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Interview With Faye Wattleton, President of the Center for the Advancement of Women

Aired June 24, 2003 - 15:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: A wide-ranging new study this year polled American women on a variety of issues, with a special focus on family, on politics and the workplace. With me now from New York to talk about the survey results is Faye Wattleton. She's President for the Center for the Advancement of Women.
Faye Wattleton, first of all, what surprised you about the results of this survey?

FAYE WATTLETON, PRESIDENT, CENTER FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN: Well, we were really surprised at the priorities that women now say that they want women's movement to address. The conventional items or priorities have always been equal pay for equal work and those kinds of issues, but what tops the list now is a concern about violence against women. And women in this country want that issue to be addressed very aggressively.

WOODRUFF: What about support for abortion rights? It seems that for years there was greater support. I don't have the percentages with me, but now you find 41 percent of women say they're concerned that abortion remain legal, and a larger percentage say legal but only in the cases of incest and rape and so forth.

WATTLETON: Well, I think there needs to be a clarification on that point. What we found when we asked women to rate the issues that a women's movement should address, 41 percent said that abortion was one of the issues. There were other issues well above those numbers in which women wanted a women's movement to be addressed. But then when we asked women about the legality of abortion and under what condition it should be allowed, we found a significant reduction in support for the provisions that were recognized in Roe v. Wade.

Now, a lot of the polls have said, yes, we have found an erosion of support for abortion rights, but what makes this poll unique is that we asked women what restrictions would you find acceptable. And 51 percent of women said that either no abortions at all or only in the cases of saving the life of the woman, rape or incest.

WOODRUFF: And what implications do you think that has for politics, for elections down the line in this country?

WATTLETON: Well, it has -- I think one implication is that it is the result of a generation of women who don't know the consequences of illegal abortion. And so it is interesting to be somewhat perhaps theoretical about whether you would support restrictions and that, yes, more women should go through more barriers in order to terminate a pregnancy.

How that translates is in politics that politicians see this as the green light to go forward with further restrictions on abortion rights. Now, when that happens in an individual's woman's life and her choice is restricted, it is a very different kettle of fish.

We did not poll those issues, but we certainly did poll the issues of what women felt should be the restrictions. And we found very disturbing news that severe restrictions would be tolerated by the majority of women in this country.

WOODRUFF: In essence, are you saying that you think people who are seeking to win political office are going to be more successful if their views are pro-life rather than if they are pro-choice?

WATTLETON: Well, I think that what has happened is that the anti-abortion message has gotten through to a lot of women. And those of us who have worked very hard to preserve choice for women who want to continue their pregnancy, as well as women who want to end it, need to get through a message that this is not about restricting the choices of women but enabling women to have that choice with their doctor's consent and in the best interest of their health.

And the message is much louder. The controversy has been much more formidable for the argument against women having this right than it has been the need to preserve the right that was recognized in the Supreme Court decision more than 30 years ago.

WOODRUFF: Overall, Faye Wattleton, stepping back and looking at these numbers, what do they tell you about American women today? I mean you still have 92 percent saying work on domestic violence, reducing sexual assault. You have 90 percent saying they're concerned about equal pay for equal work. What does all that tell you?

WATTLETON: I think the women have told us in this survey that the women's movement has made a lot of progress, but there still is a lot more progress to be made. And that those of us -- or some who may say that the women's movement is over and there is nothing to work on, should remember Betty's Friedan's (ph) book when she said that we have to do with issues in individual women's lives. That we've cut down a lot of the barriers -- we've destroyed a lot of the institutional barriers, but now it's about the individual woman and the barriers that she must encounter and overcome in her personal life.

And women want us to work on those issues, such as equal pay, protecting them against violence, equal access to health care. And those are the everyday issues of a woman's quality of life. Women do not want us to intervene in their personal relationships, but to continue to work on improving the way that society treats them in their day-to-day lives.

WOODRUFF: Some fascinating results to this survey. Faye Wattleton, thank you very much for talking to us. She is the President of the Center for the Advancement of Women.

WATTLETON: Thank you for having me. WOODRUFF: Thanks again. It's good to see you. We appreciate it.

