Senator Joe Biden will be speaking tonight as the Vice Presidential nominee. This follows Women's Equality Day that concluded with a great speech by Hillary Clinton. I must acknowledge that her speech was right on the mark.
In the spirit of feminism, here are some highlights from Biden's history on Women's Rights:
He has spoken out for the ratification of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), an international treaty that establishes equal right for women. While 90% of UN member states have ratified it, the United States lags behind.
Senator Biden was a chief sponsor of the Violence Against Women Act (1994). He has also worked to ensure its reauthorization in 2000 and 2006. In addition, he has worked to maintain and increase funding for the bill despite efforts by the Bush administration to cut funding. The bill supports women's shelters and prevention programs among other vital projects working to end violence.
As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he has stood up for women and other groups. He voted against the nominations of Justices Roberts and Alito, even going so far as to support a filibuster of Alito's appointment. Besides these well-known cases, Biden has repeatedly voted "no" to the appointment of judges with questionable records, such as Judge Thomas Griffith an opponent to Title IX.
In addition the senator has been outspoken on several important issues. He is an ally for reproductive rights, pay equity and the empowerment of Afghan women. These examples show how he is a good pick for women. That is yet another reason why I am proudly supporting the Democratic ticket this November.
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Senator Joe Biden proudly proclaims that he was regularly and severely beaten by his older sister as a child and as an adolescent. This is the same sister that raised his two sons after his wife and daughter were killed in an auto accident.
Biden has often claimed that the Violence against Women Act is the greatest achievement of his career. He also claims that a woman cannot be a perpetrator of domestic violence, despite the fact that hundreds of studies show that women commit acts of domestic violence as often or more often than men. Many studies also show that lesbian women physically attack their intimate partners at higher rates than heterosexual men.
As a result of Biden's Violence against Women Act, the federal government pays states to create laws effectively requiring that innocent men be removed from their homes and families without even an allegation of violence, with no legitimate standards of evidence, when a woman makes a claim that she is afraid.
Elaine Epstein, president of the Massachusetts Bar Association (1999), has said "the facts have become irrelevant... restraining orders are granted to virtually all who apply. Regarding divorce cases, she states "allegations of abuse are now used for tactical advantage". According to Epstein, who is also a former president of the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association, restraining orders are doled out "like candy" and "in virtually all cases, no notice, meaningful hearing, or impartial weighing of evidence is to be had." Cathy Young reports on the Elaine Epstein quote and the broader issue at Salon.com here:
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1999/10/25/restraining_orders/
This report from RADAR (Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting) provides much insight into the situation brought about, in large part, by Joe Biden.
http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/RADARreport-VAWA-A-Culture-of-False-Allegations.pdf
State restraining order laws are starting to fall because they're unconstitutional. The federal law behind them, written by Joe Biden, is likely to fall as well, not because it isn’t popular, but because it is clearly unconstitutional.
There is a rapidly growing activist community dedicated to addressing this issue. One of the focal points of this community is the Glenn Sacks blog, www.glennsacks.com .
Thanks for posting a comment. I plan to address many of the issues you brought up in a future post, but I wanted to share a quick observation.
I find it interesting that intimate partner violence against women declined by nearly half between 1993 and 2001. (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ipv01.pdf)
Maybe it is just a coincidence that in 1994 the VAWA was authorized.
It sounds like human rights 101 is only interested in restraining orders. The only people I know that are bitter about restraining orders are those that have restraining orders taken out against them! Lets stop fighting good legislation sponsored by the democrats like the v.a.w.a. humanrights101, and focus our attention on the true break down of our civil liberties, those that the republicans seam all to enthusiastic to throw away such as wire taping U.S. citizens who have commited no crime without warrents or reason, the ability of the government to arrest anyone without reason and hold them indefinatly without trial. This is what the republicans have given us in 8 years. Its time for a change and that change is Obama 08.
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