“Women’s History Month is a time for us to celebrate change-makers in Maryland and across the country who spent their lives overcoming discrimination, shattering glass ceilings, and fighting for progress,” Perez said. “As Maryland’s next governor I will not only prioritize women’s issues, but always make sure that women, no matter what zip code they live in, have access to opportunity so we can work as partners to continue bending the arc of the moral universe toward justice and equality.”

Below is a highlight of proposals included in the Perez-Sneed Blueprint for Maryland Women:

Economic Opportunity

• Make equal pay for equal work a priority by directing the Department of Commerce to audit the pay gap in both public and private industry in Maryland.
• Expand employment pipelines, entrepreneurship opportunities, and apprenticeships for women in emerging and male-dominated industries, including in manufacturing, supply chain, athletics, STEM, and clean energy.
• Protect collective bargaining and invest in public sector employees to ensure that the state never aids and abets poverty, particularly for Black women, which make up a significant portion of our state’s frontline workers.
• Target down payment assistance for potential female homebuyers in order to grow women’s equity in the Maryland economy and combat housing insecurity disproportionately felt by women and single mothers.
• Invest in workforce development of the care economy to ensure women, especially Black and Brown women, are able to reenter the workforce and earn fair wages in every sector.
• Support legislation that provides workers with access to 12 weeks of partial paid leave to care for a child or other family member with a medical crisis.

Health Care

• Work towards ensuring 100 percent of Marylanders have health care by automating enrollment whenever possible.
• Integrate reproductive health services into primary care and ensuring that clinics across the state can provide equal access to the full suite of reproductive health care.
• Provide targeted support for prenatal and postpartum resources to Black women by fully funding health care providers that engage in black women-specific interventions to promote healthy births.
• Expand Maryland’s home visiting program from birth to three years old in order to treat postpartum depression, increase breastfeeding, and improve pre-K enrollment.
• Expand access to mental health care by integrating mental health services, including telehealth, into primary care.

Education

• Expand programs to relieve student loans, such as Maryland SmartBuy and Maryland SmartWork to allow women to reduce their burden of debt and begin focusing on building wealth.
• Ensure that every high school counselor and career center provides culturally sensitive and appropriate college and career readiness for women.

Public Safety

• Invest in early detection and intervention for domestic violence cases.
• Work directly with law enforcement and social services organizations to identify interventions with proven track records of preventing domestic violence and saving lives.
• Develop improved data collection and reporting of violence, including for transgender women across Maryland.
• Ensure the Sexual Assault Evidence Kit Policy and Funding Committee has the funding and resources it needs to test all new rape kits and prosecute cases whenever possible.
• Build upon current laws against nonconsensual pornography (“revenge porn”).

Child Care

• Ensure that women participating in our workforce development and job placement programs have access to child care.
• Increase pay for child care workers by subsidizing providers based on enrollment instead of attendance to ensure consistent and dependable income.
• Establish and support family child care networks through start-up grants,  technical assistance, and streamlined state licensing requirements.

Women from Across Maryland Endorse Tom Perez for Governor

Perez and Sneed were joined by dozens of supporters today to announce that over 200 women throughout Maryland were announced as founding members of “Women for Tom” who believe in the Perez-Sneed vision to deliver jobs, justice, and opportunity for all Marylanders.

“Women for Tom” Co-chairs include:

• Former President of Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards
• State Senator Joanne Benson, Prince George’s County
• Rita Crews, Belair-Edison Community Association President, Baltimore City
• Mayor Celina Benitez, Mayor of Mount Rainier, Prince George’s County
• Mary Pat Clarke, Former City Council President, Baltimore City
• Former Delegate Dr. Salima Marriott Gibbs, Baltimore City
• Catherine Leggett, Former Montgomery County First Lady, Montgomery County
• Kathleen Matthews, Former State Democratic Party Chair, Montgomery County
• Pia Morrison, President SEIU 500, Montgomery County
• Ann Marie Staudenmaier, Montgomery County
• Leathia West, Community Leader,  Prince George’s County

“Women make up over half of our state’s population, but time and time again, we’ve seen how women’s issues have been pushed to the backburner,” said Women for Tom Co-chair State Senator Joanne Benson. “In 2022, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put our state back on track. That means electing Tom Perez as our next governor and Shannon Sneed as our next lieutenant governor, who both understand the challenges facing women today.”

“Tom Perez defines what it means to be an inclusive, progressive leader, and he has a long track record of getting things done,” said Pia Morrison, President SEIU 500, and Women for Tom Co-chair. “We know that he will be the best advocate for women in every corner of Maryland, and we strongly support him to be the next Governor of our great state.”

Tom Perez and Shannon Sneed are continuing to build a diverse coalition, which includes unprecedented  statewide support from Maryland labor organizations, including 32BJ SEIU, SEIU Local 500, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), Communications Workers of America (CWA), International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and more.

In total, over 100 union locals representing over 120,000 union members throughout Maryland have endorsed the Perez-Sneed team.

The Perez-Sneed campaign has also garnered major endorsements from a rapidly growing number of national, state, and local officials, including Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi; Former President of Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards; Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison; Maryland State Senator Joanne C. Benson, Prince George’s County; Maryland State Senator Cory McCray, Baltimore City; Maryland State Delegate Luke Clippinger, Baltimore City; Maryland State Delegate Bonnie Cullison, Montgomery County; Maryland State Delegate Carl Jackson, Baltimore County; Maryland State Delegate Robbyn Lewis, Baltimore City; Maryland State Delegate Lesley Lopez, Montgomery County; Maryland State Delegate Kirill Reznik, Montgomery County; Maryland State Delegate Dana Stein, Baltimore County; Charles County Commissioner President Reuben Collins; Montgomery County Council President Gabe Albornoz; College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn; Mount Rainier Mayor Celina Benitez; Baltimore City Councilmember Kristerfer Burnett; Baltimore City Councilmember Ryan Dorsey; Montgomery County Council Vice President Evan Glass; Baltimore City Councilmember Danielle McCray; Hyattsville Councilmember Rommel Sandino; Former State Party Chair Kathleen Matthews; Former Maryland State Delegate Salima Marriott Gibbs; Former Baltimore City Council President Mary Pat Clarke; Former Prince George’s County Council Chairman Sam Dean; and Former Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett.

To learn more about the Perez-Sneed campaign, please visit tomperez.com