In case you weren't aware of it, the Obama/Biden Campaign has declared this week Women's Week of Action, and has coordinated several events to help women to keep educating each other about the issues that are particularly crucial to this important voting block.
Women make up more than half of the electorate. A story at MSNBC before the conventions last month claimed that many women opt to stay home on Election Day. We can't let that happen this year. Not this time. It is too important.
While John McCain has been distracting from the issues at hand with the sleaziest campaign Americans have ever seen, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are traveling the country discussing the issues that women and families care about, such as ensuring women are paid the same as men for equal work, the right for women to make their own family planning choices, reforming our health care system, and rebuilding an economy that strengthens the middle class.
Women Back Obama-Biden on the Issues
Yesterday a CBS News/New York Times poll indicated that the Obama/Biden ticket retook the lead with 54 percent to 38 percent among all women. While this is encouraging news, we need to continue to work to educate women about how out of touch McCain is with the issues facing women and that voting for McCain, would be voting against their own interests.
As part of the Women's Week of Action events, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton sat down to discuss women's issues and answer questions submitted to the Obama website by women from around the country. The conversation, one of the largest women’s web forums in history, was broadcast at 8:00 p.m. last night. If you missed it, you can watch it here:
The conversation runs over 30 minutes, and covers topics like reproductive health, expanding the Family Medical Leave Act, protecting Social Security, retirement, and finally equal pay. It would be difficult to transcribe the entire exchange, but I did want to include the entire question about equal pay, which was addressed at the end of the conversation.
Biden: Hillary, Abby from Philadelphia has a question. She wants to talk about pay equity, which I'm happy we're talking about here. She says, "I hear a lot of candidates talk about equal pay for equal work. It seems apparent to me that women and men should be paid the same for equal work. Where does Senator Obama stand on this issue?"
Clinton: Well this is one of the big differences in this campaign. And I think that everybody understands today in 2008 that woman still make just 77 cents for every dollar that men make. And African American women just 62 cents, and Latinos just 53 cents. And we have all these studies, a recent one by the Institute for Women's Policy Research said if we close this gap, the typical woman worker would gain roughly $5,700 a year. Now that would be a huge deal. It's also a big deal for retirement. You were just talking about retirement and social security. Well, the more you pay in the, more your salary rises, obviously the better your retirement. But when women are cheated out of their fair share, that affects their retirement as well.
You know last year, in a case brought by an extrodinary woman named Lilly Ledbetter, the Supreme Court actually made it harder for women to challenge pay discrimination and I'm thrilled that Lilly Ledbetter is going to be by your side, and by Senator Obama's side, endorsing you and standing up with you because she knows if you are worried about equal pay, there's only one ticket that is going to care about whether or not women get equal pay.
And it's not just a women's issue. It's a family issue. It's a children's issue. It's a men's issue because when women aren't paid what they deserve, families find themselves with less income and they have to work even harder to get by. Think about how many thousands of dollars Lilly Ledbetter's family lost over the years. Money that could have gone for gas or groceries, or saved up for college or retirement. And think of how many families today, just like Lilly Ledbetter's, are losing out because the women in their family are not being paid on equity with men. You now, we see the effects on families across the country.
We know that women's poverty rates are higher than men's poverty rates. We know that women working full time have to still rely on food stamps that bring food to the table for their kids. And we know that so many families couldn't get by without relying on the income that working women have earned. So, you'd think that this would not be a partisan issue and that there would be no divide between the Republicans and the Democrats because this is a question of justice and equality. But, unfortunately, there is such a gap, and we've tried, as you know, to fix the Lilly Ledbetter problem that the Supreme Court created.
Senator McCain and Senator Obama have a huge difference on this issue. Senator McCain thinks the Supreme Court got it right when Lilly Ledbetter was denied justice. He opposed legislation that I cosponsored to reverse that decision. He suggested that the reason women don't get equal pay isn't discrimination on the job, it's because they need more education and training. So, I guess the bottom line, Joe, for women, for men, for any American, the stakes in this election are so high and if you care about health care or retirement or equal pay or our economy, I hope you know that there is only one choice and that's Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Biden: Let me add one thing to what you said. John is so out of touch he doesn't realize that there are more women in college today than men. Literally. More people graduating at the top of the class, Phi Beta Kappa. More women like you who graduated ahead of the men in their classes. And this is not a zero sum game. I don't know how many times, Hillary, out on the road I hear the following: "You know if my wife loses her job, we lose our house. If my wife loses her job, da da ..." I mean, the idea that they've been able to convince, and I believe the subliminal message the right is sending is, somehow if you pay a woman equal to a man, it's going to cost the man. This does not cost. Men should be out there going, "Pray God, pay my wife what she deserves."
