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Vying for Your Vote: The Candidates for Governor Address Your Issues Earlier this summer, we asked Vermont Woman readers what questions you wanted us to ask of the three major candidates for governor. What did you see as the most pressing women's issues this year? Thanks to those of you who contributed questions. And thanks to women on both sides of the aisle, and in City Halls, on select boards, working in business and public service, for talking to this reporter. Special thanks to Governor Madeleine Kunin, who gave her perspective on the role of governor today-saying the office's role was more important today than ever. Gathering your issues and questions, we saw more usual "women's issues"-the rights to our reproductive health and our bodies, our right to love and marry whomever we will-taking a back seat. You have other bodily concerns this year. Like eating. Keeping warm. Staying safe. Women are back to the basics. A number of women expressed concern about growing economic divides. One recalled "the soccer mom," who played a role in an earlier election. This is the year of "the waitress mom," she said. She works hard, doesn't qualify for welfare programs, and still isn't making it. Women's median wage in Vermont still falls short of men's median by $4200 a year. As Anthony Pollina remarked during our interview: "That could heat a home." Not long ago, $4200 could have bought more than one winter's fuel oil; many women may face impossible choices this year. Women make up the majority of minimum-wage earners in our state, and most of our part-time workers. Even in two-earner households, women's economic shortfall will hurt. |
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For, and From, the History Books This is a monumentally historic week for America. At the time of this writing, Senator Barack Obama is scheduled to accept the nomination for the presidency by the Democratic Party, and Senator Hillary Clinton has already given her address to the convention in Denver. As the country takes another step forward in the path towards a society of greater justice and equality through this nomination of a bi-racial individual, so wonderfully reflective of our national cultural complexion, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the other historic jump the United States simultaneously made. Hillary Rodham Clinton's run for Commander in Chief was an achievement for so many more people than just her. On August 28, Barack Obama will be fulfilling an aspect of the dream so eloquently envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 45 years earlier. In so doing, he represents so much more than a single politician merely winning an election. His nomination is a triumph for those heretofore marginalized, and an accomplishment for us all as a nation. It is an achievement in real terms, and also a victory in purely symbolic terms - and symbols can be powerfully important and valuable. Hillary Clinton, equally so, embodies more than a candidate running for office. She, too, represented a triumph for another marginalized portion of society - women. |
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