Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I strongly support the Women Working in Non Traditional Jobs Act, introduced by Senators Gillibrand and myself late last week. This legislation would encourage local and State workforce systems to think differently about how they train and prepare women for jobs in which they are not well-represented. Women currently represent half of our Nation's workforce, but two-thirds of these women are concentrated in 21 of 500 occupational jobs. Nontraditional jobs, in which women make up 25 percent or less of employees, pay 20-30 percent more than traditionally female jobs. Because of this discrepancy, it is important to establish a program that will aid women in moving away from occupations they have traditionally held, which are by and large lower paying than occupations where men are concentrated. I have always been a strong advocate for equal opportunity in the workforce. This bill would create a new Federal grant program designed to help women find these high-wage nontraditional jobs. Currently, there is only one Federal grant program designed to train women for nontraditional jobs: the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations, WANTO, but this program is under-resourced and overly narrow in scope. WANTO is 17 years old, has been funded at only $1 million for years, and is specifically designed to increase women's participation in the construction industry.…”