Clinton Wins for Women

Immediately following the elections of Nov. 8, we can expect a spate of articles, columns, editorials and punditry regarding the presidency of Bill Clinton. We will see a dissection of the late 20 months, with a good does of Monday morning quarterback "spin" and predictions about the remainder of his term. The inevitable handicapping of the 1996 election will begin.

What we will not see much of is the good news for American women. We could spend a great deal of time talking about why that is true, but more important is what that good news is.

Clinton has more women in his cabinet, in his governmental appointees and in the judiciary than have been in place at any other time in our history. Every day these women make a difference for all women in this country and for their families.

In appointments of the most senior positions in our government, over 30 percent are women, and in all of Clinton's appointments, 47 percent, nearly half, are women. For the first time in our history, we have parity in decision-making roles in our government. Many of these appointees hold titles never before held by women. They are running departments and designing policy in what have been traditionally male positions. Clinton's recognition and understanding of the contributions women can make in all areas of government and society has made an enormous difference for all of us.

Some of the most dramatic and farreaching gains for women in the Clinton administration have been the appointments to the judiciary. Of the 143 people nominated to the federal bench, the president named 44 women. All three previous presidents combined did not name half of that number. The appointment that will affect our lives for the longest period of time is that of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court.

Our chief law enforcement agency, the Department of Justice, is heated by Janet Reno--the first women attorney general. Her deputy and seven of the 11 assistant attorneys general are women. This impacts the view of women's safety by our government. With the passage (because of the firm stand of our president) of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act this year, the Violence Against Women Act became law. This invests heavily in the personal security of women by providing more police, prosecutors and services in case involving sexual violence or domestic abuse.

From his very first day in office, Clinton has worked to promote freedom of choice for women. He repealed the "gag rule" that restricted abortion counseling at federally funded family planning clinics. The Republicans have threatened to reinstate the "gag rule" in their "Contract with American." The president repealed the Mexico City policy that banned funding to international organizations that promoted comprehensive family planning, and signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act to ensure that women and their doctors can enter clinics without fearing intimidation and violence. And the Department of Health and Human Services, headed by Secretary Donna Shalala, implemented a change to the Hyde Amendment obligating states to pay for abortions for poor women whose pregnancies result from rape or incest, or endanger the life of the mother.

The first piece of legislation the president signed, after 10 years of veto and haggling by the Republicans, was the Family and Medical Leave Act. This legislation gives working people freedom for the first time to take time from work to stay with a sick parent or child and know their job is secure.

When the president took office, the country faced several major economic challenges, including rising federal deficit and increasing loss of jobs. Female heads of households, an ever-increasing portion of the labor force (which is 47 percent female), were particularly hard hit by a worsening economy. The president's economic plan has begun to put our economic house back in order. There are nearly 4.3 million new jobs in the first 19 months of this administration, and the president's plan is reducing the deficit by nearly $700 billion over five years.

Along with the overall plan to revitalize the economy, the administration has encouraged the formation and development of women-owned businesses. Women business owners currently own 40 percent of all businesses; women are starting business at one-and-a-half times the rate of their male counterparts and employ 11 million workers--more than the Fortune 500 companies. Women business owners need access to capital, and the Clinton administration has taken unprecedented steps to create opportunities for them.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has taken several steps to increase the capital available to women-owned firms. The SBA has established goals for dramatically expanding lending to these firms, increasing the number of loans to women from 3,880 in 1993 to 7,211 in 1994. With other initiatives by the SBA to help women business owners, and the expansion of opportunities for women-owned business to obtain government contracts, along with increased technical assistance, women are making serious new long-term gains.

In addition, with the passage of the Earned Income Tax Credit, Clinton initiated the best, comprehensive method of supplying initiatives for low-income families to begin to move ahead. Incentive, rather than punitive tax policy, became the way for the working poor to make real gains.

Women are the care givers, responsible not only for their own health but also for the health of their children, spouses and parents. As a result, women know how important it is to keep health care reform at the top of our national agenda.

Despite being the biggest consumers of health care services, women have a harder time getting health coverage than men. They are more likely to work part-time and in pink-collar jobs with-out health insurance, of the 16 million women without coverage in 1990, half had uninsured jobs. Those lucky enough to have insurance pay more; women aged 15 to 44 pay 68 percent more out-of-pocket for health care than their male counterparts.

All of this at a time when women are increasingly afflicted with AIDS, with breast cancer (one in 20 women 20 years ago to one in eight today), with increased incidence of heart disease and with greater risks of environmentally-induced problems. The Clinton administration has launched a variety of programs to improve preventive care for women. While the Congress failed to pass health reform legislation this year, the president and the first lady will continue to fight for enactment.

In the meantime, federal funding for breast cancer research and prevention has been increased--to &650 million in fiscal 1994. In addition, the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer provides a blueprint for a partnership between the government and the private sector to work to prevent, diagnose, treat and ultimately eliminate breast cancer.

With the Women's Health Initiative, the administration launched the largest clinical research study ever conducted on either men or women to examine the major causes of death, disability and frailty in post-menopausal women: heart disease, breast and colon cancer and osteoporosis. An emphasis to include minority women at each clinical site is a component of the study.

Education, housing, and every other area of our lives is being impacted by the women the president has appointed to carry out the policies and the commitment he has to a better quality of life and equality of opportunity for the women of America.

It will be up to us to tell people about these initiatives and the work of the president on our behalf. It's good news and therefore we probably won't read it on the front pages of our newspapers. Women have a responsibility to spread the word--our day as full citizens is coming much faster because we elected Bill Clinton.

Lynn Cutler, former vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee, is a fellow at the Institute of Politics.