Card #5: Women’s Issues

What’s at Stake for You in Election 2024?

On Women’s Issues – Biden-Harris

Bodily autonomy 

Do you have the right to control what happens to your body? For Biden-Harris, the answer is yes.

After the 2022 SCOTUS Dobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade, President Biden ordered all medical facilities to follow federal EMT guidelines, including about abortion. He has asked Congress to pass a bill guaranteeing abortion right nationwide, and he would sign it.

Income Disparity and Food Security

The gender pay gap has been static for decades, with women on average earning only 82% of what men earn. Under Biden-Harris: 

• The minimum wage for federal employees and federal contractors was raised to $15/hr.
• Small Business Association-backed loans to businesses owned by women rose over 60%, totaling $5.1 billion in lending in FY23.
• The American Rescue Plan (ARP), which Biden signed into law in 2021, made historic expansions to the Child Tax Credit, adding support for 19 million children and cutting child poverty nearly in half to a record low of 5.2%.  

Child and Eldercare

In the U.S., women carry a heavier childcare burden. The brunt of eldercare falls on women too.

• Biden-Harris have focused on lowering costs for families and improving wages for childcare workers. The ARP Child Care Stabilization program delivered historic support to over 225,000 childcare programs serving about 10 million children in the US. 
• Since the start of the Biden administration, $37 billion has been committed to benefit seniors and Americans with disabilities. New data shows all 50 states are leveraging support from the ARP. 

On Women’s Issues – Trump

Bodily autonomy 

Do you have the right to control what happens to your body? For Trump, the answer is: It depends on where you live. 

Mr. Trump nominated Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett to the Supreme Court. They joined Justices Thomas and Alito in June of 2022 to overturn Roe v Wade, upending fifty years of court precedence that gave women the right to choose. 

Income Disparity and Food Security

The gender pay gap has been static for decades, with women on average earning only 82% of what men earn. What happened when Trump was president?

• In 2017, Trump overturned a rule designed to help close the wage gap between men and women by requiring large companies to report how much they pay workers by race and gender.
• Under Trump, the Agriculture Department scaled back the $60 billion Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the food support program for low-income Americans once known as food stamps. 

Child and Eldercare

In the U.S., women carry a heavier childcare burden. The brunt of eldercare falls on women too.

• In his 2018 budget proposal, Trump called for a $95 million decrease in block grants for child care compared with actual spending in 2017. However, Congress ultimately approved a $2.37 billion increase, the largest one-year increase in federal funding in history.    
• In 2020, Trump rescinded regulations in the nursing home industry, making it easier for the coronavirus pandemic to grow in dangerous and unexpected ways. In that year, 81% of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. (282,836) occurred among those aged 65 and over.