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Five Issues More Important to Women than Abortion


The watershed moment in the 2004 election turned out to be the gore-strewn end of the Beslan school siege. Millions of viewers tuning in for the Republican National Convention saw the heavy rhetoric of Dick Cheney and company reaffirmed: terrorists would stop at nothing, even taking hundreds of children hostage. Of course, the Chechen separatists who committed the act have never attacked America. Not to mention the fact that Beslan is far closer to the furnace of war in Russia than any place in the US is to the Middle East.

The Democrats knew the polls saw this was costing Kerry the election, but decided they were smarter than themselves in what platforms to use toward women voters who were susceptible to Beslan-related fears. I say this because in both Nevada and Florida (swing states to be sure) minimum wage referenda passed, the first time that any so called “red states” had increased their minimum wage above the federal standard. Many blue states, however, already had set higher rates. Had John Kerry come to Nevada and Florida and campaigned for the minimum wage, he might have won.

The reason is simple, in Nevada and Florida at least, most jobs are in the service sector. They are usually connected to tourism in some way, and this means that many women find themselves eking out a living at the federal minimum. This is not to suggest that men have it much easier in these states, but almost overwhelmingly single mothers find themselves done in by this scenario more than single men who have no other responsibilities. This hard reality means that pay equality is a sore issue for many women voters who believe that both parties try to woo female voters talking lots about abortion (each pro or con) and not enough about their economic livelihood.

In Sunday’s Washington Post, Dan Balz revealed that DNC Chairman Howard Dean specifically asked for a study of eight swing states by pollster Cornell Belcher. Unsurprisingly the survey detailed that many voters were feeling two sets of anxiety, one economic and one social. Bush’s success was convincing them their cultural fears were greater than their pocketbook worries. Dean promised to realign a new message to reach out and grab these voters.

So what will this message consist of? Here are five platform issues I think we’ll see.

Minimum Wage/Pay Equity: The ship may have sailed in terms of using hikes in the minimum wage to target female voters. But that doesn’t mean arguing for pay equity has lost any of its luster. From Hawaii to Maine, it’s a solid consideration at the nexus of social and economic policy.

Lowering the Cost of Healthcare: Guess who is bearing the cost of unaffordable medicine? The Bush Administration is afraid to force big corporations to provide insurance for its employees. This never used to be a problem until the better-paying jobs left and stuck much of the heartland working for Wal-mart. Just how the Dems want to address the problem is open to interpretation, but it’s a stone-cold lock for 2006 and 2008.

Education: No Child Left Behind is failing, and the hope of the Bush Administration and Republicans is to replace the current system with vouchers. Saying this a few times will prove to be such political Kryptonite that even Bush won’t try to revive the point.

Saving Social Security and Retirement: It’s not about giving people a choice of where they invest; it’s about protecting their pensions. Bush suggesting the stock market is a great place to invest won’t jive well when Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay go on trial next year. Add in the desire of many large employers to shed their pension plans and the desire of several state politicians to privatize state benefits…and…this one is a another hot coal.

Domestic Violence Prevention: Here’s the reality check. In a poll done after the election, this issue was considered a bigger priority than equal pay and abortion to women voters. Though the federal government often does not directly deal with the issue of domestic violence, Dean and company would be wise to suggest something that would heal this rift.

After all, abortion is still important, but neither party should expect to make much headway using it as the sole bargaining chip to attract women voters. Dean’s cageyness and the fact that there are more prominent women in the Democratic Party indicate a chance for redemption. Just don’t be surprised if the issues used happen to be the five above.
posted by Thomas at 7:27 PM 0 comments