Reagan Budget: Women Lose

By Nancy Conway

The Board of Trustees of WomenSpace, a coalition of 65 organizations and 800 individuals in northeast Ohio, considers the budget proposed by the Reagan Administration to be a statement of social as well as economic policy. We view this budget in terms, not just of the cuts it entails, but of the shift in priorities it represents.

Clearly our money is going somewhere. It is being transferred from essential social programs to a buildup of the military capability of the United States. Simply put, this is the largest peacetime budget increase in the history of the Pentagon-$222 billion. Sadly, $15 billion of this increase will come from Aid to Families with Dependent Children and programs for the elderly poor, $12 billion from food stamps, $18 billion from Medicaid, and $4.3 billion from Social Security.

Below is an analysis of the proposed budget in terms of how it will affect women. We ask that you read this information and consider what women will lose with the Reagan budget, what we will gain, and what we should do about these proposed shifts of funds.

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What Women Will Lose in the Reagan Budget -Elimination of the minimum Social Security benefit ($122 per month), which will cause great hardship for 3 million persons, 75 percent of whom are women.

-A reduction in WIC funds, which will result in the loss of coupons for milk, cheese, cereal, juice and infant formula for over 700,000 women, and their children nationally, and 4,500 women and their children locally.

-A 25 percent cut in the budgets of both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, at a time when they were finally beginning to recognize and support women's cultural activities.

-Curtailment of family planning services provided by the Health and Human Services Department, plus loss of Title X funds for birth control, sex education and teenage counseling. This will deprive women of all ages of the opportunity to plan their childbearing.

-Total elimination of the Legal Services Corporation, which will wipe out legal assistance to poor clients, 67 percent of whom are women.. Thirty-six percent of the attorneys employed by the LSC are women (even though women represent only 10 percent of the population of practicing attorneys).

--Rescission of funds for the Women's Educational Equity Act in 1981, and its possible elimination in 1982. This sets the scene for the loss of funds for vocational education. Student loans will be reduced, and the survival of sex equity centers is doubtful.

-The partial, if not complete, elimination of CETA. This will drastically affect women, who are 70 percent of CETA participants. They are taxpaying citizens, including senior citizens, displaced homemakers and single mothers, all attempting to enter the workforce. The elimination of CETA employees who staff crisis counseling hot lines in organizations such as the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center and WomenSpace will result in the inability of these agencies to deal adequately with the victimized women who call for services.

-Public housing will be cut by 17 percent in 1981 and by 33 percent in 1982. Cutbacks in FHA loans will make long-term, fixed-interest-rate mortgages much harder to obtain. Rent for moderate-income tenants of subsidized housing will be raised from 25 to 30 percent of their incomes. Low income housing

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programs face the greatest cuts of all those now being considered by Congress.

-The maximum for a working AFDC mother for daycare will be $50 per child per month. AFDC mothers will lose their incentive to work, since the balance of daycare expenses will come from their earnings.

HIYA, FOLKS. C'MON DOWN TO WILD RON'S Where We're SLASHING PRICES...

HOLD IT...I KNOW burge THINKING OL' RON MUST'VE FILIEN OFF His HoRae E.He's LETTING THOSE BEAUTIES GO....

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JUST LOOK AT THARE DEALS ..4 BILLION OFF FOOD STAMPS...1.8 BILLION OFF FOREIGN AID....

WELL, I'M GONNA LET YOU IN ON A LITTLE Secret.... We've GOTTA CLEAR THOM OUT....

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AND THAT'S JUST THE BEGINNING...YOU NAME IT...PM CUTTING COSTS ON IT...

TO MAKE ROOM. FOR THE 1981 TITANS....

