GUSSE: Recognize women for their worth

At the last council meeting, during the mayor’s report, I had the opportunity to recognize “Women’s History Month.”

National Women’s History Month’s roots go back to March 8, 1857 when women from New York City factories staged a protest over working conditions. In President Obama’s Women’s History Month Proclamation he states “Through the grit and sacrifice of generations, American women and girls have gained greater opportunities and more representation than ever before. Yet they continue to face workplace discrimination, a higher risk of sexual assault, and an earnings gap that will cost the average woman hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of her working lifetime.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau as of December 2013 there are 161 million females and 156.1 million males in the United States. There are 1.6 million female veterans in the United States (in 2012). $37,791 is the median annual earnings of women 15 or older who worked year-round, full time in 2012.

In comparison, the median annual earnings of men was $49,398. Seventy-seven cents is the amount female year-round, full-time workers earned in 2012 for every dollar their male counterparts earned. This ratio was statistically unchanged from 2011 – 63.7 is the percentage of female citizens 18 and older who reported voting in the 2012 presidential election, in comparison to 59.7 percent of their male counterparts.

In June 2011, Brig. General Loretta E. Reynolds (a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan) was the first female Marine commander of the Corps’ iconic training ground for recruits at Parris Island, S.C. This was of huge significance for the male dominated Marines.

Furthermore, the Pentagon has released new data about the reported number of sexual assaults in the military. Between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013 there were 3,553 reports of sexual assault, a 43-percent increase from the year before. During the same period, there were 219 casualties in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year, our soldiers were 15 times more likely to be raped by a comrade then killed by an enemy.

A councilmember for the municipalities throughout our nation has the ability to be involved in a variety of national organizations and it all depends how he/she wishes to participate. As a female veteran, through my work on the National League of Cities, Women in Municipal Government Board, I was instrumental in bringing national awareness on the issues women veterans are confronted with from sexual abuse, homelessness, health care and suicide.

I can only hope that bringing these issues to the forefront will allow our young women to thrive in military careers without fear of sexual assault while maintaining equal opportunities as their male counterparts are allotted.

As President Obama stated, women have gained greater representation more than ever before, but in my opinion we have a long way to go in comparison to other countries.
In 1979, only 3 percent of the U.S. Congress seats were taken by women, by 1989 that number grew to 5 percent and by 2009 it was at 16.5 percent. Today female Congressional representatives are at 18.5 percent of the seats available.

Out of the 189 countries classified by National Parliaments of the world; Rwanda placed first with 63 percent women elected officials, Iraq placed at No. 53 with 25 percent of women in elected office and the United States placed 83rd with 18 percent of women elected to Congress. I was surprised (more like shocked) to see that the country of Iraq has more female representation than the United States.

In regards to the workplace, women are not earning equal pay for equal work. Just yesterday (April 8, 2014), President Barack Obama signed an executive order that addresses the issue of unequal pay among federal contractors; this is most definitely a move in the right direction.

I can honestly say that as a female elected official, I make just as much as my male counterparts. Equal pay does exist within the elected positions but it is evident that there are not many women holding these seats.

Lastly, I am extremely proud that the city of Maricopa has been progressive in the hiring of females within management. Since my tenure on council; we hired the first (and only) female city manager for the city of Maricopa, and at one point we had several females in key director positions.

I understand this celebration should have occurred last month and I apologize for not acknowledging this in a timely manner but in honor of “Women’s History Month” (March 2014) let’s take the time to recognize those extraordinary women in our lives. We owe it to our grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters and girl friends to do all we can to advance and progress equally.