WATTLETON: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




the Advancement of Women>


Aired June 24, 2003 - 15:11   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: A wide-ranging new study this year polled American women on a variety of issues, with a special focus on family, on politics and the workplace. With me now from New York to talk about the survey results is Faye Wattleton. She's President for the Center for the Advancement of Women.
Faye Wattleton, first of all, what surprised you about the results of this survey?

FAYE WATTLETON, PRESIDENT, CENTER FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN: Well, we were really surprised at the priorities that women now say that they want women's movement to address. The conventional items or priorities have always been equal pay for equal work and those kinds of issues, but what tops the list now is a concern about violence against women. And women in this country want that issue to be addressed very aggressively.

WOODRUFF: What about support for abortion rights? It seems that for years there was greater support. I don't have the percentages with me, but now you find 41 percent of women say they're concerned that abortion remain legal, and a larger percentage say legal but only in the cases of incest and rape and so forth.

WATTLETON: Well, I think there needs to be a clarification on that point. What we found when we asked women to rate the issues that a women's movement should address, 41 percent said that abortion was one of the issues. There were other issues well above those numbers in which women wanted a women's movement to be addressed. But then when we asked women about the legality of abortion and under what condition it should be allowed, we found a significant reduction in support for the provisions that were recognized in Roe v. Wade.

Now, a lot of the polls have said, yes, we have found an erosion of support for abortion rights, but what makes this poll unique is that we asked women what restrictions would you find acceptable. And 51 percent of women said that either no abortions at all or only in the cases of saving the life of the woman, rape or incest.

WOODRUFF: And what implications do you think that has for politics, for elections down the line in this country?

WATTLETON: Well, it has -- I think one implication is that it is the result of a generation of women who don't know the consequences of illegal abortion. And so it is interesting to be somewhat perhaps theoretical about whether you would support restrictions and that, yes, more women should go through more barriers in order to terminate a pregnancy.

How that translates is in politics that politicians see this as the green light to go forward with further restrictions on abortion rights. Now, when that happens in an individual's woman's life and her choice is restricted, it is a very different kettle of fish.

We did not poll those issues, but we certainly did poll the issues of what women felt should be the restrictions. And we found very disturbing news that severe restrictions would be tolerated by the majority of women in this country.

WOODRUFF: In essence, are you saying that you think people who are seeking to win political office are going to be more successful if their views are pro-life rather than if they are pro-choice?

WATTLETON: Well, I think that what has happened is that the anti-abortion message has gotten through to a lot of women. And those of us who have worked very hard to preserve choice for women who want to continue their pregnancy, as well as women who want to end it, need to get through a message that this is not about restricting the choices of women but enabling women to have that choice with their doctor's consent and in the best interest of their health.

And the message is much louder. The controversy has been much more formidable for the argument against women having this right than it has been the need to preserve the right that was recognized in the Supreme Court decision more than 30 years ago.

WOODRUFF: Overall, Faye Wattleton, stepping back and looking at these numbers, what do they tell you about American women today? I mean you still have 92 percent saying work on domestic violence, reducing sexual assault. You have 90 percent saying they're concerned about equal pay for equal work. What does all that tell you?

WATTLETON: I think the women have told us in this survey that the women's movement has made a lot of progress, but there still is a lot more progress to be made. And that those of us -- or some who may say that the women's movement is over and there is nothing to work on, should remember Betty's Friedan's (ph) book when she said that we have to do with issues in individual women's lives. That we've cut down a lot of the barriers -- we've destroyed a lot of the institutional barriers, but now it's about the individual woman and the barriers that she must encounter and overcome in her personal life.

And women want us to work on those issues, such as equal pay, protecting them against violence, equal access to health care. And those are the everyday issues of a woman's quality of life. Women do not want us to intervene in their personal relationships, but to continue to work on improving the way that society treats them in their day-to-day lives.

WOODRUFF: Some fascinating results to this survey. Faye Wattleton, thank you very much for talking to us. She is the President of the Center for the Advancement of Women.

WATTLETON: Thank you for having me. WOODRUFF: Thanks again. It's good to see you. We appreciate it.

WATTLETON: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




the Advancement of Women>