2020's woman candidates are actually prioritizing paid leave, child care, and equal pay

So-called women's issues affect everyone. It just took some women presidential candidates to make that clear.

Democratic women have entered the 2020 race in record numbers, bringing paid family leave, pay disparities, and other issues that primarily affect women to the mainstream. That's very apparent with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who introduced a "Family Bill of Rights," and with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who debuted a maternal mortality bill, both on Wednesday.

Gillibrand has by far churned out the biggest policies to benefit women and families, starting with her Senate bills tackling sexual assault in the military and in the halls of Congress. That continued in her family-focused economic policy plan, which takes on adoption discrimination, paid family leave, and rural disparities in pregnancy health care. Gillibrand pledged to address those issues during her first 100 days in the White House.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Harris also rolled out a bill Wednesday to address the 700 pregnancy-related deaths America sees every year, particularly mentioning how black women are more than three times more likely to die from those causes than white women. The bill would dedicate $25 million toward programs to fight racial bias in medicine, and another $125 million for identifying and properly handling high-risk pregnancies, CBS News reports. Harris also has a pretty extensive plan to fine companies with gender pay disparities, with proceeds going toward Gillibrand's FAMILY Act for paid leave.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) most recent woman-focused proposal rolled out last week and calls on Congress to pass laws preserving abortion rights. She also has a plan to incentivize hospitals to reduce maternal mortality rates for black women, has another plan to subsidize child care nationwide, and has spoken extensively about closing the gender pay gap.