May 24

Women

Written by Campaign. Posted in Issues

In recent history America has advanced in providing women with better opportunities. Today women account for 50 per cent of our work force and nearly 60 per cent of America’s college graduates. Despite these accomplishments, gender-based discrimination continues to exist in the workplace. For example, only 2.6 percent of women holding CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies, while women generally earn 23 percent less than their male counterparts and pay higher health-care insurance rates—in some States paying more than 31 percent in premiums—for the same insurance policy offered to men of similar demographics.

Adriano Espaillat understands the importance of addressing gender-based discrimination and, as a Congressional candidate for the 13^th Congressional district in New York, aims to introduce legislation to promote gender equality in the workplace and society. Adriano understands that women must play a more active role in local politics and foreign affairs and will support legislation that further empowers women to become leaders in these areas.

To achieve these goals Adriano Espaillat will:

Introduce legislation that promotes equal pay. According to the National Women’s Law Center, African American women earn 62 cents and Latina women earn 54 cents to the dollar compared to white, non-Hispanic males. This wage gap further exacerbates the economic situation of women living in poverty further promoting the poverty cycle. Adriano will introduce legislation that builds on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, demanding that employers provide better professional opportunities that promote the advancement of women in the workplace.
Propose legislation that prevents insurance companies from charging women higher insurance premiums compared to males.
Propose a national female mentoring program that fosters leadership of women in the political and professional realms. One of the challenges that many young women encounter throughout their professional career is the lack of role models in leadership positions. A mentoring program will serve as a platform to raise visibility of women in the workplace while connecting younger women with potential long-term career mentors.

For more information

Henry Fernández

Policy Advisor

henry@espaillatforcongress.com

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Mrf948

All the above is good, but there are some areas that are missing. Many low-wage women workers in our district work in areas such as domestic work that are exempted from the protections of federal labor legislation. Will Sen. Espaillat work to cover domestic and farm workers under federal protection? Will he help strengthen the funding and enforcement powers of the Labor Department including OSHA to ensure safe and fair workplaces?
Thousands of other women in the district are in “pink collar ghetto” jobs without benefits. Many people including me believe that our only hope for a comprehensive and cost effective health care system for all is to have Single Payer otherwise known as Medicare for All. As one of the millions of people who had to go into bankruptcy to deal with bills unpaid by insurance companies for life-threatening illnesses (in my case, breast cancer), I believe that we have to get the insurance companies out of the health care business. Where does Sen. Espaillat stand on the current single payer bill in the NYS legislature? And where does he stand on federal single payer?
liz

@mrf948: Senator Adriano Espaillat sponsored legislation to help end
brutal working conditions for farmworkers across the state. He is working hard
to see passage of S. 1862, which will bring protections for farmworkers on par
with many other laborers across the state. The Farmworkers Bill of Rights
establishes a weekly day off, workers compensation, sanitary working
conditions, unemployment insurance, and the right to collectively bargain for
farmworkers who have been systemically denied basic labor protections and who
toil in unacceptable conditions. Additionally, he supported the NYS Domestic Workers Bill of
Rights in the legislature.
Rmrcald

Very disappointed that you are not taking a stand against abortion the biggest killer of Latinos in New York!And now we know they are target females in the womb and where are our elected officials silent ! You are to busy fighting for gay rights and same sex marriage while our children are dying in the streets from gang violence or on exam tables while so called doctors perform violent abortions.
no I can’t vote for anyone who supports these abominations. keep supporting Obama he sending us all to hell
pw

stand up for women’s health and the right to choose! It is a cop-out to omit your position about women’s health and reproductive issues here as the republicans seek to give us less access to medication and proceedures that every woman should be free to choose for herself.
It is when a woman cannot gain legal access to abortions that she is forced to use ”exam tables while so-called doctors perform violent abortions” thereby endangering their health. Otherwise, competent doctors perform safe proceedures in clean medical facilities thereby protecting the long-term health of their patients and increasing the chances for any offspring they do choose to have to get the nurturing and resources they need to better themselves.