In April, John McCain's skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, as he has skipped a staggering amount of other votes during the campaign because he was too busy asking America to elect him President, to show up to do the current job he has. Currently, John McCain leads all the Senators in the 110th Congress in missed votes.
With a record 64%, John McCain is the only Senator who has missed more than 50% of the votes. Talk about being out of touch with the issue of Equal Pay for Equal Work. Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe have showed up for 100% of the votes. And yet, they all earn the same $169,300 Annual Salary. Do you think if John McCain were working for a major corporation, that he would still be working at his job, much less drawing the same salary as those that actually showed up for work and did their job? Yes, Senators Obama, Biden, and Clinton, have missed a large number of votes while campaigning this election season. At least they've managed to show for more than 50% of the time, while McCain has only been at work 36% of the time.
In New Orleans today [April 23, 2008], McCain explained his opposition to the bill by claiming it "opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems." Later in Kentucky, he added that instead of legislation allowing women to fight for equal pay, they simply need "education and training":
"They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else," McCain said. "And it’s hard for them to leave their families when they don’t have somebody to take care of them.
"It’s a vicious cycle that’s affecting women, particularly in a part of the country like this, where mining is the mainstay; traditionally, women have not gone into that line of work, to say the least," he said.
McCain dismisses equal pay legislation, says women need more ‘training and education
And yet, in July, having voted against Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in April McCain claimed that he was for equal pay, saying:
We haven’t done enough. We have not done enough. And I’m committed to making sure that there’s equal pay for equal work. That there is equal opportunity in every aspect of our society. And that is my record and you can count on it.
After Voting Against Equal Pay Legislation, McCain Claims He’s ‘Committed To Equal Pay For Equal Work’
Maybe women like Baroness Lynn Forester de Rothschild, don't have to think about how out of touch John McCain is with the real plight of American families, but for the majority of women in this country who didn't marry into a British banking family, that is a luxury we can not afford.
As many of you know, Joe Biden has been a champion of issues affecting women for many years during his Senate career, while John McCain is still living in the 1950s when it comes to issues that affect women. McCain has underestimated the intelligence of the women in this country if he thinks that just by selecting any woman as his running mate he could capture significant support from women. If you missed it yesterday, there was an excellent diary about just how good Biden is on women issues, and just how wrong Palin is: Former Federal Prosecutor Compares Palin and Biden on Domestic Violence.
On Monday, the Obama-Biden campaign released a new ad, called Burden, that highlights John McCain’s failure to stand up for equal pay for women at a time when more and more families depend on the income earned by working women.
Also happening yesterday,
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi held a press conference in Washington, DC today to discuss Senator Obama and Senator Biden's record of fighting for issues of concern to women and American families -- and John McCain's plan to offer more of the same failed Bush policies for women and families. She was joined by Representatives Jan Schakowsky, Rosa DeLauro, Donna Edwards, Betty McCollum, Linda Sanchez and Diana DeGette.
Speaker Pelosi Hosts Press Conference on the Change Women Need
Women make up more than half of the electorate. A story at MSNBC before the conventions last month claimed that many women opt to stay home on Election Day. We can't let that happen this year. Not this time. It is too important. The Women for Obama section of the Obama-Biden Campaign website offers resources and information to help you encourage the women in your life to understand why it is so important to vote Barack Obama and Joe Biden this November.
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Women's Week of Action
On every issue important to women, from access to healthcare and universal pre-school to equal pay for equal work, Barack is the only candidate who can bring about the change we need.
Barack was raised by a single mother and grandmother. He understands the tough choices that working women in this country face every single day because he lived it. And now, he and Michelle are raising two young girls. They are the reason Barack's in this race - to make the world a better place, full of opportunity, for them and for all of the children.
Barack and Joe Biden are a strong team for women and families across the country because they have the record and the commitment to prove it, but it's up to our supporters to help get this message of change out into your communities.
Barack and Joe will pass tax cuts for 95% of American families, ensure that women get equal pay for the same jobs as men, put the needs of working and middle class families ahead of special interests, and change the broken school system so that every single child in this nation has a world-class education from pre-school through college.
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