To mobilize, energize and inspire ourselves and others to action
To work as individuals and in community for social justice
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Help support the work of our organization with a tax-deductible donation: Use this button to target your donation to the Melanie Shouse Memorial Advocacy Fund:
or send a check marked "Advocacy Fund" to Women's Voices, 705 Elm Tree Ln, Kirkwood MO 63122
The Melanie Shouse Memorial Advocacy Fund has been established to honor the memory of one of our most effective members. Melanie was an active participant in Women's Voices' health care and environment focus groups, as well as in many other local, state and national initiatives. Contributions to this fund, which are tax-deductible, will be used to support Women's Voices' advocacy work for social justice.
Who We Are
We are a group of ardent, progressive St. Louis area women who finally got fed up.
We became so concerned about the direction of this country and where its priorities seem to be that we decided we must do something. From our frustration and determination, Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice was born.
We are not fund-raisers. We are not envelope-stuffers. We are not a single-issue group. And we do not want to re-invent the wheel. Therefore, we have built an organization that enables us to study many different issues and take action for a variety of causes. We frequently support other progressive organizations in their efforts. But first, we study and learn about the issues.
Our members are curious, creative, competent and caring.
We believe in doing something meaningful in support of our values, and we have great fun and camaraderie in doing so. If you would like to add your voice to ours, we welcome you to join us.
Next Meeting: Thursday, February 9, 2012
Asset Building: A Strategy for Family and Community Development
Speaker: Michael Sherraden, PhD
Youngdahl Professor of Social Development and Director of the Center for Social Development at Washington University
6:30 for coffee, 7:00 program
Ethical Society of St. Louis - 9001 Clayton Rd, 63117 (Directions)
Women's Voices Members Participate In Counter-protest
Members of Women's Voices will join with other St. Louisans on Monday, Feb. 6, when the Westboro Baptist Church comes to St. Louis to protest in front of Clayton High School.
Members of the Westboro Church are known for their hate-filled, provocative demonstrations, especially at funeral services for service men and women. At Clayton High School they will be protesting the school's support for the student Gay-Straight Alliance.
One of the first issues that Women's Voices tackled when the organization was formed in 2005 was the proposed Voter ID law. Missouri legislators had proposed a law that would require all voters to present a state-issued photo ID before they could cast a ballot.
We considered this to be a "poll tax in disguise," a measure that would disenfranchise thousands of elderly, disabled, low-income Missourians. Women's Voices filed a friend of the court brief in opposition to this law, and the state Supreme Court later ruled it to be unconstitutional.
Now, in 2012, the idea is back. And we are fighting back.
Below is a letter that Women's Voices President Mary Clemons sent to members of the Senate Financial and Government Organizations and Elections Committee on Jan. 17. A version of this letter was also printed by three major newspapers in the state.
January 16, 2012
I will be unable to attend the Senate Financial and Governmental Organizations and Elections Committee hearing on SB442 tomorrow, January 17th but want to make you and the committee members aware of my views and the position taken by Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice, an organization reaching over 550 women.
Missouri's motto is The Show Me State. When I consider those words I take them to mean that Missourians insist on knowing the facts. I find no facts that warrant voter photo ID legislation.
The fact is that most voter fraud prosecutions involve eligibility or improper registrations and would not be prevented by having a photo ID requirement.
The fact is that a restrictive photo ID law would prevent eligible voters from casting their ballots at the polls. Securing the proper documents to apply for a state issued photo ID would be burdensome and sometimes impossible to obtain. Currently there are 230,000 Missourians registered to vote who would be turned away if this legislation is enacted.
The fact is that a photo ID bill would be costly - $20 million dollars would be spent to implement this unnecessary legislation.
Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice had an amicus brief in the 2006 Missouri Supreme Court Case which upheld by a vote of 6-1 that the legislation passed in 2006 was an unconstitutional infringement on the right to vote. We will continue to oppose any attempt to restrict voter rights.
Let's not make Missouri a Show Me Your Photo ID state. Let's keep the intent of our motto. Let's be the Show Me The Facts state.
Mary Clemons, president, Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice
Workers Deserve Economic Dignity
Women's Voices joins Jobs With Justice and Metropolitan Congregations United in endorsing the current initiative to raise Missouri's minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 per hour.
Missouri workers need a raise, as the full-time annual salary of a minimum wage worker is only $15,080. This is below the poverty level of $18,310 for a family of three in Missouri. Seventy-two percent of minimum wage workers in Missouri are adults over 20 years old, and fifty-nine percent head households. Almost a half million Missouri families would get a raise through this initiative, pumping millions into the state's economy.
