The modern woman is completely inundated with information from news updates on their phone, headlines surrounding their coffee shops, and constant breaking news announcements on the major news networks. While these headlines are important to know, and since catching up on a comprehensive spread of topics leads to a much more educated public, it is difficult to sort out what is and isn’t necessarily relevant at this point in time. The following stories this week are meant to be specifically relevant to the empowerment and culture of women within the Virginia Tech campus and beyond. So! Here. We. Go.
- Don’t Forget to Set Your Clocks Back!
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Daylight saving time officially came to an end on Nov. 3, which means that we “got an extra hour of sleep”, hallelujah.
Daylight saving time was popularized in Germany and Austria in 1916 to preserve as much energy as possible for the ongoing World War I effort. However, it didn’t reach the rest of Europe and the international system until the following world war.
In 1966, daylight saving was made into official law in the United States with the Uniform Time Act. This law required that each state in the United States would have to observe daylight saving time from April to October. Since the enactment of that act, two states, Arizona and Hawaii, as well as most U.S. territories, do not observe daylight saving time.
Why Knowing This Empowers Women:
Not only does this mostly national change affect sleep, but it also changes the way the majority of the country functions. The idea of daylight saving is, at this point in history, considered antiquated. Since this is an international norm, compliance is necessary; however, change is always possible and necessary when past ideals become especially futile. Therefore, in the coming years, it could be time for a change, which may be lead by a group of fierce and empowered women.
- Habitat for Humanity Homes in Blacksburg
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On a local note, this past week the Habitat for Humanity townhomes on Church Street have begun to take shape. This strip of seven townhomes is the largest complex of Habitat homes in Virginia. The land was donated by Blacksburg Presbyterian Church in order to help solve the housing crisis in Blacksburg. Habitat for Humanity is an international, non-profit organization founded in 1965 to address the need for family homes in Georgia. Since then, Habitat has grown into an international service that provides homes for families that would not ordinarily be able to afford a functional one. Volunteers have been building these Blacksburg townhomes for almost a month, and the city of Blacksburg, as well as other organizations, have donated roughly $1.5 million to this project.
Why Knowing This Empowers Women:
People and families that make the median salary or less in a specific jurisdiction are eligible for affordable housing. In recent years, this demographic of people has been climbing. Not a single county in the United States has enough affordable housing for its low-income population, leading to a national increase in the population of homeless people and families. Within the low-income population, almost 40 percent are women, and 85 percent of homeless families in the United States are headed by women. Homelessness is a brutal and grueling experience that 1 out of every 194 Americans experience, but for women, the lack of access to feminine products as well as mental or maternal health care makes the experience excessively complicated. This is a crisis that is only continuing to become more and more prevalent in American society. Women need to inspire and empower other women through outreach and advocacy for these problems. There are several organizations similar to Habitat that are trying to address this crisis and the female experience of homelessness. Here are some links on how you can get involved:
https://www.helpingwomenperiod.org/
https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/our-programs/first-step-job-training/first-step/
- Elizabeth Warren Releases Her Health Care Plan
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Recently, Elizabeth Warren has received a lot of heat from her opponents as well as the ever-curious public about her plan to pay for a Medicare-for-all policy. In 2020, the issue of universal healthcare will be on the tip of everyone’s mind as the top three contenders, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, and Elizabeth Warren, for the candidacy have released detailed plans about their specific healthcare policies. This past week, Warren’s plan included streamlining the government, insurance companies, businesses, and consumers healthcare spending into just governmental healthcare funding. This cuts the excessive price hikes from the middlemen, such as hospitals and private insurance companies, and nixes the incidental administrative fees. Warren plans to account for the rest of the funding through taxing financial trades deals on Wall Street and 40 of the biggest banks in the country. In this effort, she would be attempting to split up the big banks and force them to downsize. She plans to allow more immigrants into the country, thus more taxpayers, bolster the IRS to avoid evasion from the rich, and cut a defense program. Through specific taxes on the top 1 percent of employers, corporations, and banks, Warren plans to fund a universal health care policy.
Why Knowing This Empowers Women:
In 2017, a little over 1 in 10 women in publicly funded programs were uninsured. Without insurance, women cannot have any kind of medical care without going into an excessive amount of debt. That fact also applies to most of the population in America. Though 89 percent of women have health insurance in some way, the healthcare premiums and fees can be over $6,000 for one person, causing a huge debt problem, whether you’re in a publicly funded program or not. These intensified prices in the healthcare system are causing people to avoid care and ignore serious health risks. Women are denying the direst forms of self-care because of the expense of going to the doctor. Within the 2020 presidential race, it is necessary to learn and become educated on how to help people around the country have access to functional and affordable health care. We need to pay attention to policy proposals to help the women in need!
I hope this break down of three relevant to women news updates helped any reader to understand the importance of knowing what’s happening in the world around them and how education, especially in context, is power; power leads to empowerment!
Images:
All GIFs sourced from giphy.com