Supporting and empowering women has been central to Stacey’s work throughout her life. Stacey knows that the engaged leadership and participation by women across all sectors of society (government, business, social, etc.) are essential to creating a thriving, sustainable and just world.

We must ensure women’s rights are not constantly under attack, and as a Congresswoman, Stacey will fight for these rights so women can focus on what really matters to them: jobs and a strong economy so they can provide for their families.

Recently we’ve seen countless attacks against women: their right to choose, access to birth control, fair health insurance practices, even equal pay. And as all-male panels in Congress discuss reproductive rights, we see a renewed need and commitment to elect more women to office and have more equal representation. Today, women hold only 17% of the seats in the House and Senate. We need more women in Congress to ensure a seat at the table.

Stacey believes strongly that a woman’s right to make reproductive decisions that are best for her is fundamental to her ability to live a full and healthy life. These are private decisions that should be made between a woman and her doctor, not a woman and the federal government. Enabling a woman to make the health care decisions that are best for her personally is respectful of the dignity and value each and every one of us deserve in our society.

During the health care debate, we discovered that insurance companies discriminated against women, charging women more for the same care as men, and defining domestic abuse as a ‘pre-existing condition.’ Stacey knows that we need greater access to health care, not less, and will support efforts to ensure women and their families have access to the health care they need.

Furthermore, it is unconscionable that today, women continue to earn significantly less than their male colleagues for doing the same job. On average, women earn 77 cents to a man’s dollar – a difference of $10,662 a year. This difference is even greater for women of color. And beyond the contrast in pay, there are staggering differences in compensation between mothers and non-mothers. In Congress, Stacey will stand up for women and support measures such as the Paycheck Fairness Act to close the wage gap.

We must ensure that women and their families have the structural support they need within the workplace to properly balance work and family life. This means supporting maternity and paternity leave, as well as flexible work arrangements. Not only do such arrangements benefit the employee, but increased employee satisfaction benefits productivity, retention and the company’s bottom line.

As an educator and co?founder of the Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (CET), Stacey actively educates young women in engineering, entrepreneurship and technology innovation, and encourages them to pursue entrepreneurial passions and new venture creation, which has been historically dominated by men. Stacey is a board member of several women-led non-profit organizations and actively supports women-owned businesses.