Program addresses women's concerns

In what has come to be known as "The Year of the Woman," many voters are uncertain of how women's issues will affect the upcoming election. The Kings Court/English House Residential Living Staff and the Panhellenic Council hosted an open forum Wednesday to discuss these issues and answer questions. The forum was entitled "Women's Issues In The Election," and was held in Meyerson Hall. An audience of about 50 students listened to the panel of four women speak and answer questions for nearly two hours. The forum was facilitated by Associate Director of the Penn Women's Center Gloria Gay. "We must be educated about all the issues in the election on district, state and national levels," College senior Debbie Frank said in an introductory speech. "All of you need to understand how your votes will affect us as women." Frank is also the president of the Panhellenic Council. The first speaker was Louise Francis, the treasurer of the Philadelphia branch of the National Organization for Women. She spoke on what she felt were four principle issues important to women in the upcoming election. The issues included reproductive rights, the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, health care and the economy. "The past dozen years have been difficult years for feminists of this country," Francis said. "They have been difficult years because of the loss of rights which we fought so hard for and thought we had won." Regarding reproductive rights, Francis said that in the late 1980s a fetus had more legal rights in some areas than a child already born, and that this fact "justified serious invasions of women's privacy." Concerning health care, Francis cited statistics which put the U.S. far below other industrialized nations in many categories. The second speaker, State Rep. Babette Josephs (D-Phila.) said she felt several women candidates were worth voting for, although the forum was advertised as non-partisan in format. "We have so many [women who are running], perhaps more than in recent history," Josephs said. "And what is more important -- it is thought that this time we have more women who can win. We need to fill up the pipelines with qualified women today who will be out national leaders tomorrow." Ronnie McPherson, president of the Women's Alliance for Job Equity, noted that sexual harrassment in the work force is a very important issue for women to consider when casting their votes. "No woman, regardless of the job she holds, is immune to sexual harrassment," she said. "It is an issue you should be aware of, and you should be sure that the person you vote for is sensitive to it." McPherson cited several examples of sexual harrassment cases which were reported to WAJE, and also complained that many women are asked to leave their jobs as soon as they are known to be pregnant. "Any candidate who does not believe that you have the right to control your own body should not be voted for," she said. McPherson also stressed that the majority of the issues spoken about at the forum were "people issues," instead of just women's issues. Mary Catherine Roper, a member of the Women's Health Action Mobilization, spoke mainly about abortion and reproductive freedom. She asked whether reproductive freedom meant the "freedom from reproducing" or the "freedom to reproduce." Roper also talked about writing living wills, documents which ask that no heroic measures be taken to save one's life. She said that living wills are recognized for all people except women who are pregnant, because the fetus also has rights. Roper urged women and "men who care about women" to vote and to talk about the issues with other people. "It is only by uniting that we will be able to prevail in this fight for self-determination," she said. Students said they enjoyed the forum and found it to be informative. "I believe that it's time for people our age to take responsibility," Wharton senior Sonia Verma said. "I learned about issues which will affect me, not only as a student soon to be entering the workforce, but also as a woman student." "Though not just women's issues, these issues were of particular importance to women," College senior Krista Springer said. "I didn't feel that they had been addressed in [a forum of] this fashion."