Sweet Home Alabama

Last week was a tough one.

While it's not surprising that Alabama's male congress would vote yes on the most restrictive abortion policy in the nation, effectively overturning RvW, it's a disgrace that the state's governor, a woman, signed the bill.

"She has neither". 15 x 22" 2-color
letterpress print from polymer plate.

I come from a life that respected the tenets of Catholicism. I practice weakly, but strive to be compassionate, understanding, charitable and helpful. Lots of things could have gotten me further in my everyday life that I just won't do. I'm no goody-two-shoes, but I don't hurt anyone. Not intentionally, anyway.

However, when it comes to a woman's right to choose, I have to go against what the Church wants for the rest of the nation and place myself firmly in the Pro-Choice category. Needing a procedure is a private and painful choice to make. It shouldn't be made more painful by people who don't know you or your circumstances.

A significant number of women who need the procedure are in fact mothers of families who do not have the ability to add another family member. And while insensitive anti-abortionists cruelly slap the term "inconvenience" to those having late-term abortions, no woman--none--enters that procedure without something very wrong going on with either her body or her child's.

The Pro-Choice/Pro-Life issue is one of female oppression. It's easy to call yourself "reformed" after two or more abortions and fight for others not to have one. Being Pro-Life is easy with social support and economic prosperity: If something doesn't go as planned, you can get what you need by going to another state--like New York--for a "theatre weekend". But, how about being Pro-Woman for a change, and allow women to choose what's safe for their bodies and their lives?

78 cents

All policy aside, it's a known fact all over the world that women get paid less than men for the same work--even if there is better performance. The percentage varies by country and culture, of course.

Sports, notably soccer, has gotten the most publicity since, while a winning team is a source of national pride, and investment has been made in the national soccer team, it's dwarfed by the investment made in the US men's team, as well as the salaries they receive.

According to the NYT's article March 9, 2019:

One of the biggest differences in compensation is the multimillion-dollar bonuses the teams receive for participating in the World Cup, but those bonuses — a pool of $400 million for 32 men’s teams versus $30 million for 24 women’s teams — are determined by FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, not U.S. Soccer.

however:

[Friday’s] legal action is the latest flash point in a years-long fight for pay equity and equal treatment by the national team, which has long chafed — first privately, but increasingly publicly — about the compensation, support and working conditions it receives while representing U.S. Soccer. The women’s players argue that they are required to play more games than the men’s team, that they win more of them, and yet still receive less pay from the federation.

Entering public academia where one's salary is listed on the internet, things got a lot easier. Having a union stick up for your salary rights helps, too. However, in the past, I've worked in places in which I was hired the same week as another colleague, handled accounts worth millions to his in-house assignment, and was paid--get this--$20,000 less than he was.

OK water under the bridge. But women are paid less in every way imaginable. Especially so with the working poor, whose salaries are held hostage against a life of hunger, homelessness, independence or just plain quality of life. And, we're a country in which a stay-at-home mom usually has a husband who earns well; most women need to work so their families survive. So, they're afraid to ask for a raise. They don't want to hear, like I did--in a multinational firm in Manhattan--"You're luck you have a job.

So, this in their homage:

78 cents, 16 x 16 in. (40.5 x 40.5) 4-color silkscreen