|
Hi everyone,
Earlier this week, we announced that we’ll be postponing our Listening Tour as we work through this unprecedented moment in history. That includes expanding this newsletter — which we’ve been using to share the latest campaign headlines from Editor-at-Large Errin Haines — to help you understand the unfolding pandemic and what it means for women in this country.
To that end, we’ve launched a callout to gather stories about how COVID-19 is impacting you. Are you a health care worker? A parent or caretaker? How are you dealing with this pandemic? Please take a moment to tell us about your experience. As we hear from you, we'll share your stories in future newsletters.
In brighter news, we also wanted to take a moment to introduce you to the newest member of our team: Emily Swelgin will be joining us April 1 as our new director of product. Emily comes to The 19th from The Texas Tribune, where she led the nonprofit newsroom’s user experience design and research efforts. A native North Carolinian, Swelgin is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill and a design alum of The Washington Post. As director of product, Emily will be leading the design and development of The 19th’s news products, including this newsletter. 😁
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for opportunities to offer your feedback as we dive into R&D mode with Emily. In the meantime, please join us in welcoming her to The 19th family!
— Amanda Zamora & Emily Ramshaw
|
|
 A Q&A with Ai-jen Poo
Covid-19 will impact millions of women, particularly women of color and women in low-income jobs, whether they contract the virus or not. Ai-jen Poo, the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, recently wrote an op-ed for The New York Times imploring employers and the government to protect caregivers, who are often on the frontlines of disaster and don't have the same protections as other full-time workers.
The 19th spoke to her about who these caregivers are, how they are being affected by the virus and what can be done to help them during this crisis.
The 19th: A key takeaway from your op-ed is that we should take care of the people who take care of us. Who are we talking about and what does that look like?
There are millions of domestic workers — mostly women and women of color — who work in our homes providing caregiving and cleaning services. Taking care of our children, our aging parents and our homes is hard, vital work. In times of crisis like the moment we are in, it's even more essential.
We need nannies to support the emergency room doctors and health care professionals with child care. We need house cleaners to help disinfect our homes. We need home care workers to provide life-saving services to older people and people with chronic illnesses.
Most domestic workers do not have health care, paid sick days, paid time off or job security. And most are primary income earners for their families. The wages they earn mean they live paycheck to paycheck, so there's no savings to rely on either.
We know that women are going to be disproportionately impacted by this pandemic, whether they get sick or not. Talk about some of the unforeseen consequences for the women you represent that you’re thinking about in the midst of this crisis.
The women we represent at the National Domestic Workers Alliance are hearing that they should stay home, but that is an impossible choice for most. Domestic work cannot be done remotely. And most don't have paid time off, so they cannot afford to stay home. They are worried about how they will put food on the table for their children or keep the lights on. They are also deeply concerned about the families they care for.
We've heard stories of domestic workers being quarantined with the families they work for and unable to return to their own families because someone in the household where they work has symptoms. We've heard that people are losing work and unsure when they will receive their next paycheck, with no savings to draw from. We've heard people being forced to stay at work to keep their jobs and sign releases if they become sick. And many domestic workers are older women themselves, so highly vulnerable to infection, with limited access to health care.
What can government and concerned members of this society do to mitigate some of that?
In terms of policy, taking care of them means making sure home care workers are classified as essential personnel in this crisis so they are prioritized for protective equipment, testing and treatment. It means ensuring that emergency sick days and paid leave proposals are fully inclusive of this workforce, which is too often excluded from the protections they desperately need.
If you employ someone in your home and you are able, offer paid time off. Have a conversation with them about what they need, and encourage them to reach out to NDWA, which is creating and updating information and resources that will help them navigate this crisis. Also, donate to the Coronavirus Care Fund, to support our ability to provide emergency assistance to domestic workers in need.
|
|
|
|
Sen. Kamala Harris, a top pick for many as a vice presidential candidate, spoke at a campaign rally for former Vice President Joe Biden last week.
Credit: AP Photo/Paul Sancya
|
|
Vice presidential candidates: Weighing the pros and cons
This week saw both the path to the Democratic nomination for a woman close — Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the last of the historic six female candidates running for president, dropped out — and a debate-stage pledge from former Vice President Joe Biden, the now-likely nominee, that he would choose a woman running mate.
The dual developments have fueled speculation about who Biden might select, and while such an announcement usually comes on the eve of a party’s national convention, the unusual nature of the 2020 presidential election cycle has thrown the process into uncertainty and sped up the conversation.
The coronavirus pandemic may have also shifted the criteria, said Lis Smith, former campaign manager for ex-2020 candidate Pete Buttigieg.
“The current circumstances really put a premium on competence and experience,” said Smith. “This has shifted the conversation from ‘Who can excite people?’ to ‘Who is going to be ready on Day One to handle a national crisis?’”
The potential candidates
While women are the majority of the U.S. population and American electorate, there has never been a woman president or vice president. Biden left the door open for at least one of those possibilities on Sunday when he said during the 11th Democratic primary debate that he would choose a woman to serve as vice president if he becomes the party’s nominee, and that his cabinet would be equally representative. Biden has also promised to nominate a black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court if elected.
In interviews, House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn, a key Biden surrogate, said he is urging the former vice president to choose a black woman as a reward to the voters who were crucial to Biden’s remarkable primary comeback.
