How will women fare under Obama?

Barack Obama has stacked competent women around him at all levels of the administration, not just at the top level but also at the second and third layers.

Three of the fifteen members in his Cabinet are women, or not quite 20%. Obama is used to having strong women around him. Most of these positions are in the national security and economic issues arenas so are key positions.

- Hillary Rodham-Clinton, Secretary of State
- Hilda Solis, Secretary-Designate, Department of Labor
- Janet Napolitani, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security

And there are further powerful women in critical roles:

- Christina Romer, Chair, Council of Economic Advisors
- Susan Rice, United States Ambassador to the United Nations
- Lisa Jackson, Administrator of Environmental Protection Agency

So exactly what can women expect from the Obama Administration. What will the US Gender Agenda really look like? Well the Obama Adminstration has set a clear agenda for women and it is as follows.

Healthcare:

- Fixing the Nation's Health Care System
- Empowering women to prevent HIV/AIDS
- Supporting research into women's health
- Fighting Cancer
- Reducing health risks due to mercury pollution
- Supporting stem cell research

Reproductive choice:

- Supporting a woman's right to choose
- Preventing unintended pregnancy

Preventing violence against women:

- Reducing domestic violence and strengthening domestic violence laws
- Fighting gender violence abroad

Economic issues:

-Fighting for pay equity and encouraging retirement saving
- Expanding paid sick days
- Investing in women-owned small businesses -
-Protecting social security

National security:

- Caring for women veterans

Poverty:-

- Renewing efforts to tackle underlying problems causing poverty
- Raising the minimum wage and helping low-income workers

Education:

- Protecting title tax
- Expanding early childhood education and improving schools
- Making college more affordable

Does Obama lead towards a feminist agenda?

Ms Magazine features Barack Obama as a Super Feminist, pictured tearing off his superman shirt saying "This is what a feminist looks like".There are high expectations amongst feminists as to how much gender will influence the policy agenda.Feminists believe that previously under the Bush administration certain legislation would not have been signed so was not put forward.Many feminists are hopeful that more pro-feminist legislation will now get through the Senate.Feminists believe that the Obama Administration is listening to women and asking the right kind of questions for women. Equal Pay, Children's Health and various

Domestic legislation will be watched closely.Michelle's success as the First Lady is also seen as an incredible moment for women around the world as many believe she represents the struggles of many mothers and working women.

Obama signs workforce anti-discrimination law

President Obama signed his first bill into law handing his labor and women's rights backers a victory by reversing a 2007 US Supreme Court decision that made it harder to sue for pay discrimination. On average, US women are paid 23% less than men while minority women receive even less

Will Obama have the time for a gender agenda?

But how much time will Obama really have to focus on gender issues with so many other pressing issues? Will awareness of gender issues penetrate and integrate with mainstream policy? Christina Roma, one of the key architects of Obama's Economic Stimulus Package was very responsive to feminist concerns that the package might create millions of jobs but that these jobs might only be for "burly men in construction building bridges and roads" and this would have a consequence for women. Roma outlined the focus also on healthcare, education and the retail trade where women are disproportionately a large factor of the workforce so this suggests.