From barackobama.com:

We’ve been celebrating a big month for health care, and supporters across the country are capping it off with the National Women’s Week of Action. Women are getting together for house parties, phone banks, and canvasses to talk to voters about how the Affordable Care Act is helping all of us get access to quality health care—and it’s not too late for you to be a part of it.

The campaign’s online call tool is an easy way to do your part. Whether you decide to meet up and phonebank with friends or make calls from your couch at home, it will put everything you need to talk to supporters about health care right at your fingertips.

It’s so easy, in fact, that we’re posing a challenge: Commit to talking about health care with five women over the phone before this Friday.

Five conversations won’t take up too much of your time, and person-to-person interactions like this are what will make a difference this fall. It’s up to all of us to make sure that everyone in our communities knows exactly what health care reform is doing for us—like making free preventive care available and preventing insurance companies from charging women more just because they’re women.

So get on the phone today and help get the word out about health care reform.

The 1992 elections, or the “Year of the Woman,” saw a historic number of women elected to Congress. The number of women serving in the Senate doubled, and female members in the House shot from 28 to 47 overnight. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), the first woman elected to the Senate in her own right and the longest serving woman in Congress, opened doors for women to run for office. However, in the wake of the 1992 elections, the Senator warned that “calling 1992 the year of the woman makes it sound like the year of the Caribou or the year of the Asparagus. We’re not a fad, fancy, or a year.”

Twenty years later, we’ve seen a woman take the gavel as speaker of the U.S. House, another receive almost 18 million votes for president, and, thanks to President Obama, Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, sworn in to the Supreme Court. But if the recent anti-woman Republican attacks have taught us anything, it's that we still have a long way to go.

Women’s political representation has hit a plateau. For the first time in over 30 years, the number of women serving in the U.S. House dropped after the 2010 midterm elections. The number of women serving in the Senate has remained the same since 2009 – and is in high risk of dropping after November’s elections. As the Washington Post pointed out in a recent article, the “Year of the Woman” is fading.

Gloria Steinem recently said that this election is a “turning point” for women. That is why the Democratic National Committee recently launched the DNC Women’s Institute to work hand-in-hand with Women for Obama to help re-elect President Obama and Democrats up and down the ticket, while building a long-term structure to engage women in the Democratic Party for years to come. Gloria Steinem is right, we can’t afford to let a Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum take away the rights we’ve fought so hard for.

We’ve won a lot of victories since 1992, but we have to keep fighting – there is just too much at stake not to. Senator Mikulski said it best; we’re not a fad and we aren’t going away.

Sign up now for more information about the Women's Institute.

"Courage is a decision you make to act in a way that works through your own fear for the greater good as opposed to pure self- interest.  It means putting at risk your immediate self-interest for what you believe is right.”

-Derrick Bell

As the daughter of an elected official, I learned what it means to be a public servant at an early age. My father was the first African-American assessor in New Orleans, representing the heart of New Orleans Central Business District. I learned that it was important to have courage and stand up for those who elected you to office, even if your actions contradict the status quo. My understanding of public service and political courage deepened when I became a lawyer, and came full circle when I was elected as a state legislator in 1999.  Since then, I’ve advocated for children and championed causes from education to health care reform. I represent a diverse district with many different interests and allegiances. Standing up for those without a voice is never easy. Going along to get along is the easy way out. However, to truly be leaders, we must tap into our reservoir of courage and do what is right for the people who elected us to protect their interests. Keeping this promise beyond an election defines true leadership. That is why I am so proud that our President has had the courage to make so many tough decisions during some of our nation’s hardest times in history. From the auto industry rescue to the decision to take out Osama Bin Laden, President Obama is an example for all of us in government. In the face of extreme opposition, he continues to follow his moral compass and focuses on making the right choices for all Americans.

