Women’s Rights By Linda Stowe
I’m beginning to think there is an organized effort to do away with all the political and social gains that women have had to plead and fight for over the past 100 years. I am no expert in this, but I feel the fingers of doubt beginning to knead at my sense of well-being.
What sparked my concern is a story I came across in The Guardian about conservative lawmakers in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas pushing for an end to no-fault divorce. No-fault divorce was a significant change for women that came about in the early ’70s and allowed women to get out of bad marriages and join the workforce as self-supporting wage-earners. No-fault divorce is critical in enabling women to exercise autonomy in their own lives.
The fact that this initiative is being discussed in several states shows that it is an organized effort. And I can see how it dovetails with the overturn of Roe v. Wade in an attempt to reign in women. The only things left are our financial freedom and our right to vote, and who knows what other dream is being discussed in back rooms these days.
As a refresher, here is a synopsis of the rights that women and their allies have had to work for over the past 100 years:
1920 – The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits states and the federal government from denying the right to vote on the basis of sex.
1963 – Equal Pay Act prohibits sex-based wage discrimination between men and women performing equal work in the same workplace.
1964 – Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
1969 – California was the first state to enact a no-fault divorce law in 1969. Following that, other states gradually adopted similar laws throughout the following decades. The last state, New York, passed its no-fault divorce legislation in 2010.
1972 – Title IX of the Equal Opportunity in Education Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
1973 – Roe v. Wade. This landmark Supreme Court decision established a woman’s constitutional right to abortion. (Overturned in June 2022 by the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.)
1974 – Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits gender-based discrimination in obtaining credit allowing women to obtain credit cards and loans without needing a husband’s signature. This was a major step toward financial independence for women.
1993 – Family and Medical Leave Act allows eligible employees to take unpaid leave for family and medical reasons.
2006 – Beginning of the #MeToo movement aimed at empowering women who had endured sexual violence by letting them know that they were not alone, that other women had suffered the same experience.
2010 – Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act allows employees to file equal pay claims based on pay discrimination that occurred up to two years prior to the filing of the charge.
These paragraphs from the Guardian article are particularly germane:
“Some prominent conservative lawmakers and commentators are advocating for ending no-fault divorce, laws that exist in all 50 US states and allow a person to end a marriage without having to prove a spouse did something wrong, like commit adultery or domestic violence.
“The socially conservative, and often religious, rightwing opponents of such divorce laws are arguing that the practice deprives people – mostly men – of due process and hurt families, and by extension, society. Republican lawmakers in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas have discussed eliminating or increasing restrictions on no-fault marriage laws.
“Defenders of the laws, which states started passing a half-century ago, see legislation and arguments to repeal them as the latest effort to restrict women’s rights – following the overturning of Roe v Wade and passage of abortion bans around the country – and say that without such protections, the country would return to an earlier era when women were often trapped in abusive marriages.”
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Polly here. I can’t really add to this other than to say I agree. This shift has begun. For many years, women’s rights were slowly getting better. Now, it has taken a turn in the other direction.
Women’s rights are being snuffed out.
I should add, though, that human rights are being snubbed out across the board unless you are a white, heterosexual, Christian male. In that case, you’re pretty okay. For the rest of us, our freedoms are being squelched.
I should also add that I know and love many white, heterosexual, Christian males. I don’t fault those who didn’t vote for this. But for those who voted this way? I can only hope that you will join in the efforts to STOP this assault on the rest of us.
Women’s Rights By Linda Stowe
