Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/24680
“Senator Kennedy was indefatigable, always there rallying the troops for social justice and equality.” —ELEANOR SMEAL for more than three decades. “Whether he was in the minority or in the majority, he led the fight and passed significant legislation. To say we will miss him is an understatement.” Kennedy either sponsored or was cru- cial in the passage of a long, almost jaw-dropping list of laws benefiting women (see box, this page). Feminist po- litical activists remember long nights spent with Kennedy and his much-praised staff—always including a number of dynamic women—hammering out language and strategies. Gandy first worked with the senator on the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) between 1991 and 1993. “It surprised people,” she says, “because he was Catholic and had not taken the lead on abortion-related issues. He took a lot of flak for it.” She also worked with Kennedy on minimum-wage and hate-crimes bills, among other legislation. On the latter, Kennedy wasn’t sure at first if it was the right time to include crimes based on gender identity. “But once we convinced Senator Kennedy that was the right thing to do,” says Gandy, “he took the lead on selling it to every- one else.” “Issues of poverty, discrimination, disadvantage— that’s what drove his entire Senate career,” says Marcia Greenberger, copresident of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), “so the issues of the women’s move- ment were central to his whole focus.” Greenberger first worked with Kennedy 35 years ago, when he conducted hearings on medical experimentation. He spent the first day exploring the use of the drug Depo- Provera for women’s birth control—the safety of which had been seriously questioned at the time. Anna Burgess, a young Tennessee woman on welfare, testified that her welfare worker had effectively coerced her into taking the drug because, she was told, the government “would rather feed one young ‘un than two.” “Senator Kennedy was extraordinarily kind and re- spectful of her when she testified,” Greenberger recalls. “This ultimately led to a whole series of federal protec- tions against coerced use of sterilization or contraception. At a health-care summit this past spring, the senator and I reminisced about this woman, and he even remembered her name.” She also recalls Kennedy’s lead role in the four-year effort to pass the Civil Rights Restoration Act, which re- stored to women the Title IX protections that had been stripped by the 1984 Grove City Supreme Court decision. www.msmagazine.com “We were determined to reverse the Grove City deci- sion—even with a Republican president in office,” re- members Smeal. “And, with Senator Kennedy’s leadership, we did just that in 1988.” An eloquent speaker, Kennedy often raised his power- ful voice on behalf of women’s concerns. Perhaps most memorable was his speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention, when he spoke with vehemence on behalf of equal rights: “Women hold their rightful place at our convention, and women must have their rightful place in the Constitu- tion of the United States,” he said in a rising, almost hoarse voice. “On this issue, we will not yield; we will not equivocate; we will not rationalize, explain or excuse. We will stand for ERA and for the recognition at long last that our nation was made up of founding mothers as well as founding fathers.” He paused at that point, and received a rousing cheer. “He was a generous, hardworking, kind person who was motivated by the best principles and intentions,” says Greenberger. “His loss is just incalculable.” Indeed, women would say to Sen. Kennedy the same words he said to Lilly Ledbetter: “A job well done.” MICHELE KORT is senior editor of Ms. HIS FEMINIST LEGACY Sen. Kennedy was the principal sponsor of more landmark legislation than any senator in U.S. history. Among the hundreds of bills on which he left his mark, feminists especially note the following: —Equal Rights Amendment Extension Act (1978), providing more time to pass the ERA —Discrimination Act (1978), prohibiting discrimination against pregnant women and reversing a Supreme Court decision that permitted discrimination against women in the workforce —Civil Rights Restoration Act (1988), reversing the Grove City Supreme Court decision that had gutted Title IX —Civil Rights Act (1991), providing women workers the right to damages for sex discrimination —Family and Medical Leave Act (1993), providing 12 weeks unpaid, job-protected leave for workers with new children or an ill relative to care for —FACE: Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (1994), protecting reproductive health-care providers —Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (2009), reinstating the ability of women workers to sue for wage discrimination —Minimum wage laws that impacted women —Numerous health-care measures, covering such areas as stem cell research, children’s health, nutrition services for low-income women and their children, health insurance portability, mental health insurance parity and reproductive health funding FALL 2009 | 53