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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5-19-2020 Public Comment - E. Allison - Bridgercare Supports CEDAWFrom:Emily Allison To:Agenda Subject:Bridgercare"s Statement of Support for CEDAW and the New Task Force Date:Monday, May 18, 2020 7:31:08 PM Attachments:Outlook-xygwigcz.png Bridgercare statement of support: Bridgercare supports the efforts of CEDAW and a specific task force to advance the human rights of all local women and girls through a very simple mechanism. These efforts will create a framework to help our city look at discrimination and understand why it is happening. As CEDAW’s committee of volunteers worked on this report, we were dismayed at the lack of information available about the status of women and girls in our community. We are asking for a measured quest to find better information. Some of the information we did find is that at Bridgercare, Bozeman’s non- profit family planning clinic, 85% of women using Bridgercare as their sole source of healthcare were less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Line. And like many employers, Bridgercare loses intelligent, motivated women because they can’t find childcare or they have to reduce their schedules because the childcare they do have is limited or unreliable. The Bozeman CEDAW report corroborates this with the finding that only 33% of the childcare needs are met in Bozeman. Access to healthcare is threatened specifically for women as we see the requirement to cover birth control, just birth control, the same as we cover any other prescription being stripped away and the decline in access to mental health adversely affecting women. At Bridgercare last year, we diagnosed 418 women with anxiety or depression and 10 men. The U.S. is the only developed country in the world that hasn’t ratified CEDAW, but we can still make change at a local level because the good news is that CEDAW works. It has empowered local governments to respect human rights and to adopt policies to limit sex trafficking, domestic violence, and discrimination in the workplace while improving things like the ability to work – something Bozeman so desperately needs. Whether your passion is the ability to work, the safety of our children, access to healthcare, or simply equality, CEDAW will make our community healthier and safer. That is why Bridgercare is proud to support the Bozeman Cities for CEDAW resolution. Stephanie McDowell 1288 N 14th Ave #201 Bozeman, MT 59715 Emily Allison (she/her) Development Director | Bridgercare 1288 N 14th Ave #201, Bozeman, MT 59715 P 406-587-0681 x137 | F 406-587-9011 eallison@bridgercare.orghttps://bridgercare.org/waystohelp/ www.bridgercare.org This e-mail message and any documents attached to it are confidential and may contain information that is protected from disclosure by various federal and state laws, including the HIPAA privacy rule. This information is intended to be used solely by the entity or individual to whom this message is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this message without the sender's written permission is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. Accordingly, if you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e- mail or call 406-587-0681, and then delete this message. All information or opinions expressed in this message and/or any attachments are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Bridgercare, and Bridgercare accepts no responsibility for loss or damage arising from its use.