October 5, 2021 News & Press Releases

DPVA Chair Susan Swecker, Sen. McClellan Release Statements on Terry McAuliffe’s New Plan to Address Barriers Facing Women in the Workforce


by Democratic Party of Virginia

Richmond, VA — Terry McAuliffe released a plan to today address barriers facing women in the workforce by raising the minimum wage, passing paid family and medical leave and making child care more affordable. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, women in the U.S. have lost 5.4 million jobs, accounting for more than half of total job loss during the pandemic. 

Glenn Youngkin opposes paid family, sick and medical leave, raising the minimum wage and has no plans to address the economic toll the pandemic has taken on women. Terry will fight to support women in the workplace by keeping schools safely open, making child care more affordable, expanding access to pre-k and investing in before and after school programs.

Democratic Party of Virginia Chairwoman Susan Swecker and Senator Jennifer McClellan released the following statements today in support of Terry’s new plan to keep Virginia moving forward: 

“Glenn Youngkin’s extreme, far-right agenda would drag the Commonwealth backwards and run our economy into a ditch, hurting hard-working Virginia women who are providing for their families,” DPVA Chair Susan Swecker said. “Terry McAuliffe has a plan to help Virginia’s women secure their economic future—the only plan Glenn Youngkin has for Virginia’s women is to go ‘on offense’ to ban abortion and defund Planned Parenthood. Virginians deserve a governor who will support women and continue to move our Commonwealth forward, not a Trump acolyte who wants to drag us backwards.”

“Women have been economically devastated by the pandemic,, and Terry McAullife’s plan to raise the minimum wage, make child care more affordable and pass paid family leave will uplift women across the Commonwealth, especially as we rebuild from COVID-19 and move the economy forward,” State Senator Jennifer McClellan said. “Glenn Youngkin’s anti-women agenda is too extreme and too devastating for Virginia, and we cannot afford to have him anywhere near the governorship. I know Terry will work hard every day as the next governor of Virginia to address the many unique challenges that make it more difficult for women to thrive in the workforce and often drive too many women out of it.”

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