Many Americans hoped 2016 was going to be the year we elected the first woman to the White House. Instead, the first female nominee of any major party lost to the most brazenly misogynistic candidate in modern history—Donald Trump. He won with the support of over 50 percent of white women who voted. Critics and supporters alike have urged Americans not to take his campaign comments literally.
In that case, what should we take seriously? The truth is, Donald Trump’s offensive, anti-woman rhetoric has been mirrored by Republican policy for decades.
We should take the President-elect at his word. And even if we don’t, we should take seriously Republican efforts to limit women’s health care, revoke women’s autonomy over their own bodies, and destroy the safety net that so many women and their families depend on.
We need to figure out how to step up in 2017 and beyond to make America as fair as we know it can be. This election made clear that America is not a post-sexist society in which all women have “made it.” Sure, women have seen huge gains in employment, education, and economic autonomy since the 1960s. Yet in 2017 women and children are still more likely to live in poverty.
Take my good friend Chanel. She’s a 22-year-old single mom raising two kids and trying to make ends meet on minimum wage and $400 a month in federal assistance. She wants to be a nurse one day and is in school and studying hard to realize that dream. She has to get her kids to doctor appointments and school, budget for food, stay in school so she can maintain her housing, and afford diapers.
And she is not alone. Forty-two million Americans live in poverty. That’s almost hard to believe, right?
Each woman’s story may be different, but they are all working hard to get by—and somehow, they still can’t make that paycheck cover everything they need to survive.
In our country, the wealthiest on earth, roughly 1.5 million American households get by on $2 a day.
Imagine you’re a single (or married) parent with a child. Maybe you earn the minimum wage waiting tables, working at a Walmart or Target, or working at a fast-food restaurant. Or, maybe you have a salaried job but haven’t seen your wages rise with the changing economy. Maybe you’re a teacher or a Postal Service employee. You work hard and play by the rules, but it’s tough to make ends meet. In Minneapolis, one of the cities I represent in Congress, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is almost $1,500 a month. Add in a few hundred dollars for utilities and groceries. If you have a kid or are caring for a loved one, you’re also thinking about day care, diapers, or visits to the doctor.
Try to write a budget that makes this work. I bet you can’t do it.
But every year 20 million Americans try. And most of them are women.
Our anti-poverty programs have helped millions of people build a better life. In fact, our safety net programs cut the poverty rate in half. In large part, the dramatic decline in poverty is thanks to safety net programs like food stamps, housing subsidies, Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Social Security, Medicare, and other assistance programs.
No matter how much these programs have helped, there are still people in Congress fighting to end them entirely.
Let’s be clear: If Republicans successfully gut Medicaid, repeal the majority of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), privatize Social Security, or eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, women will be impacted the most.
Consider Medicaid, for example. If Republicans cut the medical program, many people who earn hourly wages at or below minimum wage and are enrolled in Medicaid could lose access to health care or see their costs dramatically increase.
If Republicans repeal the ACA, at least 20 million people would lose their health insurance. Most of the Americans who will lose coverage do not have a college degree, and most live in a household where at least one person works full-time.
Two thirds of folks working for minimum wage are women. And whether they’re in low-wage jobs or sitting in corporate boardrooms, women are still paid less than their male coworkers.
Republicans have long promised to cut initiatives that help low- and moderate-income people, like rental vouchers, job training, child care, and grants for college tuition. In past proposals Republican leadership proposed cutting $137 billion over ten years from Food Stamps (SNAP) and $150 billion from programs like Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
There are around 10 million single moms like Chanel in the United States and 2 million single dads. Forty percent of all households with children include mothers who are the primary or only source of income. Republican proposals will increase poverty, make it harder for working folks to improve their economic stability, and increase hunger in America.
So what’s the solution? Showing up is a good place to start.
We need to fight like never before against the politics of blame, exclusion, and isolation. Divisive politics hurts all of us, and slows us down on the road to progress. Women—poor, middle-class, rich, black, Latina, Native American, and white—must lead us in this fight.
Link arms with your fellow women—even those who may have a different story than your own—and continue to build a movement of women invested in the future of our country with renewed energy. Our country’s future depends on it.
We need you to lead the fight for affordable housing, for access to contraception, and to improve access to health care, better jobs, and better wages. We deserve strong K-12 education and affordable colleges, universities, and trade schools.
You may ask how you as an individual can make a difference. You can. There are people and organizations who have been fighting for you and your family for decades. Find the grassroots group that resonates with you. Join a church, synagogue, or mosque that volunteers in the community at a homeless shelter, free clinic, or diaper bank.
Go to city council meetings and speak on policies that impact your community. Join the PTA. I know that working (often more than one job) with all of life’s other responsibilities makes it hard to find the time or energy. It is hard. Find one thing that works for your schedule, even if it is only once a month.
Register people to vote for local, state, and federal elections. Or consider running for office yourself.
When more people vote, policies better reflect the needs of everyone in our community. We have to decide that helping our neighbors is worth it. We have to decide whether we want to be a country that allows tens of millions of its people to live paycheck to paycheck, or not.
Chanel once told me that she’d never voted before. She knew how important progressive anti-poverty policies had been for her, and for many of her friends and family, but never saw voting as important. She wondered how one person could ever make a difference.
We talked about how important one person’s voice, one person’s feet, one person’s ballot could be. I don’t know how she voted, but Chanel told me she voted for the first time on November 8.
Things might not have turned out the way we hoped this past election day. But that doesn’t mean we should give up. In fact, it means the exact opposite. Many women and allies are planning a Women’s March on Washington after Inauguration Day to protest Donald Trump and his anti-woman rhetoric. The organizers of the march, and every person who shows up to support it, are doing exactly what this country needs—now more than ever.
We need to stand together. We need to organize. And we need to fight for a country where everyone has a fair shot and nobody is left behind.
Once we decide that we’re not willing to be a nation that leaves mothers and children behind, we have to use our voices and our votes to make it happen.
It all starts with you.
Rep. Keith Ellison represents Minnesota’s 5th district in the House of Representatives. He is currently in the running to become the next chair of the Democratic National Committee.
