Snap Fact #163

Note: This is the first of a Snap Fact mini-series about the Obama Administration’s support for women having the opportunity to play on a level playing field.

Words are cheap, actions speak volumes. With the President's political opposition trying to separate people from the President and divert the public's attention over non-issues and made up myths, it is important that the FACTS about his actions are clearly known. This week we will be publishing a series of SNAP-CAPS that anyone with eyes can see that the president's heart and mind inform his deep commitment to the principle that every citizen in America has an opportunity to achieve their potential. Nowhere is this more apparent than the President's support of Woman's Equality.

Some of the areas we will visit this week are the impact of the Obama Administration on; 

LILLY LEADBETTER LAW

CONTRACEPTION and WOMEN'S HEALTH ISSUES 

SUPREME COURT APPOINTEES

SECRETARY OF STATE & OTHER EMPLOYEES

WOMEN IN POLITICS

ECONOMIC GROWTH

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

SENIOR WOMEN IN RETIREMENT AND PREPARING FOR RETIREMENT

THE IMPORTANCE OF MOMS BRINGING UP THEIR KIDS

THE RESPECT THE PRESIDENT HAS FOR HIS OWN WIFE AND DAUGHTERS

Women now make up more of the workforce, which is more than they did in January 2008 before the financial meltdown. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first bill that President Obama signed into law, making it easier for women to fight pay discrimination and get equal pay for equal work. The Obama administration has pushed for more legislation to give women additional tools to fight gender pay discrimination. They’ve encouraged companies to make workplaces more flexible so women don’t have to choose between being a good employee or a good mom.

Today nearly 30 percent of small business owners are women. Their businesses generated $1.2 trillion last year. This is a previously unheard of number of female entrepreneurs. Statistics like this are not made up, nor are they created out of thin air like the "statistics" put forward by the opposition. Our Chess Master President has aligned the pieces on this board to level the playing field. The administration has created a solid infrastructure to support his initiatives in this regard. Through some outstanding work by Karen Mills and the SBA and the other parts of the Obama administration, they have extended more than 16,000 new loans worth $4-5 billion to women-owned-businesses. Every single day, another 500 women take the helm of their own company’s right here in America and they do their part to grab hold of those doors of opportunity that they walked through and open them just a little bit wider for those following in their footsteps. Since President Obama has taken office, women have gained 1,166,000 private sector jobs! This is not a coincidence; it is the result of administration policies that are helping to open those doors.

As always, the President also looks to the future. Over the past decade women have earned over half of all higher education degrees awarded in America. The administration's ongoing support of higher education prepares young men and women to have a more level playing field in the years to come. Although women's role in small business ownership and the professions is, and will continue to rise under the leadership of President Obama, there is still a long way to go in the country's largest firms. Just 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. Likewise, fewer than 20 percent of the seats in Congress are occupied by women. This alone gives one reason to vote for this President.

As you read this series of SNAP-CAPS, at the same time think about the Republicans' very visible and virulent continuous opposition to the positive actions of the President in support of women. Think what the Supreme Court would look like, what women's health care rights would be, what women's access to education and job opportunities will be if we deny President Obama the chance to finish what he has started. So next time you hear an untruth or a manipulative red herring like "Women have lost the most jobs under president Obama", you will do well to do some independent research and learn the truth about who is really waging a War On Women and who is fighting for the distaff side every day.