From the McAuliffe for Governor campaign:
Terry McAuliffe Releases New Plan to Address Barriers Facing Women in the Workforce
As Governor, Terry Will Keep Schools Safely Open, Make Child Care More Affordable, Ensure Access to Pre-K, Invest in School Programs and Get Every Worker Access to Paid Sick, Family and Medical Leave
MCLEAN, VA – Today, Terry McAuliffe released a new plan, Supporting Women in the Workforce to address barriers facing women in the workforce. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, women in the U.S. have lost 5.4 million jobs, accounting for more than half of total job loss during the pandemic. As Virginia’s next Governor, Terry will make it easier for Virginia women to enter the workforce, start new businesses, and remain in quality, good-paying jobs. Terry will keep schools safely open, make child care more affordable, ensure access to pre-k, invest in before and after school programs and ensure every Virginian has access to paid sick, family and medical leave.
As Virginia’s next governor, Terry will address the unique challenges that are making it even harder for women in the workforce and driving too many women out of it. Terry will keep schools safely open, make child care more affordable, ensure every three and four-year-old in need has access to pre-k, invest in before and after school programs and ensure every worker in Virginia has access to the paid sick, family and medical leave they need. Terry will also increase business ownership and entrepreneurial opportunities for women, improve access to capital and technical assistance for women-owned businesses and raise the minimum wage to $15 minimum by 2024.
“COVID-19 has been particularly hard on women in Virginia’s workforce. As governor, I will fight to support women in the workplace by keeping schools safely open, making child care more affordable, expanding access to pre-k and investing in before and after school programs so that women can get back to work and continue providing for their families.” said Terry McAuliffe. “Just as I did before, we’ll create hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs and invest in education and our workforce to lift everyone up.”
As the 72nd Governor of Virginia, Terry established the annual Virginia Women’s Summit to engage and empower women to lead in collaboration with the Virginia Council on Women. Terry also invested in women-owned businesses by creating a SWaM micro-loan program. As governor, Terry fought to make health care more affordable for women, expanded pre-k for thousands of children, and worked to create new pathways to good-paying jobs and get more women into STEM-H and cybersecurity careers. His efforts included making Virginia the first state to mandate computer science education for all K-12 students and hosting cybersecurity boot camps.
Trump-endorsed Glenn Youngkin, has proposed an economic plan that would be devastating to Virginia’s economy and a disaster for Virginia women. Glenn opposes raising the minimum wage and opposes paid sick, family and medical leave for all Virginians – both critical steps to tackling the inequalities women face. Moreover, independent reports and leading editorial boards have said that Glenn’s economic plan would slash funding for public education and public safety, leaving Virginia’s parents without the essential services their families need. In addition, Glenn’s anti-vaccine rhetoric and failure to lead on COVID-19 would force students back into quarantine, force businesses to close again, and slow Virginia’s economic growth, leaving women in the Commonwealth behind as they continue to bear the brunt of this pandemic.
Terry has released 20 detailed plans to strengthen Virginia’s education system and dramatically increase teacher pay, help secure Virginia’s economic recovery from COVID-19, reform our criminal justice system, ensure Virginians have access to regular nutritious meals, address the broken, predatory system of prescription drug pricing, confront the gun violence epidemic, make Virginia the best state in the nation for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Health Care (STEM-H) and computer science education, tackle the housing crisis in the Commonwealth and invest in Virginia’s workforce in the post-COVID economy, ensure Virginians have access to high-quality, affordable health care, tackle climate change and secure Virginia’s clean energy future by 2035, lift up Black Virginians as the Commonwealth rebuilds from the COVID-19 pandemic, further advance LGBTQ+ rights, create a flourishing rural economy, support entrepreneurial ecosystems and tackle rising costs and meet the health care needs, make higher education more affordable, boost Virginia’s agriculture and forestry industries, and protect seniors from COVID-19 and ensure quality and affordability later in life and tackle the COVID-19 crisis.
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