Where women call the shots

[JonLP24]

The nation’s first majority-female legislature is currently meeting in Nevada. Carson City may never be the same.

CARSON CITY, Nev. — She didn’t plan to say it. Yvanna Cancela, a newly elected Democrat in the Nevada Senate, didn’t want to “sound crass.” But when a Republican colleague defended a century-old law requiring doctors to ask women seeking abortions whether they’re married, Cancela couldn’t help firing back.

“A man is not asked his marital status before he gets a vasectomy,” she countered — and the packed hearing room fell silent.

Since Nevada seated the nation’s first majority-female state legislature in January, the male old guard has been shaken up by the perspectives of female lawmakers. Bills prioritizing women’s health and safety have soared to the top of the agenda. Mounting reports of sexual harassment have led one male lawmaker to resign. And policy debates long dominated by men, including prison reform and gun safety, are yielding to female voices.

Cancela, 32, is part of the wave of women elected by both parties in November, many of them younger than 40. Today, women hold the majority with 23 seats in the Assembly and 10 in the Senate, or a combined 52 percent.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/17/nevadas-legislature-women-outnumber-men-first-nation-carson-city-may-never-be-same/?utm_term=.f4392d5adf51

[VOX]

1. Nothing's in the bag, but Nevada is looking very Blue these days.

Bodes well for 2020, provided 45 & Co. allow for a free and fair election.

[corbettkroehler]

2. Refreshing!

By the way, if you ever found a politician who offered a cogent rebuttal to that important point about asking a man's marital status before performing a vasectomy, please let me know.

[lunatica]

3. This was posted recently so you may not get many responses

But it’s worth repeating! Thanks.

[Retrograde]

4. This is what the forced-birth advocates are afraid of

2018 saw an unprecedented number of women elected to positions of power. In 2019 states still in Republican control are passing draconic laws to punish women who demand autonomy. A coincidence? I don't think so: I think the GOP establishment is so afraid of having to share power that it's doing everything it can to keep women out of positions of power, going back to the old "keep them pregnant and barefoot" principal. Anything to keep them in their "proper" places where they can't stop the Old Boys' fun.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Actually, I once asked about a vasectomy and was asked if I was married...

It was many years ago, and it was in California. I have no idea if that was a law or not, and may have just been a policy of the doctor/hospital I was in at the time. I didn't do it, and later fathered a daughter who makes me quite proud now.