Oregon Dems approve Obama's gender eqality policies

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama: Getty Images PhotoOregon Democrats discussed the benefits of Obama's plan for women Friday morning, and how they can potentially help thousands of Oregon women.

"The ability to make ends meet is becoming critical in this election," Oregon state treasurer Randall Edwards said. "Obama's plan is coming at a time when we need to be thinking out of the box, and his is an opportunity to lift up all Oregonians in the economy."

The plan, which was released Friday, calls for a variety of measures, including a "Making Work Pay" tax credit for families, an increase in the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2011, and by helping small businesses by setting capital gains tax rates to zero for small businesses.

According to Edwards, Obama's plan would be an economic boon to women all over the state of Oregon. By his estimation, 900,000 Oregon women would benefit from the tax credit, and 120,056 Oregon women that own small businesses would benefit from his zero capital gains program.

U.S Rep. Darlene Hooley (D-West Linn), who supported U.S Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y) in the May Democratic primary, also spoke of her transfer of support toward Obama on economic policies for women.

"I think he's very good on women's issues," she said.

Hooley also spoke of her dismay toward McCain's attitude toward helping women by recalling the Equal Rights Amendment Obama sponsored in 2007 that would mandate equal pay. McCain voted against that bill.

"At the time, Senator McCain suggested that the reason there wasn't equal pay wasn't because of discrimination in the workplace but because women need more training and education," Hooley said. "Well I dealt with unequal pay in the ‘80s and I can't believe he's saying this 20 or more years later."