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The following issues are currently being considered in Focus Groups: Other issues in which we have been involved, or which may be candidates for potential Focus Group consideration: Death PenaltyIn March, 2007, members of Women's Voices voted to endorse a resolution calling for a moratorium on death penalty executions in the state of Missouri. The Death Penalty Moratorium Resolution passed our membership without a single dissenting vote. It was submitted to Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty and then forwarded to the governor and state legislators. |
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PovertyOf all the social justice issues Women's Voices has studied during the past three years....health care, housing, education, criminal justice, immigration, economic security, etc.....the overarching issue that encompasses all of these is poverty. The problem is so huge, and so multifaceted, that it's difficult to know where to begin. As individuals, most of us work to ease the plight of poverty when and where we can, by contributing time, talent, money, or other resources to direct-service agencies. As an organization, Women's Voices has contributed funds to several direct-service agencies. But these actions, worthwhile as they are, do little or nothing to solve the real problem. Real solutions can only be realized through political will and legislative action, and it takes advocacy to influence these efforts.Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice is joining a number of other St. Louis organizations to cosponsor a Candidate Forum on Poverty Issues. It will be held Wednesday, September 24, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM in the auditorium of the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. Candidates on the ballot in November who can play a role in setting policy will be invited to participate and will be questioned about their ideas to help lessen the burden of poverty facing more and more Missouri residents. The event's cosponsors comprise Community Against Poverty (CAP), an umbrella group that plans to sponsor several events during the coming year to help bring public attention to the issue of poverty in our community. CAP member organizations, convened by the Jewish Community Relations Council, include Catholic Charities, Interfaith Partnership/Faith Beyond Walls, the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis, the Missouri Association for Social Welfare, and the National Council of Jewish Women. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has also agreed to cosponsor, and will lend editorial support to the topic. |
"Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit." ... Eli Khamarov | |
Iraq WarProbably the most serious issue facing our country today, and one of deep concern to members of Women's Voices, is the war in Iraq. Other than writing letters to members of Congress and joining in group protests, both locally and nationally, it has been difficult for us to find ways that we might make a difference on this issue. Women's Voices has always attempted to join and support other organizations that are fighting the same social justice battles that we are. Therefore, we are supporting the efforts of the Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition (Pro-Vote) to make this a state-wide issue and pressure members of the Missouri Senate and House of Representatives to make note of the high cost of this war for residents of this state. Hopefully, this approach will enable our elected officials to put upward pressure on our representatives in Congress. Members are also encouraged to write letters to the editor about this issue, and to sign up for Pro Vote e-alert messages so they can take quick action. Click here for information about how to do all this from the Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition. Out of Iraq: Bring 'Em Home is the motto of a group called Kirkwood United for Troop Support. After being turned down by Mike Gibbons when they asked him to sponsor a resolution in the Missouri Senate condemning the escalation of the Iraq War, this group took to the streets and they have been demonstrating about three times a week ever since. The mission is to get Kirkwoodians and others who pass by to call Congress immediately and ask them to support our troops by bringing them home to safety. The organization provides signs attached to poles that rest on the ground so arms don't tire and leaving you one free to wave.
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Visit the Iraq War Memorial, an online video which honors the fallen servicemembers who gave their lives representing the United States of America. | |
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Visit The Literacy Site daily and click the red "Give Free Books" button. This quick, simple action helps give a book to a child in need, at no cost to you. Funding for the books is paid by site sponsors. |
EducationMembers of Women's Voices are concerned about the quality of education available to all children, but especially children in the St. Louis Public Schools(SLPS). In 2006-2007 we adopted one of the elementary schools after meeting with the Principal and securing her approval. We began with a fourth grade classroom where parental support was minimal and supplies were lacking. Members of Womens’ Voices brought school supplies to general meetings. Some members went to the classroom and told stories, led student discussion groups, and planned special parties. An initiative called Book by Book was carried out for one year. We matched Book Clubs in the St. Louis area with classrooms in our adopted school. The teachers let us know what kind of enrichment books they would like to have in their classrooms, and Women's Voices, with the help of area book clubs, purchased the books and delivered them to the school. Potential issues for a future Education Focus Group to tackle might include school vouchers, equalizing funding for all Missouri schools, and the inadequacies of the No Child Left Behind federal legislation. Contact us if you are interested in helping to form a focus group to deal with Education issues. |
"As long as there is poverty in the world, I can never be rich, even if I have a billion dollars...I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be." ... Rev. Martin Luther King |
Reproductive ChoiceMembers of Women's Voices believe that the current debate surrounding reproductive choice speaks to one of the basic foundations upon which our country was established: the freedom of religion. We believe that religious matters are best left to religious communities, and not to politicians, and we are concerned about the increasing influence of the "radical right" being manifested today and the increasing tendency to blur the lines between religious belief and government.
