Two Truths & A Lie: Women and the Economy

Is the Economy Better for Women Under Democrats or Republicans?

Aug 20, 2024

If the economy is the number one issue for women heading into the 2024 Election, it might be because women, not the stock market, are the true indicators of the country’s economic well-being.

This past week, the 2024 presidential candidates released dueling economic plans. Trump’s “Drill, Baby, Drill” solution to inflation and working-class economic angst starkly contrasts Harris’s strategy to strengthen the middle class through tax credits, homeownership, and going after large corporations that artificially inflate prices to fatten their profit margins. But which plan is better for women and families?

In the U.S., economic stability is typically measured by the stock market's performance, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and unemployment. The economy thrives by these measures; there’s not much to see or do when they’re good. However, if we measure it by the rising cost of living and childcare, the gender pay gap, and growing wealth inequality, much work still needs to be done.

Let’s play Two Truths & a Lie, one of my favorite get-to-know-you party games, to answer this question. Here are the statements:

The impact of inflation on Men and Women is the same.
The Economy is better for Women under Democrats than Republicans.
Electing a Woman President would Change the Economy for the Better.

FALSE: The impact of inflation on Men and Women is the same.

Inflation hits women harder because of lower earnings and fewer savings compared to men.

Inflation is just a fancy way of saying everything costs more these days. Everything is more expensive, and women are shouldering the burden. When prices rise, and budgets tighten, we feel it first.

Despite falling inflation, it will take time for women and families to feel the effect on their pocketbooks and daily lives. Women earn less, have fewer savings, and pay more for goods and services, including childcare.

In 2022, as the economy was recovering from the pandemic and women were re-entering the workforce, they were less likely than men to receive a salary increase at a rate higher than the inflation rate. Men’s salaries were also 33 percent more likely to keep pace with inflation than women’s.

Women earn the same salary but can buy and afford less.

I often feel like a human ATM (and taxi driver) with my two teenagers, but it has felt different lately. I have felt the crunch when I look at my bottom line and review my budget at the end of the month. Food, electricity, clothing, travel, gas, insurance, and just about everything else is more expensive. My income has remained the same, but my expenses haven’t, and it feels as though there is little I can do about it.

Any economic plan by a presidential candidate needs to address this economic reality and do more to set future generations up for success.

Drill, Baby, Drill

Trump’s economic plan is so far outside our current economic reality that it feels like he’s in outer space or doesn’t know what he’s talking about—probably both.

In response to a voter who expressed concern about the rising cost of housing and economic pressures young people face, he responded Drill, Baby, Drill, many times over. He also complained about the price of bacon, as if he were making the weekly grocery run for his family. Trump believes that lowering energy costs, increasing tariffs, drilling oil, and keeping taxes low for billionaires will reduce the costs for everyday Americans. He doesn’t say how; we’re just supposed to take his word for it (wink, wink).

His plan is a snow job on a sunny day, and we’re the ones left out in the cold. Trump’s plan speaks to his business friends and corporations, who love him for it, even if they bristle at his behavior.

An Economy for the Future

Harris’s economic plan is closer to what women and working families need in an economy. She speaks the language of everyday people who have complained for the last few years about rising costs and their decreased standard of living.

She proposes restoring the expanded child tax credit, which expired in 2022, and cutting child poverty in half while it was in effect. Harris would also provide a significant tax credit for families with newborns.

As part of her broader agenda to lower the cost of housing, medicine, and food, she proposes down payment assistance for first-time homeowners and banning “price gouging” by food suppliers and grocery stores.

Hearing this feels good to me and others who now visit multiple grocery stores to find the best price on fruit, milk, and toiletries. However, it’s easier said than done. Paying less for food helps, but the problem is deeper and more systemic. Our economy is broken, and so are the institutions and systems that make it up.

I would like to see an economic plan that goes further and details how to overhaul or fix our banking, healthcare, and education systems, increase homeownership and affordable housing, create a high-quality and affordable care infrastructure, increase workers' wages and eliminate tipped wages, and hold corporations accountable so that working and middle-class families have a sure pathway to economic stability and the American Dream.

Harris’s plan is better than Trump’s, but neither plan is there yet.

FALSE: The Economy is better for Women under Democrats than Republicans

Economically, Women Fare about the same under Republican and Democratic Presidents

I did some digging to answer this question because I wanted to get it right. Looking at the last eight Administrations—four Democrats and four Republicans—and the previous 43 years, women’s economic security and well-being have not been better or worse under either party.

With one notable exception—the Build Back Better Act in the Biden Administration—no Administration, Republican or Democrat, has attempted to meaningfully enact a sweeping bundle of policies or legislation that would significantly improve the economic status and well-being of women. Yikes!

Democratic party platforms and policy proposals have been more inclusive and responsive to women's economic needs and concerns. And Democrats have tended to have more women leaders in cabinet-level and top positions than Republicans. Still, women’s economic reality has largely remained unchanged regardless of which party is in power.

For example, the gender pay gap has only closed about twenty cents in the last half-century, and the wealth gap remains chasmic. The poverty rate for women has only changed by about 2 percent since 2008. Over time, the poverty rate for Black women and Latinas has remained persistently stubborn, with significant highs and lows depending on what’s happening in the broader economy.

In the last 30 years, childcare costs have increased by 214 percent, while the average family income has only risen by about 143 percent. Since February 2023, daycare and preschool prices have jumped nearly six percent and 25 percent for families over the last decade.

Further, the lack of federal policies such as paid sick and family leave, pay transparency and equity, and care increase women’s economic vulnerability. In families, women are more likely than men to off-ramp their careers or leave their workforce to care for children or aging parents. These policies would make a huge difference for women.

TRUE: Electing a Woman President would Change Our Economy For the Better

Granted, we have never elected a Woman President in the United States, but I am confident that when we do, things will be different for the economy and women when we do.

Studies show that when women hold power or are in leadership positions, they tend to engage in issues related to women, whether by choice or by default, like reproductive rights, equal pay, healthcare, and childcare.

There is a strong correlation between who is in charge or has power in Congress, and the laws and legislation passed to support women and families.

Of the two candidates running for office, only one seems poised to offer the country a new way forward and to build an economy that is reflective of our values and priorities—which I argue is one of shared prosperity and opportunity, where everyone has what they need to thrive and reach their full potential.

We are ready.