Represent PA’s Executive Director, Christine Jacobs, co-wrote an opinion piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer with two Represent-endorsed legislators, Representatives Elizabeth Fiedler and Donna Bullock.
As the article explains, “Our experiences as women must be represented in the halls of government. We have been passed over for promotions and paid less than our male colleagues. We have been told to speak with deeper voices and dress like men if we hope to be taken more seriously. We have been criticized for having children and “sacrificing our careers”; we have been criticized for having careers and insufficiently mothering our children. We have been forced to pump breast milk in bathroom stalls to sustain our infants, keep our jobs, and support our families. We have been assaulted, harassed, and demeaned by colleagues, clients, and family. This is our lived experience. We deserve to be at the table when legislation is debated and priorities are set when it comes to job creation, health care, transportation, taxes, education because we are deeply impacted by these structures and the inequality they currently perpetuate. Only when we demand gender justice will we begin to create a society that truly values all of us as equals.”
