Would. Protect an image of strength and recovery from his covid19 infection. On wednesday come he claimed that e eriment of drug hehad been given was, quote, a cure for coronavirus and he felt, quote, perfect. We begin tonights scussion withfocus on californias junior senator, kamala harris, who stepped onto the biggest debate stage of her life thek joining me now by skype from Mountain View is lon heat, a former adviser to the president ial campaigns of what mitt romney and marco rubio. Amy allison, the founder and president of she, the people, an organization that advocates much for joining lets start with you, amy. You been a supporter of senator harris for many years. E what was significance of seeing her on stage . Senator harris brought it to the stage. It was the first time at those of us women of color and those across the multiracial Democratic Base actually got to hear the issues, and she brought those issues of Racial Justice, economstice, she mentioned breonna taylor. Her job one was to make sure to come to polls in 25 days s was amped up and to show her chops as a former prosecutor anmember of thatsenate judy mack that she can hold the Trump Administration and pences specific role in the mishandling of failures of the response to vid accountable. She did all those things. I think she was stellar. What were your thoughts on Vice President pences performance . Talking about Vice President did what he needed to do, which primar y was to create th policy contrast with the biden harris ticket. We have not had an opportunity at least not in the evious debate the policy issues did not come up, but you did hear Vice President pencraising questions about how much people taxes would increase if they voted for joe den. Senator harris past embrace of the Green New Deal and how out of step that is ul partly in the industrial midwest i think Vice President pence did what he need to do he presented the contract and did it in a credible way. Amy, theres a lot of enerou ousting donald trump but less enthusiasm for joe biden as a candidate. To use the indications that senator harris is able to bring in Younger Voters that shes beenwoargeting . My with she, the people is organizing the most critical voters of the Democratic Party clinician healed at is women of color. Look, im a black woman. Women, black women in states like georgia, texaflorida, and michigan, those i must win states. Were going to put them over the top, and his incredible enthusiasm particularly with harris on the ticket, so i think that spans age and that spans race, so the short answer is there is enthusiasm to stop the madness thats been happening in this country, stop the bleeding, stop someone who c embraces white supr and get back toa sensof normalcy. Were going to see historic numbers of voters this next month. And the president is trailing significant in the National Polls by 10 points or more. Battleground states. You have been speaking with e campaign. What are the plans to change this trend . I knhes planning on holding a rally on the white house lawn tomorrow. I think definitely, one of the issues that the campaign is dealing with is the fact the esident has been off the campaign trail now for over a week because of his covid diagnosis, because of his time in ts hospital. He not been able to be out there, and i think those events for the campaign are clearly e catalyzints but they are opportunities for the campaign to drive narrative, for him to areas where the president needs to be successful, but i dont think theres any question that thpopresident at this t, given what the public polling is, both nationally and in battleground states, needs some game changers. Its going to be very difficult for him to do that in the context of the campaign where he cannot be out there campaigning and where the overwhelng burden of the news cycle is focused on covid and covid response. I think thats an issue on which the president and his team have been the defensive. He said he will not participate in this virtual debate, and theres talk about pushing the debates back a little bit. Its hard for me to e the president as willing to step away from such a large platform, from tens of millions toof people watching see what he has to say. Where do you expect the debates are going to end up . The president needs these debates more than Vice President biden does. I thinbased on where the polling is, based on our assessment of the race right now, it is hard to see how not having debates would benefit the president. To my point earlier about a game changer, debates can provide that opportunity. They are one of the few events whse you get to the candidates side by side in an interactive format, and to not have that i think is a big challenge for the president. So it was a little puzzling he e was not ined in doing a debate of this kind. Perhaps he believes the and present interaction works more to his favor. But nonetheless and a campaign, the campaign that is down generally will want more op debates and morertunities to engage. So amy, would it be beneficial to do tojoe biden continue debating, or is it better for the debates to end at this point . Lets look ep the nt in the room. It isnt just that they are on the ropes because of covid19. They werresponsible for the botched response. They failed, and they failed americans. Americans are dying. I had a good friend who lost her dad just two days o, and i think its affecting a lot of people in a way that is not being acknowledged. I mean, look. The last event that ump held at the white house was a superspreader event. Atis is the reason so many people and his close advisers and staff, top military officials tie all quarng or have positive covid diagnoses , so the fact of the matteris that we cant go beyond that. I think timately, we sought trumps the behavior on the debate stage. He would not prevent a discussion about points of view or policy, and th is noa regular election season, so we cannot read it that way. Whether or not he agrees to have an online debate, a virtual debate where they could potentially cut his mic off and ve joe biden opportunity to actually speak, it is almost secondary. I think the point right now is, and for democrats, is turning out the vote. Theres enough voters in swing states, thats going to be the big focus for the democrats, whether or not theres a debate. Lets talk about whats going to bring the voters out or have em filling other absentee ballots. Today, the president has reversed course and said supports a 1. 