Women's History Month Ends

To The Eagle:

Women's History month is a time when we remember individual women who have been trail blazers for our nation. Individuals like Abigail Adams, Clara Barton, Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart, and Sanda Day O'Connor changed the course of history and opened new doors for women.

As co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, I am working on issues that matter to women and improve the lives of individuals and families across our nation. Here are just a few of my recent and ongoing efforts to improve opportunities for women in the work place, the military, and across Southwest Washington.

While women fill close to half of all jobs in the U.S. economy, they hold less than 25 percent of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs. This past year, the Congressional Women’s Caucus hosted the first-ever STEM Diversity Symposium on Capitol Hill. The event focused on encouraging more women and minorities to pursue STEM studies and careers, as well as highlighting the many accomplishments women and minorities have already achieved in the STEM fields.

Efforts to increase STEM opportunities should go well beyond the halls of Congress and out into our communities. In addition to my legislative efforts, I’m hosting the Congressional STEM App Challenge which is open to all Southwest Washington high school students.

Our nation’s military is the most respected in the world, but the serious issue of sexual assault within our military ranks persists. The problem was highlighted for me when I traveled to Afghanistan and the Middle East and met with our troops last spring.

It’s time to provide meaningful reforms to the system of dealing with incidents of sexual assault. Earlier this year, I cosponsored legislation, the Military Justice Improvement Act. Under this bill, evidence of a sexual assault case would be evaluated by independent, trained prosecutors who would decide if proceedings should move forward based on the facts of the case.

Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler