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Bitter Fruit of Welfare Reform

A new report by Legal Momentum looks at the tragic outcome of fifteen years of welfare "reform" that shrank welfare roles at the expense of poor women and children. As explained in The Bitter Fruit of Welfare Reform, government policies have been "successful" at reducing the number of families receiving welfare, but not because these families ceased needing the assistance. 

To point, when Temporary Assistance for Needy Families was launched in 1996, it originally served 62 percent of poor children whose families qualified. Now, it only reaches 24 percent of eligible children. 

What kind of success is that?

Irasema Garza, president of Legal Momentum highlights the upcoming TANF reauthorization as our next chance to make a difference for poor families and mend the nation's frayed social safety net in her blog over at HuffingtonPost.com: The Bitter Fruit of Welfare Reform. 

Read the full report.

Title IX, As Necessary As Ever, 37 Years Later

This week, Legal Momentum commemorates the 37^th anniversary of the landmark enactment of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which guaranteed that no person will be excluded from educational programs and extracurricular activities in federally funded schools.  Legal Momentum recognized the significant and widespread changes that would result from Title IX and organized the Project on Equal Education Rights (PEER) which, for eighteen years, almost singlehandedly ensured effective implementation of Title IX.  As PEER argued in a series of reports in 1985, equal education for girls broadens their opportunities in the workforce and is effectively “poverty prevention for women.” 

 

Financial Abuse Prevalent, but Often Overlooked

Women's eNews draws attention to a common, but frequently unnoticed aspect of domestic violence: financial abuse.  While such abuse is not criminal -- offenders can be prosecuted for physical and sexual abuse, but not financial -- it is nonetheless paralyzing for women whose only monetary resources for food and other necessities are manipulated by a controlling partner. Read the entire article, and its companion piece, on the economy and domestic violence.

Supreme Court Rules Against Retirees in Pregnancy Discrimination Case

On May 18, 2009, the Supreme Court issued its decision in AT&T Corp. v. Hulteen.  In a 7-2 ruling, the Court dealt a blow to the countless women workers who continue to suffer financial losses because of past pregnancy discrimination. 

Hulteen concerned the pension benefits awarded by AT&T to four women employees who took pregnancy leaves in the 1960s and 1970s, before the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) was passed in 1978.  At that time, women at AT&T who took temporary leaves to have children did not accrue as much pension credit as their co-workers who took leaves for other reasons.  As a result, when the four women retired in the 1990s, their pension benefits were lower than their co-workers’. 

The Court ruled in favor of AT&T.  In an opinion by Justice David Souter, the Court held that because the PDA was not yet on the books when AT&T denied the four women seniority credit, AT&T’s prior policy was not discriminatory – and that as a result, any pension calculations based on that policy is not discriminatory, either.  However, in an impassioned dissent that Justice Stephen Breyer joined, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued that because AT&T’s prior policy expressly excluded pregnancy from the seniority credit system, and because the PDA expressly outlawed that exclusion, the policy was discriminatory.  For that reason, AT&T’s present-day decision to continue using the flawed seniority credit system – resulting in lower pension payments to women than to their co-workers – is discriminatory, too. 

“Allowing AT&T to ignore current law in paying pension benefits to today’s women  retirees means that these women will suffer discrimination all over again,” says Irasema Garza, President of Legal Momentum.  “Women already face significant financial hurdles as compared to men in the form of lower retirement savings and Social Security benefits due to discrimination, workforce segregation, and time off for children, so it is crucial that they receive every penny to which they are entitled.”

Visit Legal Momentum's Commentaries to read the full opinion, as well as reviews of this and other cases before the Court this term that are of importance to women's rights. 

Legal Momentum Supports NYWA and Asks That You Act NOW on the NYS Fair Pay Act

Legal Momentum is a member of the Pay Equity Coalition NYC, founded by the New York Women's Agenda, which is leading the charge to secure passage of the NYS Fair Pay Act. We urge all our supporters in New York State to add your voice to ours and take action to secure passage of the NYS Fair Pay Act.

Here's what you can do:

The NYS Fair Pay Act (S.955) is now in the Finance Committee, chaired by Brooklyn Senator Carl Kruger.  With just a short time remaining in the session, it is NOT on the agenda despite having 25 CO-SPONSORS (including Sen. Carl Kruger) and being passed in the Assembly annually since 2002! With the change of leadership this year, the voters expect that this bill would no longer be held hostage in a Senate committee, but reach the floor for a vote.  Ask our Senators to show the leadership they promised by advancing the NYS Fair Pay Act!

 

NYS SENATORS MUST HEAR FROM US IMMEDIATELY IF WE WANT ACTION THIS YEAR!

• Tell Majority Leader Malcolm Smith: We want this bill to move forward through the conference to the Senate floor for a vote! 718-528-4290 or 518-455-2701 or masmith@senate.state.ny.us

• Tell your Senator: We need you to get the NYS Fair Pay Act to the floor! Thank you for co-sponsoring the bill! ( list below) http://www.nysenate.gov/senators
  
•  Tell Senator Carl Kruger: Put the NYS Fair Pay Act on the Finance Committee Agenda this year. 718-743-8610 or 518-455-2460 or kruger@senate.state.ny.us

Share this with everyone you know who cares about equal pay! Passage of this legislation in NY will make a clear state to the country:

 EQUAL PAY: The Time is NOW!

El Diario La Prensa Names Irasema Garza a “Woman of the Year”

On Sunday, May 17, Irasema Garza, president of Legal Momentum, the nation’s oldest legal defense and education fund dedicated to advancing the rights of women and girls, was recognized as a Woman of the Year by El Diario La Prensa, the premier publication serving New York-area Latinos. The annual Mujeres Destacadas Awards, now in their 14^th year, recognize women from business, industry, government, nonprofit and entertainment who distinguished themselves in their field and have made a difference in their community. 

 

Ms. Garza, who just marked her one year anniversary as president of Legal Momentum, was recognized along with 24 other “mujeres supremas” including Hon. Sonia Sotomayor,  the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez, and Martiza Puello, the managing editor of NY1 Noticias.

 

Rossana Rosado, the Publisher and CEO of El Diario wrote of the event, “We began this tradition of celebrating and recognizing our mujeres 14 years ago and I am always overwhelmed by the stories of these Latinas, young and mature, single and married, from different countries and in the diaspora. They inspire hope for a great future, our future.”

For more, see El Diario’s coverage of “2009 Mujeres Destacadas”.

Ms. Garza says, “As a Latina and leader of a women's advocacy organization, I realize that the most pressing objective for the women’s movement is to combat the cycles of poverty and economic insecurity that trap so many women in unsafe situations and lives of hardship. It is imperative that we see that fighting women’s poverty is critical to a strong future for our families, our communities, and ultimately, our nation.”

 

Legal Momentum and NYC Tradeswomen Discuss Jobs, the Stimulus Package on GRIT TV

Legal Momentum's Francoise Jacobsohn joined Elly Spicer, of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 608, Wendy Webb, a member of the Laborers International Union of North America, and Denise Doyle, the first and only female delegate of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, to speak with Laura Flanders about how jobs in the trades can help women overcome gender wage gap that plagues many working women. 

Currently, women account for seven out of every ten of the nation's low-wage workers.  Jobs in construction and other skilled trades offer women more than just a paycheck: becoming an apprentice carpenter or painter puts women on the path from poverty to properity. Through enrolling in an apprentice program with a local union, women have access to a stable career, economic security, and financial independence. 

With women comprising only four percent of skilled laborers though, and discrimination and harassment still common on job sites, Legal Momentum -- with women like Elly, Wendy and Denise -- is working to see that unions, contractors, and goverment agencies ensure that women have equal access to these important opportunities, and an equal chance at success once they get there.

Check out GRITtv's "Is the Gender Gap Growing?" for the full conversation. 

Postville One Year Later: Reminder of Immigrant Women's Plight

On May 12, 2008, in the rural town of Postville, Iowa, dozens of armed immigration agents descended on Agriprocessors, the largest kosher slaughterhouse and meatpacking plant in the country. Nearly 400 immigrant workers, including women and children under 18, were arrested. Nearly 300 of them were charged with aggravated identity theft and Social Security fraud; many were sent to prisons throughout the United States.

Dozens of immigrant women workers were ordered to remain in Postville without status or a means of support, and forced to wear electronic monitoring devices to ensure that they neither work nor leave. The women were required to plug themselves in to charge the monitors—which often dug into their skin, causing painful cuts and bruises—for two hours a day or risk arrest. They are dependant of the local church for sustenance and are seen as pariah because of the tracking device.

According to Leslye Orloff, director of Legal Momentum's Immigrant Women Program, the raid and its lingering effects are clearly a result of years of increasing Department of Homeland Security enforcement strategies. As anti-immigrant sentiment has grown, appropriations for enforcement and detention grew from $9 million in 2003 to $110 million in 2006. Concurrently, worksite enforcement has grown, with 4,077 administrative and 863 criminal arrests in 2007, compared to 485 administrative and 25 criminal arrests in 2002.

Legal Momentum Co-Hosts Inaugural New York City Tradeswomen Conference Bringing Together Union Women to Discuss Challenges and Opportunities in Non-Traditional Work

On May 9th, women carpenters, sheetmetal workers, electricians, mason tenders  and other women working in construction came together to build solidarity across fields at the first ever New York City Tradeswomen’s Conference, an event sponsored by Legal Momentum, Nontraditional Employment for Women, Mason Tenders District Council and the New York City District Council of Carpenter’s Women’s Committee. 

More than 125 union tradeswomen, ranging from apprentices in their first jobs to veterans who have spent decades in the trades, focused on the working climate they face as women in non-traditional careers.  Women spoke openly about the difficulties of being one of very few women on their job sites, and strategized about ways of tackling the biases of coworkers and supervisors in workshops centered around workplace professionalism and workers rights on the job.

Whereas women comprise nearly 70 percent of the minimum-wage and below-minimum wage workforce, jobs in the skilled trades offer decent wages, benefits, and opportunities for advancement. Construction and related fields therefore represent a pathway from poverty to prosperity for many working women. Given that the number of women working in these fields is still extremely small and the construction culture is slow to change, tradeswomen are working to ensure that they have the same opportunities and conditions on the work site as men.

Legal Momentum has been working to improve women’s access to these skilled jobs. Addressing the tradeswomen, Irasema Garza, president of Legal Momentum, explained, “All women in the so-called non-traditional jobs are on the front lines of breaking down entrenched ideas that women cannot do these jobs…your work and your courage makes it possible for Legal Momentum to advocate at the national, state and local level to claim, indeed that women CAN do these jobs, women DO these jobs, and women DESERVE these jobs.”

Legal Momentum President Irasema Garza Says Budget Resolution Holds Promise of Jobs, Training Opportunities for Women

On Wednesday, April 29, 2009, President Obama’s 100th day in office, the House and Senate both passed the $3.5 trillion FY10 budget conference report. Irasema Garza, President of Legal Momentum, the nation's oldest legal defense and education fund dedicated to advancing the rights of women and girls, says of the resolution:

"By addressing the current economic crisis and investing in education, health care and energy the budget will help create the jobs so sorely needed by American families.  Legal Momentum is particularly hopeful that investments in energy infrastructure and green jobs will open doors for women to jobs that offer a pathway from poverty to prosperity.  Likewise, we are also pleased that the budget includes investments in education and training programs that will prepare women for work in these important fields. As nearly half of the U.S. labor force, women are a vital part of today's economy.  Legal Momentum today applauds the U.S. Congress for passing a federal budget that will help more women achieve economic security.”

 

The budget resolution is nonbinding, but it sets the framework for Congress to make legislative decisions on taxes, appropriations and entitlement programs later in the year. Now that the budget is in place, the Appropriations Committees can begin the work of determining funding levels for various departments and programs for FY ’10. The House Appropriations Committee will probably begin marking up its bills in late May or early June.