Congresswoman Barbara Lee has been representing California’s 13th District since 1998. She is the highest ranking African American woman in Democratic Leadership, serving as Co-Chair of the Policy and Steering Committee. She also serves on the Budget Committee and the powerful Appropriations Committee, which oversees all federal government spending.
Her father was a veteran of two wars and her mother broke many glass ceilings and racial barriers. After grammar school, Congresswoman Lee moved to San Fernando, California and worked with the local NAACP to integrate her high school cheerleading squad.
It is shameful that despite many advances, full and lasting equality for women remains elusive. It is fundamentally wrong to pay women less for the same work and to restrict women’s access to healthcare. Sadly, this structural sexism is even worse for women of color.
In Congress, Congresswoman Lee is working to ensure equal pay for equal work, to expand access to affordable childcare and to ensure access to paid family leave. Additionally, she is the author of the EACH Woman Act which would repeal the discriminatory Hyde Amendment that has restricted many women’s access to reproductive healthcare.