Trump is the worst president on record for working women despite claiming to be the best

There are almost 2 million fewer women employed now than there were when President Trump took office in 2017, breaking his repeated campaign promises to help women in the workforce. Despite claiming, “I have done more for WOMEN than just about any President in HISTORY!” Trump is the only president on record to have lost jobs for women on his watch. Trump’s chaotic and ineffective response to the coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately impacted women who have lost or left the majority of the jobs lost in the last seven months, with 6 million fewer employed now than at the start of the pandemic. The percentage of women with jobs has fallen to 1986 levels wiping out a generation’s worth of progress.

During the national coronavirus crisis, the Trump administration made matters worse putting limits on emergency paid leave, which increased the challenges faced by mothers and women providing care, forcing many to choose between their jobs and caring for their families, as millions of children are now attending school from home. Moreover, one in three jobs held by women are essential jobs, and women of color are disproportionately employed in frontline occupations. Black women, in particular, have maintained the highest labor force participation rates among women throughout the pandemic, likely because more than two-thirds of Black mothers are the primary breadwinners for their families.

Despite inheriting a strong economy, President Trump was failing women even before the pandemic hit. In 2019, 1.2 million more women were uninsured than before he took office, a period that saw the overall number of uninsured drop for the first time in a decade. That amount of uninsured women is likely far higher now given the millions who have lost jobs during the pandemic. Trump blocked overtime protections for 4.2 million women, prevented raises for nearly 20 million women working in low-wage jobs after blocking a minimum wage increase, and reversed Obama era rules to prevent gender pay discrimination while women working full-time, year-round still earn 18 percent less than their male counterparts in comparable positions.

While President Trump continues to tout his record on women in the economy, know that he is lying at every turn. Women are central to our nation’s success and economic growth. But, under President Trump, women have only seen a decline in their economic opportunities and financial security.