> Women Activists Issue 'Report Card'
>
> By Nicole Winfield
> Associated Press Writer
> Wednesday, June 7, 2000; 6:43 p.m. EDT
>
> UNITED NATIONS -- Women's rights activists issued a report card Wednesday
> on the U.S.
> government's efforts to improve equality for women in America - and the
> results were mixed.
>
> The United States got an "F" for its attempts to reduce poverty among
> American women but scored a "B" - its best grade - for progress in
> appointing women to important decision-making positions.
>
> The report card was compiled by U.S. Women Connect, a nonprofit advocacy
> group, and released at this week's women's conference at the United
> Nations. The gathering is aimed at reviewing what progress has been made
> toward implementing a plan to attain equality between the sexes that the
> United States and 188 other states adopted at a landmark 1995 meeting in
> Beijing.
>
> The Beijing platform identified critical areas of concern for governments
> and grassroots organizations to urgently address that touched on improving
> women's access to education, jobs, health care and economic services,
> curbing violence against women and helping them escape poverty.
>
> Organizers said the failing grade for the United States in reducing poverty
> was largely a result of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act, which has cut welfare
> caseloads by nearly half by requiring recipients to work.
>
> Recent studies have corroborated claims by advocates for the poor that
> welfare reform has actually driven the poorest American families deeper
> into poverty, while only slightly raising the incomes of those who are a
> little better off.
>
> "That was the policy that kept coming up in terms of weakening access for
> women, children and their families" to job training, housing and health
> care, said Alexandra Speildoch of the Washington-based Center of Concern
> and a board member of U.S. Women Connect.
>
> The report card justified its "F" by citing federal statistics that showed
> while the national poverty rate has decreased in the past five years, the
> rate of women in poverty has increased. This is because the bulk of the 35
> million Americans living in poverty are women and children, said Speildoch.
>
> The United States also got a "D" for its efforts to promote the rights of
> girls, primarily because of its failure to ratify the U.N. Convention on
> the Rights of the Child - the only country in the world that hasn't done so
> except for Somalia.
>
> Kit Cosby, the treasurer of U.S. Women Connect, said the report was
> compiled using statistics from two major studies - one by the federal
> government on its own achievements since Beijing and another one by the
> Women's Environment and Development Organization, a grassroots group which
> analyzed the main gains in U.S. policy ahead of this week's review
> conference.
>
> Mary Ellen Glynn, the spokeswoman at the U.S. Mission to the United
> Nations, said the United States respected the right of rights groups to
> hold the American government's "feet to the fire" to compel it to make more
> gains in achieving equality between the sexes.
>
> "We've come a long way on the road in the last five years, but we've still
> got progress to make," she said.
>
> But she nevertheless defended U.S. progress since the start of the Clinton
> administration nearly eight years ago, particularly in the fields of health
> care, education, and in appointing women to high-power positions within the
> government.
>
> Indeed, in granting the United States a "B," the report card saluted the
> administration's appointment of women - more than any other administration
> in U.S. history. Progress, however, was "sorely lacking in the legislative
> branch at every level of government," the report said.
>
> Cosby acknowledged that the administration has made tremendous advances and
> that it leads the world in such progress. But, she said, federal laws and
> policies are not trickling down to low-income women and minorities.
>
> A separate study released this week by the U.N. found that the United
> States lagged behind other developed countries in achieving two key goals
> set out in previous global agreements: gender equality in secondary school
> enrollment and a 30 percent share of women's legislative seats.
>
> While all girls in the United States are enrolled in high school, only 12
> percent of congressional seats here are held by women, the U.N. Development
> Fund for Women said. Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands,
> Norway, South Africa and Sweden had reached both goals, the agency said.