August 26, 2011 Dear Friends, Ninety one years ago, the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified and women gained the right to vote. In the nine decades that have passed since, the struggle for women’s equality has been hard fought and in many cases hard won. But inequality and discrimination still exist. Women earn less than men for doing the same job. Census statistics released in September 2010 show that women still earn 77 percent of what men earn. Economist Evelyn Murphy, president of The Wage Project, estimates that over a lifetime (47 years of full-time work) this gap amounts to a loss in wages of $700,000 for a high school graduate; $1.2 million for a college graduate and $2 million for a professional school graduate. We must do better. Women lag behind in health care options and insurance coverage. Only recently did studies on the efficacy and safety of medications include women despite the fact that women use more medications and have higher rates of side effects than do men. And until Congress passed health care reform in 2010, being a woman was still considered a preexisting condition. Finally, conservatives in Congress and in state legislatures around the country have waged an all out assault on a woman’s right to choose. I was proud to help defeat efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and other Title X programs. We should be expanding women’s health and reproductive rights, not trampling on them. It’s been nearly a century since women gained the right to vote. We must use that right to elect public officials who will work tirelessly to eliminate the wage gap, improve health care options, and defend a woman’s right to choose. Good news on that front—the last two winners of special elections to Congress were women. Happy Women’s Equality Day! Best, Unsubscribe Washington D.C. Office 211 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-3531 Fax: (202) 226-4183 San Mateo Office 400 S. El Camino Real, Suite 410 San Mateo, CA 94402 Phone: (650) 342-0300 Fax: (650) 375-8270