As Women's Voices volunteers collect signatures for the payday loan ballot initiative, they may also choose to collect signatures for the minimum wage initiative. Contact us to join our volunteers.
Predatory Lending in Missouri: It's Got to Stop!
If an average APR of 445% interest is too high, then work with us to cap the rate at 36%.
While the average APR for payday loans in Missouri is 445%, Missouri law allows rates as high as 1,950% on payday loans, car title loans, and other consumer installment loans. In 2002, the Missouri Legislature passed a law that allows lenders to charge fees and interest up to 75% of the amount of the loan. On a two-week loan, that translates into a 1,950% APR, the highest allowed among the states that have set APR caps on payday loans. These predatory loans carrying triple-digit interest rates create a long-term cycle of debt, exploiting a family's budget crisis, not solving it.
There are more of these predatory lenders in Missouri than there are McDonald's and Starbucks combined. Let's read that again...there are more predatory lenders in Missouri than McDonald's and Starbucks combined!! They saturate our urban centers and surround our rural small town squares. A report by the St. Louis Better Business Bureau found payday lenders even setting up shop in nursing homes, targeting the hardworking caretakers of our elders.
These payday, car title, and other high cost lenders drain millions of dollars annually from our communities. Missouri loses an estimated $317 million each year in payday loan fees. That's a lot of money that could be spent investing in our neighborhoods, building savings accounts, meeting basic needs, and rebooting our economy.
Lenders' high rates create a spiraling cycle of debt, where families pay fees upon fees upon fees. At these rates, a typical payday borrower will pay more than $700 for a $300 loan. Where do these fees go? Mostly to out-of-state lenders, who send some of that money right back to Missouri legislators who protect the lenders' ability to charge exorbitant interest rates. Missouri's legislature has repeatedly failed to act, so it is time for Missouri voters to make our voices and values heard.
It's time for voters to say "yes" to end this predatory lending.
This is exactly what the ballot initiative will do by limiting interest rates to 36% annually - a reasonable, proven approach to halt pervasive abusive lending for small dollar loans. This restores a responsible lending landscape for Missouri, just like its had for most of its history and just like that which exists in other states. It ends the state's role as a beacon for the highest-cost loans in the country. Title and payday lenders estimate that 70% of their borrowers earn less than $25,000 annually. Capping the rate at 36% ends the debt trap, puts money back into families' pockets, and protects local resources so that we can begin the important work of helping our communities recover from the economic recession. In short, it will help to restore economic dignity to our Missouri families.
Here's a Good Idea!
For the past year members of Women's Voices have advocated for passage of the "Streamlined Sales Tax" in Missouri. Sometimes called the "Mainstreet Fairness Act," this proposal would require vendors who sell goods and products on-line to collect sales taxes and remit them to the state.
Recently, State Representatives Doug Funderburk and Margo McNeil introduced HB1356, which would require Missouri to join other states in an effort to level the playing field for bricks-and-mortar stores. Below is the text of a letter from Women's Voices to the legislators in support of their efforts:
Dear Representatives Funderburk and McNeil,
Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice, an organization that reaches over 550 women, primarily in the St. Louis area, is pleased that you have introduced HB1356 to "require the Director of the Department of Revenue to enter into the multistate Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement and the department to implement the compliance provisions."
Women's Voices has taken a position (February, 2011) supporting Missouri's compliance with the streamlined sales and use tax agreement and will work to see that this legislation moves forward to level the playing field for our Missouri retailers and increase the revenues collected for our state.
Respectfully, Mary Clemons, president, Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice
Taxes on Just About Everything?
In February, 2010, members of Women's Voices voted to take a position opposing proposals introduced in the Missouri legislature to eliminate state individual and corporate income taxes and replace them with an expanded sales tax. (See our position paper Missouri Tax Structure.) Now we are faced with a similar proposal in the form of a proposed amendment to the state constitution. It too would replace the state income tax with a new, statewide sales tax that increases the price of nearly everything you buy.
Members of the Women's Voices Board voted to add our name to the list of member oganizations ofThe Coalition for Missouri's Future - an organization working to keep this proposed amendment off the 2012 ballot.
