Page Two of 1992 Brochure by the Iowa Women's Equality Campaign

Page Two of 1992 Brochure by the Iowa Women's Equality Campaign

Amendment 1 Benefits Women and men Constitutional equal rights amendments similar to Amendment 1 have been approved by voters in these states: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington. The more than 20 year record of state Equal Rights Amendments is impressive. Amendment empowers women to fight discrimination on the job, in the classroom, in the courtroom, and in the pocketbook.                 1. Amendment Helps Older Women         Discrimination impoverishes older women. Women over the age of 65 are twice as likely as men to live in poverty.         Wage discrimination is especially severe for older women workers. In Iowa, full time female workers between the ages of 45 and 54 earn only 54 cent[s] for ever $1 paid to men.         One of the primary reasons so many older women live on the brink of economic survival is gender discrimination in insurance and pensions. The insurance industry profits greatly from discriminatory practices. For instance:   Retired women in Iowa receive $1.8 million per year less in annuities than men with the same policies   Gender bias in life insurance costs older women in Iowa $1.7 million per year. Amendment will improve the economic well-being of older women by prohibiting gender discrimination.                 2. Amendment Helps Employed Women Improving Women's Wages and Job Opportunities         Women Workers in Iowa are clustered in low-paying jobs. 60% of all female employees in Iowa work in only three occupational categories--clerical, sales and service.

>         Employers consistently pay workers in these female dominated occupations less than employees in male-dominated jobs. And even in the same occupations, women workers in Iowa receive less compensation than their male co-workers.         In states with constitutional equality provisions, women have successfully challenged discriminatroy laws and policies, including those that appear neutral but disproportionately deny them jobs, promotions, and higher wages. Increasing Women's Odds in Fighting Discrimination         Women face major difficulties in discrimination suits against employers in Iowa. Amendment heightens the level of judicial scrutiny in gender discrimination cases, shifting the burden in employment discrimination cases from women to those who discriminate. Amendment increases women's chances of winning sex discrimination lawsuits. Ending Discrimination in Employment Benefits         Women who work in low-wage jobs receive inferior employment benefits. Service and clerical jobs often do not provide health insurance.         Women face discrimination in disability and health insurance. Iowa law does not require group or individual insurance policies to cover the costs of normal pregnancies.                 3. Amendment Helps Homemakers        Amendment gives the work of homemakers economic value, improving financial settlements and child support payments in divorce.         In states with constitutional provisions similar to Amendment , the unpaid work of homemakers is viewed as an economic contribution to the household.         Courts and legislatures in states with constitutional equal rights amendments have valued homemaking as an occupation that deserves economic recognition                 4. Amendment Strengthens Existing Laws         Amendment strengthens existing laws that prohibit gender discrimination by closing loopholes and providing a higher constitutional standard for prohibiting fender discrimination. It also provides a comprehensive guarantee of equal rights for women and men that otherwise can be easily and quickly reversed piece by piece at the whim of the state legislature.                 5. Amendment Benefits Men         Men will derive many direct benefits from passage of Amendment . By enhancing family income through reducing economic discrimination against women, men will benefit. A cheap labor pool threatens salaries of men as well as women. Enhancing women's opportunities eventually increases wages for all.         Eliminating gender discrimination in insurance benefits the family finances and aids older men in such areas as auto insurance pricing. Men's role as parent has increased value and improves their opportunity for parental leave and child custody.                 6. Find Amendment On Your Ballot!         The location of Amendment on the ballot differs from county to county. Look first at the top or bottom of your ballot. If it is not in those locations turn the ballot over to the reverse side. If you can not find Amendment on the reverse side of the ballot look in pages 2 or 3. Wherever you vote, make sure to find and vote yes on Amendment on your ballot!                     Vote Yes Amendment

Here's The Hidden Agenda Of ERA Opponents

ERA Opponents Are Using Scare Tactics. Don't Let Them Get Away with It!

Pat Robertson has a hidden agenda. He wants to take over Iowa politics! Since 1991 Ione Dilley and Steve Sheffler, both leaders in the Iowa Christian Coalition (ICC), have created a powerful grassroots organization to promote their extreme rightwing agenda.        Opposing the Equal Rights Amendment provides a vehicle to meet the ICC's 1992 targets of founding chapters in Iowa's 20 largest counties and of training precinct captains in 1,500 of Iowa's 2,900 precincts. The ICC's Dilley is a leader in the anti-Equal Rights Amendment coalition.        The ICC wants to be ready for 1996, the year of the next presidential election. The ICC is part of Robertson's national Christian Coalition, which by August already had raised more than $13 million for its goal.        Robertson and his Iowa allies have distributed tens of thousands of brochures in Iowa that are full of falsehoods and distortions. By clouding the issue these falsehoods help promote their hidden agenda.        The political agenda of this extreme right wing coalition must be hidden because their goals do not have the support of a majority of Iowans. They want to take the right to legal abortion away from women and eliminate seperation of church and state -- just two major planks of their extreme agenda.

INSURANCE: ERA has NOT increased insurance rates. To the contrary, it has given people the power to fight sex discrimination in auto, life, health, and disability insurance as well as pensions and annuities. Such discrimination costs people billions of dollars in overcharges and underpayments.        For example, if auto insurance pricing was based on miles driven and not upon the sex of the driver, women's rates would be reduced because women drive half as much as men on the average. And for older drivers, both women and men, rates would be reduced because older drivers drive less than average. The Equal Rights Amendment and non-sexist pricing benefit both women and men!        VETERANS' BENEFITS: War veterans do NOT lose their benefits. You would have heard the cry all the way to Iowa if veterans in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and the other ERA states had lost their benefits because of the ERA.        GAY RIGHTS: Opponents of the ERA have made false claims about homosexual rights and the ERA. Instead of fighting discrimination they have participated in gay bashing -- spreading fear, not understanding. In NO state have homosexuals gained rights using a state Equal Rights Amendment. Gay marriages are NOT legal in any state of the union.        Phyllis Schlafly and the Eagle Forum--the leading group against the ERA--have gone so far as to claim an ERA-AIDS connection. Well we don't have the ERA in most states and we do have AIDS everywhere.        ABORTION: The Iowa State Attorney General has said that "NO significant change in the present status of the law on abortion will occur should proposed Amendment be adopted."