* Warning: This is an unofficial, introductory copy of the bill.
The official copy considered by the City Council is the first reader copy.
Introductory*
City of Baltimore
Council Bill R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Middleton
A Resolution Entitled
A Council Resolution concerning
title
Supporting the Baltimore Commission For Women
For the purpose of reaffirming the City Council’s support for the Baltimore Commission For Women and its important work to empower women in Baltimore, and requesting that the Administration assign a professional staffer to support the Commission’s efforts.
body
Recitals
The Baltimore Commission For Women believes in a high quality of life and in the equal rights, opportunities, and access to services for all women. When it was established by ordinance in 2006, it was intended to be a resource for women to assist them in accessing services and assistance to improve their lives and the lives of their families. It was charged with empowering women through education and through coordination of opportunities to ensure that barriers to equal rights and opportunities for women will be reduced, with the eventual goal of eliminating those barriers throughout Baltimore City.
Regrettably, the Commission was not adequately staffed or filled and essentially became defunct for far too long. Recently, the Mayor and the City Council have partnered in an effort to revive the Commission so that its important work for women can receive the attention it deserves.
The needs and voices of women and young girls are so important to our collective future, here in Baltimore City, now more then ever. Women and young girls need access to many mentoring and career building “tool kits.” They need support for growth and empowerment including raising the quality of life and lessons learned from experiences. Women lack entry to financial capital and specialized skills that can lead to economic advancement. They need multiple opportunities and the ability to engage in exploration activities such as site visits, job shadowing, internships, and community service. The revived Commission will work towards these goals and objectives.
Current plans call for the Commission to have committees on topics such as inadequate healthcare & health insurance, education, gender equality, poverty, hunger, homelessness, the wage gap, reproductive rights, paid sick and parental leave, human trafficking, elder mistreatment, affordable childcare, addiction, foster care, inadequate representation in board rooms, and political life.
However, in order to be successful in assisting Baltimore’s women with this ambitious agenda, the Commission will need the assistance of a professional staffer to augment the volunteer efforts of its members. It is important that an Executive Director or Community Liaison be assigned from the Administration to properly organize and support the Baltimore Commission For Women so that it, and its vital work, does not fall by the wayside once again.
Women have come a long way, but as a society we still have a very long way to go. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quote in a 1959 speech on race relations is equally appropriate to describe women’s progress today:
“Lord, we ain”t what we want to be.
We ain’t what we ought to be.
We ain”t what we gonna be.
But, thank God, we ain’t what we was.”.
Now, therefore, be it resolved by the City Council of Baltimore, That the Council reaffirms its support for the Baltimore Commission For Women and the Commission’s important work to empower women in Baltimore, and requests that the Administration assign a professional staffer to support the Commission’s efforts.
And be it further resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor and the Mayor’s Legislative Liaison to the City Council.