The groups that elected Barack Obama are poised to cash in on their investment and the feminists are muscling to be first in line. The National Organization for Women (NOW), bragging that "we all worked hard to help elect" Obama, has helpfully spelled out the "feminist action agenda":
- Pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to repeal the statute of limitations and allow women to sue employers for alleged wage discrimination long after bosses are dead and unable to defend their actions. The feminists made this their first priority, the House and Senate quickly acquiesced, and President Obama is itching to sign the bill.
- Direct EEOC to compare pay scales in job categories held mostly by women or mostly by men, and then enforce wage control to equalize wages according to the feminists' subjective definition of what they call Comparable Worth.
- Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act to require paid parental and family leave at the option of the employee, rather than unpaid leave as allowed in current law. Reject all proposals to allow any portion of Social Security contributions to be paid into individual investment accounts.
- Appropriate $10 billion annually for daycare, early childhood programs, and grants for infant and toddler care so that mothers can be liberated from caring for their own babies.
- Stop federal funding of marriage promotion and fatherhood programs. Repeal all the restrictions put into place by Welfare Reform legislation that encourage welfare recipients to seek employment or training for a job.
- Expand the Child Tax Credit so that it covers all caregiving for married and non-married partners, and make it fully refundable for low-income working families.
- Stop all funding for abstinence education and replace it with funding for federal programs that emphasize contraception. Increase funding for Title X Family Planning Programs by at least $1 billion annually.
- Enact the Freedom of Choice Act, which would repeal all national and state regulations of abortion passed over the last 35 years, including the ban on partial birth abortion. Repeal the Hyde Amendment which bars federal taxpayer funding for most abortions.
- Halt adoption of a "conscience" regulation to allow doctors and other health care workers to refuse to perform abortions or provide contraceptive services they believe are morally objectionable.
- Require insurance companies to cover birth control, require pharmacists to fill contraceptive prescriptions, and remove the age restriction on over-the-counter so-called emergency contraception. Approve funding for embryonic stem cell research that requires killing embryos.
- Promote abortion programs, services and advocacy in other countries by spending at least $1 billion for international family planning. One of Obama's first presidential directives canceled Reagan's Mexico City policy that prohibited this.
- Nominate and confirm federal judges who support abortion and other feminist goals.
- Ratify the long-dead Equal Rights Amendment with no time limitation on the process. Ratify the United Nations Treaty on Women (CEDAW), which would make our laws, customs and textbooks subject to supervision and control by a UN committee of feminists designated as "experts."
- Repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy in the military. Lift the combat exclusion on women in the military so women can be assigned to ground combat and submarines.
- Enact Hate Crimes legislation to cover acts of violence based on the victim's real or perceived gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Fully fund, expand and aggressively enforce the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and enact the International VAWA (IVAWA).
- Cancel the regulations that allow public schools to have any single-sex schools or classes, and withhold federal funding from any schools that do. Aggressively enforce Title IX against colleges and universities, and refuse to accept evidence of women's relative lack of interest in sports.
- Oppose any constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Give same-sex couples federal benefits equal to married couples, add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal nondiscrimination laws without a religious exception.
- Establish a cabinet-level Office on Women so that lobbying for feminist legislation and regulations can be carried out by federal employees at taxpayers' expense. Promote affirmative action for women.
- Appoint feminists to key positions in all the federal departments and strive for gender balance (i.e., fifty percent feminists) throughout the government. Establish a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender liaison position in the White House.
- Enact a single-payer (i.e., government controlled and taxpayer financed) health plan that includes unrestricted access to comprehensive abortion and contraceptive services. Pass an expanded SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program) to include health services for all children, including illegal aliens.
- Provide a path to citizenship for illegal aliens. Rescind the Bush tax cuts. Restore the Fairness Doctrine in the media.
Many Americans don't understand what it means to be a feminist. Now we know. The premier feminist organization, NOW, has defined feminism for us.
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