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The Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues is celebrating its 31st anniversary this week. As we observe this significant milestone, it’s important to recognize what a remarkable time this is for American women and pause to appreciate how far we have come as women both in Congress and across the country.
Consider this – just 87 years after American women received the right to vote in federal elections, women now are expected to cast more than half of the votes in the upcoming 2008 election. This high level of participation shouldn’t surprise anyone – already women manage more than half of household incomes, control more than half the money in the New York Stock Exchange and make most of the health care decisions in the family - all while trying to balance the demands of work and family life.
This enhanced influence of women in all aspects of American life is reflected in the increased power of women in Congress. Most notably, we saw the inauguration of the first female Speaker of the House last year. We also have a remarkable number of women serving in the House of Representatives, 73 in all, and women serve as the Chair or Ranking Member on 33 House Committees or Subcommittees.
This is a far cry from 31 years ago when the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues was founded. At that time, women in the House of Representatives didn’t enjoy the same amount of influence and respect in the halls of Congress as they do today. There were far fewer women Members and their male colleagues largely wrote them off. Infamously, one of our founding Members was forced to share a seat, literally, on the House Armed Services Committee, underscoring the larger fight facing women to gain a seat at the tables of power in Congress and across the country.
In the face of this adversity, the women of Congress joined together across party lines to form the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues. We found that, by uniting as women, we can often transcend the traditional boundaries of partisan politics and advance our shared agenda of addressing issues important to women and families.
In 2007, working together, we passed legislation that protected genetic information nondiscrimination, highlighted International Women’s Day, honored the important role the Girl Scouts play in helping young girls, recognized the important contributions of women serving in the military and celebrated the anniversary of Title IX. Additionally, we continued to bring attention to important women’s health issues such as breast cancer and cervical cancer.
Our ambitious agenda for the second half of the 110th Congress builds on our previous successes and pushes for progress in some new areas as well. In February our Caucus led the effort to pass legislation recognizing American Heart Month and National Wear Red Day (H.Res.972). The resolution noted that diseases of the heart are the leading cause of death in America. Because heart disease is the number one killer of women, the Caucus is also pushing for passage of the Heart Disease Education, Analysis, Research and Treatment (HEART) for Women Act (H.R. 1014).
In addition to raising awareness about the unique danger heart disease poses to women, we want to bring attention to the need to improve maternal health here at home and around the world. Every minute a women dies from complications related to her pregnancy or childbirth, and shockingly the United States ranks last among developed nations when it comes to maternal mortality. Although many assume motherhood is the most natural process in the world, for far too many women, giving birth can actually mean death. While this is a challenging problem, it is solvable if we work together to increase access to pre- and postnatal care.
It’s also important to challenge women to lead healthy lifestyles. A quarter of all healthcare costs can be prevented through our own lifestyle choices. Eating right and getting plenty of exercise goes a long way toward preventing heart disease and being a healthy mother. The Center for Disease Control says that 75 percent of all US health spending goes to treat chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes, two diseases influenced by lifestyle. Nine out of ten heart attacks and one-third of all cancers would not happen if we took care of our bodies.
Beyond addressing issues of women’s health, the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues will continue our efforts to honor the service of our women in the military. We will also be working to address the unique challenges that face women service members, whether it’s providing adequate maternity leave and child care for mothers in the military or preventing instances of sexual harassment.
Finally we want to enhance education opportunities for girls in science, technology, engineering and math. By emphasizing classroom competitiveness in these traditionally male-dominated fields we hope to open more doors to women while helping our country better compete in the global market place.
As we reflect on how far American women and women Members of Congress have come over the last 31 years, we are proud of all that we have accomplished and we are hopeful about the future. As Co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, we are committed to solving problems that affect our mothers, grandmothers, wives, sisters and daughters – no matter where they live. We look forward to building on the success we have had in 2007 to bringing more attention and solutions to issues that impact women and families in the coming years
Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA) and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) serve as Co-Chairs of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues. The Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues was founded on April 19th, 1977 by fifteen Congresswomen from both sides of the isle. Thirty one years after its founding, the Caucus now boasts a record 73 Members.
Pictured above: (center) Congresswoman Capps meets with Central Coast firefighters to discuss emergency preparedness.
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