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In February, Pennsylvania Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick teamed up with Illinois Congresswoman Robin L. Kelly (IL-2), Yvette D. Clarke (NY-9), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), and a number of other different officers to re-introduce the bipartisan Defend Black Girls and Women Act. The laws was first launched in 2021.
If handed, the invoice would create an Interagency Activity Power to look at the circumstances and encounters of Black ladies and women throughout numerous sectors together with training, financial improvement, healthcare, labor and employment, housing, justice and civil rights. The objective is to advocate for community-driven approaches to alleviate and deal with hurt, guarantee accountability, and analyze the societal impacts on Black ladies and women.
As said in a press launch, the invoice’s main focus lies in pinpointing and evaluating the effectiveness of insurance policies and applications aimed toward enhancing outcomes for Black ladies and women throughout federal, state and native ranges. Concurrently, it goals to plot an motion plan geared in the direction of enhancing these applications for the betterment of each communities.
If enacted, members of the Defend Black Girls and Women job power would have the power to submit suggestions to Congress, the president and every state or native authorities on insurance policies, practices, applications and incentives that needs to be adopted to enhance program requirements and outcomes.
One of many areas that will probably be assessed is the continuing maternal well being disaster that continues to negatively impression Black ladies. Presently, Black ladies die from pregnancy-related issues at thrice the speed of their white and non-Hispanic counterparts. Pay disparities within the workforce are additionally a relentless barrier for Black ladies. The duty power would attempt to discover and uncover methods to fight this drawback.
“For each U.S. greenback {that a} white man earns in america, Black ladies are paid 67 cents,” a press launch from Brian Fitzpatrick’s workplace famous.
Presently, the Defend Black Girls and Women Act has garnered backing from greater than a dozen co-sponsors, together with Texas Consultant Al Inexperienced and Massachusetts Consultant Ayanna Pressley amongst others.
“For much too lengthy, Black ladies and women have confronted disproportionate inequities in training, well being care, housing, and financial improvement,” mentioned Congressman Fitzpatrick. “I’m proud to affix my colleagues in introducing this bipartisan laws to ascertain an interagency job power aimed toward enhancing outcomes and livelihoods of Black ladies and women throughout the nation.”
Congresswoman Kelly echoed an analogous sentiment.
“Merely acknowledging our nation’s historical past of focused discrimination, harassment, and violence towards Black ladies and women is not going to right years of systemic racism and sexism. We should leverage the total weight of the federal authorities to hunt justice for Black ladies and women who deserve an equal alternative for a full, blissful, wholesome life,” she mentioned.
Kelly added, “The Defend Black Girls and Women Act acknowledges that justice requires a holistic strategy. This laws commits our authorities to enhancing the training, healthcare, financial alternative, and civil rights obtainable to American Black ladies and women. I’m proud to introduce the Defend Black Girls and Women Act alongside my Caucus on Black Girls and Women Co-Chairs and Congressman Fitzpatrick.”
SEE ALSO:
Sleep Well being: Why Black Individuals Ought to Be Monitoring Their Sleep
How The Black Southern Girls’s Collaborative Is Giving ‘A Voice To The ‘Purposely Ignored’
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