00:00Someone had once said that women candidates should speak softly, don't agree
00:04with that, and carry a big statistic.
00:13I'm Cecile Richards with Refinery29 and Supermajority with Senator Amy Klobuchar.
00:19Good to see you, Senator.
00:20Good to see you, Cecile.
00:21We've been doing this because there are a lot of questions that aren't getting asked
00:24from the debate stage that women want to know about.
00:26If you were to tell women that are watching this,
00:28the three things that you're proudest of, that you've accomplished for women, what would they be?
00:33The first was that I was the first woman in both my public service jobs.
00:37That's not always easy because you don't really have anyone to look to for an example.
00:42The second thing is that before I was in office, our daughter was born and she was really, really sick.
00:47And back then the insurance companies had a rule that you're kicked out of the hospital in 24 hours
00:53and she was in intensive care.
00:54As a mom, having never held office, I went to the legislature and advocated for one of the first laws
01:01in the country
01:01guaranteeing new moms and their babies a 48-hour hospital stay.
01:05Third thing would just be work that I have done in the Senate.
01:10I actually led the bill to change the sexual harassment laws in the Senate.
01:14That made a big difference.
01:15It was bipartisan, we worked with both sides, and then we got our bill passed in the House and signed
01:20into law.
01:21I'm going to the fishbowl.
01:22Okay, good.
01:23What would you do about the fact that we have no federally mandated paid family leave
01:27and the fact that affordable childcare is almost unknown in the United States?
01:31Every other industrial country has some kind of policy in place and that includes things like giving 12 weeks work
01:39family leave.
01:40And there is a way to do this and there is a way to pay for it.
01:43And the other thing we've got to remember as we build a coalition to get this done, urban areas have
01:47issues, but so do rural.
01:49There's a lot of small towns, people want to work, but they don't have any place to bring their kids.
01:55And so making sure that we include these, what we call childcare deserts, which sometimes are in urban areas and
02:01sometimes are in rural areas.
02:02What's your backstage mood song?
02:07Oh, so I have this one, Dessa, who's a rapper from Minnesota, called Bullpen.
02:12And it's actually about a woman rapper in a male rapper world.
02:17And I would suggest anyone look at the lyrics because it's really, really funny.
02:21And one of the lines she said is, why am I the only one acting like a gentleman?
02:27And so it is a great song and I've had it from the beginning because I know her.
02:32As you know, sexual assault and violence against women is widespread.
02:36What would you do as president to address this crisis?
02:39The first thing is to put in a really good attorney general.
02:42Now, a lot of the cases are handled like I used to do when I was a county attorney on
02:47the state or local basis.
02:49So some of this is getting the resources to those offices and that doesn't just include prosecution.
02:54It also includes victim witness advocates.
02:57Okay.
02:58The maternal mortality rate, as you know, in this country is on the rise.
03:01And particularly for black women, what would you do to really raise,
03:05not only raise awareness about this issue, but also address it?
03:08There was a horrific story out in New Orleans, which sadly is not the only one,
03:12of a woman that walked in, said she had swollen hands, walks in pregnant into the maternity ward.
03:18No one listens to her and she leaves without her baby because her baby dies.
03:22There are so many stories like that across the country.
03:26So to me, the answer is to have standards and training.
03:30And you can put these standards into law.
03:32My friend Kamala Harris has a bill as president to make sure, one, those bills pass.
03:36But two, imagine having a president that feels pretty comfortable walking into a maternity ward
03:42and making this clear that this is a priority.
03:45Okay.
03:46A lot of women want to know this.
03:48What's your astrological sign and what does that say about you?
03:52Gemini.
03:53And that shows I can do two things at once.
03:55If you had this one last moment to speak to the millions of women who watch Refinery29
04:02and are part of Supermajorie and give them your last pitch for why they should elect you
04:07as the president of the United States, what would you tell them?
04:09I'm someone that actually gets things done.
04:11My background is way different than Donald Trump's.
04:14I'm the granddaughter of an iron ore miner, the daughter of a teacher and a newspaper man,
04:19the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from the state of Minnesota,
04:23and a candidate for president of the United States.
04:25No matter where you come from, no matter who you know, no matter the color of your skin
04:29or where you worship or who you love, that you should be able to make it in the United States.
04:33And for all the women, we're a majority of the voters, and it's our opportunity to change the future.
04:38So go vote.
Comments