Legal Momentum In Brief, January 2011

Elizabeth L. Grayer Named as Eighth President of Legal Momentum

Elizabeth L. Grayer, a Partner in the Litigation Department of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, will become the eighth President of Legal Momentum, the women’s legal defense and education fund. Ms. Grayer will join Legal Momentum on February 7, 2011.

Ms. Grayer’s passion for women’s equality, security, and opportunity has permeated her career. She has consistently been involved in pro bono work, championed workplace policies that increase the participation of women, and supported non-profits through Board service. Ms. Grayer received her B.A. magna cum laude from Amherst College in 1986, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1989.

To read the full announcement about Legal Momentum’s eighth President, Elizabeth L. Grayer, click here.

New Legal Momentum Report Finds Increased Poverty and Hardship for Single Mothers in the Last Decade

Single Mothers Since 2000: Falling Farther Down, a new report from Legal Momentum, finds that increased joblessness and decreased access to welfare benefits have significantly exacerbated poverty and hardship for single mothers in the last decade.

Between 2000 and 2009, the number of single mothers that with an income less than the poverty level or less than half of the poverty level increased. The number of homeless single mothers increased and more single mothers and their children were forced to live "doubled up" in someone else's home. Many of these households to were forced to turn to food pantries to feed their families and, in the last decade, more were "food insecure" (a term used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to describe families that have "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways").

To read Legal Momentum’s report, Single Mothers Since 2000: Falling Farther Down, click here.
To learn more about Legal Momentum’s work for women in poverty, click here.

Social Safety Net Must Be Bolstered, Not Cut

A recent opinion piece from The New York Times editorial board noted that the number of Americans living in poverty rose by 1.7 million in 2008. Newly-released census data show that this number held steady in 2009 – even while unemployment increased dramatically.

This trend is the result of the strengthened social safety net, which provided millions of Americans with desperately needed assistance in 2009. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that government intervention, bolstered by the stimulus package, kept 4.5 million people above the poverty line in 2009. These interventions came in the form of federal jobless benefits, tax credits for workers, and a strengthened Food Stamp program. While federal assistance continued in 2010, federal aid is now being drastically cut, as Republicans blocked the extension of a successful stimulus program that had created 250,000 subsidized jobs for young people and low-income parents.

To read more of Legal Momentum’s blog piece on the social safety net, click here.
To read The New York Times editorial on the social safety net, click here.
To learn more about Legal Momentum’s work for women in poverty, click here.

Gender Segregation and Pay Disparities in Employment Persist

In December, the Census Bureau released five-year data from the American Community Survey (2005 to 2009), which not only provided general population data, but broke down occupational data by gender. The data demonstrates a stark contrast in occupations held by men and women, with many fields highly segregated by gender. Remapping Debate, a non-profit media project dedicated to reporting on domestic public policy issues, graphed the data to highlight gender segregation and pay disparities in the American workforce. On average, the median pay in jobs dominated by men are higher than in those dominated by women, and for jobs held by both men and women, median pay for men almost always exceeds that for women.

To read more of Legal Momentum’s blog piece on gender segregation and pay disparities in employment, click here.
To view Remapping Debate’s map and data resources related to gender segregation and pay disparities in employment, click here.
To learn more about Legal Momentum’s work in employment rights for women, click here.

New Study Shows that Women Ph.D.s are Less Likely to Achieve Tenure than their Male Counterparts

Less than a month after the Census Bureau released data, noted above, that demonstrated the striking gender segregation in employment, The New York Times reported on a new study that shows that men are more likely to receive tenure at a college or university than women. Keeping Women in the Science Pipeline, written by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, concludes that while more woman than ever are obtaining Ph.D.'s in sciences, they are less likely than their male counterparts to obtain tenure at a college or university. The authors of the study explain that these numbers are related to the absence of paid maternity leave in most research universities. Additionally, there are massive time demands on faculty, which are particularly challenging for women, who are often forced to balance work with care-giving.

To read more of Legal Momentum’s blog piece on gender disparities in tenure, click here.
To read The New York Times article on gender disparities in tenure, click here.
To read the University of California, Berkeley study, Keeping Women in the Science Pipeline, click here.
To learn more about Legal Momentum’s work in employment rights for women, click here.

New York City Takes Steps to Regulate Crisis Pregnancy Centers’ Misleading, Anti-Abortion Agenda

Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs), anti-abortion organizations that pose as legitimate health care providers, have sprung up across the country throughout the last decade. CPCs are often located around high schools or genuine health care centers, and go by names such as "Life Choices," "Pregnancy Aid," and "Pregnancy Counseling Center" - titles that obscure their actual purpose, which is to convince women not to have abortions. They do not provide abortions, abortion referrals, or comprehensive contraceptive information. An investigation by NARAL Pro-Choice New York found that CPCs give women information that has been medically refuted. These unregulated, unlicensed centers have also been known to tell women that abortions are psychologically damaging, can lead to sterility, and that birth-control pills cause abortions.

New York City is finally taking legal measures to uncover the truth about CPCs. Bill 371, which was recently introduced by the City Council, would require crisis pregnancy centers to be honest to patients about what services they provide, and whether or not they employ legitimate medical professionals.

To read more of Legal Momentum’s blog piece on the misleading agenda of crisis pregnancy centers, click here.
To learn more about Legal Momentum’s work in Sexuality and Family Rights, click here.
To learn more about Legal Momentum’s work in Reproductive Justice, click here.

Maternal Mortality Rates Decline, Direct Result of Improved Access to Health Care and Social Services

For the first time in decades, maternal death rates have significantly declined. Rates decreased 34% from 1990 to 2008. In 1990, an estimated 546,000 women died from complications during pregnancy and childbirth, while 358,000 women died from the same causes in 2008. The data, released in a new report, "Trends in Maternal Mortality," was published in the medical journal, The Lancet. Researchers cited a number of reasons for the declining rates, including lower pregnancy rates in some countries; higher income, which directly relates to better nutrition and access to health care; more education for women; and more "skilled attendants" to help women give birth.

Progress rates varied significantly among poor and wealthy countries, even rising in some locations. Six countries made up more than half of all the maternal deaths in 2008: India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sub-Saharan Africa held the highest maternal death rates. And while the maternal death rate dropped 8.8 percent in the Maldives from 1990 to 2008, the figure rose 5.5 percent in Zimbabwe.

To read more of Legal Momentum’s blog piece on maternal mortality rates, click here.
To read "Trends in Maternal Mortality" in The Lancet, click here.

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