Lincoln County Democrats hosted a well-attended forum March 26 in Wiscasset on women’s issues in the 2014 elections. Principal guest speakers were Eliza Townsend, executive director of the Maine Women’s Lobby and the Women’s Policy Center, and Kate Elmes of Emerge Maine. The discussion focused on what is at stake for women in this year’s elections, both at the national level and here in Maine. Townsend summed up the challenge facing women as the need to “emphasize a broad range of issues that relate to economic security while being particularly vigilant on reproductive rights.”

According to Townsend, many of the issues facing the United States and Maine today are women’s issues. Women make up 60 percent of minimum wage earners, and the Maine state legislature’s failure to override Gov. Paul LePage’s veto last year of an increase in the minimum wage in Maine was a clear setback for women, she said. Similarly, the governor’s veto of expanded Medicaid coverage legislation directly affects women. Cutbacks in general assistance also fall heavily on women as the majority of children living in poverty in Maine are in households headed by single women.

Townsend also underlined the importance of freedom from domestic violence: 80 percent of victims are women. She noted that while LePage has emphasized the importance of this issue, he has decreased funding for general assistance, which is the first place women turn to for help when trying to escape domestic violence.

In discussing reproductive rights, Townsend noted that the expansion of Medicaid would make contraceptive coverage available for women making up to 200 percent of the poverty level. Sen. Chris Johnson (D-Somerville), who attended the forum, said that if opponents of abortion really wanted to decrease the number of abortions, they would support broader coverage for contraceptives and the choices available to women. Studies show these measures lead to a decrease in abortions.

For her part, Kate Elmes of Emerge Maine said that the best way to protect women’s rights and bring about pay equity would be to elect Democratic women to the legislature. Emerge Maine is part of a coalition of similar organizations in 13 other states dedicated to identifying, training and helping to elect Democratic women at all levels of public life. Emerge Maine, which was founded in 2007, has provided training to over 140 Maine women. There are currently nine Emerge Maine alumnae serving in the Maine House of Representatives.

In Elmes’ view, Emerge Maine and its sister organizations are having an impact in changing the predominant culture in America, in which women who have wanted to make a difference, who have wanted to serve the public, have been oriented to teaching and the nonprofit sector, not politics. That is changing, she said, and Maine is among the leaders in this movement. “Shenna Bellows is the first Emerge alumna in the country running for the U.S. Senate, but not the last,” Elmes said.

For further information on these topics or to get involved, please contact: The Maine Women’s Lobby, www.mainewomen.org; Emerge Maine, www.emergemaine.org; or Lincoln County Democratic Committee, www.lincolncountydemocrats.com.