Clyburn publicly cited several choices whose names have been rumored for months as potential picks:
- Sen. Kamala Harris of California
- Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio
- Rep. Val Demings of Florida
- Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate
- Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta
- Susan Rice, a former National Security Advisor
Former presidential contenders Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts are also frequently mentioned.
All but Abrams and Warren have endorsed Biden.
As former vice president to the country’s first black president, Biden has unique insight into the role and an appreciation for a diverse ticket that will likely factor into his decision, said activist Jess Morales Rocketto, who does work with the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Care in Action.
“He has a lot of expertise in terms of what a vice president should do,” she said. “If he follows that vision for his own presidency, that is someone who is unquestionably loyal, an extremely visible lieutenant but very much behind and on the side, who offers expertise but is a closer partner and a clear second.”
Smith predicted that governors could increasingly factor into the veepstakes conversation as voters look for executive experience, and said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan (who endorsed Biden ahead of the state’s primary this month), Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas or New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, the first Democratic Latina governor in the U.S., could all be contenders.
The pros and cons
Rocketto described Bottoms, the Atlanta mayor, as “a loyal soldier” and “proven hustler,” but said it may be too large of a leap given her competition.
“She could be used well in a Biden administration, but not necessarily as a VP,” Rocketto said.
Harris, who dropped out of the presidential race in December, is an effective senator with a future in the party with potential parallels to Biden’s own trajectory: She could raise her profile in an administration in a way that positions her for another presidential run.
“She could be all kinds of things: attorney general, Supreme Court nominee … she’s just so clearly accomplished that I think people want to make sure she’s utilized in a new Democratic administration in some way,” Rocketto said.
A potential downside to adding Harris to the ticket: As a candidate, she was a frequent target of disinformation campaigns meant to undermine her qualifications.
“There’s a whole apparatus that’s already built to discredit her. That would continue,” Rocketto said.
In the experience department, Smith said “no one’s stock has dropped more” in recent weeks than Abrams, who previously served as Democratic leader in the Georgia House but has not served at the federal level or been elected statewide after narrowly losing her Georgia gubernatorial bid in 2018.
“While there’s no doubt that she should have a prominent role in a Biden administration, it’s harder to make the case for her when it’s clear that the Trump administration’s handling of the crisis is going to be at the forefront of so many voters' minds,” Smith said.
“The current circumstances really put a premium on competence and experience.”
— Lis Smith, former campaign manager for ex-2020 candidate Pete Buttigieg
Aimee Allison, founder of She the People, a national organization focused on social justice and voter turnout for women of color, disagreed, saying Abrams would make an excellent choice.
“She knows how to build a multiracial coalition and expand the electorate,” said Allison. “She would lend critical expertise and know-how in building a winning general election campaign.”
Expanding the electorate
Allison said Biden cannot pick a white running mate and that Klobuchar in particular would not help the ticket.
“She does not move us,” Allison said of women voters of color. “She can’t do the things a vice presidential pick should do in this moment, which is to build bridges between different wings of the party, or represent a different demographic or regions of the country.”
For those reasons, choosing Abrams or Demings from the South, or Fudge from the Midwest, makes sense, said Allison.
“Black women are well-placed to be powerful running mates,” she said. “We have an opportunity in this moment to do the strategic thing. The path to victory is to increase the turnout of women of color in key states that Trump won last time.”
Black women are the most loyal and consistent Democratic voters, and exit polls showed 94 percent of them voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, compared to 53 percent of white women.
The importance of national profile
At 77, if Biden were the Democratic nominee and eventual president-elect, he would be the oldest president sworn in on Inauguration Day at 78, which could also factor into whom he might choose, said Democratic strategist Adrienne Elrod.
“Biden’s campaign hasn’t said this, but I think it’s understood that having somebody who could walk into that Oval Office if something were to happen to him is an important attribute,” she said.
That Harris has already been tested on the national stage as a former presidential contender is a plus, Elrod said.
“There’s not a whole lot of new information that could be out there,” she said. “She didn’t do as well as many people thought she would’ve done in the primary, but she is somebody who people admire and who voters believe can do the job.”
Abrams and Demings are less well known nationally, though both have had high-profile headlines that have helped with name ID.
“People know of her, but they don’t know a whole lot about her,” Elrod said of Abrams. “She plays very well with the far-left base of the party. She could pull in some of the Bernie Sanders voters that might not normally support Joe Biden.”
Demings’ performance as an impeachment juror earlier this year grabbed attention, and her resume — she previously served as Orlando’s police chief — and record could be an asset to Biden, Elrod said.
Harris, Abrams or Demings are all in the right age range, Elrod noted, adding that the charismatic trio brings different strengths and unique experiences to the role.
“We’ve got such an embarrassment of riches” of eligible women of color, Elrod said, which is why options like Warren or Klobuchar might be overlooked.
“If there weren’t women of color who were qualified, it would be different,” she said. “But there are.”
|
|
|
You're signed up to receive weekly updates and headlines from The 19th. We'll do our best to keep you posted as we prepare for our full launch this summer. In the meantime, you can help us by sharing this newsletter with your friends and family, telling us about great job candidates (or applying yourself!) or by becoming a founding member.
|
|
|
|
|
|
