Sunday, October 17, 2004

The Civil Rights Commission Report on Bush And Women



Sorry, no salacious stuff. But the Report does condemn Bush for a mixed record on women's rights. Mixed? Well, it turns out that the Bush administration has "launched a plan to improve women's access to capital by creating a Web site for women entrepreneurs and holding related conferences". This is the plus side of his record.

The minus side:


The Bush administration closed the White House Office for Women's Initiatives and Outreach and attempted to close the Women's Bureau at the Department of Labor. It retreated amid objections from women's groups.

The administration withdrew Department of Education guidance on sexual harassment in schools from the Internet and ended distribution of information on workplace rights of women.

President Bush attempted to redirect Title IX enforcement, but ceased his efforts after overwhelming public expression of support for the law.

The administration abolished the Department of Labor's Equal Pay Initiative.


Bush's record on some other groups and their rights is worse than this. On the other hand, not all the anti-women acts of the administration appear to be counted by the Commission. For example, the effect that the fundamentalist base of the Republican party has exerted on the world's women via Bush's decision to cut international family planning funds to any recipients that even mention abortion as one choice is not counted in the Report.