ID :
182720
Tue, 05/17/2011 - 15:50
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/182720
The shortlink copeid
Violence against Women in US Military Becoming National Disgrace
TEHRAN (FNA)- Military women and military spouses in the US are victims of sexual assault and domestic violence so badly that it is estimated that rates of marital abuse in the US military are two to five times higher than civilian rates of domestic violence.
Moreover, one in three women in the US military will be sexually assaulted during their tour of duty. The problem has grown so badly that experts believe sexual violence against women in the US military has become a national epidemic.
But how about the conditions of other women in the US society. Are they better off? Are American legislators and officials considerate towards women's conditions, specially after the recession.
Watch out - the war being waged on women, the middle class and the poor just took another dark turn. Those connecting the dots will recognize the progression from the calamitous shock to the economy perpetrated by Wall Street to the systematic looting of public assets and families' pocketbooks by conservative lawmakers in Washington and various states.
We must ask whether political calculation motivated Standard and Poor's (S&P) to announce its negative outlook for the US. Right-wing legislators wasted no time jumping on the announcement as 'proof' that the US must cut Social Security benefits, voucherize Medicare, block grant Medicaid, and target a host of other social programs that disproportionately serve and employ women - not just family planning but also assisted housing, student loans, Head Start, nutrition, prenatal and infant care and hundreds of other important programs.
Women rely on these programs specially because the recovery, which is anemic to begin with, is leaving them behind. While women accounted for one-third of the jobs lost in the recession, men have picked up almost 90 percent of the job gains. The wage gap - women on average are paid only 77 cents on the dollar paid to men - makes it even harder for women to make ends meet. And women of color, subjected to race-based as well as gender-based wage discrimination, are at particular risk.
But conservative politicians and their corporate backers are oblivious to these realities. No surprise there - this is the same crowd who converted the federal budget surplus to a massive deficit in the Bush/Cheney administration. They were the cheerleaders when the US was led into unnecessary and catastrophically costly wars. They engineered the huge tax breaks on the wealthiest, and then deregulated Wall Street, which soon went out of control and drove the US economy off a cliff, creating the worst unemployment crisis the country has seen in generations.
We hear repeatedly that the 'serious' approach to reining in the US deficit and lowering this nation's debt is to slash spending. But that ignores the revenue side of the budget, conveniently drawing attention away from the need to require multimillionaires and corporations to pay their fair share of taxes and to generate income-tax-producing jobs. This is not rocket science: Jobs mean income; income means income tax; income tax means revenue to pay down the deficit. Seriously, who doesn't get this?
But the forces at work here don't give a hoot about lowering the debt or creating jobs. They are too busy making the ridiculously rich even richer while decimating government programs that give women and other disadvantaged people a chance at a decent life.
Moreover, one in three women in the US military will be sexually assaulted during their tour of duty. The problem has grown so badly that experts believe sexual violence against women in the US military has become a national epidemic.
But how about the conditions of other women in the US society. Are they better off? Are American legislators and officials considerate towards women's conditions, specially after the recession.
Watch out - the war being waged on women, the middle class and the poor just took another dark turn. Those connecting the dots will recognize the progression from the calamitous shock to the economy perpetrated by Wall Street to the systematic looting of public assets and families' pocketbooks by conservative lawmakers in Washington and various states.
We must ask whether political calculation motivated Standard and Poor's (S&P) to announce its negative outlook for the US. Right-wing legislators wasted no time jumping on the announcement as 'proof' that the US must cut Social Security benefits, voucherize Medicare, block grant Medicaid, and target a host of other social programs that disproportionately serve and employ women - not just family planning but also assisted housing, student loans, Head Start, nutrition, prenatal and infant care and hundreds of other important programs.
Women rely on these programs specially because the recovery, which is anemic to begin with, is leaving them behind. While women accounted for one-third of the jobs lost in the recession, men have picked up almost 90 percent of the job gains. The wage gap - women on average are paid only 77 cents on the dollar paid to men - makes it even harder for women to make ends meet. And women of color, subjected to race-based as well as gender-based wage discrimination, are at particular risk.
But conservative politicians and their corporate backers are oblivious to these realities. No surprise there - this is the same crowd who converted the federal budget surplus to a massive deficit in the Bush/Cheney administration. They were the cheerleaders when the US was led into unnecessary and catastrophically costly wars. They engineered the huge tax breaks on the wealthiest, and then deregulated Wall Street, which soon went out of control and drove the US economy off a cliff, creating the worst unemployment crisis the country has seen in generations.
We hear repeatedly that the 'serious' approach to reining in the US deficit and lowering this nation's debt is to slash spending. But that ignores the revenue side of the budget, conveniently drawing attention away from the need to require multimillionaires and corporations to pay their fair share of taxes and to generate income-tax-producing jobs. This is not rocket science: Jobs mean income; income means income tax; income tax means revenue to pay down the deficit. Seriously, who doesn't get this?
But the forces at work here don't give a hoot about lowering the debt or creating jobs. They are too busy making the ridiculously rich even richer while decimating government programs that give women and other disadvantaged people a chance at a decent life.
