In an Oct. 1 press conference, called to publicize a report about what working women want, the leaders – including Ellen Bravo, former leader of 9to5, and Debra Ness of the National Partnership for Women and Families – listed several issues the candidates should emphasize.
They include work-family relations, family finances, and the implications of the fact, as Ness put it that "most families don\'t have stay at home caregivers anymore" for either aging parents or school-age children.
The analysis came as another panelist, pollster Celinda Lake, reported her most recent surveys show Obama opened up a 15 percentage-point lead among women over GOP nominee John McCain. By contrast, McCain has a 10 percentage point lead among men, Lake said. In early September, Obama had only a 47%-45% lead over McCain among women, within that poll\'s margin of error.
"Women have been steadily moving towards the Obama ticket ever since the Republican convention. The increase comes mainly among white women and married women. College-educated women and women of color were already in Obama\'s corner," Lake explained.
Left unsaid was the fact that white women were a bulwark of the candidacy of Senator Hillary Clinton, who finished second to Obama in Democratic primaries.
Continued movement by female voters will go to the candidate who emphasizes work-family issues and relationships, Bravo and Ness said. "There\'s been very little talk about families\' lives. Despite all of the hype about family values, little has been done to value families," Bravo said.
Some of the measures that would draw more women voters to a candidate include enacting paid sick days, expanding family and medical leave and inserting "family as the missing piece in the economic security agenda," Bravo added.
That would include "labor standards" that are more family friendly, she pointed out. Those policies would let parents have paid leave to take sick kids to the doctor and paid sick leave so they don\'t have to come to work ill under threat of being fired if they don\'t. Too many workers now must come to work ill or be disciplined, Bravo said.
"Americans want workplace policies in synch with their lives," Ness said. "People get sick, babies get sick, elderly parents get sick and the number of people with chronic conditions will grow every year. Failure to adopt policies to help them" will hurt candidates, Ness added.
After all, she said, the Kaiser Family Foundation, which covers health, found "half of workers have to go work sick because they couldn\'t afford to skip any pay."
Lake, looking at her polls, said the two parties\' nominees have two very different tasks as they attempt to gain female votes. Women will be more than half of the electorate on Nov. 4.
"The Democrat\'s task is to try to create enthusiasm among women" for his candidacy, Lake said of Obama. "The Republican\'s task is to try to pull away enough women" from Obama "to win the election."
And they have to remember, as they campaign, that in the faltering economy, record numbers of people – the majority of them women – work part-time or on irregular shifts and without benefits, Lake added.
Those female workers overwhelmingly want the paid sick leave (89%), family leave "at the worker\'s discretion" (75%), equal pay for equal work (80%+), and paid family leave (58%), her polls show.
"The money wage gap is increasing" between men and women, Bravo said, after several years of decline. But the decline occurred, she noted, because men\'s wages were declining. "Employers pay women so little because their (women\'s) work is undervalued," Bravo added.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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In an Oct. 1 press conference, called to publicize a report about what working women want, the leaders – including Ellen Bravo, former leader of 9to5, and Debra Ness of the National Partnership for Women and Families – listed several issues the candidates should emphasize.
They include work-family relations, family finances, and the implications of the fact, as Ness put it that "most families don\’t have stay at home caregivers anymore" for either aging parents or school-age children.
The analysis came as another panelist, pollster Celinda Lake, reported her most recent surveys show Obama opened up a 15 percentage-point lead among women over GOP nominee John McCain. By contrast, McCain has a 10 percentage point lead among men, Lake said. In early September, Obama had only a 47%-45% lead over McCain among women, within that poll\’s margin of error.
"Women have been steadily moving towards the Obama ticket ever since the Republican convention. The increase comes mainly among white women and married women. College-educated women and women of color were already in Obama\’s corner," Lake explained.
Left unsaid was the fact that white women were a bulwark of the candidacy of Senator Hillary Clinton, who finished second to Obama in Democratic primaries.
Continued movement by female voters will go to the candidate who emphasizes work-family issues and relationships, Bravo and Ness said. "There\’s been very little talk about families\’ lives. Despite all of the hype about family values, little has been done to value families," Bravo said.
Some of the measures that would draw more women voters to a candidate include enacting paid sick days, expanding family and medical leave and inserting "family as the missing piece in the economic security agenda," Bravo added.
That would include "labor standards" that are more family friendly, she pointed out. Those policies would let parents have paid leave to take sick kids to the doctor and paid sick leave so they don\’t have to come to work ill under threat of being fired if they don\’t. Too many workers now must come to work ill or be disciplined, Bravo said.
"Americans want workplace policies in synch with their lives," Ness said. "People get sick, babies get sick, elderly parents get sick and the number of people with chronic conditions will grow every year. Failure to adopt policies to help them" will hurt candidates, Ness added.
After all, she said, the Kaiser Family Foundation, which covers health, found "half of workers have to go work sick because they couldn\’t afford to skip any pay."
Lake, looking at her polls, said the two parties\’ nominees have two very different tasks as they attempt to gain female votes. Women will be more than half of the electorate on Nov. 4.
"The Democrat\’s task is to try to create enthusiasm among women" for his candidacy, Lake said of Obama. "The Republican\’s task is to try to pull away enough women" from Obama "to win the election."
And they have to remember, as they campaign, that in the faltering economy, record numbers of people – the majority of them women – work part-time or on irregular shifts and without benefits, Lake added.
Those female workers overwhelmingly want the paid sick leave (89%), family leave "at the worker\’s discretion" (75%), equal pay for equal work (80%+), and paid family leave (58%), her polls show.
"The money wage gap is increasing" between men and women, Bravo said, after several years of decline. But the decline occurred, she noted, because men\’s wages were declining. "Employers pay women so little because their (women\’s) work is undervalued," Bravo added.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.