Stand With Women
Times have changed. While more women than ever are working outside the home, heading households, leading in the workplace, and representing us in elected office, outdated and unequal policies still create unfair advantages for too many women–especially low-income women and women of color who face the greatest inequities in Ohio. Yet, rather than prioritize updating our laws to guarantee that all women have full and fair opportunities to succeed at home, at work, and in our democracy, too many politicians focus on controlling women’s personal reproductive decisions and protecting corporate profits at the expense of working women and their families.
Everyone, regardless of gender, race, or background, deserves fair and equal rights on the job, in accessing health care, in the criminal justice system, and when it comes to deciding when to have a family. It’s time to update the rules of our democracy and our economy so that all women can be equal partners in the new economy and families can thrive. Our elected leaders must pick a side: stand with women for fairness, opportunity and freedom…or stand in our way.
STAND WITH WOMEN
Guarantee access to reproductive health, rights and justice.
Becoming a parent has huge personal, health, and economic impacts for women and families. Equality for women starts with access to universal affordable health care for everyone from birth to death, including no cost birth control, pregnancy services, maternity care, without interference, punishment or stigma. Everyone parent their children and lead their families without interference or intimidation. Elected leaders must STAND WITH WOMEN by protecting health care and reproductive rights and passing policies that ensure meaningful access for all women and must reject policies that stigmatize, punish, or deny women the ability to control their own destinies.
End gender discrimination, increase wages and pay women fairly.
Women get lower pay for the same work and fewer promotions whether in low-wage industries, “tipped” jobs or in higher-paying white collar jobs. Women of color face the greatest pay gap and are most likely to be in low-wage jobs with no benefits. Women with families, whether its children or aging relatives, are forced to choose between work and family because of lack of affordable child care, elder care, paid family medical leave, and earned sick time. It’s time to stop paying poverty wages and punishing women for pregnancy, parenting and fulfilling family responsibilities Elected leaders must STAND WITH WOMEN by insisting on fair wages, supporting unions, and passing equitable workplace policies that end gender discrimination, harassment, and penalties for having a family.
Ensure fresh air, clean water and soil, and a safe community to live and raise families.
The environment we live in factors heavily into our health, economic security, and well-being. Man made natural disasters, abuse of the environment to drive profit and irresponsible use of natural resources harm everyone, especially low income people and people of color who bear the brunt of climate change. These are the same groups that most often face danger from over policing, mass incarceration and criminal justice policies that target and profile people of color. Elected leaders must STAND WITH WOMEN for equitable environmental and climate justice and criminal justice policies that put people and the future of the planet ahead of profit and politics.
Invest in Women and Families for a Better Future.
Our taxpayer money should work for us, not further enrich millionaires and Wall Street corporations who already control too much wealth and exert too much influence over our democracy. Tax revenue should support programs and services that support an equitable economy, address disparities for women and and their families, and invest in public services that are accountable to people not corporations and their lobbyists. Elected leaders must STAND WITH WOMEN by passing tax and investment policies that prioritize equitable healthcare, childcare, education, job creation and retirement security policies over tax giveaways for the richest households and corporations.
STAND IN THE WAY
Take away health care and deny pregnant women’s civil rights.
Attacks on Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act and reproductive health services like birth control and abortion hurt women and their families, particularly low income women, black women and women of color. Legal attacks and extreme policies that criminalize abortion, pregnancy, and parenting separate families, erode economic security and deny women fundamental to self-determination. Elected officials who cut healthcare, reduce coverage and affordability, ban birth control and make abortion a crime STAND IN THE WAY of women and their families.
Support continued discrimination from employers and unfair pay.
Women are the backbone of the economy, yet some politicians consistently protect corporate profits at the expense of women and families. Denying women the right and resources to decide when and whether to have children and then rejecting policies to increase wages, gender discrimination on the job, and make child care affordable create an economy where women can’t succeed or take care of their families. Elected officials who protect corporate profits over increased wages and ending discrimination STAND IN THE WAY of women who make up half the workforce, half the electorate and a growing number of female-headed households.
Protect rigged systems that perpetuate inequality, hurt families, communities and the planet.
Man-made disasters like climate change, opioid addiction and gun violence can be addressed through public policy, but some politicians refuse to take needed action despite mounting evidence of harm, especially to poor people, black people and people of color. We must have responsible reform that addresses how systems reproduce racial, gender and economic inequity and widen the gulf between those who are harmed and those who benefit. But rather than fix systemic barriers for women, some lawmakers STAND IN THE WAY by giving polluters a pass, supporting law enforcement policies that enable racial profiling, over-policiing, mass incarceration and criminalization of all kinds of behaviors.
Cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security while the rich and corporations tax breaks.
Public health care programs, education and anti-poverty programs like SNAP create a critical social safety net that ensure everyone can get the basics they need to live. Yet politicians often divert resources from these programs to pay for tax breaks for corporations already making massive profits, even though tax breaks for the rich don’t help the rest of us. Elected leaders who invest in tax breaks for corporations instead of jobs, healthcare, education, and retirement for the rest of us STAND IN THE WAY of a better future for women.