Barack Obama & Women's Rights & Issues

[neonds13]

Obama & Women


Fight for Pay Equity
Throughout his career, Barack Obama has championed the right of women to receive
equal pay for equal work. This is a family issue and a fairness issue that not only impacts
a family’s income during working years, but reduces women’s retirement income
based on working years. In the Illinois State Senate, Obama cosponsored and voted
for the Illinois Equal Pay Act, which provided 330,000 more women protection from
pay discrimination. In the U.S. Senate, Obama joined a bipartisan group of senators
to introduce the Fair Pay Restoration Act, a bill to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s
recent 5-4 decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. The bill would
restore the clear intent of Congress that workers must have a reasonable time to file
a pay discrimination claim after they become victims of discriminatory compensation.
Obama is also a cosponsor of Senator Tom Harkin’s (D-IA) Fair Pay Act which requires
employers to provide equal pay for equivalent jobs and disclose their pay scales for all
job categories, and Senator Clinton’s (D-NY) Paycheck Fairness Act which provides
greater protections for women who suffer discrimination. As president, Obama will
continue to promote paycheck equity and work to close the wage gap between men
and women.
Making Work Pay for Working Families
The Obama economic plan will give working families immediate and direct relief –
every middle class working American will receive a $500 “Making Work Pay” tax credit
that will fully offset the first $500 of payroll tax they pay, or $1,000 per working family.
This refundable tax credit will benefit 150 million working Americans, including over
71 million working women. Ten million working Americans will no longer have to
pay any income taxes as a result of this plan. Woman-owned small businesses grow at
twice the rate of all businesses, and Barack Obama believes we should support these
important economic drivers. 5 million women small business owners will benefit from
this reduction of the self-employment tax. For those low and middle-income seniors
who are retired and are not eligible for this workers’ credit, the Obama plan will
provide direct tax relief by eliminating all income taxes for seniors who make under
$50,000 per year.
Increase the Minimum Wage to $9.50 by 2011
Women will receive 59 percent of the benefits of a minimum wage increase. Obama
will raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011, benefiting 8.4 million working
women, and index it to inflation to make sure that full-time workers can earn a living
wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs such as food,
transportation, and housing.
Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit
Barack Obama believes we should provide extra support to low-income families and
single mothers to ensure that they and their children are able to achieve a more secure
future. Obama will reward work by increasing the number of working parents eligible
for EITC benefits, increasing the benefit available to parents who support their
children through child support payments, increasing the benefit for families with three
or more children and reducing the EITC marriage penalty which hurts low-income
families. Under the Obama plan, full-time workers making minimum wage would get
an EITC benefit up to $555, more than three times greater than the $175 benefit they
get today. If the workers are responsibly supporting their children on child support,
the Obama plan would give those workers a benefit of $1,110. The Obama plan would
also increase the EITC benefit for those families that are most likely to be in
poverty – families with three or more children. An estimated 5 million working women
will benefit from Obama’s EITC expansion plan. Obama was the lead sponsor of
bipartisan legislation in Illinois to create a state EITC which provided more than $100
million in tax breaks to working Illinois families.
Provide a Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to an Additional 7.5 Million Women
The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit provides too little relief to families
that struggle to afford child care expenses. Currently the credit only covers
up to 35 percent of the first $3,000 of child care expenses a family incurs
for one child and the first $6,000 for a family with two or more children. And
the credit is not refundable, which means that upper-income families disproportionately
benefit while families who make under $50,000 a year receive less
than a third of the tax credit. Barack Obama will reform the Child and Dependent
Care Tax Credit by making it refundable and allowing low-income
families to receive up to a 50 percent credit for their child care expenses. These
changes will help an additional 7.5 million women afford quality child care.
Create Automatic Workplace Pensions
Currently, 75 million working Americans – roughly half the workforce – lack employerbased
retirement plans. Only half of female workers have access to an employer-based
retirement plan, and only 39 percent participate in those plans. Even when workers
are given the option of joining employer-based plans, many do not take up the option
because it requires considerable work to research plans and investment portfolios, and
enroll in the plan. Barack Obama’s retirement security plan will automatically enroll
workers in a workplace pension plan. Under his plan, employers who do not currently
offer a retirement plan, will be required to enroll their employees in a direct-deposit
IRA account that is compatible to existing direct-deposit payroll systems. Employees
may opt-out by signing a written waiver. Experts estimate that this program will
increase the savings participation rate for low and middle-income workers from its
current 15 percent level to around 80 percent.
Expand Retirement Savings Incentives for Working Families
Women are less likely than men to have significant income from pensions and other
savings at retirement. Barack Obama will ensure savings incentives are fair to all
workers by creating a generous savings match for low and middle-income Americans.
Obama will expand the existing Savers Credit to match 50 percent of the first $1,000
of savings for families that earn under $75,000, and he will make the tax credit refundable.
To help ensure that this proposal actually strengthens retirement investments,
the savings match will be automatically deposited into designated personal accounts by
using the account information listed on IRS tax filings. Coupled with the automatic
workplace pension plan, this proposal will stimulate tens of millions of new Americans
to invest for retirement. Over 80 percent of the savings incentives will go to new savers,
and 75 percent of people eligible for the incentives who are expected to participate
in the new program do not currently save.
For more information
on the state by state impact of the Obama Economic Plan for America’s Working
Women, visit: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/womenissues
Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
The FMLA covers only certain employees of employers with 50 or more employees —
As a result, only about half of American workers are eligible for leave under the FMLA.
Barack Obama will expand the FMLA to cover businesses with 25 or more employees.
Obama will also expand the FMLA to cover more purposes as well, including: to care
for elderly parents; to participate in children’s school-related activities; and to address
domestic violence and sexual assault.