8 trillion Coronavirus Relief package. What is with this backand forth, and how important is this as an issue on the campaignrail . As for what animates the backandforth, you know, i think part of it is that the president kind of goes ba and forth in terms of trying to figure out whether this is s something he wa doesnt want. At the end of the day, it is clear that the economy is still in need of assistance, that obviously some form of recovery legislation is going to be outh e. The problem is were running out of time before the election. Youve got 20 days. Were going to supre Court Hearings before the senate next week, but the week after that is probably going to be taken with more supreme court. Its hard to imagine there is much time and space to get another recovery package done, but neeres clearly a for it. I think both republicans and democrats can see that. The political dynamic in washington though is so broken right now, that the president has said hes open to it. He said he was not open to it. Ming from Nancy Pelosi Office as well. Today, nancy pelosi is out there talking about the 20 at lithe moment and disqing the president. I think that shows you where things are. I dont think this will get done before the election, and i certainly expect relief to be coming before the election. Will be certainlkeeping an eye on the scotus hearings next week lets turned out to some of our state ballot measures. I want to talk about prop 16, which is to repeal affirmative action herin california. A recent poll the Public Policy institute in california indicates less than a third of likely voters support prop 16, and some in the Chinese Community said this proposition woulonincrease his commis against them. Republicans are strongly against this proposition. Can you talk us through what some of eir concerns ar well, look. Racial preferences have been illegal in california since proposition 290 its been state law, not to of racial preferences in effect, and during that period of time, we u ly seen increases in the percentage of black students and hispanic students at the university of california. We seth increases in percentage of asian students as well. And so, the question now on the ballot is reinstating or in puttinplace these racial preferences really when its unclear why it is that that is necessary, and rather than trying to create a situation at the university of california and many Public Institutions in years, this idea of a holistic approach, try to look at a canada to figure out whether this ct didate is qualified just by basis of their racial background, but more broadly all of the issues that that candidate rings with the picked we want to go from that rt of a system where we look at people comprehensively to one premised fundamentally on race . I think thats probably wh prop 16is not more popular because people dont want to return to a time when we so strictly ed race to divide us and look and see who would get into colleges or be hired. Amy, i know you are chomping at the bit to get in on this estion. Im curious about why you think it has not resonated with voters, despite the outpouring of support for Racial Justice e that we sought route this summer and into the ll on etr st and people protested. Look. The majority of people in california are demanding Racial Justice. Therea tremendous support for leveling the Playing Field when it comes to race for admissions and for opportunities for businesses, Small Businesses to contractith public entities, and i reject wholeheartedly that the idea there is not a lot of support for prop 16. I think what the challenge ha been isawareness. I mean, we have in the state of california as well as nationally a focus on peoples health, focus on the fact that a third of lifornias cant pay rent. There is not a lot of relief coming from anywhere. I mean, those are all a lot of the issues that make it difficult ppening statewide. On what is but when we have found that when people understand that prop 16 undoes a great ong, th, you know, it puts california in with most of the states. Most states allow the ra consideration of in the history of racism as part of joining groups like affirmative action, and aclu and mala harris supports this. We are talking about some of that would bring back level of balance and offer asian americans, latinos, and black people opportunities that have not been availae since those rules were changed more than a decade ago. Amy, lets turn to voter turnout. Are the democrats cusing more on turning out likely democratic voters or on gending the indets to come over and join them . Oh this is not a persuasion game at all. We have the number of voters we need record turnout, and look. Work at facing both the pandemic where people have to t ha vote safety. We have national messaging coming from the white house and other places that tries to minimize confidence in vote by mail. And we have a situation where women of color, in particular who typically happen ignored by parties, actually are the margin of victory in some of the key swing states, so its all aboutu tufor the next 25 days. Where the republicans need the president has focused on turning out his base. Thats not going to be a. The base of support for the present is strong, vocal, but the numbers are not sufficient to get hiacross the finish line in places like pennsylvania and michigan, wisconsin, florida, arizona, state hes going to need to winw the presidency. It is about figuring out how to get swing voters, undecided voters to come with e president , notwithstanding some of the dialogue that we have heard from the president directly. I think its got focus on what his next four years are licy vision versus the e personality because i think that is going to make it a little more challenging fohim to get the support he needs. Well be watching. Thank you. Visit v kqed. Orgoterguidefor copperheads a look at the state and ballot measures including summaries and arguments for and against them. Some analysts have suggested economic slowdown related to the pandemic should be dubbed a she session rather than a recession due to the disproportionate impact on working women. The latest jobs numbers continue to showcase the struggle. Be a proximally 1. 