March 2015 Linda S. Maule Associate Professor, Political Science and Gender Studies

 Nikki Haley, Republican South Carolina Governor objects to the idea that the GOP is waging a "war on women.“ She believes "women are doing well" and shouldn't be characterized as "victims." Huffington Post ( )war on women

 to question formally and systematically

 : a state or period of fighting between countries or groups  : a situation in which people or groups compete with or fight against each other  : an organized effort by a government or other large organization to stop or defeat something that is viewed as dangerous or bad  webster.com/dictionary/war webster.com/dictionary/war

 The use of war as metaphor is a longstanding literary and rhetorical trope. In political usage, war metaphors are used to manage a perceived societal problem, with the concept taking the place of an individual or state enemy in true war. James Childress describes the use of war as a metaphor as a dilemma: "In debating social policy through the language of war, we often forget the moral reality of war.“tropeJames Childress  hor hor

 Intersectionality is a concept often used in critical theories to describe the ways in which oppressive institutions (racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, classism, etc.) are interconnected and cannot be examined separately from one another (Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989).  ntersectionality (GEEK Feminism) ntersectionality

 The "War on Women" describes the legislative and rhetorical attacks on women and women’s rights taking place across the nation. /war-women ( American Civil Liberties Union ) /war-women

 Includes a wide-range of state and federal policy efforts designed to place restrictions on women.  Restricting access to contraception;  Cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood;  State-mandated, medically unnecessary ultrasounds;  Abortion taxes;  Abortion waiting periods;  Forcing women to tell their employers why they want birth control; and  Prohibiting insurance companies from including abortion coverage in their policies.

 Pull out your informed learning tools (cell phones, laptops, etc.)

 State Policy Trends:  More Supportive Legislation, Even As Attacks on Abortion Rights Continue  dex.html

 The Idaho legislator who asked last month whether a gynecological exam on a woman could be conducted by having her swallow a camera;  A New Hampshire legislator who said a Democratic congresswoman would lose because she’s “ugly as sin;”  A New Hampshire legislator who argued that men make more than women because “they don’t mind working nights and weekends” or “overtime or outdoors;”  The Arizona GOP official who said women on Medicaid should be sterilized; and the New Mexico congressman who endorsed this biblical view: “The wife is to voluntarily submit, just as the husband is to lovingly lead and sacrifice.”  mnists/2015/03/17/dana-milbank-can-gop-end-war- women/ / mnists/2015/03/17/dana-milbank-can-gop-end-war- women/ /

 Indiana 45 out of 51 (includes District of Columbia): 73.8 cents on the dollar, wage gap 26.2,  ault/files/pdfs/wage_gap_table s_2013_final.pdf ( National Women’s Law Center ) ault/files/pdfs/wage_gap_table s_2013_final.pdf

 Indiana 12 out of 51 (includes District of Columbia) 67.0 cents on the dollar (White, non Hispanic Male earnings), 33.0 cent gap  s/the_wage_gap_by_state_for_african_america n_women.pdf ( National Women’s Law Center ) s/the_wage_gap_by_state_for_african_america n_women.pdf