Women in the Workforce & Leadership
Women have shaped our world, and they still do. They make up nearly half of the American workforce, yet they remain underrepresented at every level. Since women won the right to vote through the 19th Amendment, there have been major strides in the labor market. This led to a new norm for women. Progress that got women closer to equality in the workforce. Yet that progress has yet to eliminate the gaps in pay, leadership, and representation in the workforce. Ultimately, we must build systems where opportunity is truly equal. This looks like considering improvements to work environments and supporting policies that benefit not only women, but all workers.
On a personal level, this fight for equality is about more than just statistics; it is about the real lives of women like my mother. My mother is an incredibly hard worker and has worked in the restaurant industry for most of my life. After decades of hard work, she recently purchased her own catering company, and I am so proud of her! That success took decades of work, long days, longer weeks, and much sacrifice. Much sacrifice. These types of long hours and sacrifice disproportionately affect women and young families. This experience reflects the reality for millions of women who balance the demands of work and home, especially single mothers.
The Gender Pay Gap
On average, in 2025, women made about $0.81 for each dollar earned by a man. This means that men earn approximately 24% more money than women. Here is the kicker. Education is the greatest equalizer of our time, and yet women with graduate degrees earn less, on average, than men with only a four-year college degree. In fact, women are paid less than men across ALL education levels. Among workers who have only a high school diploma, women earn 21.5% less than men.
“The gender pay gap worsened following a year of Trump administration attacks on workers, including cuts to the federal workforce, attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, ordering mass deportations, and undermining childcare and home care providers.” The Trump Administration has failed to produce better outcomes or create real change for women. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is 60 years old, and little has been done to modernize it or address the pay gap issue. Simply put, this issue is systemic. This gap persists due to discrimination, occupational segregation (when one demographic group is overrepresented or underrepresented in a given job category), and societal norms. Women face these barriers well before they enter the labor market—they live with them every single day.
The greatest factor contributing to the gap, discussed last week, is the lack of affordable, accessible childcare. Without access to affordable childcare, many women are forced to choose lower-paying jobs or part-time work, pass on promotions and important projects, or leave the workforce altogether. We must empower America’s women with meaningful choice. Because, to be quite clear, I support mothers who wish to be stay-at-home moms. I also support households that work. I advocate for meaningful choice. I believe that you should be able to make the right choice for your family and have a government that supports you in that decision.
Women in STEM
There is promising growth here! The number of women entering Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields increased by 31% over the last decade. Despite this progress, the gap still exists. Women still only make up 35% of STEM graduates, a figure that has not changed in TEN years. The same truth lies here: too many girls and women are held back by biases, social norms, and expectations. Ending the truth that too many have been comfortable with and closing this gap matters not just for women, but for the economy.
For example, without meaningful changes in recruitment and employment, the U.S. semiconductor sector could face a shortfall of 67,000 jobs by the end of the decade. Why does this matter for the economy? What is the semiconductor sector? This sector powers our lives; think of all the vital technologies such as smartphones, computers, cars, medical devices, and almost everything with an on-off switch. This sector is critical to the information age, and the barriers to hiring are purely systemic in nature because women are certainly capable of excelling in these positions.
Investing in STEM means investing in the technologies that will shape our future. For women, investing in pathways into STEM fields doesn’t just mean filling a role; it means making the economy work for everyone by expanding access to high-paying, secure jobs. Closing this gap is also important for the future of women in the workforce. Women should be able to look around their labs and offices and see more women conducting experiments, analyzing data and designs, writing code and equations, and running algorithms. Do you know how impactful this is for the younger generation of women and girls? Seeing women as equal partners and in positions of power does so much to foster confidence and inspire girls to aim higher. I aim to reimagine the narrative. Every girl has the potential to lead; every girl can be anything she wants when she grows up.
Women in Leadership
In the political world, women make up only 28% of voting members in the 119th Congress. While this is a major stride from where women were a decade ago (a 44 percent increase), it shows we still have a long way to go to achieve a more balanced legislature that adequately represents women. The lack of representation goes hand in hand with the leadership pipeline currently struggling across all sectors.
Right now, only half of companies are prioritizing women’s career advancement. Some are not prioritizing women at all by offering fewer remote and hybrid work options, and scaling back career development programs tailored for women. Having these kinds of flexible options is essential for women, as they often balance work and home life. Women are less likely to have a more senior coworker put them up for promotion or introduce them to new networks. To top this all off, in 2021, female managers earned only 71 cents for every dollar earned by male managers. From the beginning of their careers, women are disadvantaged, keeping women from even thinking of the possibility of advancing in their roles.
Conclusion
To close the gap, we need more than just awareness. We need pay transparency and equity laws to mandate equal pay for equal work. While we are at it, we need to raise the minimum wage. That is why I support Oklahoma’s State Question 832—make sure you go vote on 6/16/2026! Closing the gender pay gap means appropriately funding federal agencies to design, implement, and evaluate programs and policies that encourage and support women's advancement. Closing these gaps isn’t just the right thing to do for women; it is essential to the United States economy.
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Emma Cohn & Elise Gould, The Gender Pay Gap Widened Slightly in 2025: How Trump’s First Year in Office Hurt Women and What States Can Do to Fix It (2026), Economic Policy Institute, https://www.epi.org/blog/the-gender-pay-gap-widened-slightly-in-2025-how-trumps-first-year-in-office-hurt-women-and-what-states-can-do-to-fix-it/.
Women in STEM: Representation Matters (2024), U.S. Department of Commerce, https://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2024/03/women-stem-representation-matters.
Girls’ and Women’s Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (2025), UNESCO.org, https://www.unesco.org/en/gender-equality/education/stem.
Anna Jackson, Women Account for 28% of Lawmakers in the 119th Congress – Unchanged from the Last Congress (2025), Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/02/21/women-account-for-28-of-lawmakers-in-the-119th-congress-unchanged-from-the-last-congress/.
Alexis Krivkovich, Drew Goldstein & Megan McConnell, Women in the Workplace 2025 Report (2025), McKinsey, https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/women-in-the-workplace.
Women in the Workplace 2025: Read Key Findings & Takeaways (2025), Lean In, https://leanin.org/women-in-the-workplace#broken-rung-and-glass-ceiling-statistics-in-the-workplace.
Women in the Workforce: Underrepresentation in Management Positions Persists, and the Gender Pay Gap Varies by Industry and Demographics (2023), U.S. Government Accountability Office, https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-106320.
