Outside the limelight

by: Erica Brody

Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 17:27:50 PM EST

Last night at the Oscars, Kathryn Bigelow broke a celluloid glass ceiling, becoming the first woman filmmaker to win best director. And that’s something to celebrate this International Women’s Day.

But every time we see a crack in the glass, we need to remember the people on the lowest rungs of our societal ladder, people who need our attention – if not the limelight. Like women. After all, women are more likely to live in poverty, face job and pay discrimination, and be abused. Not to mention that women are disproportionally affected by disasters, like Hurricane Katrina. And that’s just for starters.

Poverty & Jobs
As we found out last fall, women make up more than half of the U.S. workforce. Yet

• More than one in eight women -- over 15 million -- lived in poverty in 2008. At 13%, the poverty rate for women was 35% higher than it was for men.
  
• The median income of women working full time, year-round in 2008 was only 77% of their male counterparts -- a (median) gender gap of more than $10,600 per year.
  
• The poverty rate for female-headed families with children was 37.2%.

Violence
Late last month in Washington, Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid found himself being heckled after saying he was disturbed by the sky-rocketing reports of violence against women in his home state, Nevada. The gall!

While no study suggests that men "tend" to become abusive when unemployed, a 2004 National Institute of Justice study … that the impact of unemployment is particularly acute in disadvantaged communities with thin social ties, where 15.6 percent of couples with men experiencing unstable employment have violent altercations.

Meanwhile in New York, two -- count ’em, two -- scandals involving state politicians and domestic violence have come to the fore. This year. So far. But most victims don’t have their stories splashed across Page One.

Even with domestic abuse making headlines, it can be hard to grasp just how many families are affected: One in four women are victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking; three women are killed by a current or former intimate partner each day in America, and 5.5 million children witness domestic violence each year, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Domestic violence – like pay inequity -- is a community issue, and it’s just as rampant in the Jewish community as it is elsewhere. Nowadays, it’s not usual for rabbis – often the first responders -- to discuss it in the pulpit, or for community organizers to help victims become survivors.

Empowering Communities
The UN already knows that one strategy for lifting low-income communities and families out of poverty is to empower women. Let’s make sure that once Women’s Day is behind us, we don’t forget women in our plans for a fairer, more just society.