Although Women’s History Month is coming to an end, issues facing women and children remain at the forefront of this presidential election. Addressing these concerns and countless others facing our nation requires leadership rooted in courage and conviction. President Obama continues to prove he has deep reserves of both. While women’s health continues to be under legislative attack, President Obama has stood strong. Through the Affordable Care Act, he has provided women important preventive services such as mammograms, cervical cancer screenings and well-woman visits at no out-of-pocket cost.  He’s also demonstrated resolve to address issues facing women by signing the Lilly Ledbetter Act into law. As we head into the November election, we must remember the promise of change and the President’s tenacious execution. Together we can ensure President Obama gets four more years to complete the change necessary for a thriving America. I’m in for 2012.  Join me.

You can tell how far a society is going to go by how it treats its women and girls. And if they’re doing well, then the society is going to do well; and if they’re not, then they won’t be.” –Barack Obama

The sentiments expressed in this quote by President Obama express the importance of women in our society, and the reasons we celebrate Women’s History Month. For decades, healthcare laws and policy in the United States has focused on the general well-being of the male, failing to recognize important aspects of women’s health. Women have consistently contributed to the advancement of science and medicine throughout our history. Saarjite Baartman (the Hottentot Venus) and Henrietta Lacks, Florence Nightingale and Dr. Edith Irby Jones are women who have lead and contributed to the advancement of health and science, but who have not been at the forefront in receiving the benefits of their contributions. 

Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services announced new guidelines specifically addressing the preservation of women’s health. The Affordable Care Act allows women to access important preventive health services that pertain specifically to their risks and needs.

The ACA eliminates all lifetime limits on how much insurance companies cover if women get sick and bans insurance companies from dropping women from coverage when they get sick. Currently women the same exact age can be charged up to 50 percent more than their male counterparts. All new plans will have a cap on what insurance companies can require anyone to pay out of pocket as co-pays or deductibles. It also provides tax credits in 2014 for those who cannot afford quality health insurance. Most importantly, it prohibits denying anyone coverage because of preexisting conditions, excluding coverage of that condition or charging more because of health status or gender.

New healthcare coverage ranges from well-women visits to domestic violence screening, truly taking into consideration the different dimensions of proficient care. Addressing these issues extends beyond the individual recipient of these health services impacting family, the workforce, and society as a whole.

These changes are the start of the celebration and elevation of women’s health. This victory will hopefully continue to encourage women to take ownership in their healthcare and recognize the overall importance of health in their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

Helen Reddy’s “I am woman…hear me roar” became the anthem of the women’s rights movement in the 1970s. It provided not only an anthem but also gave courage and inspiration to women to come into their own—be it in academia, government, or the private sector. We have come a long way. Women have joined non-traditional job fields—the sciences, engineering, medicine, and law—in increasing numbers. We have gained increasing visibility in politics in both elected and appointed positions. However, despite our increasing visibility, inequalities still exist. Women remain a minority in the boardrooms, and women remain underrepresented in traditionally male-dominated fields such as construction and energy.

One of the first acts of this administration was to level the playing field for women in the workplace. President Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law in January 2009, supporting equal pay for equal work. In a continuation of this effort, President Obama has established the Equal Pay Task Force. The administration has expanded opportunities for women-owned businesses, particularly small and disadvantaged businesses. The President also signed the Affordable Care Act, which included new and important benefits and protections for women.

However, some of these benefits and protections are currently under attack, in words if not yet in deeds. There is currently an attack on women’s health in this country and on a woman’s right to decide on her own health care options. There is a difficult fight in Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, because some are in favor of extending the protection that the Act affords to as many women as possible (including those on Native American lands, those in marriages of all types, and transgender women). There is something wrong when it has become the norm to score points by attacking women personally, professionally, and politically.

This year we can do something to affect change. This year, we can decide what is acceptable. This is an election year. Women have the power to vote, so let’s vote out and not vote in. Let’s vote out of office those who are attacking women for political expediency; let’s vote out those who are attacking women to pander to extremist demands; let’s vote out those who are trying to marginalize us. Let our voices be heard over the increasing din of the self-righteous, the bigots, the narrow-minded, and the foolish. Let us use our votes to roar our courage and inspiration, to maintain our rights and our dignities, and to seek and find the change we deserve.

