Journalist and news anchor Bonnie Erbe reported on the status of American women in politics, business, the military and sports—and the news is not good.
Chief of Staff Jo Ann Jenkins presents Women's History Month keynote speaker Bonnie Erbe (left) with a copy of "Women of the Suffrage Movement," one of six titles in the Library's "Women Who Dare" series. Also at the podium is Deborah Hayes, chief of the Library's Affirmative Action and Special Programs Office in the Office of Workforce Diversity. - Michaela McNichol
In delivering the keynote address for the Library's observance of Women's History Month, Erbe said, "Women's progress in almost every area of public life has stalled. The year 2000 was a high-water mark for women but there has been a shift since then."
Erbe knows something about fighting an uphill battle. Advancing from reporter to panelist on shows such as "The McLaughlin Group," Erbe persevered to become one of the few women to anchor her own news show and one of the first to have achieved the status of "political pundit."
Erbe also knows something about the status of women, children, families and the poor, as these are all topics on her PBS talk show, "To the Contrary," which she has hosted for 15 years.
With the exception of an increase in the number of women in Congress (from 54 women in the House and Senate in 1992 to 81 in 2006), Erbe noted that American women have not faired well in the political arena. According to Erbe, who cited statistics from the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University (www.cawp.rutgers.edu) the number of women in statewide elective office (for example, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general) has declined from
92 in 1992 to 81 in 2006. The same source reported a 3 percent decline of women in state legislatures (from 28.5 percent in 2000 to 25.4 percent in 2004).
"There was always the belief that the United States was the best country for women, but that is changing," said Erbe. She qualified her statement by saying that the United States may be the best place for the average woman to live and work, but noted that countries such as Germany and Norway have had women as heads of state. By comparison, the United States has yet to elect a woman president.
"A recent survey indicated that more than 60 percent of the people polled think the country is ready for a woman president," said Erbe. "What hole did the other third crawl out of who don't think we're ready for a woman president?"
She cited statistics from Catalyst, a leading research organization that monitors women's career advancement, which indicate a stall rather than a drop in the number of women at the helm of corporate boards (approximately 16 percent). "Women have hit the ‘glass ceiling' and are failing to go higher."
According to Erbe, their frustration may account for the marked increase in women-owned businesses.
"The fastest growth [in women-owned businesses] is among women of color. However, new small businesses fail at a hefty rate."
Erbe is less concerned about the status of women in the military, given the desperate need for recruits. However, she noted continuing legislative attempts "to protect women" by keeping them out of combat.
"The Pentagon needs warm bodies," she said. "There's no way that women will be pulled from combat-support positions."
On the other hand, the status of women in sports is an area of deep concern to Erbe, who noted that there has been a movement by the current administration to do away with Title IX legislation signed more than 30 years ago to assure gender equity in sports at federally funded colleges and universities.
"Title IX can be credited with girls' incredible advances in sports. However, women never came close to achieving 50-50 parity in sports expenditures."
According to Erbe, instead of eliminating the legislation entirely, the current administration has reduced the reporting requirements for federally funded institutions. Rather than having to provide detailed reports, these institutions merely need to send an e-mail to female students asking if they are pleased with the sports programs offered to them. There is no requirement to tally the responses. Erbe fears that if this trend continues in the coming decade, the fight for Title IX will have to be fought all over again.
Similarly, the Labor Department has reportedly tried to eliminate gender as one of the categories in its monthly reports about the status of the labor force. According to Erbe, the Labor Department's press office cited "desire to reduce paperwork" as the reason for the proposed elimination.
"Congress put the question back," said Erbe, who also noted that "the Bush administration is the first administration in 20 years not to report on the number of women in the Cabinet and sub-Cabinet-level positions. I would take that personally [as a woman], but the same is true about its reporting on the level of pollutants in the air," she quipped.
According to Erbe, President Bush has appointed six women to key Cabinet positions, compared with 14 women appointed by President Clinton during the first six years of his administration. "There is evidence that the administration may still be compiling these statistics but not reporting them," she said.
On a positive note, Erbe cited a major shift since the 1950s in the participation of men in domestic chores and child rearing. However, she observed, "It is nowhere near where women had hoped it would be when they entered the labor force."
"Younger women seem more concerned with the balance between work and home life rather than advances in the work place. But the time is right now to tell your daughters to get politically active. We're losing ground. I fear that if there is not some mobilization, we will suffer reversals, and in 10 or 15 years women will be fighting the same fight that we fought and won during the 1960s."
