Tag: Woman

BOSTON (CBS) – Cecile Richards, the longtime president of Planned Parenthood, joined WBZ-TV political analyst Jon Keller to discuss her best-selling book along with her belief that now is the time for women to lead a political movement. Richards was president of Planned Parenthood from 2006-2018. She also wrote the best-selling book “Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead.” Keller @ Large: Part 2 Keller asked Richards about her previous statement that we need a political movement “of, by and for women” as the country inches toward the 2020 presidential election. “I think the most important thing is that women’s issues that women care about are part of the political conversation, whether it’s a woman or man running for president,” Richards said. “I just think it’s important that women’s equality and our ability to participate in the work force and raise our families should be front and center in this campaign and that’s my goal.” Richards also discussed a meeting she had with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner shortly after President Trump was elected. “They asked to meet and their offer to me was if Planned Parenthood would quit providing abortion services to women in America that they would try to get more funding for the organization,” she said. “Needless to say it didn’t go anywhere. I said we are absolutely there to provide the full range of reproductive healthcare services for women. It was a disappointing meeting for sure.”

A House of Commons committee is making a cross-party call for the federal government to offer financial incentives to political parties that nominate more women candidates to run for election. "Despite their growing political participation, women represent just 35 per cent of all legislators in Canada and remain under-represented at all levels of government," the report said. "Increasing women's participation in electoral politics is essential for achieving greater gender equality. Having more women in elected office is about more than achieving equality in a traditionally male-dominated field — it could also have significant effects on public policy." One potential fix, the committee says, would be to offer cash incentives, such as subsidies, to encourage parties to help more women get nominated and then elected. The federal per-vote subsidy was eliminated in 2015. But the rules and processes associated with nomination and election campaigns can be complicated, and decision-making within parties was described by some as "opaque." The committee said Ottawa should also consider encouraging parties to set voluntary quotas for how many female candidates they plan to field and publicly report on efforts to recruit female candidates after every general election. Other recommendations include a call for publicly funded education campaigns and training to counter the negative effects of gender-based harassment of female politicians, both in traditional and social media. The MPs who worked on the report plan to ask to another Commons committee, which studies electoral issues, to consider looking into ways to eliminate gender bias in the design of voting ballots.

The Peace tower is reflected in a window in Ottawa, Tuesday March 26, 2019. A House of Commons committee says government should offer financial incentives to political parties that nominate more women candidates to run for election. This is one of 14 recommendations of the status of women committee, which studied the ongoing under-representation of women in politics. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA — A House of Commons committee says the government should offer financial incentives to political parties to nominate more women candidates to run for election. This is one of 14 recommendations of the status of women committee, which studied the ongoing under-representation of women in politics. Despite being active in their communities, women represent just 35 per cent of all legislators in Canada, according to Statistics Canada. The committee suggests political parties should be working harder to get more women to run by eliminating sexism and biases that might be built into their recruitment efforts. One potential fix would be to offer cash incentives, such as subsidies or weighted formulas for public financing to encourage parties to help more women to get nominated and then elected. The committee also says government should consider requiring political parties to publicly report on their efforts to recruit female candidates after every general election and should also encourage them to set voluntary quotas for how many female candidates they plan to field.

Last week, the Cut published an essay by Lucy Flores, a former Nevada lieutenant governor nominee, who wrote that Biden smelled her hair and kissed the back of her head at a campaign event in 2014. In the week since, six more women have come forward. Below, here’s a running list of the allegations against Biden. In response to the essay, Biden claimed that he had no memory of having “acted inappropriately,” but added that if he was in the wrong, he would “listen respectfully.” Amy Lappos When Amy Lappos was a congressional aide for U.S. representative Jim Himes in 2009, she claims that Biden touched and rubbed his nose against hers during a political fundraiser. “It wasn’t sexual, but he did grab me by the head,” she told Hartford Courant on April 1. “He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. Hill was one of two women to come forward with allegations in the New York Times, which referred to Biden’s conduct as “tactile politics” in a report published on April 2. At a 2012 at a fundraising event in Minneapolis, Hill alleges that Biden rested his hand on her shoulder, and then started to move it down her back, which left her feeling “very uncomfortable.” “Only he knows his intent,” she told the Times, adding, “If something makes you feel uncomfortable, you have to feel able to say it.” Caitlyn Caruso In the same Times report, a woman named Caitlyn Caruso claimed that after sharing the story of her sexual assault at a University of Nevada event in 2016, Biden hugged her “just a little bit too long” and laid his hand on her thigh. It was a moment that soon went viral, and was described then by the Post as “powerful.” But in the Post’s report published this week, Karasek says she believes that Biden violated her personal space. “But again, all of our interactions and friendships are a two-way street … Too often it doesn’t matter how the woman feels about it or they just assume that they’re fine with it.” Vail Kohnert-Yount In the same Post report, Vail Kohnert-Yount alleged that when she was a White House intern in the spring of 2013, Biden “put his hand on the back of [her] head and pressed his forehead to [her] forehead” when he introduced himself, and that he called her a “pretty girl.” She was “so shocked,” she said, “that it was hard to focus on what he was saying.” Though she told the Post that she doesn’t believe Biden’s conduct constituted sexual misconduct, she described it as “the kind of inappropriate behavior that makes many women feel uncomfortable and unequal in the workplace.” This post will be updated if necessary.

