Issue Position: Equal Rights for Women and the LGBTQ Community

Issue Position

Reducing the Wage Gap
For too long, the gender wage gap has been exacerbated by many employers' practice of requiring applicants to submit salary history, which disproportionally locks women into lower-paying salaries. Jennifer co-sponsored legislation to reduce the gender wage gap, creating new guidelines that don't require potential employees to submit their salary history.

Fighting Harassment & Discrimination
Jennifer co-sponsored the Workplace Transparency Act, which prohibits the kind of nondisclosure agreements that are used to silence victims of workplace harassment, retaliation, and discrimination. It also changes the structure of sexual harassment reporting and training requirements, creating avenues for victims to seek justice.

LGBTQ Curriculum
Jennifer co-sponsored the Inclusive Curriculum Law, which will add discussion of LGBTQ figures and events to public school curricula. An inclusive education system will create structural change that can reduce bullying and lead to better outcomes for young people.

Reproductive Health Act
Jennifer co-sponsored the Reproductive Health Act, which now codifies the legal framework under Roe v Wade into Illinois law, protecting Illinois women if federal courts overrule or nullify that decision. She stood up to leadership and the powerful anti-choice lobby on behalf of this legislation, joining a coalition of freshman women legislators who refused to end the session without passing this important legislation.

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