San Antonio Express-News: Nancy Pelosi calls for better working conditions and opportunities for women

By Guillermo Contreras

Leal Middle School teacher Alma Ramos came to the United States from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, when she was 15.

She did well at South San High School, and graduated early. She planned to go to college, but was discouraged by some of her friends because of her immigration status.

"Why are you going to school? You can't work," Ramos, 32, recalled them saying.

But she wanted an education, and went on to graduate from Texas A&M - San Antonio last year, using the help of a local group, AVANCE, to help care for and educate her three children. She was able to get deferred action on her immigration case that allowed her to get a work permit.

"Women should have goals and obtain the tools needed to fulfill those goals and never get discouraged," Ramos told dozens of attendees at a panel discussion Saturday addressing economic issues affecting women.

With the U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as the keynote speaker, the forum organized by U.S. Rep. Joaquín Castro, D-San Antonio, pushed an agenda by House Democrats focusing on paid leave, pay inequity and childcare.

The discussion also covered minimum wage, how some immigrant women might be afraid to speak about their rights for fear of being threatened about their status, and it also served as a call for civic engagement and voter participation.

It was held at the Young Women's Leadership Academy, where Castro said 100 percent of its senior class has been accepted to college.

Pelosi, who was House Speaker from 2007 to 2011, and other attendees emphasized an agenda they say focuses on women and their families, a belief that "when women succeed, America succeeds." She called for paycheck fairness, investment in job training and education for women, rights for women in the workplace, and support for women as business owners, among other issues affecting women.

Pelosi said that in some places, women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes, despite being equally educated, qualified, trained and experienced.

"That means April 1 is the first day that women will be earning money," Pelosi said. "In other words, they worked the first three months of the year for free. That's just not right."

Sonia Rodriguez, chair of the Mayor's Commission on the Status of Women, also said she sees women being affected more when it comes to taking leave from work during a medical crisis.

"The reality is with women making up almost 50 percent of the workforce, and women serving as the primary caregivers to their husbands, children and parents during a medical crisis, we see that women are disproportionately by the lack of paid sick leave in this country," Rodriguez said.

Another area for improvement is pay in general.

"As a single mother and working woman, I can tell you that minimum wage does not allow us to have a decent, dignified life," said Maria Soto, who has worked for 15 years as a housekeeper in the hotel industry. "We need to raise the minimum wage. It's the just thing to do."

Pelosi noted that more than "60 percent of the people making minimum wage are women" and agreed wages need to go up.

She touted efforts by Castro and other Democrats in addressing the health and economic security of women and families, citing the Affordable Care Act as an example.

She also noted that programs that receive some government funding for early education and childcare are important because they help in the long run.

"It isn't a cost because nothing brings more to the Treasury than an education," she said.

Pelosi told the crowd of how women had to fight for years to win the right to vote, and how that struggle must continue in other areas.

"What's really important is we have to fight for all of this in that tradition," Pelosi said.