Celebrating the Right to Vote On August 26

Teresa Younger is the Executive Director of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women.

 

She says not many women mark the anniversary considering how much progress has been made in the last 90 years to further women's rights.

 

"Women have access to contraception, we've changed the laws around preventing employment discrimination, we changed the laws around sex discriination in schools and Title IX. We've given the women the right to abortion. And I think there are more women who have been around for a shorter amount of time who don't recognize the history and the steps that have been taken to get us to this point."

 

At the same time, Younger says more work needs to be done including the end of pay disparities between women and men.  She says support for working mothers also needs to be strengthened suggesting that its time for the federal government to pass a 'paid' family medical leave act.

 

"There's a mommy penalty out there now for women who leave the workplace to take care of their children and when they come back they're making even less. Our country is not recognizing that leave time from workplace is helping build this country up and women are not losing any of the skill sets they've walked away with."

 

In the workplace and in government, there's room for more women in leadership   Nationwide, 51 percent of women are in management but only three percent hold CEO positions. In Connecticut only 32 percent of the General Assembly's seats are held by women.

 

To boost women working in the executive branch of govt, the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women is launching an initiative along with eleven other states to encourage gubernatorial candidates to hire qualified women

 

The Commission is meeting with candidates now and is collecting resumes from women who have backgrounds in public policy, finance, and management that will be given to the Governor-elect after November's election.

 

for wnpr I'm LN