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                        WOMEN ASK . . . !

After almost a decade of informally working together on issues of
concern to our members and to women and families in general, the
Council of Presidents has joined forces to promote women's issues
in a unified, harmonious and persistent questioning of candidates
in this 1992 electoral season. Our voices will be heard asking the
same, or nearly same, questions of candidates for every level of
political office who say, "trust me, I know what's best for you."
Women, who comprise almost 54 percent of the voting population,
deserve to know where candidates stand on our issues and deserve
political leaders who have the courage to place our agenda issues
at the top of their priorities.

The Council of Presidents, representing leaders of over 80 national
groups with over 10 million grassroots activists and 15,000 local
organizations in every Congressional District, believe that women
have a stake in the outcome of the 1992 elections and we pledge
that our leaders and members will use every opportunity to raise
our voices, ask our questions, disseminate the responses and
activate our educational and advocacy networks accordingly.

WOMEN ASK. . . ! will be a part of the Presidential, Congressional,
gubernatorial, state legislative, city, county, and school board
campaigns. WOMEN ASK. . .! will be a part of the appointment
process of campus deans, judges, Cabinet secretaries, and at
stockholder meetings and in corporate board rooms.

In every forum across the land, women's rights activists will ask
variations of 4 simple questions. Where do you stand on and what
are you going to do about WOMEN'S HEALTH NEEDS, WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT
NEEDS, WOMEN'S FAMILY NEEDS, AND WOMEN'S NEED TO BE FREE FROM
VIOLENCE? Our unremitting fervor and consistent querying will
change the nature of the debate, the nature of the fall elections
and perhaps even the nature of our elected and appointed political
bodies.

HEALTH

What will you do to assure that women's reproductive health needs
will be treated like other health needs and that a full range of
services will not only be provided, but will be guaranteed to all
women?

What is your plan to assure that the almost 30 million uninsured
women and children have access to affordable and comprehensive
health care and how will you pay for it? How will a woman who
previously had breast cancer and is now self employed be able to
get any health insurance when companies refuse to insure people
with pre-existing conditions? And, at what cost?

EMPLOYMENT

Currently women on the average earn only 71 cents per every dollar
that men earn, and that percentage is much lower for older women
and minority women. What are you going to do to reduce the
occupational segregation and pay inequities that women face in the
work-force?

A growing trend in the work-force is the use of part-time and
contingency workers -- the majority of whom are women. What are you
going to do to protect these workers from unfair labor practices
and assure them access to benefits and a livable wage?

FAMILY PRIORITIES

As women move in and out of the work-force to care for their
children and ill family members, they are faced with a myriad of
problems in their attempt to provide a source of income to their
families. What federal programs will you provide to enable women to
choose to stay in the work-force and support families? What kind of
retraining programs will you provide for those women who must drop
out of the work-force for a period of time due to family
responsibilities?

DOMESTIC SPENDING

Four out of five of the poor in the United States are women and
children. As women, we are afraid to walk the streets at night by
ourselves, we and our families are losing our jobs at an
unprecedented rate -- yet the government .... is spending $865
million for one stealth bomber and 291 billion dollars per year on
the military. We are the largest debtor nation in the work with
interest rates eating up our taxes. Are your prepared to reorder
our budget priorities and, if so, how?

VIOLENCE

If the definition of peace is not only the absence of war, but the
absence of violence, and millions of American women are battered,
assaulted and raped every year - the victims of sex based crimes.
Do you agree that American women are facing a domestic form of
warfare and what will you do about it, if elected?