1 Million People over age 20 who ft the workplace between august and september, approximately 855,000 were women, where 216,000 were men. According to analysis by the National Womens law cee er. Onomic impact of the impact has been particularly acute for women of color. According to the california budget and policy center, more than 20 of black and melatinx lost their jobs this spring compared to 10 of white women. Joining me now by sky from humacher, a senior policy analyst at the california budget apology center, joined by sky from fayetteville, arkansas a profsor of economics at the university of arkansas. Ladies, thank you both so much for joining me. I appreciate you are here doing this discussion despite the fact that you are also working mothers, like me, and you also have young children. Lets start with you. Let see how hathis virus impacted your ability to work, and pacted your time at home with the kids. Its been really hard. Unfortunate because i have a flexible job so we can work from home, so we are doing what we can to take turns and be able to work well providing g some support for schoolfor the kids, but it has meant that we work all the time. There is no break. Kristin, do you have a similar experience . Absolute our Health Care Provider close temporarily right when the pandemic hit, we lost care for our 4yearold, and we also have a 7yearold o instantly started engaging in Distance Learning, and so my husband and i were fortunate also to be o ablerk from home, but it met we did not have any, any outside caregiving help, and wek had to balance and caregiving and Distance Learning for our kids. Its incredibly challenging, and we ded up working in wee hours of the morning and late into the night just to try to get everything in. It was very difficult. It continue be. Yet, you know, i think in many ways we consider ourselves jobs. Because we still have there are many, many thousands of women who do not, and i would like, kristin, for you to dive into thparticular issue for us. And you talk about which sectors of work are being most impacted by the virus, and the correlation between those sectors and womens employment . Absolutely. Job losses in california have beenconcentrated in lowpaying industries such as the hospitality and leisure industry. That includes jobs at nt restau hotels, or at entertainment venues, just as an example. This means that these workers were probably alrey receiving low wages and low pay, and and makes them less likely to be able to afford an economic si setback, like their jobs or having the hours cut dramatically. And these job losses have hit women hard, particularly women e of color in california. And hamma, you mentioned another piece thats a bipart of the problem. That is childcare. You have been studying this issue through some work you been doing ty the univerof southern california. Can you tell us how covid is impacting working mothers . Yes. Soe have been udying that with School Closures and the increased need for childcare at home, what we see is that women are doing much more of the work then men. Th data bafrom april, may, we see that one out of three working women declared to be the only peon in the household providing childcare. Thats compared to 1 out of 10 men, and in recent data that we are just collecting some preliminary results, it shows si thation now has not improved. If anything, its even a little bit worse now. And hamma, what are coyour erns about this, but women hi makinghard financial decision that they may not be able to work because they need to takehome and take care of their kids and senis in the family . My concern is that in our work, we see that these childcare arrangements have consequences for women in the labor force in tes of working for instancesee more women weurs. Eir working hours, or they are leaving the labor force, like you say come altogether to combine combat this increased childcare needs. To be able to do it. Kristin, you been tracking womens wellbeing in california since 2016, and this week you just put out your updated mens wellbeing index. Can you give us a snapshot of how women are doing economically in the ate of california, and perhaps some variance by region . Share, so california womens will being and ducks shows women living in the san joaquin valley, northern sacramento valley, north coast, and parts of the inland empire are worse compared to women in other regions at the state. Ex fople in many counties in thsan joaquin valley, more than one in five women live in poverty. Just for a little bit of an context study, wome poverty means a single mom with two kids is trying to make ends meet on less than 2000 a year. I usink many of can agree that is unattainable, especially in a high costilla california. And hamma, weve been talking about women as a broad group, but when you look at my cell numbers, you disproportionate impact on latinas. Can you tell us why this is and what those numbers look like . Yes. So latinas as well as for africanamerican women, they have been impacted the hardest y in terms of emnt loss merely because they work more in the Service Sector that has been more affected by this pandemic, and also what we see in recent data is that interestingly, latinas families and africanamericans are having their kids, they are happy to have their kids in online schooling or hybrid, so they also have inedeased childcare so i wonder if this al makes it harder for them to usrecover be they have the kids at me. Kristin, are we seeing a similar trend in the state of california in terms of how latinx and black women e facing emmore oyment than white women . Absolutely. The california womens well r ing index shows prto the pandemic, much larger share of black, latinx, native american women were more likely to be unemployed and to live in poverty, and this just means many women, particularly women of color were already struggling to make ends meet, and many likely as a result of this health and economic crisis are facing a financial cliff. Kristin, id like to turn how women compared to economically in the state. What do your numbershow you . So when were looking at women, just aggregated by race and ethnicity, compared to white men here in california the highest earning demographic group, we know latinx women earn only . 