I grew up one of 11 children in a migrant farm worker family toiling in the endless fields of the Central Valley during the 1950s and ‘60s. My older sisters always battled sexual advances from foremen and labor contractors. Crop dusters flew low spraying toxic pesticides on the fields right before we entered—or poisons were sprayed in fields nearby when we were picking.

I’ll never forget my baby brother, Ricardo, who died from a common illness. It would have been easily treatable if we could have afforded a doctor in time. They carried his small white casket down the isle of the church. The priest took up a collection to bury him.

For me, re-electing President Obama so womens rights can be protected and all workers and their families can have affordable health care is not an academic subject or theoretical pursuit. Working for the President is part of a struggle that was born deep within me—from witnessing what my parents and brothers and sisters endured, and what working people have suffered for generations.

Rarely has Women’s History Month come at a more relevant moment in our country’s history. For almost a decade now, our younger sisters have been somewhat cavalier about the struggles and challenges our fore-sisters endured in order to secure many of the rights women now enjoy in our wonderful country. There are more single women heading up households and experiencing increased financial burdens, so it is easy to become somewhat complacent as we face the daily struggle to pay the bills.

However, this year, Women’s History Month is different. It comes at a time when many United States senators have tried to drag American women back in history to before Griswold v. Connecticut, when women did not have the right to birth control. The Blunt-Rubio amendment would drag us back to a time when others made some of the most intimate health decisions for women. This fight is no longer about religious freedom; this is about your boss not having the power to prevent you from having birth control covered by your health insurance plan. President Obama’s Affordable Care Act covers many women’s preventive health medicines, including birth control.

For more than 100 years since President Teddy Roosevelt, presidents have tried to pass health reform. It wasn't until 2010 that this historic President joined with the first female speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Reid, to finally pass it. While we have a lot to celebrate during this Women’s History Month, we also have a lot to be wary of. If we do not work to re-elect President Obama, we will end up with a President who has vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And it might not stop there: We have to work hard to re-elect President Obama so he will continue to prevent women’s rights from becoming history.

My name is Elena McCullough and I am a 24 year military veteran of the U. S. Coast Guard. I was born in the Dominican Republic, and came to the U.S. as a teenager. I joined the U.S. Coast Guard when I was 18. Over the course of my career I was stationed in Virginia, Alaska, Puerto Rico, California, Alabama and Florida. After a successful career, I retired as a Lieutenant in 2004 and decided to become politically active.  

In 2008, I became a neighborhood team leader and precinct captain in Wesley Chapel, FL for then Senator Obama’s presidential campaign. I put together a team of over 50 volunteers and worked for months to greatly increase support for Senator Obama in Pasco County. We won many precincts in the area and our team remained active in community after the election doing community service and promoting the President’s agenda. In 2012, it will take that type of effort and more to get the President re-elected. 

In the Summer of 2011, I attended a community leaders meeting at the White House and once again began building a team to help President Obama’s reelection efforts. Just like leading a Coast Guard mission working with team members, I have been developing successful and realistic strategies that work well in our community and sharing with area residents President Obama’s many accomplishments. President Obama publicly recognizes and pays tribute to military members (or their families of those that lost their life serving the country) as they perform critical combat duties to make our country safer. He has stood up for veterans by improving medical claims process, mental health services, the post 9/11 GI Bill, helping veterans get certifications for their medical military experience, supporting women service members and veterans caregivers (stipends/lodging). As a Veteran Mom, I am thrilled that the Health Care Act allows me to keep my 24 year old son on our health insurance and that women have affordable access to all of our health care needs including birth control.  Also, he is working to make college more affordable for students. I am certain that by the end of his second term President Obama’s leadership will lead to even greater job creation, a better economy, and a brighter tomorrow for our children and grandchildren, and that when my daughter goes to college she will find more innovation and a brighter future.

The voices of Veterans will make a difference in the upcoming election and we have to give it our all to the President who has worked and done so much for veterans and military families.