ParfumGigi@aol.com

November 29, 2006

In only two weeks, the Bushies have struck three times at women's rights. George W. and his minions are ever-watchful for the opportunity to roll us back a few decades, and with Congress out of session and the media busy covering the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iraq, the administration has thrown us some real curveballs.

Strike One! Get ready for segregated classes at a public school near you. Last Friday, Nov. 24, new Department of Education regulations took effect, allowing U.S. public schools to establish sex-segregated classes, activities, and schools. Under the guise of "giv[ing] educators more flexibility" and giving parents more choices, the administration has effectively changed a core guarantee of Title IX, part of the 1972 Education Amendments to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That's right, back in the '70s, gender equity in education was considered a civil right and segregation was considered unacceptable. Welcome to Bush's 2006.

With the new regulations, teachers in public schools can teach more like Regina Choi a private school educator who recently told the Los Angeles Times that "it is sometimes more effective posing problems for girls using shopping examples and for boys using sports." (If you haven't gotten around to teaching your children by using gender stereotypes, don't worry, now their teachers can take care of it.) Of course, Choi's girl and boy students are being taught the "same course content"-it's just presented in different (read: more sexist) ways. How far is this teacher's choice of approach from that of the Livingston Parish School Board, which dropped its sex-segregation plans last summer after being sued by the ACLU because the Louisiana school wanted to teach girls "good character" and boys "heroic" behavior?

According to that ACLU lawsuit, one of the experts cited by the Livingston school system contends that "because of biological differences in the brain, boys need to practice pursuing and killing prey, while girls need to practice taking care of babies. As a result, boys should be permitted to roughhouse during recess and play contact sports, to learn the rules of aggression. Such play is more dangerous for girls, because girls are less biologically able to manage aggression." Seems to me it's the other way 'round.

Meanwhile, U.S. public school students are still performing much worse than those in other developed nations according to international tests-ranking, for example, 21st in math and 23rd in problem-solving. Who cares if research shows "no conclusive evidence that girls perform better academically without boys in the classroom," let's shoot in the dark when it comes to our kids' education. After all, we know how skilled the Bushies are at shooting…

Strike Two! Speaking of decisions made without conclusive evidence that children won't be negatively affected, on Nov. 17 the Food and Drug Administration granted approval for silicone-gel breast implants after banning them 14 years ago. The ban was put in place by the FDA after numerous women filed reports and lawsuits concerning the rupture of their implants and the development of serious and debilitating conditions. Thousands of women sued breast implant manufacturers, bankrupting Dow Corning. Now, more than a decade later, hundreds of thousands of women-and their children-will again be at risk. Despite reports from women with silicone breast implants that their children have been adversely affected, the FDA did not require implant manufacturers to study or even consider the impact of leaking silicone implants on breast milk, breastfeeding or children's health. Nor did the FDA deem it important to replicate an independent study showing that some women with implants and their children have high levels of a toxic form of platinum found in their breast milk, blood and elsewhere. Look for legislation in the new Congress that will address the serious deficiencies in the FDA's approval process -- it's about time.

Strike Three! No doubt you've already heard about the Nov. 16 appointment of anti-contraception doctor Eric Keroack to be Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs-the person responsible for dispensing hundreds of millions of dollars designed to ensure access to contraceptives and family planning information, especially for low-income women. Leave it to the Bushies to appoint a guy who opposes birth control and abortion to the extent that he's the medical director of a network of "pregnancy counseling" centers that tell women birth control is "demeaning" to them. Join us in urging Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to rescind the appointment.

Considering these recent developments (or rather, regressions), it comes as no surprise that the U.S. is ranked 29th in the world by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2006. The report measured gender equity in terms of women's economic participation and opportunity, education, political empowerment and health and survival, and this country comes far behind nations such as Norway (1st), the Philippines (9th), and even Sri Lanka (19th).

On the up side, we do have a new Democratic majority in Congress that, we hope, will give this administration the oversight it so desperately needs, and give us progressive legislation that will turn things around for women. Sex-segregated public schools, approval of dangerous breast implants, and an anti-woman doctor in charge of federal family planning programs -- all taking effect while Congress is on holiday -- are a good sign that the Bushies are going to continue pandering to their right-wing base.

We won't give them a moment's peace until they give us some.