Introduction

The televised presidential primary debates are opportunities for candidates to speak directly to viewers, and for voters to hear from each presidential hopeful. Ultimately, voters expect to walk away with a better understanding of who the candidates are, what they value, and their plans.

However, based on the past 123 primary debates, dating from 1996 to 2016, voters have not had a clear view of where candidates stand on issues affecting the well-being and economic security of families and women. According to a 2019 analysis by TIME’S UP, moderators have failed to consistently ask questions about paid leave, childcare, gender-based pay discrimination, and gender-based harassment. In a ten-year span, only eight of the 4,000 questions touched upon any one of these issues.

Gender justice and work-family policies concern a large portion of the American electorate—particularly, women. According to the Center for American Women and Politics, since 1964, the number of female voters has outnumbered the number of male voters in every presidential election. And since 1980, the proportion of eligible women who have voted has surpassed the proportion of eligible men who have voted. Regardless of their race and age, female voters agree that issues like paid leave, childcare, and workplace discrimination are important to not only them, but also to their families. A 2019 YWCA survey found that 90 percent of surveyed women believed that equal pay was an important issue and 89 percent believed that lawmakers needed to prioritize paid family and medical leave policies. Eighty-six percent wanted to see the prioritization of solutions for affordable and accessible childcare.

These issues matter not only to women, but also to men. In our 2019 report about men and paid leave, Lifting the Barriers to Paid Family and Medical Leave, which included a national survey of 2,966 adults, the Better Life Lab found that 48 percent of the fathers surveyed had taken time off to care for a newborn and 28 percent of working men had taken time off work to care for a family member. We also found that nearly half of all parents did not take time off from work to care for a newborn or newly adopted child, and that 60 percent of respondents anticipated needing paid leave in the future. Given how important work-family policies and gender justice in the workplace are to U.S. workers and their families, how have candidates in the run up to the 2020 presidential election addressed these concerns?

This analysis tracked how often candidates and moderators spotlighted childcare, the gender pay gap, gender-based workplace harassment, and paid family and medical leave, which affect the lives of millions of voters and their loved ones, in the 2019-2020 Democratic presidential primary debates.

Although candidates and moderators mentioned childcare in every single debate, the number of times they raised the issue (42 times) paled in comparison to the number of times they mentioned another determinant of economic security—college affordability (77 times). Overall, candidates and moderators barely mentioned issues tied to work-family policy or workplace gender justice.

Candidates’ references to these issues ranged from brief to substantive. When discussing childcare and gender discrimination more deeply, some candidates shared their personal stories to connect with working families. Others challenged their fellow candidates to commit to the values undergirding the issues. Some candidates connected their thoughts on childcare, the gender pay gap, gender-based workplace harassment, and paid family and medical leave to the overarching narratives driving their campaigns. Candidate responses demonstrate the universality of these issues, which impact people of all genders, regardless of age, socioeconomic status, and race.

As the presidential primary field narrowed down to two contenders, the public discourse around two of these issues, namely childcare and paid family and medical leave, intensified in light of the coronavirus pandemic, also referred to as COVID-19, now a public health and economic crisis. Public health officials have explained that in addition to frequent hand-washing and disinfecting, community members need to practice social distancing to slow the rate of transmission. That means working from home and closing schools. These changes have impacted working Americans across the socioeconomic spectrum, especially those without paid sick days, paid family and medical leave, and accessible childcare.

Under pressure from consumers, workers, and constituents, legislators and businesses have taken action, drafting or updating policies to support workers, families and businesses. During the eleventh Democratic presidential primary debate, the two remaining candidates vying for the Democratic nomination—Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—discussed how they would address the economic challenges posed by COVID-19. In their responses, they both acknowledged the hardship many families would face and addressed the need for some form of wage replacement and financial support. Still, although each has plans that include providing paid sick days and paid family and medical leave during this crisis and beyond, neither candidate explicitly discussed these much needed policies during the debate itself. Coronavirus has intensified the push for policies that support workers and their families, not only for times of crisis, but also in light of life's daily challenges. In 2020, and especially during this pandemic, work-family support, in addition to gender justice, are the policy issues that are top of mind for American voters.

A thorough analysis of ten 2019-2020 Democratic presidential primary debates ultimately illustrates the continued lack of attention candidates and moderators give to work-family and workplace gender justice policy issues. However, the findings of this analysis should serve as motivation for continued conversations about the well-being and economic security of families, caregivers, and workers, not only on the debate stage, but also on the campaign trail, in living rooms, at polling stations, within the halls of Congress, and inside the Oval Office.