Encourage States to Adopt Paid Leave
Experience shows that many families who need leave cannot afford to take it unpaid.
According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, 78 percent of employees
covered by the FMLA who have needed leave but have not taken it report
that they could not afford to take unpaid leave. Barack Obama will initiate a 50 state
strategy to encourage all of the states to adopt paid-leave systems. Obama will provide
a $1.5 billion fund to assist states with start-up costs and to help states offset the costs
for employees and employers. Obama’s Department of Labor will also provide assistance
to the states on how to craft paid-leave programs consistent with their local
needs.
Expand Paid Sick Days to 22 Million Working Women
Today, over 22 million working women do not have a single paid sick day. As president,
Obama will require that employers provide seven paid sick days per year.
Protect Against Caregiver Discrimination
Workers with family obligations often are discriminated against in the workplace.
Because women are the primary caregivers for children or elderly relatives in approximately
70 percent of households, this discrimination has a disproportional impact
on women. This is a growing problem, as evidenced by the skyrocketing number of
discrimination suits being filed: there has been a 400 percent increase in the number
of family responsibility discrimination lawsuits in the last decade. Barack Obama will
prevent parents from being discriminated against because of caregiving responsibilities,
as assisting relatives with transportation, medical treatments, cooking and bathing.
Obama will commit the government to enforcing recently-enacted Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission guidelines on caregiver discrimination.
Expand Flexible Work Arrangements
Working parents often have to juggle not only child care responsibilities, but also care
responsibilities for elderly relatives. Barack Obama will address this concern by creating
a program to inform businesses about the benefits of flexible work schedules for
productivity and establishing positive workplaces; helping businesses create flexible
work opportunities; and increasing federal incentives for telecommuting. Obama
will also make the federal government a model employer in terms of adopting flexible
work schedules and permitting employees to petition to request flexible arrangements.
This program has achieved great success in Great Britain, and Obama will replicate it
throughout the federal government.
Expand High-Quality Afterschool and Summer Learning Opportunities
To help families balance the responsibilities of work and family, it is essential to
provide them with high-quality care for their children during the hours that they are
out of school. The 20-25 hours each week that children are out of school while their
parents are at work is often a period where kids can get into trouble. Afterschool and
summer learning programs provide a place to keep children safe during those times
and increase students’ academic achievement. Barack Obama will double funding for
the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers
program, to serve one million more children. Obama will include measures to maximize
performance and effectiveness across grantees nationwide. Additionally, Obama
will create a new summer program that supports partnerships between schools, community
groups, and faith-based organizations to provide summer opportunities to an
additional 1 million children.
Fix the Nation's Health Care System
Because women are more likely to be in minimum wage or part time jobs, or be dependent
on a spouse’s health care plan which can be lost in divorce, there is a disproportionate
number of women who are uninsured or in danger of losing their coverage. 21.5
million of the 47 million uninsured in this country are women, and women are more
likely than men to delay or not get medical care because of high costs. Barack Obama
is committed to signing universal health legislation by the end of his first term in office
that ensures all Americans have high-quality, affordable health care coverage. His plan
will save a typical American family up to $2,500 every year on medical expenditures by
providing affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage for every American;
modernizing the U.S. health care system to contain spiraling health care costs and improve
the quality of patient care; and promoting prevention and strengthening public
health to prevent disease and protect against natural and man-made disasters.
Ensure all Children Have Health Insurance
Barack Obama has fought throughout his career to provide more children with affordable
health insurance. As a state senator, Barack Obama passed a successful measure
that provided health insurance to 150,000 Illinois children and parents. As a U.S.
Senator, Obama has worked to expand the successful State Children’s Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP) to 3.8 million children in low and moderate-income families.
As president, Obama will expand SCHIP to provide health insurance to more children
in working families, and also ensure that all children in America have comprehensive
health insurance benefits.
Fight Cancer
Ovarian cancer is the fourth-leading cause of cancer-related death among women in
the United States. Because of the lack of early symptoms or a proven screening test,
ovarian cancer also has the highest mortality of all cancers of the female reproductive
system. As president, Barack Obama will double funding for federal cancer research
efforts, building on his career-long efforts to fight cancer and provide support to
families affected by cancer. Barack Obama was an original cosponsor of Johanna’s Law.
Signed into law in January 2007, the law will educate women and increase awareness
of ovarian cancer. Obama has also supported efforts to combat breast cancer, another
leading cause of death among women. He helped pass legislation in the Illinois State
Senate to expand insurance coverage for mammograms, and as president, he will take
the necessary steps to ensure we finally find a cure for cancer.
Supports a Woman's Right to Choose
Barack Obama has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make
preserving women’s rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as President. However, he
respects those with differing opinions. Throughout his career, he has worked to support
common-sense solutions to prevent unintended pregnancies. In the State Senate,
when Congress failed to require insurance plans to cover FDA-approved contraceptives,
Obama made sure those contraceptives were covered for women in Illinois. In
the U.S. Senate, Obama worked with Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) on a bill that
would make birth control more affordable for low-income and college women, and
introduced the Senate version of Representative Hilda Solis’ (D-CA) bill to reduce
unintended pregnancies in communities of color. Obama is also an original cosponsor
of the Prevention First Act to expand access to contraception, health information and
preventive services to help reduce unintended pregnancies. The legislation increases
funding for family planning and comprehensive sex education that teaches both abstinence and safe sex methods. Barack Obama opposes late-term abortions, but believes that there must be exceptions for the life and health of the woman.

[neonds13]

Oct. 16, 2008 at 7:24 PM

PLEASE VOTE POPULAR & BUMP!!!!

(Original Poster)

[momof3inTN]

Oct. 18, 2008 at 1:55 AM

BUMPED! Great job! Thank you!