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Nancy Pelosi Speaks For Women’s Rights At Austin Stop

Ryan Poppe | Texas Public Radio
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TPR News

House leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, spent much of her time speaking in Austin talking about women’s rights, primarily a woman’s right to equal pay to her male counterparts.

She was speaking at a discussion about women's economic issues hosted by the American Association of University Women of Texas at Austin Community College entitled, "When Women Succeed, America Succeeds."

Pelosi spoke directly to increasing support for initiatives addressing paid medical leave and providing additional childcare assistance.

"I had a woman, she was a bus driver. She had her own issues with adequate pay and finding good work and all that, but she was saying: 'I saw some moms with tears in their eyes putting kids on the bus who really weren’t fully well, to send them to school because mom couldn’t afford to stay home from work because she’d be docked from her pay and that’s food on the table.' It’s survival," Pelosi said.

A bill authored by state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, and supported by state State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, would have addressed some the issues Pelosi spoke about by allowing Texas women to file a lawsuit in state court over wage discrimination. The bill passed but was vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry.

Ryan started his radio career in 2002 working for Austin’s News Radio KLBJ-AM as a show producer for the station's organic gardening shows. This slowly evolved into a role as the morning show producer and later as the group’s executive producer.