Forum addresses women and budget

Rewriting the federal budget to better reflect women's needs is the goal of several women who attended a forum Friday sponsored by the Multicultural Women at Penn. Darlene Atta, a teacher and training consultant with a master's degree in community economic development, led the discussion, entitled "Women's Priorities: Is there need for a different federal budget? -- African American Woman's Perspective." Immediately emphasizing that she wanted the evening to be an informal conversation rather than a formal presentation, Atta focused on the Women's Budget Project and its results. According to Atta, the project --created to foster the economic empowerment of women and girls -- aims "to develop economic literacy at a very grassroots level." "Many, many people in the middle class are now seeing themselves slide down the economic ladder," Atta said. She noted that while welfare accounts for 1 percent of the total federal budget, military spending takes up half of the 36 percent allotted for the federal budget's discretionary programs. After allowing these figures to sink in, Atta asked the participants, "What do you think about the values that you see reflected in this? Do we need to spend 50 percent on military -- where's the threat?" "We certainly know what our priorities are," replied Titi Yu, an International Relations major. And 1995 GSFA graduate Mami Kinoshita, the coordinator of Multicultural Women at Penn, said, "We have a lot to do." When Atta asked the group what programs they would like to see augmented, they proposed giving more federal funds to education and housing. The group agreed that while education is crucial to today's success, it is getting harder and harder to pay for. To offset these rising costs, the participants expressed a need for the government to provide even more financial aid programs. Without them, Yu said college students "will be in debt the rest of their lives." Priorities for the WBP include housing, healthcare and nutrition programs, Atta said. The project also calls for more employment and domestic violence awareness programs. In total the WBP wants the federal government to provide $20 billion more in assistance for women. While the program is officially called the "women's" budget, Atta said "it's not necessarily a women's budget -- it's for any person who values people." "Let's call it a 'different' budget instead of a women's budget," she added. Atta also said the government could easily provide universal healthcare, a program which is common in other countries and which she strongly advocates. But she blamed the insurance industry for killing the effort in the United States. Following the proposals for reforms in the federal budget, the group discussed problems for women in their native countries. Toshiyo Nabei, a 1996 Graduate School of Education graduate, said daycare in Japan is becoming more scarce as greater numbers of women are entering the workforce. Contrasting the United States' many entitlement programs to those in Japan, Nabei said, "When I came to the United States and I saw people buying food with [food stamps], it was a bit surprising to me." Returning to the initial topic of African American women's perspectives, Atta discussed what makes her position unique. "The main difference has to do with trust," she said. "Many people believe it's African American women on welfare and it's not. We get thrown to the wolves a lot." She added that different groups have different priorities -- even in education. Higher education is more important for whites while African Americans put more emphasis on Headstart and training programs, according to Atta. No stranger to federal bureaucracy, Atta herself spent a year on welfare. "I felt that stabilizing my household was more important" than getting a full-time job, she said. "The only thing I've never done is fast food. I don't have the temperament for that," she added.