As the Coalition website says, "Right now, many Missourians are struggling to make ends meet, but the Everything Tax would only make things worse by creating a new 10-percent sales tax. Imagine having to find more money in your family budget for things like milk, bread, baby food, diapers, emergency room visits, in-home care, and car repairs, just to name a few. "The Everything Tax hits senior citizens especially hard. Living on a fixed income, the Everything Tax would add a new tax on their food, medicine, and in-home care."
If you would like to add your name to the list of individuals opposing this ballot measure, go to missourifuture.org and SIGN UP.
Action Alert Results ... Mary Clemons
A recent Women's Voices action alert called on us to write letters to the editor to papers across the state. We were asked to let the readers of these papers know that the senate committee conducting hearings on the creation of health insurance exchanges was ignoring and not calling on the citizens who came to speak. They were only hearing the testimony of the insurance industry executives.
The alert provided background information and a number of sample letters to copy and paste or to modify. A link to a list of papers made sending the letter easy.
It took me about 30 minutes to send my letters to 23 Missouri newspapers. The result amazed me. The Kansas City Star, the Independence/Blue Springs Examiner and the Springfield News Leader published my letters. I even received a telephone call from a former legislator in Texas County (Ft. Leonard Wood area) who was thrilled that readers in the conservative Springfield area could see how our state legislators conduct business and how private citizens were not heard. And I was most touched by a letter from Marianne Shouse, the mother of our beloved Melanie who died of breast cancer while advocating for affordable, quality health care for all. Marianne read the letter in the Kansas City Star, sent me a paper copy, and says she thinks of us often and how proud Melanie was to be a member.
Will my letters change how our legislators behave? Probably not. Will the readers take action? Maybe, maybe not. Will the letters make a more informed public? Let's hope so!
Has a member of your family been eagerly awaiting turning 65 to become eligible for Medicare? Is the deductible or co-pay (or both) so high on your health insurance that you put off going to the doctor? Are you thrilled that your grandchild with a medical condition who is in his early 20s is now able to stay on his parents' insurance? Tell us your experience with the health care system and what you think needs to be fixed. Read more ...
We support the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Women's Voices Raised For Social Justice, an organization of more than 500 women primarily in the St. Louis region, is disappointed that Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed an amicus brief in the Florida case against the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
We believe that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the law of the land and should be upheld and implemented in its entirety. Missouri citizens are already enjoying the benefits of this law. A recent survey by the Missouri Foundation for Health indicated that when questioned about the provisions in the law, participants overwhelmingly voiced their support. The more people are educated about the Affordable Care Act, the more people support it.
The real issue is not the constitutionality of the individual mandate, but of fairness. People with health insurance pay higher premiums to cover those who have none. The Missouri House has already introduced legislation to begin establishment of health insurance exchanges, which will make health insurance affordable for all Missourians.
Sign Language
Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down Awards
to The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, which has announced that it will stop supporting lifesaving breast cancer screening for low-income and underserved women at Planned Parenthood health centers.
to the Missouri House of Representatives, whose members passed a proposal to cap state spending that would damage Missouri's economy and its ability to create jobs and fund critical services.
to the three dozen Missouri House Democrats who joined state lawmakers from around the country in a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
to editorial writers at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who have been diligent about exposing the excesses of the payday loan industry in Missouri.
to WV member Deanna Jent, director of the Mustard Seed Theater, who was named St. Louis "Director of the Year" by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch theater critic
to the U. S. Department of Justice, for blocking a law in South Carolina that would require voters to present photo identification in order to cast a ballot.
to officials in the Department of Health and Human Services, who have overruled a scientific decision by the Food and Drug Administration that would make Plan B, an emergency contraceptive, available to all females of child-bearing age without a prescription.
to St. Louis' Old North community, which has received the 2011 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement for its efforts to strengthen the economy and protect human health and the environment in the north St. Louis neighborhood
to the St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council, whose members continue to press local banks to expand their financial services and products for low-and-moderate income individuals and businesses.
to attorney and WV member Jo Anne Morrow, whose work with Legal Services of Eastern Missouri to secure Medicaid coverage for children who need braces for their teeth was profiled in the Nov. 28 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
to Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, one of the senators backing the Marketplace Fairness Act, a bill that would create a system where local and state governments could have the option to force online retailers to collect taxes due on internet purchases.
to St. Louisian Angela Haas, founder of WITS Inc., a not
-for-profit organization that refurbishes used electronics equipment and employs many homeless people to do the work. Refurbished items are sold in an electronics thrift store or donated to local charities.
