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As Women’s History Month comes to an end, it is important that we look back and celebrate the strides our country has made while also recognizing the work that still lies ahead. Since the first women’s march on Washington in 1909, women have gained the right to vote, make up 47 percent of the U.S. workforce and represent the majority of graduates from college.
In order to achieve the rights we enjoy today, we faced incredible adversity. As a woman recently elected to Congress, I’m thankful for trailblazers like Barbara F. Vucanovich, who became the first woman from Nevada elected to federal office and the first woman ever elected to House leadership; Florence Jones Murphy, Nevada’s first woman commercial pilot; and Sarah Winnemucca, an educator, activist, and first Native American woman to publish a book in English.
While celebrating Women’s History Month means reflecting on all we’ve accomplished, it is more important to consider what we have left to accomplish. The reality is women are still underrepresented and face adversities across our country.
When I started my career, I experienced wage discrimination as one of the few women computer programmers. Not much has changed since then. Women in Nevada still only make 82 cents for every dollar a man makes, and minority women make even less. Despite making up nearly half the workforce, women are still underrepresented in STEM professions, a disparity that contributes to the wage gap. Women in STEM jobs make 33 percent more than women in comparable non-STEM jobs.
Aside from the need to ensure economic stability it is equally important, if not more so, that we address the national epidemic of violence against women in the U.S. Studies show 1 in 3 women have been victims of some form of physical violence by an intimate partner and 1 in 4 have been victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner. Even more troubling, women in Nevada are 65 percent more likely to be shot and killed by an intimate partner than women in other states.
Women continue to face an assault on access to affordable health care. Under the new GOP health care plan, the essential health benefit rules implemented under the ACA would be repealed. The rule required insurance companies to offer qualified health plans to provide hospitalization, maternity care, mental health services. By repealing this rule, insurance companies would no longer be required to guarantee plans to cover such services.
To make matters worse, the GOP bill guts Planned Parenthood, which would leave thousands of low-income women in Nevada without access to critical services like cancer screenings and affordable birth control. Planned Parenthood provided more than 4,000 of these life-saving screenings just last year in Nevada.
These problems must be addressed. To shrink the wage gap, we need legislation that guarantees equal pay for equal work. We need to promote paid family leave and affordable child care so that women don’t feel like they need to choose between having a family and advancing their career. We also need to encourage women to take up careers in STEM fields by building up and highlighting successful female role models, investing in women’s STEM education and scholarship programs, and dispelling gender stereotypes that cause many women to feel such careers aren’t worth the effort. We must provide adequate funding for programs that are part of the Violence Against Women Act.
Finally, we need to ensure access to affordable health care coverage by fixing the Affordable Care Act, and not ending the law. The GOP replacement bill would increase premium costs for lower income and older women and would take funding away from organizations that provide critical healthcare services.
Our country needs smart solutions to address the systemic injustices women face every day, not ideological and partisan proposals that impose undue burdens on their access to affordable health care, economic stability and security. A desire to see these solutions become a reality is a principal reason why I am committed to making your voice heard in Congress. Please contact my office should you ever wish to share your story or an opinion with me. Your voice is important and I will ensure it is heard here in Washington.
Jacky Rosen is a Democratic congresswoman from Las Vegas. Her contact information is as follows: Las Vegas office 8872 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 210/220 Las Vegas, NV 89123 Phone: 702-963-950 Washington, D.C., office 413 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: 202-225-3252 Email: ht
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