Obama camp touts economic plan for working women

The campaign of presumptive presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is touting the effects of his economic plan on working women in Ohio. The campaign released their findings in a recent report.

The report comes as the weekend of July 19 and 20 mark the 160th anniversary of the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. To celebrate that occasion, the Ohio Democratic Women’s Caucus is holding canvasses across Franklin and surrounding counties for women candidates running for Congress, the state Senate and the state House of Representatives.

A release from the Obama campaign claims that presumptive presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has a record of opposition “to issues that affect women and his economic plan will mean another four years of the failed economic policies of the Bush Administration that have hurt American families and made life harder for working women.”

The Obama report says his plan will provide 71 million working women, including 2.7 million in Ohio, with a tax cut of $500 to $1,000 per family. The campaign says his plan will extend child care tax breaks to 195,000 mothers in Ohio, and increase the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2011, giving 397,000 women in Ohio a raise.

The report says Obama’s plan would help women-owned small businesses innovate, grow and create jobs by cutting their capital gains tax rate to zero, which would benefit 141,606 women in Ohio.

Obama also said he would fight to close the gender wage gap that has women earning 77 cents for every dollar earned by men for the same work. The report said that gap is even more pronounced for African American and Latina women.