to St. Louis activist Jamala Rogers, one of six individuals to receive the national Alston Bannerman Fellowship in recognition of her years of leadership in the Organization for Black Struggle. Rogers was recognized for working and organizing for "human dignity, economic justice and political empowerment."
to the Beyond Housing organization, which has broken ground for a senior housing and retail development center in Pagedale. This is a continuation of the organization's commitment to help revitalize the community.
to Women's Voices members and other progressive, caring St. Louisans who joined the Occupy St. Louis rally and march on Oct. 14.
to the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council, whose analysis of local banks' lending history has resulted in agreements with three banks to provide increased financial services in low income neighborhoods.
to WV member Deanna Jent, whose original play, "Falling," has been optioned for an off-Broadway production in 2012.
to the 17 members of the Missouri Senate who voted to preserve the circuit breaker tax credit for low-income renters.
to Central Reform Congregation in St. Louis, which has received Missouri Interfaith IMPACT's first annual Amos 5:24 Justice Advocate Award.
to Rebecca McClanahan of Kirksville, who has been named executive director of Missouri Health Care For All
to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, for thoughtlessly running a major story on the front page headlined "Downtown Fights Image of Danger" the same weekend that 5,000 members of the American Society of Association Executives are in town and the city is trying to make a good impression.
to the St. Louis Beacon and reporter Robert Joiner, who interviewed several members of Women's Voices for an informative article about health insurance rate review and medical loss ratios, for inclusion in the August 2 online publication.
to St. Louis author and activist Jamala Rogers, whose columns in the St. Louis American newspaper have recently been compiled into a book, "The Best of The Way I See It".
to the Fifth Third Bank, which has launched a "Financial Empowerment E-Bus" to bring information about financial resources, credit reports and home ownership to communities throughout the St. Louis metro area.
to organizers of Pruitt-Igoe Now, who are planning to sponsor a competition for ideas for redevelopment of the old Pruitt-Igoe site in north St. Louis.
to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who has signed legislation authorizing several positive changes relating to rights for the disabled in the state.
to photographer J. B. Forbes, whose spread in the July 10 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch captured the essence of the Urban Expressions photography program in the Hyde Park neighborhood.
to Amazon.com, which is defying a new law in California by refusing to collect sales taxes on internet purchases.
to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 6th circuit, which declared the individual mandate provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act a valid exercise of congressional authority under the commerce clause.
to civic leaders who have formed the new St. Louis Regional Psychiatric Stabilization Center, which will re-open emergency room and short-term inpatient services to help meet the mental health needs of St. Louis area residents.
to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who has vetoed a bill that could have eventually required voters to provide a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot in MIssouri.
to the Midwest BankCentre, which has come to an agreement with the U. S. Department of Justice that will result in the bank opening a full-service branch in Pagedale and investing $1.45 million in St. Louis neighborhoods that are predominantly African-American.
to the state of Vermont, where progressive legislators, recognizing that health care is a right and not a privilege, have launched the first single-payer health care system in America.
to Lisa Orden Zarin, long-time friend of Women's Voices, who was featured in a "Close Up" column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on May 8. Lisa is the founder of College Bound, a non-profit group that helps prepare high school students from low-income backgrounds with the academic enrichment, social supports and life skills needed for success in four-year colleges.
to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who vetoed a bill that would have altered the state's Human Rights Act and made it more difficult to prove workplace discrimination.
to Joel Ferber, who was honored with the Clarence Darrow award from the Public Interest Law Group at St. Louis University. The award recognizes individuals who help better society through their work in the field of public interest law.
to Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, who filed an amicus brief in the Florida case opposing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Koster's brief challenges the mandate in the federal health-care law that will require most Americans to purchase health insurance by 2014.
to Missouri State Senator Jim Lembke and other conservative state legislators who have blocked a vote to accept federal money to extend unemployment benefits. This effectively cuts financial assistance for more than 10,000 out-of-work Missourians.
to editorial boards at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Columbia Tribune and the Kansas City Star. All of them have weighed in against the payday lending bill that recently came out of a House committee that would allow an APR of more than 1500% on a payday loan in Missouri.
to members of the Vermont House of Representatives, who passed a bill calling for a single-payer health system. This puts the state on a path to become the first in the nation to adopt universal access to health care.
to The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, which has announced that it will stop supporting lifesaving breast cancer screening for low-income and underserved women at Planned Parenthood health centers.
to the three dozen Missouri House Democrats who joined state lawmakers from around the country in a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