Many of our members turned out 2006 and 2007 rallies on reproductive choice in downtown Kirkwood. At the 2006 "Put Prevention First" rally, they listened to a speech by Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization of Women, and vowed to continue working for increased funding for family planning clinics, comprehensive sex education, and access to emergency contraception. AbortionIn 2005, 2006, and again in 2007, we accompanied members of the Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights to lobby state legislators in Jefferson City during debate on bills that continued to make access to abortion more difficult for women in Missouri.
Emergency ContraceptionWe have worked with Planned Parenthood and NARAL to call attention to the difficulties women encounter when pharmacists, because of religious reasons, refuse to fill prescriptions for emergency contraceptives. They support the efforts of the Missouri Women's Coalition and other groups that are working to ensure that emergency contraception is available to all women who need it.
For complete information about the organization's stance on women's reproductive rights, read our position paper on this issue. Stem Cell ResearchIn April 2006 Women's Voices, along with the St. Louis Chapter of Hadassah, the Ethical Action Commitee of the St. Louis Ethical Society and Friends of the First Unitarian Church, sponsored a public seminar on stem cell research. More than 100 people turned out to learn about stem cell research, its possibilities and limitations, and the ballot initiative that was decided by Missouri voters in November, 2006.
Women's Voices supported the work of the Missouri Coalition for Livesaving Cures and endorsed the ballot initiative. (See our Position paper.) |
"When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion." ... Abraham Lincoln | |
Racial JusticeMembers of Women's Voices are committed to supporting organizations and legislation that further the cause of racial justice and protect the civil rights of all citizens. We acknowledge the many ways that our society discriminates, sometimes intentionally, sometimes thoughtlessly, in housing, employment, education, health care, and perhaps most disgracefully, within the justice system. We believe that individually and collectively we must raise our voices to oppose discrimination in all its manifestations, small and large, individual and institutional. Members of Women's Voices marched in the Annie Malone parade in 2006, and joined the National Conference for Community and Justice of Metropolitan St. Louis in 2005 for its "Walk as One" event to express our commitment to fighting bias, bigotry and racism. If you are interested in forming a Focus Group to address issues of racial justice, and we will put you in contact with other like-minded members of the organization. Gay RightsMembers of Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice fully support the rights of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered individuals to participate fully in society and enjoy the rights and benefits available to other Americans. Members of the organization showed their support by participating in the PrideFest parade in St. Louis every year since 2005. Missouri Voter ID LawMissouri's proposed Voter ID law was ruled an unconstitutional infringement on the right to vote by a Circuit Court in Cole County on Sept. 14. This ruling was upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court in a 6-1 decision on Oct. 16. Members of Women's Voices had a stake in this legal proceeding, as members unanimously voted to file a Friend of the Court brief on behalf of those who would be victimized by the proposed legislation. As it was written and passed by the state Legislature, the law would have required every voter to have either:
Members of Women's Voices believe that this law was a "poll tax in disguise," because in order to get a state-issued non-drivers identification card, voters would have had to produce a birth certificate with an embossed seal. In Missouri, it costs $15 to get a birth certificate; in other states, it costs more. Individuals who were not born in a hospital seldom have birth certificates and frequently have difficulty obtaining documentation. In addition, members believe that the law placed an undue burden on those who do not drive: the poor, the elderly, and the disabled. It posed additional burdens on women who have married or divorced, because it required them to produce copies of marriage licenses or divorce decrees to document name changes. Finally, we believe that the law was discriminatory because it imposed no photo identification requirement on those who vote by absentee ballot. We are grateful to Attorney Cynthia Holmes, who filed the Friend of the Court (amicus curiae) brief for us. We were joined in this effort by four other organizations: Missouri Women's Coalition, Missouri Chapter of the National Organization for Women, the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis, and the 37 million members of AARP. Read the Supreme Court decision on Kathleen Weinschenk, etal, Respondents, vs State of Missouri. |
"We're seeing people we didn't know existed!" ... Former FEMA Director Michael Brown | |