally did try after the disastrous November 2010 elections, but the motion fell two votes short. In a largely symbolic effort, the Democrats tried again this year and failed. The Fair Pay Act which Obama signed on his first day in office does nothing to legislate equal pay for equal work; rather, it extends the period to file litigation.
3. Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls: A
The Obama administration gets major cred for taking on the escalating crisis of violence against teenage and college women. A recent Department of Justice study estimated that 1 in 4 college women are victims of sexually assault, and colleges often fail to take action. Last year, VP Biden announced an effort to ensure that schools, colleges and universities protect students from sexual violence. This effort led to immediate change at schools like Stanford which lowered it's standard of proof for sexual assault. Obama and Biden have also voiced support for the reauthorization of an inclusive VAWA bill.
4. Inner Circle and Cabinet: C
Last Sunday's New York Times extolled Valerie Jarrett's access to Obama. Sadly, Jarrett is the exception, not the rule, for Obama's inner circle. Chris Matthews recently lamented on Hardball that when Hillary steps down, Obama will have an all male line up in top administration positions (go to 1:45). Women occupy only six cabinet level positions in the Obama administration, equivalent to George W. Bush as he left office (including Susan Rice, which Obama does in his six). Additionally, Obama has appointed women to fewer cabinet level positions than Bill Clinton in their respective first terms.
5. Reproductive Rights: B-
In 2010, to the dismay of women's groups, Obama reneged on his pledge to support choice when he signed an executive order enshrining the Hyde Amendment in order to pass healthcare reform. His administration was again criticized last year by women advocates for overriding the FDA recommendation (a first for HHS) on the sale of the Morning After pills. However, in the latter part of his term, Obama has turned it around, unabashedly standing by women for contraception and other healthcare coverage. As a side note, during his first term, Obama has remained largely silent as an unparalleled record of almost 100 abortion restrictions were put in place at the state level in 2011 alone.
6. Jobs: C
The job's recovery under Obama has been dubbed a 'He-recovery.' In the two years from June 2009 to May 2011, Pew Research Survey found men gained 768,000 jobs while women lost 218,000. Not only did men of every race, ethnicity and nativity outperforming their female counterparts; they also took jobs from women in fields like manufacturing, retail and finance. Under Obama, poverty remained stubbornly high, and, as reported this week by the United States Census Bureau, increasingly disproportionately impacts women.
7. Sexism: B-
For the first three years of his term, Obama showed no discernible awareness for sexism. All that changed after comments made by Rush Limbaugh about Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke. Obama strongly rebuked Rush, pronouncing those type of words have no place in our national discourse. Months later, Obama publicly excoriated Todd Akin for this comments on rape and pregnancy, noting a bunch of men should not be making healthcare decisions for women.
8. White House Work Environment: C
The Obama administration got off to an inauspicious start as the White House was dubbed a 'boy's club' (with ample evidence). When the media noticed that women were excluded from Obama's golf foursomes and basketball games, Obama exacerbated the problem by flippantly responding, "Bunk." He seemed ill-at-ease in the company of women early on, prompting the executive editor of MORE to wonder, Would Obama Talk to Women Over Beers? More sinister, senior women claimed they were excluded and demeaned in the Obama White House. The nadir was when Anita Dunn's statements to author Ron Suskind, in which she referred to the Obama White House was a "hostile workplace" for women, became public. Obama seems aware of this problem, and has taken a proactive leadership role and affirmative steps towards improvement.
9. Women Running the Economy: D-
At the start of his term, Obama irked women's groups by appointing Larry Summers for National Economic Council Director. Concerns about Summers' ability to work with women were validated when Christina Romer, the only woman leading a major economic agency, resigned among rumors of friction with Summers (and Geithner). Currently, all four major economic agencies are run by men. Shelia Bair, former Chairwoman of the FDIC (appointed by George W. Bush), stepped down last year amid speculation of sexist treatment. Mary Schapiro, Chairwoman of the SEC, announced she plans to step down this fall. Unless Obama replaces her with a woman, his administration will have no woman in high-level positions overseeing financial markets.
