Press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, March 26, 2020

CONTACT:  Brett Abrams | brett@unbendablemedia.com

Women’s Group Says Senate Stimulus Package is Insufficient for Women Who Are Bearing the Brunt of the Coronavirus Pandemic

UltraViolet Urges Congress to Pass Additional Economic Package That Directly Addresses the Needs of Frontline Workers Who Need Immediate Relief, Fundamentally Restructure the Economy

Says Paid Family and Medical Leave is Critical to Protecting Public Health and Supporting the American Economy

Statement from Shaunna Thomas, co-founder and executive director of UltraViolet, a leading national women’s organization, on the Senate’s $2t coronavirus stimulus package and how it fails women in America, who are disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic:

“As the coronavirus pandemic dramatically changes lives across the United States, it is women who are on the frontlines of the outbreak at work and at home.

“Women make up more than 80% of America’s health care workers, and are on the front lines of this epidemic, often without personal protective equipment. Women make up the majority of grocery store workers who are keeping America fed and are working overtime to reduce the risk of infection when people need to leave their homes to buy supplies. Women make up the majority of educators who have been forced to radically shift the 2020 academic year and make sure that their students do not fall behind while they are out of school. As America’s social distance, and schools and daycare facilities close – women who are working from home are doing double-duty – serving as caretakers and home educators in addition to their regular lives. Women are on the frontlines of this pandemic, and women are the heroes helping us get through it.”

“The coronavirus pandemic and its impact on public health and the economy in the United States has revealed just how broken our country truly is: essential workers are only treated as essential in moments of crisis and the lack of paid sick days has resulted in hundreds of thousands of families being exposed to infection and economic ruin.

“Make no mistake – the Senate’s $2t economic stimulus package is not designed to fundamentally fix America’s broken social safety net and provide for its people – it is designed to prop up a system where major multinational companies can continue to deny their employees fair wages and paid sick days, and the government can get away with not mandating these protections at all times.

“Above all this crisis has highlighted how paid family and medical leave isn’t a benefit or a luxury – but rather a crucial tool to protecting public health and our economy. Congress should pass the PAID Leave Act, which would provide full, emergency paid family and medical leave for all workers through their employers. We need it, and the front-line workers who are keeping us safe, fed and healthy, deserve it.”

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