Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

The Voting Rights Act passed on August 6, 1965.  For African American women, this was meant to deliver on the promise of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was intended to guarantee women the right to vote.  The Amendment’s promise of suffrage for women, unfortunately, did not protect indigenous women and women of color.  It took the Voting Rights Act to finally outlaw various discriminatory voting practices which acted as a barrier for women of color and was specifically aimed at laws adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.

Today we must continue to protect women, particularly women of color, from the onslaught of voter suppression laws and institutional barriers that can tilt the balance of elections. Our democracy is being hijacked by voter restriction techniques that disproportionately impact young people, the elderly, low-income individuals and especially people of color—and within each of these communities, women are most harshly affected.

NOW is outraged that women, who fought so hard for suffrage and particularly women of color, who were the last to secure that right, could now be the first to lose it. These laws could deeply impact women at a time when we need to stop the right-wing from continuing to wage its war on women. Simply put, we need more women at the polls in 2018 to elect leaders who will stand up for our rights.

Contact

Brittany T. Oliver, comms@now.org

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

Emmy-award winning writer and producer Dinah Kirgo, one of six women who has come forward with charges of sexual harassment against CBS CEO and chairman Les Moonves, told NPR that she is not trying to end the executive’s career as much as she is trying to change a culture that enables such misconduct.

“People think that we’re trying to take these guys down, and that is, at least in my case, that is so not true. It’s about stopping this behavior.”

We agree and we stand in solidarity with her How many more stories do we need to read about a powerful boss who thinks he can aggressively kiss, or pin down on a couch, or make sexual remarks to a woman with no consequences and no reckoning?

Enough is enough – those days are over. The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements cannot be stopped, and they will not stop until we end this culture of abuse against women.

Toxic men like Les Moonves must know they can no longer prey on vulnerable women over whom they wield tremendous power in the workplace. Les Moonves shouldn’t be at work today and he shouldn’t come into the office tomorrow. CBS must suspend Les Moonves and conduct an independent, outside investigation into his behavior.

Les Moonves received $68.4 million in 2017 for his role as chief executive and chairman of the CBS board of directors. The women he is accused of harassing are paying a terrible price. How much will CBS pay the women for their loss of wages, career advancement, and prestige caused by CBS’ protection of powerful men? They are the ones that deserve CBS’ attention, financial remuneration and care today—not Les Moonves.

It’s time we change the norm. Our silence ends now.

Contact

Brittany T. Oliver, comms@now.org, 202-628-8669

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt

When Donald Trump takes the world stage, the world trembles.  President Trump’s disastrous European tour was foreshadowed by the news that earlier this year, the Trump Administration pushed the World Health Organization to weaken or trash a resolution meant to encourage breastfeeding and to minimize the inaccurate marketing of substitutes.According to several officials at the WHO meeting, once Trump’s delegation was unsuccessful in removing language that affirmed support for breastfeeding, they turned to bullying and threatening other countries that were considering introducing the wording.   According to the New York Times,

           “The Americans were blunt: If Ecuador refused to drop the initiative, Washington would unleash punishing trade measures and withdraw crucial military aid. The Ecuadorian government quickly acquiesced.”

A British health policy advocate at the meeting said, “What happened was tantamount to blackmail, with the U.S. holding the world hostage and trying to overturn nearly 40 years of consensus on the best way to protect infant and young child health.”

But that’s Donald Trump’s way.  He’s the hostage-taker-in-chief.

Whether it’s infants at the border or at their mother’s breast, Donald Trump sees foreign policy as a vehicle for advancing his own business interests, and to funnel more wealth to his friends and financial backers.  The powerful infant formula industry has its hooks in Donald Trump—just as it’s been able to influence scores of U.S. politicians and agencies.

Donald Trump is guilty of collusion—with the formula industry.  Together, they are perpetuating a system of racial disparities that harm women and children.  Because women of color are one of the most vulnerable populations in the country, they are easy to target with factors that make it impossible for them to actually breastfeed.

Both the WHO and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that infants consuming nothing but breast milk for the first six months of life.  Donald Trump may not respect science, or value public health—but we do. NOW calls on women to demand that U.S. officials stop ignoring decades of research that proves breastfeeding is best for children.

Contact

Brittany T. Oliver, comms@now.org