National Guides
PROMOTING ECONOMIC SECURITY FOR WOMEN & FAMILIES
Strengthening women’s economic security and labor force participation is essential to our fight for gender justice. The economic crisis sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the longstanding inequities and economic vulnerability faced by workers and families. Caregiving and service sector jobs performed largely by women—disproportionately Black, Latina, and other women of color—have long left millions living paycheck to paycheck or working multiple jobs to survive, even as corporations continue to rake in record profits.
We need an economy and a tax system that work for everyday women and families—where working people are paid sustainable wages, where everyone can make ends meet in safety and with dignity, and where communities have the resources key to ensuring that everyone has equal opportunity and freedom from discrimination and harassment. By ensuring that corporations and the very wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, our communities reclaim revenue that can support the programs we need. If politicians unrig our economy and fix our unfair tax system, we will have more to invest in critical supports like child care, paid leave for all, better infrastructure, enforcement of anti-harassment and anti-discrimination protections, and other policies to help women and families recover and thrive.
Politicians and lawmakers need to prioritize policies that provide women and families with the supports they need to enter, thrive, and stay in the workforce.
Policies candidates & lawmakers should support:
1.Make millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share of taxes.
2.Help families with the rising cost of child care by investing in high-quality, affordable child care.
3.Establish universal paid family and medical leave.
4.Protect women, especially women of color, and all workers from discrimination and harassment in the workplace.
5.Pay workers fairly, including ensuring equal pay for all and raising the minimum wage to at least $15/hour for all working people.
Questions to ask federal candidates:
1.The tax code concentrates wealth in the hands of the privileged few, perpetuates racial and gender wealth gaps, and deprives our communities of revenues that could be put toward public investments that benefit us all. How will you ensure that corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes?
2.Have you developed policy, advocated for programs, or passed laws that help families meet their needs, including households struggling to find and afford the high cost of quality child care? How will you support households struggling to find and afford quality child care?
3.Have you advocated for and/or passed legislation that strengthens anti-discrimination protections and ends discriminatory pay practices in the workplace? How will you specifically address the pay gap for Black, Indigenous, and other women of color, many of whom suffer the largest pay gaps?
4.How have you advocated for the passage of comprehensive paid family and medical leave for all? Will you commit to ensuring that all working people have access to paid time off to care for themselves and loved ones?
5.People working to support their families should be able to make ends meet, including paying for housing, health care, child care, transportation, and other basic needs. How have you advocated for raising the minimum wage to one fair wage of at least $15 per hour for all workers before tips, including youth, workers with disabilities, and others? How will you ensure that anyone who works gets paid at least $15 an hour, before tips?