42 as compared to white mens dollar, and that means because of that wage gap, they have fewer resources fool their housto pay the bills, to pay for childcare, housing, and food for example. Weand note that as a woman loses her job, she immediately becomes more economically unstable. She is not veable to as much requirement, her family becomes poorer, and she becomes more could you talk a cities long term implications of women losing their job to this pandemic, hamma . Yes. So women sing their jobsas well as women reducing, having to reduce their working hos will have important implications i think in the long term. We know that when women leave the labor force, its very hardo for them come back. They reduce working hours and it will have implications for future promotions , and th represents a big setback in terms of gender equality. These issue not new, hamma. What do you see as the most important way to support women inmyhe workplace . Focus in this issue is outside the workplace, that this is a crisis we are all living, and we need more support, so unfortunately not everybody has the flexibility in their jobs to work from home, and i think, i hope that employers can be more understanding and supportive, and they seem to account for the fact this ctis a n we are living. The issue of women dealing with childcare, dealing with senior care, and dealing with home care as well as their work in the workplace. That struggle is not new, but the amount toic it has financially impacted women and taken away some of the gains over recent years weve made in terms of equality in the workplace. Ce that iainly new and exacerbated by the pandemic. So i would like to ask you as well. Systemally, what can change, what needs to change in order to promotewomen to a place of equality in the workplace in california . So, we need two things here in the nation as a whole and ecifically in california. We need to make sure families access to childcare. And affordable childcare so their kids haveaca healthy to thrive and learn and grow while they are at wo. This iscritically important. We know childcare providers have been hit hard by this pandemic, and many have closed their doors. And if families do place for their children to learn and grow, s going to stymie our economic recovery, were going to be unable to ow real Economic Growth infrastructure to support our economy. Ande thing i would add is we need comprehensive paid family leave in the United States. We are one of the few countries in the world that does not haon a na paid family leave program, and theres no reas in a rich country like the United States that workers should have to make a choice between payingtheir bills or caring for their family. Hamma, theres been back and forth in the white house this week whether w or not stimulus talks would resume. It looks like potentially they are back on. W if theres a stimulus that is passed, what is the most important thing you think women need in order to gain some of this economic strength that they had . Honestly, i think the limitation for women rit now is that schools were not able toully reopen for education he acrosscountry, so i think what will happen is more support , for school to have thmeans to safely open for kids to attendfive days in person. Ng kristin, anytyou will be looking for in terms of a new potential economic stimulus package that would give relief to women . Absolutely. You know, im thinking the most right now about women and workers who have lost their jobs and how theyre really t food on the table, and so d im looking for federal policymakers to reinst60e the per week additional Unemployment Benefits that ended in july and in a high s critically important that unemployed workers do not lose their homes especially in the midst of a pandemic. I would also hope federal policymakers would boost food assistance. We know here in california, more than one in 5 households, ack and latinx usehold with kids do not have an eighth food for their families, and a boost of food will help families feed their children and make it through this economic downturn. Kristin schumacher the california budget had policy centera rodriguez with the university of arkansas, thank you for your time and insight. Thank you. You can visit cal budget b7 or to explore an interactive tool r the revealed dices in womens economic wellbeing across the state. And you can find more of our coverage at form. Inspire. Involve. . Before wewe go, want to bring you a moment of something beautiful in our shared world. Ok a drive to the marina jim headlands and capture the sights and sounds of the coast and pacific ocean. From all of us here kqed newsroom, thanks for joining us. Good night. Captiong sponsored by wnet sreenivasan on this edition President Trump says hes clear to hit the campaign trail. A look ahead to confirmationor hearingsupreme Court Nominee amy coney barrett. And mobile outreach a valble lifeline during covid19. Next on pbs newshour weekend. Pbs newshour weekend iibmade possle by sue and Edgar Wachenheim iii. The Anderson Family fund. Cbernard and denisertz. The cheryl and Philip Milstein family. Barbara hope zuckerberg. Kl the leonard and normfine foundation. Charles rosenblum. We try to live in the moment,