GOP’s economic war on women about to explode - By Joan Walsh

[DonViejo]

But can feminists put the power of the women’s vote behind a populist economic agenda? They’re about to try

BY JOAN WALSH

I laugh when I hear people warn that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic women are trying to annex economic issues as “women’s issues,” as though they’re being supremely politically crafty, or sneaky, if not downright dishonest. (Even the Huffington Post depicted Pelosi’s recent framing of a “women’s economic agenda” as “rebranding.”)

Feminists know economic issues have always been women’s issues. The pro-Democrat gender gap that first afflicted Ronald Reagan in the 1980 elections and has mostly persisted since is at least partly driven by women’s economic concerns, and their singular economic vulnerability. Back in the 80s I covered a Bay Area group called the Women’s Economic Agenda Project, whose slogan was “Two out of three adults in poverty are women – what if we all were to go to the polls?”

Almost 30 years later, that’s still a good question. Women still make up three out of five adults living in poverty, as well as two thirds of minimum wage workers and two thirds of food stamp recipients. Women are twice as likely as men (23% vs. 12%) to rely on food stamps over the course of their lives. So that $40 billion cut to the SNAP program, more commonly known as food stamps, orchestrated by Rep. Eric Cantor? It’s as much a salvo in the GOP war on women as any new transvaginal probe law or the latest Republican assertion about “legitimate rape.” Likewise: Paul Ryan’s budget? Its cuts hit women hardest, of course.

Also 30 years later, though, feminists are still trying to marshal the power of the women’s vote behind a populist economic agenda. Lately that movement has taken on new momentum. Last week four powerful progressive groups, not coincidentally led by women – the Center for American Progress, Planned Parenthood, the Service Employees International Union and American Women, an affiliate of Emily’s List — came together behind the Fair Shot campaign, to build support for an agenda that advances women’s economic equality. House Democrats have named their economic agenda project “When Women Succeed, America Succeeds,” labeling that shows a sensitivity to the conservative framing of social progress as a zero-sum game, so that when women succeed, somehow men lose.

full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/25/gop%E2%80%99s_economic_war_on_women_about_to_explode/