R.I. women’s issues get left behind
Whenever it began, it ended after the late-Saturday night close of this year's legislative session, with this lament by state Rep.
Pay equity. Abortion rights. Curbs on sexual harassment in the workplace. An extended statute of limitations for victims of sexual abuse by trusted elders, including priests. A gun-ban on school grounds.
None of these issues went anywhere this year. In some cases, the House passed one version, the
As viewed from the outside by NBCNews.com: "The last stronghold of anti-abortion
"
The upside? "It has already galvanized women around the need to elect champions for economic justice for women," she said.
House Speaker
On abortion rights, he said again last week: "
Rhode Island Right to Life Committee lobbyist
On the multi-bill package of bills that emerged in early June from a sexual-harassment study commission chaired by Tanzi, Mattiello says: time ran out.
And on the pay-equity bill, he said the advocates pushing the
He said the House felt an obligation to "balance" the concerns of the business community. "For far too long, by not balancing the needs of the economy,
The
Mattiello said the resistance to compromise came from a "few women ... on the far-left side of the spectrum. We had more women than that who thought the pay-equity bill was great, and advocated for it." (
Rep.
As the co-chair of the study-commission on sexual harassment, she said lawmakers, at the very least, could have added interns, volunteers and "domestic help" to the definition of employees covered by the state's existing laws.
She also sponsored legislation to repeal the state's current 7-year statute of limitations on the pursuit of damages from perpetrators of sexual-abuse of children. Her sister -- molested by their family's parish priest -- was among those who testified.
McEntee blames the
"Preposterous," she said. "Who am I protecting, someone who doesn't exist yet."
The lobbyist for the Diocese, the Rev.
"We didn't get anywhere," McEntee said. "Can you tell me one issue the women wanted that went forward?"
House spokesman
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