Women

Working for nearly three decades to provide equality and opportunity for women.

As a young legislator, I wrote Ohio’s first missing children’s law and helped fund shelters for victims of domestic violence. As Attorney General, I strengthened women’s access to reproductive health services. And as Lieutenant Governor, I have worked hand in hand with Ohio’s working families to strengthen our middle class.

Before joining Governor Strickland’s Administration, I spent seven years as the head of Cleveland’s Center for Families and Children, pioneering new programs to promote responsible fatherhood, providing after school programs for at-risk youth, and offering mental health services and job skills training for parents. I have devoted my life to public service, tirelessly advocating for issues important to women and families.
 
STANDING UP FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS

• Women are paid on average only 77 percent of what men are paid for the same work; for women of color, the gap is significantly wider.  In the Senate, Lee will fight to ensure women are fairly compensated for their work.  He is a strong supporter of “Equal Pay for Equal Work,” the simple premise that women and men doing the same work are entitled to earn the same pay.  Lee supported the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act signed into law by President Obama to ensure that victims of wage discrimination can effectively challenge unequal pay.  He also supports the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would provide more effective remedies to victims of wage discrimination by enhancing enforcement of equal pay requirements.
• Lee has long been a leader in the fight to ensure that women are able to access safe reproductive health care, and he is committed to upholding the rights guaranteed in Roe v. Wade.  As a state legislator, Lee sponsored a resolution “deploring acts of violence against reproductive health care facilities” and “exhorting law enforcement agencies to vigorously investigate such acts.”  As Attorney General, Lee filed suit against anti-abortion counseling centers accused of deceptive advertising, and sponsored a resolution adopted by the National Association of Attorneys General encouraging the enactment of a federal law prohibiting force, physical obstruction or intimidation to deny patients access to clinics performing abortions.  In November 2009, Lee called the anti-choice amendment to the health care reform bill before the U.S. House “discriminatory language far beyond existing law in restricting a woman’s right to choose,” and urged the U.S. Senate to reject similar language in its health care reform legislation.
• For nearly 30 years, Lee has fought to combat domestic violence and other crimes perpetrated against women and families.  As a state legislator, Lee cosponsored legislation eliminating the spousal exemption for sexual battery as well as legislation that would have created a privilege for confidential communications between counselors and victims of domestic violence, and created a Domestic Violence Shelters Fund.  In the Senate, Lee will continue this fight by strongly supporting efforts to preserve and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act as well as the Victims of Crime Act.

FIGHTING FOR OUR FAMILIES

• As Lt. Governor and Director of the Ohio Department of Development, Lee has worked to ensure that jobs created in the State of Ohio pay a living wage.  Lee supports common-sense economic principles: fiscal discipline, living within our means, rewarding hard work, investing in our people, and growing a strong middle class. In the Senate, he will fight to reduce the deficit and support pay-as-you-go budget rules to make sure Congress lives within its means. He also will fight to implement tax policies that reward work, support middle-class families, and encourage investment and job creation.
• Lee believes we can’t turn around our nation’s economy without controlling exploding health care costs for families. Health premiums have risen more than 25 percent over the last five years, and now cost a typical family more than $12,000 to purchase insurance on the open market. In fact, nearly two-thirds of all bankruptcies are caused by expensive medical bills.  Lee has long been engaged in the fight for increased access to affordable health care for all Ohioans. Over two decades ago Lee championed quality hospice care and over a decade ago, he championed a Patients’ Bill of Rights that would have guaranteed patients the right to choose their doctor and bar insurance companies from making medical decisions.

CARING FOR OUR SERVICEWOMEN AND WOMEN VETERANS

• For over 200 years, women have served their country, and over the last decade, the percentage of women in military service has grown steadily.  In the Senate, Lee will be a strong advocate for the Caregiver and Veterans Health Services Act.  This legislation would expand a wide range of programs covering the unique needs of our servicewomen, which are often overlooked and include support for those who have been victims of sexual harassment and assault and support for new mothers.  The bill would also provide counseling, support, and a living stipend for caregivers of wounded veterans.