Obama Respects Women
Don’t despair! Obama supports equal pay, anti-discrimination protections, and most importantly paid family leave. He stood up for equal pay in the Illinois State Senate, and helped pass a law to give 330,000 more women protection from paycheck discrimination. He’s been fighting to pass legislation in the Senate, so that employers don’t get away with discriminating against hardworking women like Lilly Ledbetter. Obama will continue to stand up for equal pay as President and Senator McCain will not.
Obama will stand up for paid leave. Today, 78 percent of workers covered by FMLA don’t take leave because it isn’t paid. They are being punished for getting sick or dealing with a family crisis. Obama’s plan requires employers to provide all of their workers with seven paid sick days a year and supports a 50-state strategy to adopt paid-leave systems, and sets aside $1.5 billion to fund it. Obama has a clear plan to expand paid leave and sick leave, Senator McCain does not.
Below are Obama’s thought on women's issues that makes him clearly the right choice for women:
Albuquerque, New Mexico - June 23, 2008I am here because of my mother, a single mom who put herself through school, followed her passion for helping others, and raised my sister and me to believe that in America, there are no barriers to success if you’re willing to work for it.
I am here because of my grandmother, who helped raised me. She worked during World War II on a bomber assembly line – she was Rosie the Riveter. Then, even though she never got more than a high school diploma, she worked her way up from her start as a secretary at a bank, and ended up being the financial rock for our entire family when I was growing up.
And I am here because of my wife Michelle, the rock of the Obama family, who worked her way up from modest roots on the South Side of Chicago, and who has juggled jobs and parenting with more skill and grace than anyone I know. Now Michelle and I want our two daughters to grow up in an America where they have the freedom and opportunity to live their dreams and raise their own families.
But even as these stories speak to the progress that we’ve made, we know that too many of America’s daughters grow up facing barriers to their dreams, and that has consequences for all American families. For decades we’ve had politicians in Washington who talk about family values, but we haven’t had policies that value families. Instead, it’s harder for working parents to make a living while raising their kids. And we know that the system is especially stacked against women, and that’s why Washington has to change.
As the son of a single mother, I also don’t accept an America that makes women choose between their kids and their careers. It’s not acceptable that women are denied jobs or promotions because they’ve got kids at home. It’s not acceptable that forty percent of working women don’t have a single paid sick day. That’s wrong for working parents, it’s wrong for America’s children, and it’s not who we are as a country.
I want my daughters to grow up in an America where they have opportunities that are even greater than their mother had, or their grandmothers, or their great grandmothers – an America where our daughters truly have the same opportunities as our sons.
Standing here today, I know that we have drawn closer to making this America a reality because of the extraordinary woman who I shared a stage with so many times throughout this campaign – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. And in the months and years ahead, I look forward to working with her to make progress on the issues that matter to American women and to all American families – health care and education; support for working parents and an insistence on equality. Because I want Sasha and Malia to grow up in an America where both work and family are a part of the American Dream, and where that Dream is available to all. That’s why I’m running for President of the United States.