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-A new feature of AFDC regulations would automatically consider the income of a stepparent as available to a stepchild, whether or not that stepparent is legally responsible for the child. AFDC -benefits will be lost-to-a woman-whose husband earns $646 or more per month, whether or not he actually contributes to the support of her child or children. -Ineligibility for Aid to. Families with Dependent Children-for-working parents who earn more than . 150 percent of the state's standard of need. In Ohio, a family of three with an income of over $646 per month will become ineligible for AFDC. (Ohio's standard of need is $431 for a family of three, for rent, utilities, clothing, transportation and personal .needs.)

-Cuts in the budgets of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance, the two major agencies charged with enforcement of affirmative action and non-discrimination, will leave these offices with reduced staffs and less ability to monitor and enforce federal legislation that protects women and minorities.

-Medicaid cuts seriously threaten poor, working, two-parent families who survive because services such as dental care and eyeglasses are provided. Poor women from two-parent families who are pregnant for the first time now become "optional" candidates for free prenatal services from the states.

-Cuts in funds for training women entrepreneurs will severely limit the success of many women

business owners. In the past women who have participated in federally-funded training programs have shown a high rate of success.

-The deduction of school lunches from food stamp allotments will cause great hardship to the children of families on food stamps. Food stamp benefits now average 46 cents per person per meal. School lunches can hardly be considered a duplication of services, since few children can get three solid meals a day at a rate of 46 cents each.

-A 25 percent cut in federally-funded low income energy assistance, at a time when home heating costs are expected to rise at least 15 percent. These cuts will greatly affect poor families, 49 percent of whom are headed by women.

What Women Will Gain from the Reagan Budget

-The MX missile system.

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-A new manned bomber.

-A fifth nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. -More jet fighters.

-More nuclear-powered battle cruisers.

What Women Should Do About the Reagan Budget -Organize group letter-writing efforts to your Congressperson about these budget shifts. Take paper and envelopes to the meetings you attend and generate a large quantity of mail protesting these changed priorities.

-Make a list of ten other organizations and groups. Reproduce all or part of this article and use it to encourage them to join in this effort.

-Arrange a personal visit with your Congressperson during the upcoming spring recess. Invite representatives of other organizations to this meeting.

---Plan a call-in day to your Congressperson's local office to voice your concerns about the budget shifts.

If Abigail Adams urged John Adams to "remember the ladies," Ronald Reagan appears to be advising Congress to forget them. As a coalition committed to the empowerment of women in all areas of their lives, we at WomenSpace believe it is vital for women, as individuals and in groups, to unite in protesting this move to inflate the military budget at our expense. We hope that this informational piece will spark ideas for action. The suggestions listed above are just starters. You know best what will work in your community to draw attention to this urgent situation. Please share with us what you are doing and let us know what we can do together to show the Reagan Administration that women will not accept this reversal of the gains we have fought for over the last fifty years.

For more information, call WomenSpace, 696-6967.

Nancy Conway is a S.A.S.S. student doing her field placement at WomenSpace.

Rural Women Losing Ground

Women in developing nations are often left behind in the development process, suggests a recent World Bank publication. The number of women unable to read or write actually increased by 40 million between 1960 and 1970, for instance, compared with an increase of 8 million illiterate men.

In terms of health, it is suggested, women bear the brunt of high fertility. In poor health, women are vulnerable to health problems because of early or late pregnancies. Abortions are often sought. Contends the Bank, "Complications from home-induced abortions contribute to a high maternal death rate; in some Latin American countries they are said to be the leading cause of death among women between the ages of 15 and 35."

Women, furthermore, make up 70 percent of the

agricultural labor force. Yet, modern techniques and credit are generally made available to men. And women generally have trouble finding jobs in their nation's modern sector. Observes the World Bank publication: "It has been said that, whereas women and girls worldwide constitute half the population, a third of the official labor force, and perform an estimated two-thirds of all the hours worked, they receive only one-tenth of the world's income. These statistics are a reflection of the inability of women, by and large, to make their voices heard in the corridors of power."

-Reprinted from Americas, published by the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States in English, Spanish, and Portuguese