[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 80 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. CON. RES. 80
Recognizing the duty of Congress to meet the needs of working women.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 25, 2026
Mrs. McIver (for herself, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. Leger Fernandez, Ms. Norton,
Mr. Goldman of New York, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Tonko, Ms.
Schakowsky, Ms. McBride, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Simon, Mrs. Dingell,
and Mrs. Ramirez) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which
was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Recognizing the duty of Congress to meet the needs of working women.
Whereas the Congress recognizes its obligation to guarantee equal protection of
the law to all workers;
Whereas this obligation requires the Congress to safeguard workers from unequal
treatment on the basis of real or perceived sex, gender, or
nonconformity to norms or stereotypes thereof;
Whereas working families are working paycheck to paycheck and deserve a quality,
affordable life, which can only be made possible by addressing the needs
of the approximately 75,000,000 women in the workforce;
Whereas recent executive and administration actions have caused disproportionate
harm to women in the broader rollback of workplace rights, freedoms, and
protections;
Whereas women comprise nearly half of the Nation's workforce, and are essential
to the economic stability, growth, and prosperity of the United States,
and make indispensable contributions across every sector of the economy,
serving as leaders in education, health care, public service,
caregiving, and other vital industries;
Whereas persistent wage disparities, loopholes in section 6(d) of the Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1938 (commonly known as the ``Equal Pay Act of 1963'')
(29 U.S.C. 206(d)), occupational segregation, workplace discrimination,
and gender-based violence and harassment continue to disproportionately
burden working women, particularly women of color;
Whereas recent progress toward pay parity and gender equity has been undermined
by deliberate, coordinated opposition, including legislative,
administrative, and judicial actions weakening civil rights enforcement,
removing workplace protections, limiting access to essential health
care, and destabilizing programs that support working families;
Whereas the administration has specifically targeted for elimination such
Federal programs which advance gender equity in the Nation and abroad;
Whereas actions of the President have threatened to eliminate the Women's Bureau
of the Department of Labor, which was established by Congress in 1920
and is the only Federal agency tasked with advancing economic
opportunity for working women and which, for more than 100 years, has
concretely worked to improve the wages and working conditions for women
across the Nation;
Whereas the targeted elimination of equal opportunity obligations under
apprenticeship programs of the Department of Labor has undermined
women's pathways to high-paid careers in the trades traditionally
dominated by men;
Whereas the rescission of the ``Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the
Workplace'' of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has created
intentional confusion and left women vulnerable to harassment in the
workplace;
Whereas reductions in staffing, funding, and enforcement capacity at Federal
agencies charged with protecting workers' rights and enforcing civil
rights laws have weakened oversight of workplace discrimination,
harassment, wage theft, and retaliation;
Whereas women are disproportionately represented in public sector employment,
and cuts to public programs and services disproportionately threaten
women's employment, wages, and retirement security;
Whereas the administration has undertaken reckless mass layoffs which gutted
Federal agencies with majority-women workforces, including the
Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Education, Department of
Health and Human Services, Department of the Treasury, and Department of
Housing and Urban Development;
Whereas not only are women of color and immigrant women overrepresented in care
work, but the critical caregiving services women provide are often
otherwise taken on as unpaid labor by women;
Whereas the lack of Federal actions to create a robust, well-paid care industry
harms women's economic opportunity and directly exploits some of the
most vulnerable women;
Whereas the administration has unjustly sought to push Federal contractors,
grant recipients, and even private employers to abandon efforts to
promote gender and racial equity at work;
Whereas the administration has sought to erode workers' ability to form unions
and collectively bargain for their rights, who organized as such have
won a narrower gender pay gap;
Whereas, consequently--
(1) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate volatility in
women's labor force participation in 2025, with more than 455,000 women
exiting the workforce in the United States and the steepest declines among
mothers of young children, especially Black mothers;
(2) unemployment among women, especially Black women, has increased
under the Administration, with Black women's unemployment greater than 7
percent; and
(3) the wage gap between women and men has increased for 2 consecutive
years, highlighting the compounded effects of the policy failures described
herein;
Whereas women continue to face barriers to economic advancement, and
disproportionate caregiving responsibilities, all of which are
exacerbated by the cost of living crisis and rising costs of housing,
health care, childcare, food, and education; and
Whereas Congress, the first branch of the United States Government, has a duty
to act decisively to advance the rights and freedoms of working women in
face of these barriers: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That Congress--
(1) recognizes an affirmative duty to ensure women have
equal opportunity within the workforce, as a prerequisite for
economic security, democratic participation, shared prosperity,
and full participation in public life;
(2) recognizes that the workforce of the Nation is
stronger, more innovative, and more competitive when women are
able to contribute and lead across all industries;
(3) affirms its commitment to economic prosperity for all,
including--
(A) equal pay for equal work;
(B) pay transparency;
(C) workplaces free from discrimination;
(D) workplace safety standards and regulations
designed to protect the health of the Nation's workers;
(E) comprehensive and accessible health care,
including reproductive health care;
(F) affordable, high-quality childcare and early
education;
(G) paid family and medical leave;
(H) paid sick days;
(I) predictable scheduling and fair labor
standards; and
(J) access to affordable housing, education, and
workforce development opportunities;
(4) affirms its commitment to ensuring that all women,
regardless of race, immigration status, language, or
occupation, are able to work with dignity, free from violence,
harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and abuse;
(5) recognizes the value of all work, especially domestic
and part-time work, and recognizes its obligation to ensure
that such work is dignified with fair pay, benefits,
protections, and working conditions;
(6) condemns actions and policies that weaken civil rights
enforcement, undermine workplace protections, reduce access to
health care and essential services, or otherwise threaten the
economic security of working women;
(7) commits itself to restoring and strengthening Federal
agencies that combat discrimination in the workplace, including
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of
Federal Contract Compliance Programs;
(8) reaffirms its commitment to ensuring all people can
live a life with dignity by raising wages, including by raising
the Federal minimum wage, and eliminating tipped and subminimum
wages;
(9) reaffirms its commitment to expanding access to high-
paying jobs across gender lines by strengthening programs that
dismantle occupational segregation;
(10) recognizes the right of every worker to join a union,
free from interference and intimidation, and bargain
collectively for fair wages and working conditions;
(11) calls upon Federal, State, and local governments,
employers, labor organizations, and community institutions to
work collaboratively to ensure that all working women have the
opportunity to thrive and be free from harassment and
discrimination; and
(12) declares that addressing the immediate needs of
working women is essential to the prosperity of the United
States.
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