Senator Gillibrand will introduce a new bill in Congress next week called the Opportunity Plan. This bill has five main objectives to give women paid maternity/adoption leave and medical leave if their children get sick or parent or even themselves, increase the minimum wage to 10 dollars per hr, universal pre-k, quality and inexpensive day care and equal pay for women and men. Senator Gillibrand mentions how the workforce now is not what it used to be and up to 40 percent of the breadwinners in a family are women and not men, but the current laws don’t account for these changes. According to Newsday Long Island Senator Gillibrand’s bill is attempting to make American mothers have schedules that give them a greater ability to take care of a family and care for sick children or parents and still be able to maintain their careers. The bill if passed will also raise pay for single moms and low wage earners, but Senator Gillibrand states many of the provisions of the bill are not just aimed at women and are gender neutral and equally benefit men and women.
Senator Gillibrand was featured on a segment of the Today’s Show discussing her bill as she was with both her sons in the playground on a Friday afternoon along with some other mothers talking about how maternity leave was so important for new mothers to get these couple months to bond with their babies and there was no time like it for them. This segment of the Today Show discussed how only 11 percent of working American women in the private sector have access to paid pregnancy leave and that the United States is the only industrialized country that does not offer working women pregnancy leave and that this aspect of the working conditions in United States puts us on the same level as third world African Countries. Attached is Friday’s Today’s Show segment. ((http://www.today.com/money/paid-maternity-leave-boon-many-us-moms-dont-get-8C11275246)
Senator Gillibrand, according to Capitol New York, will face many hurdles in getting this legislation passed in the Republican controlled house and also many companies won’t agree that providing paid pregnancy leave to women is the right thing simply because the costs are too high for most American companies to afford especially in this economy. Senator Gillibrand feels regardless of the cost “any business that respects women will do better.” However, fiscal conservatives feel that in our economy with our debt, deficit and debt ceiling issues the last thing we need is more entitlements according to the Huffington Post which makes it difficult for Senator Gillibrand to get this legislation passed in Congress. Senator Gillibrand feels “it’s all about priorities and how we choose to spend our money.”
Senator Gillibrand has been one of the most vocal senators, according to Capitol New York and the Huffington Post, on the issue of women and improving the workforce for women and families’ .The articles mention how this is making Senator Gillibrand one of the highest ranking women in Washington. Capitol New York discusses that Gillibrand also spoke at an Emily’s list event in Manchester New Hampshire about getting women on the next presidential ticket in 2016. Many are still unsure if Hillary Clinton will run so there is some speculation that Kirsten Gillibrand is trying to run for President or be involved in some way in the presidential ticket if Hilary Clinton does not run in 2016. If Clinton runs Gillibrand will be a big supporter of hers according to Capitol New York. It will be interesting to see in future if Gillibrand’s work for family, children and improving working conditions for women has some political agenda to it. Is to help her advance politically and maybe run for higher office in 2016 or in the future or are they just issues that she is passionate about and fights for? Also, since women make up a larger percentage of likely voters than men is she trying to appeal to more women voters and since most likely women voters of both parties would be in support of pregnancy leave, daycare and equal pay for women? Also another thing to look at is if this doesn’t pass in the House and doesn’t become law will this influence women to run for office since women would be more likely to support this bill than men, and if this will make more women push for a female president in 2016 to get legislation like this passed if it can’t be passed now. Only time will tell the direction in which Senator Gillibrand is leading.
No comments:
Post a Comment