Obama Supports Closing Pay Gap for Working Women

[Omaha Steve]

by Seth Michaels, Jul 11, 2008

Yesterday, while discussing his economic agenda in Fairfield, Va., Sen. Barack Obama spoke especially to the concerns of working women.

As shown in Working America’s Ask a Working Woman survey, women are especially vulnerable in the nation’s economic crisis. Working women have less earning power to deal with the high cost of energy, health care and education because they still are paid less than their male counterparts. In fact, the WAGE Project estimates the wage gap costs the average full-time U.S. woman worker between $700,000 and $2 million over the course of her work life.

Obama says that in a U.S. economy that works for all, women must receive fair treatment in the workplace:

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/obama.cfm

We won’t truly have an economy that puts the needs of the middle class first until we ensure that when it comes to pay and benefits at work, women are treated like the equal partners they are.


Obama’s campaign has released a report laying out what his economic agenda would mean for women and for all working families. Among his proposals:


* A tax cut for middle- and lower-income individuals and families.
* Expanding child care tax credits and the Earned Income Tax Credit.
* Providing paid sick leave to workers.
* Closing the gender gap in paychecks.
* Emphasizing early childhood education and after-school and summer learning programs for children.

Obama, who co-sponsored the Employee Free Choice Act and has pledged to sign it as president, said the freedom to form unions was an essential part of ensuring that the economy works for women.


I’ll work as a partner with our unions, because we know that when it comes to standing up for women’s rights in the workplace, our unions are second to none—and it’s time we starting giving them the support they deserve.


Also in yesterday’s speech, Obama referred to Sen. John McCain’s top economic adviser, Phil Gramm, who this week claimed the nation’s economic crisis is all in our heads and said that working families’ financial concerns amount to “whining.”

FULL story at link.

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/obama.cfm

[sam sarrha]

1. i hope he wear a armored vest... this will piss off the Rethuglicans REALLY BAD, they will be foam'n

at the mouth and shit hemorrhaging at the other end.. they hate women more than black people or poor people :grr: :hurts: :argh: