YWCA Statement on President Biden’s State of the Union address

In response to the president’s March 7, 2024, State of the Union address, YWCA USA CEO Margaret Mitchell released the following statement: 

“Women—particularly women of color, who navigate the compounding harms of racial discrimination on top of gender discrimination—have lost long-cherished rights and supports that are essential to our empowerment and the elimination of racism.

In his State of the Union address, President Biden presented a vision of our nation that includes priorities YWCA advocates for every day in our local communities, state legislatures, and in the halls of Congress.

A future that includes: 

• Access to abortion and the full range of reproductive health care;  

• Access to affordable, quality child care that sets our children up for success and keeps women – who carry most of the work it takes to raise our next generation – in the workforce; 

• Strengthened voting rights for racial and ethnic communities who face steep barriers to exercising their most fundamental rights;

• Access to paid family and medical leave so that we don’t have to keep choosing between paying the rent or caring for an aging parent, ourselves, or a new child;  

• Pay for caregivers that actually matches their critical, difficult, and often thankless work; 

• Expansion of the Child Tax Credit, to help more parents keep food on the table and provide for their children;

• Stronger enforcement of the Violence Against Women Act to address domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence; 

• Common sense gun laws that protect school children, survivors of gender-based violence, and communities; 

And so much more.

We applaud the president’s decisive call to action for these and other measures needed to build a nation where women and girls can thrive. And we will continue to do the work to urge our lawmakers to join us in building that future together.”