Eleanor Smeal Quotes
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Carolyn [Maloney] is the kind of legislator who, whether she's in the majority or the minority, whether her party is in the majority or the minority, she doesn't take "No" for an answer, and she frequently calls women leaders and say, "I think we should do this. This is really necessary for women." And so she hangs in there and gets bills passed when people think it's not possible.
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In the '60s, to say this obvious fact that women were treated unequally was to make yourself the object of scorn and ridicule.
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The gag rule is, is that if any program receiving United States funding for Family Planning cannot mention, cannot speak the word "abortion" in the Third World.
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No one thinks she [Carolyn Maloney] can pass the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act; she passed it through the House. I mean, it's just - she's there. She knows the issues and she makes sure they get done.
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I have been studying women's political behavior since the early 1970s and first identified the gender gap in 1980 with the help of legendary pollster Louis Harris.
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I personally think that people should get the book because it is like a blueprint. It shows you the work that needs to be done if we're ever going to get economic equality, health, reproductive health, violence. I mean, it's every category.
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We want this - and I - we hope that right when they come back, that the Congress passes the Lilly Ledbetter Act which would correct the Supreme Court decision that was just recent that essentially guts wage discrimination law. It's been in place for years. It was gutted by this Roberts Court. We want it to be reversed by legislation. We hope that Congress passes it and that is on the desk for [Barack] Obama to sign as one of his first acts once he's sworn in. So it - I could go on, we have quite a well-developed list.
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Well we didn't look at it like that. We looked at it: "Why Carolyn Maloney?" Of course, we didn't know about Caroline Kennedy, but we do know and have - this is not against somebody, this is for somebody who we know has had a proven record. It's 16 years in the House, 10 years on the City Council of New York City, that she has shown her determination to pass legislation. She is - she knows how a legislature works.
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It's going to be very important that we as women's rights advocates are involved in redistricting of both the states legislatures and of the House of Representatives and that we not lose seats but we gain seats for talented women and our country, but we're lacking behind.
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I think that we're just fortunate that you have an experienced legislator: 26 years of fighting for our issues in line. I mean, there's nobody, there's no man, nor woman that is being mentioned that has the legislative experience that she has and the passion in her heart for advancing the cause of women.
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We think that Hillary [Clinton] will be a symbol and a reality for the women of the world, and it's very important because so many - so many underdeveloped countries, not the least of which is Afghanistan, the women of the world need help, and she understands those issues and is a lightning rod for them.
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She [Carolyn Maloney] knows the financial issues, that's why we thought she was perfect because we're in a - we're in, as you know, a financial crisis, an economic crisis, and I know that she'll see the whole picture.
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We're doing quite well in some states, but there are states that you can't - I mean, it's just ridiculous the representation of women, and having been an advocate for women, lobbied in many states as well as here at the national level for women. People behave differently when there are women at the table, men do. Our issues get higher prominence. We're taken more seriously.
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She defined the problem, and then she had the courage to do something about it.
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She gave the most stirring speeches, ... and she was never afraid to ask for money. Once when I was speaking at a rally, she grabbed the mike and told me to be more forceful in my fund-raising pitch. The crowd loved it; I think we raised $90,000 that day.
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Well it's unusual for us to do an endorsement, you know, and the special occasions where you need appointments, but we thought that Senator [Hillary ]Clinton had occupied such a neat and unique role, certainly a worldwide advocate for women, and also there's also only 16 women without her in Congress.
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We cannot have a time when those of us who are protesting current policies are going to be compared to terrorists or their values. We have to stand up now before we have a period of silencing all meaningful discussion in our country.
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Since the 1950s (until the early 1990s), girls in Kabul and other cities attended schools. Half of university students were women, and women made up 40 percent of Afghanistan’s doctors, 70 percent of its teachers and 30 percent of its civil servants. A small number of women even held important political posts as members of Parliament and judges. Most women did not wear the burqa.
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The gag rule must be eliminated, and it's just the gag rule, we're not talking now even about funding abortion. We're talking about, you know, counseling and speaking, so that's one. That can be reversed by an executive order. [George W.]Bush put it in the first day he got in office. We hope that [Barack] Obama takes it out. He had cut off funding for the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, even though Congress had appropriated. It is injured women who are the poorest of the poor.
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Toys today are more stereotyped than they were 20 years ago; the market is even more segmented. And they can go into their own kitchen anytime they want, for God's sake. On the other hand, maybe it doesn't matter because girls are doing everything anyway, even being soldiers.
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Democrats have been saying for years to their women's rights and civil rights base: 'Vote for us, and we'll save the Supreme Court.' Now, they have stepped back from using that power.
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She was a giant in the 20th century for women, and most significantly was a catalyst for change in the American culture. She defined the problem, and then she had the courage to do something about it.
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Nowhere have women been more excluded from decision-making than in the military and foreign affairs. When it comes to the military and questions of nuclear disarmament, the gender gap becomes the gender gulf.
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In New York that probably has more lawyers per square foot than any other state in the union, more women lawyers. I mean, it to me shocking that this can happen in 2008, but fortunately, you had a governor who was sensitive enough to this outrage that he pointed it out to the nation, and is trying to do something about it.