Joe Biden on Friday twice made joking references to complaints from women that his physical behavior made them uncomfortable. The former vice-president’s comments came during his first public appearance since the allegations began to surface last week. Biden quipped: “I just want you to know – I had permission to hug Lonnie.” The crowd, which was mostly male, erupted in laughter. Later, Biden made a similar joke after inviting a group of children onstage and putting his arm round a young boy. “By the way, he gave me permission to touch him,” the former vice-president said, again to laughter. “Everybody knows I like kids more than people,” Biden said. Although he has not been accused of sexual assault or harassment, the women have said they felt Biden violated their personal space. On Wednesday, Biden pledged in a video to change his behavior. “WELCOME BACK JOE!” Trump tweeted. Biden hit back, tweeting: “I see that you are on the job and presidential.”

CALLER: Oh, Rush, thank you so much for taking my call. I’m not a Joe Biden fan, but I do not understand how these high-powered educated women can wait years and years and years to come out and say that Joe Biden made them uncomfortable. RUSH: Well, wait, now. I’ll pretend to be a victim, a helpless victim. I need to go public 30 years later and make sure his career is ruined, because I support Bernie Sanders and I don’t want –” It’s all politics. But they are willing to have themselves seen as victims with great abuse perpetrated against them and they were powerless to do anything about it ’cause that’s how the left’s political agenda is advanced among women, by creating even more and more women who think that way. It really ends up being demeaning to all women because it portrays them as helpless victims of whatever kind of man, a powerful political guy or a physical brute kind of guy or whatever rotten characterization of men happens to be popular at that particular point in time. CALLER: Rush, you are exactly right. CALLER: Well, Rush, you are exactly right, and these women are as culpable as Joe Biden if they cannot tell him “no.” And it is my opinion that the majority of the women out here feel the same way that I do. Apparently Bite Me is out there making all these videos about how sorry he is and never intended to offend anybody and, gee, it was a different time then than it is now, and he’s gonna have to get with the times.

The growing acceptance of women in politics and in the workforce is highlighted by the General Social Survey, a widely respected trend survey that has been measuring views of gender and society since the 1970s. The share of Americans who say women are as suited for politics as men is up 6 percentage points since 2016, when Hillary Clinton became the first woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination, and 14 points since 2008, when she lost a grueling primary battle to Barack Obama. In 1974, just 49 percent said so. Democrats are somewhat more likely than Republicans to say so, 89 percent to 80 percent, though the share in both parties has grown in recent years. The survey found 9 percent of women saying they have been discriminated against at work because of their gender. The share of Democrats who support preferential hiring for women is up to 46 percent, from 35 percent in 2016. Within the GOP, a gender gap persists on attitudes toward women in the workforce. Republican men are more likely than Republican women to say it is better for women to stay at home while men work, 37 percent to 22 percent. Similarly, while 18 percent of Republican women think preschool children suffer if their mother works, 39 percent of Republican men say this. About a third of Republicans (35 percent) say the same.

(Photo: Deborah Barfield Berry, USA TODAY) Turning to the national stage To take advantage of the national attention, She the People will host a presidential forum in Houston in April – the first by a group led by women of color. “For men and women (candidates) of various races, they all need to win women of color,'' Allison said. Virginia is a crucial state for Democratic presidential candidates. “It’s very important for women of color to be heard given the political environment that’s going on there," Allison said. One early indicator of that power will be who shows up for the presidential forum, Walsh said. The group plans listening sessions with black female leaders to discuss get-out-the-vote campaigns and demands from candidates. Campbell said her organization hasn’t heard from presidential candidates. Black female voters helped Doug Jones pull off an upset in Alabama in 2017, making him the state’s first Democratic senator in 25 years. Campbell criticized Republicans and Democrats for not talking with black women enough. "When it comes to engaging and being respectful of the black vote and black women’s vote, they have a lot of room (where) they can go up," she said of Republicans.

(Photo: Deborah Barfield Berry, USA TODAY) Turning to the national stage To take advantage of the national attention, She the People will host a presidential forum in Houston in April – the first by a group led by women of color. “For men and women (candidates) of various races, they all need to win women of color,'' Allison said. Virginia is a crucial state for Democratic presidential candidates. “It’s very important for women of color to be heard given the political environment that’s going on there," Allison said. One early indicator of that power will be who shows up for the presidential forum, Walsh said. The group plans listening sessions with black female leaders to discuss get-out-the-vote campaigns and demands from candidates. Campbell said her organization hasn’t heard from presidential candidates. Black female voters helped Doug Jones pull off an upset in Alabama in 2017, making him the state’s first Democratic senator in 25 years. Campbell criticized Republicans and Democrats for not talking with black women enough. "When it comes to engaging and being respectful of the black vote and black women’s vote, they have a lot of room (where) they can go up," she said of Republicans.