Missouri Women's Network

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Today was the annual meeting of the Missouri Women's Network (MWN), a group made up of members of other groups--American Association of University Women (AAUW), National Organization for Women (NOW), League of Women Voters (LWV) and so forth. I always look forward to this event, although having a farm and critters to take care of, I never get there for the entire two day, overnight opportunity to network and catch up on what's going on. They do a great job of alerting us on what bills the legislature will be looking at and setting up lobby days. MWN and AAUW have set up an Equal Pay Day Rally on April 17, which is about a week after the day when women workers have earned the same amount as men. It seems impossible, but women only make 77 cents to a man's dollar, an injustice going back to the days when men were the breadwinners, supporting a family, and women were just dabbling in the marketplace--at least that's how the men saw it. Realistically, many of the women were (and are) struggling to feed kids after the death of a husband or divorce. Ah, well...history! There are, as usual, some anti-woman bills introduced, mostly affirming the "alternatives to abortion" coalition with some bills introduced that actually affirm women. Senate Bill 87 asks that breast-feeding women be allowed to feed their babies in public without being harassed for indecent exposure. It looks like a few frankly progressive bills are on the docket. One asks the State Auditor to estimate the cost to the state of the death penalty compared to life without parole. Another prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Another asks for anti-bullying policies in the schools. It's hard to imagine the Rs arguing with those bills. Since the legislative has only met for two days so far, there'll be a lot more bills to come, but the consensus among progressives is that, with the "bullet-proof" majority, the bad bills will be rammed through quickly in the first month or so with little discussion. "We're the next Wisconsin," they say. And when we talk about citizen lobbying, everyone groans. "I hate to do that!" To me, it's fun. Gotta get in the right detached mindset, but when you do, you can even enjoy the bust of Rush Limbaugh in the hall of great Missourians. Just pretend like you're going to a play, everything that comes out of the lawmakers is just memorized dialogue and they're all playing their parts. We have our lines also, and if we say them truthfully, with our hearts, our reason, and our convictions, we citizens can prevail.