Follow Amy Siskind on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AmyTheNewAgenda
Rev. Al Sharpton: Latest Poverty Numbers a Wake-Up Call: We Must Continue to Support This President
 |
 |
|
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
Women's rights groups have stopped comparing against men to get what they want, except when it's convenient, some of these aren't even things men have. After all, what reproductive rights do men have? none, from conception to the child's graduation, the rights he has over his reproduction and parenting are entirely in the hands of the mother, who seems to be demanding yet more rights or else calling the resistance a war on women. Also look at number 6: jobs. The complaint is that most of the job recovery went to men... This ignores that the recession impacting men most as well. There were more men who needed to recover, so, unsurprisingly, more men recovered. But that doesn't matter, giving women the privileges is all that matters. It's OK for 80% of jobs lost affecting men, but anything more than 50% of jobs recovered going to those 80% of unemployed men is sexist?
Then there is the sense of entitlement... "women running the economy"? "Superior court Justice appointments"? These are really things to be graded? Is the sex of appointees really more important than their qualifications now? or does that only apply when it benefits women?
And sexism gets a B-, and it lost points not because it refused to change the wording of VAWA to be gender neutral (instead incorporating exception clauses for gay men) or excluding men from co-pays women get in ACA, it is because he didn't see the boogeymen feminist claim is everywhere until Rush made a comment he could capitalize on
By recognizing the Muslim Brotherhood (unlike any other Pres.), even before their election, Obama is furthering Sharia Law which denigrates women. He has helped the formation of at least 5 Islamist Governments and did not stand with the one revolution that he should have stood with, the Iranians, where women are still stoned for adultery and honor killings are allowed.
The Dem. platform has NO restrictions whatsoever on Abortion. Not late term abortion, not standing against gender abortion, not standing against infanticide when a botched abortion results in a live baby being born. These are not popular with most women.
So because Tim Kaine is pro-life he is anti-woman (that seems kind of narrow minded and silly).
I would sacrifice the Hyde Amendment for healthcare any day... and I agreed with the decision on the morning after pill.
Quite frankly I think he has done a damn good job on women's issues considering the issues of any group including women are not a zero sum game. Just Sayin!!
Romney chose a woman as his Lt. Gov. The 2nd highest position in Mass. His Chief of Staff was a woman. Much of his cabinet was comprised of women.
So because Tim Kaine is pro-life he is anti-woman"
YES
If you alienate everyone that doesn't agree with you on every issue you will find yourself standing alone... some movement that will be.
So in your opinion if a man who happens to be running for president has the audacity to take center stage during an interview about a book he wrote then he's a sexist? I don't think that's a fair standard and it sounds like you want to abuse the claim of sexism to shame men into behaving in exactly the manner you desire.
"Word is he treats Hillary like crap too. Too bad about Obama. If he didn't at least support pro-choice (at least when it's an election year), I wouldn't support him at all."
You claim he treats Hillary badly but he appointed her Secretary of state and her husband is working hard to get Obama reelected. You must have been one of those rabid Hillary supporters who still haven't gotten over her losing.
From what I can tell you dislike him because he is a confident man. That makes you a sexist, not him.
as for the speculation about Hilary, she and Bill have both stood by him and praised his efforts across the board. So i'm not sure that rumor has merit.
Apparently someone does not know the role of the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
"The Obama administration gets major cred for taking on the escalating crisis of violence against teenage and college women."
The Executive Branch has nothing to do with this.
And as for "women running the economy", the government should not be running the economy (no matter the plumming of the person "in charge".
Even Obama with his many shortcomings in this area is less publicly dismissive of women than Inghram is.
The article was very fair and critical of Obama. I believe it was as impartial as a person could get.
Why would he support the views of opponents to himself?
What 'male' issue would you give him an F for?
The absurd, oddly Republican dismissal of science on the Plan B decision deserves another mention. Obama is not our Daddy. He doesn't get to ignore science because he's uncomfortable with the idea that his daughters are sexual beings.
The worst thing that Obama has done to harm women's reproductive rights was his "compromise" with the Catholic bishops who have the bizarre notion that they have the right to veto American public health policy or to choose which employment laws they follow. Treating reproductive health differently than any other kind of health gives weight to the argument that reproductive health is subject to religion-based community interference in a woman's private health decisions in a way that is not true of cancer care or diabetes care or addiction care. Obama traded away women's Constitutional rights to equal protection and to freedom from religion in a failed attempt to maintain his relationship with the Catholic bishops so as not to cut into his Catholic vote count.