A women`s platform presented to Chicago mayoral candidates acknowledges past progress but ”points out the way that has yet to be traveled,” making more than 130 recommendations in the areas of employment, health, housing, reproductive rights and crime.
Gloria Donohue, president of Women United for a Better Chicago, which coordinated the platform, calls it a ”visionary document. We felt the candidates weren`t relating to the issues of women and their families,” she says.
The platform was endorsed by more than 35 community organizations and developed by such groups as the Midwest Women`s Center, Chicago Women in Trades and Women Organized for Reproductive Choice. Endorsers include Women Employed, Ecumenical Women`s Center and the Chicago chapters of the National Organization for Women, Gray Panthers and Planned Parenthood.
The document lauds progress under Harold Washington`s administration, notably an executive order establishing the first Mayor`s Advisory Commission on Women`s Affairs, but ”offers a plan of action to further improve the status of women and their families in Chicago.”
Among the recommendations:
— Employment and Training: Consideration of an ordinance requiring developers to include day-care facilities in office development plans; city-funded programs to inform women of available nontraditional jobs, such as fire fighters and electricians.
— Health: Hiring of more public health nurses, especially to identify and assist high-risk pregnant women; an increase in public assistance grants and food stamps to insure proper nutrition.
— Housing: Increased representation of public-housing tenants on the Chicago Housing Authority board; institution of a residential building security ordinance amending the Building Code.
— Violence Against Women: Encouraging the State`s Attorney`s office to prosecute serious cases of domestic violence as felonies.
— Reproductive Rights: Support for efforts to reinstate abortion services for indigent women at Cook County Hospital.
”What we are looking for is a commitment at least to the spirit of this document,” Donohue says, pointing out that many of the suggestions ”are do- able with little funds.”
The platform urges Chicago voters to consider these issues and
”determine where candidates stand not just on a token few but on a wide range of problems facing women.”
Women United for a Better Chicago was formed in 1983 as a non-partisan vehicle to bring attention to women`s issues. Its first public hearing,
”Bread, Not Roses,” provided the foundation for this year`s proposal, entitled ”Bread And Roses: Building on Our Progress.”
For information: Women United for a Better Chicago, P.O. Box 578141, Chicago, Ill. 60657; or call Donohue at 248-3934.
