Bernie Sanders says yes, he's a feminist

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 24 September 2015

Hillary Clinton isn't the only feminist running for president — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told The Washington Post's Karen Tumulty that he is a feminist and committed to fighting for women's rights.

"I think if you check my record, you will find that is what I've done throughout my entire political career," he said. Sanders said he knows that there is a "desire on the part of many women, perfectly understandable, to see a woman being elected president," and he would like to see that too, as well as women holding more political offices. Today, he added, in these "enormously difficult times," it is "absolutely imperative that we stand up to the billionaire class [and] bring our people together to fight for a progressive agenda."

Sanders said that to the best of his knowledge, he has a "100 percent pro-choice voting record," and has made a key part of his campaign the need for at least three months of family and medical leave. He is "fighting to raise the minimum wage over a two year period to $15 an hour, which will benefit everybody, but women actually more than men," and "regards it as enormously important that we fight for pay equity for women." Finally, he believes that child care in the U.S. is a "disaster today" and should be fixed. "We need to have the best childcare/pre-K system in the world, making it universal and affordable," he said.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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