With the presidential election next year and many wondering who will go against the sitting president, the Democratic primary field is the most diverse in American history. Although it’s very crowded race and you should learn about every candidate, we want to make sure we highlight the women who are making their case to be the potential first female president of the United States. As an organization, L&P is very interested in where presidential female candidates stand on particular issues and what they are proposing to address them. The issues important to us are: reproductive rights, child care, maternal healthcare, the gender wage gap, and sexual assault.
We are judging the candidates on their stance on these particular issues because we want to make sure they align with our values. So we’ve gathered the positions and proposals (so far) of each female presidential hopeful when it comes to these issues. Below are three of the six female candidates who will be participating in the Democratic Party debates next Wednesday. Be sure to check our site in a few days for the remaining three female candidates!
Elizabeth Warren
Massachusetts, Senator
Reproductive Rights
Major takeaway: “Congress should pass new federal laws that protect access to reproductive care from right-wing ideologues in the states. Federal laws that ensure real access to birth control and abortion care for all women. Federal laws that will stand no matter what the Supreme Court does.”
Read her proposal here.
Maternal Healthcare
Major takeaway: “By rewarding health systems that keep mothers healthier, pressing for broader adoption of best practices that we already know help Black and Brown moms, narrowing racial inequities – and yes, holding both hospitals and care teams accountable for preventable failures – we can save women’s lives and demand change.”
Read her proposal here.
Child Care
Major takeaway: “My Universal Child Care and Early Learning program is a win-win-win: it’s great for parents, for kids, and for the economy. Parents get the security of knowing there are affordable and instructional child care options for their children. That gives them the freedom to choose the best work and childcare situation for themselves. Kids get high-quality early learning opportunities that put them on track to fulfill their potential.”
Read her proposal here.
Gender Wage Gap
Major takeaway: Warren makes sure her staff are paid equally, regardless of their gender. “Women should be paid the same as men for doing the same work — full stop. If we want to make Equal Pay Day obsolete, we have to start making real changes everywhere, including in the halls of Congress.”
Read her statement here.
Senate work: On Equal Pay Day this year, Warren announced she is a co-sponsor to the Women’s Retirement Protection Act of 2019 (WRPA) bill which will “address the retirement gap and bolster women’s financial security.” Read the bill details here.
Sexual Assault
Senate work: Last year, Warren co-sponsored the Sunlight in Workplace Harassment Act which would “require public companies to publicly report allegations of sexual harassment and other types of harassment in the workplace.” Read the report here.
Kamala Harris
California, Senator
Reproductive Rights
Major takeaway: “Similar to the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act, Harris will require, for the first time, that states and localities with a history of violating Roe v. Wade obtain approval from her Department of Justice before any abortion law or practice can take effect.”
Read her proposal here.
Maternal Healthcare
Senate work: Harris reintroduced the Maternal Care Access and Reducing Emergencies (CARE) Act which will “[tackle] the [racial] disparities by investing $150 million in programs that identify high-risk pregnancies and establish implicit-bias training throughout the medical profession and medical schools.” Read the report here.
Child Care
Major takeaway: Harris stated that she wants to implement universal pre-K and “a national policy for affordable child care,” in addition to passing the Equal Rights Amendment.
Read the report here.
Senate work: Last year, Harris proposed the LIFT (Livable Incomes for Families Today) the Middle Class Act which will “provide middle class and working families with a tax credit of up to $6,000 a year—or up to $500 a month—to address the rising cost of living.” This is supposed to “address rising costs of childcare, housing, tuition, and other [family living] expenses.”
Read the bill details here.
Gender Wage Gap
Major takeaway: “Kamala Harris has a simple message for corporations: Pay women fairly or pay the price…For the first time in American history, she’ll require corporations to show they’re not engaging in pay discrimination, and fine companies that fail to close their pay gaps.”
Read her proposal here.
Sexual Assault
Senate work: Harris reintroduced the bipartisan Survivors’ Access to Supportive Care Act (SASCA), which aims to “help improve and expand access to health care services for survivors of sexual assault.” Read the bill details here.
Kirsten Gillibrand
New York, Senator
Reproductive Rights
Major takeaway: “In the most sweeping step I’d take as president, I will guarantee access to reproductive healthcare — including abortion — no matter what state you live in…I would create a funding stream to ensure reproductive health center access in every state and every region of the country. And I would ensure that no state can pass laws that chip away at access to reproductive care or criminalize reproductive healthcare providers. ”
Read her proposal here and here.
Maternal Healthcare/Child Care/Paid Parental Leave
Major takeaway: “I’m announcing my new economic policy platform, which I would enact in my first 100 days as president: the Family Bill of Rights…The Family Bill of Rights would make it easier for everyone to start a family — regardless of your income, race, or gender — and ensure that every child can reach their full potential. We’ll pay for it with a financial transaction tax, which would raise over $777 billion in the next decade. ”
Read her proposal here.
Gender Wage Gap
Senate work: In 2016, Gillibrand urged her colleagues to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, saying, “The United States of America still doesn’t pay its men and women equally, and it’s unacceptable that in the year 2016, we are still fighting to fix this problem. Think about how this pay gap affects our families. More women than ever before are earning their family’s paycheck. Four out of every ten mothers are either the primary breadwinner in the family or the only breadwinner in the family. And because of the pay gap, their children are getting shortchanged.” Read her speech here.
Sexual Assault
Senate work: Gillibrand is the cosponsor to The Campus Accountability And Safety Act which “would flip the incentives to protect students and professionalize the response to and reporting of sexual assault.” Read the bill details here.
This is the first half of our series covering the female Democratic Party candidates for the presidential election in 2020. Stay tuned for next week when we cover Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Senator Amy Klobuchar, and self-help writer Marianne Williamson.
Photos of Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand are by Gage Skidmore on Flickr.