Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI)

Along with many economists and advocacy organizations, Rep.  Gwen Moore (D-WI) wants to see women’s poverty placed at the very top of the nation’s agenda. And she has exerted her political power as a U.S. representative to pursue this goal by advocating for the inclusion of women in President Obama’s economic stimulus package.

Moore’s passion for supporting low-income women is not just political but personal — She was a teenaged mother who lived on government assistance. Now she’s fighting to narrow the wage gap and increase post-secondary education for women on welfare. Thanks to a writeup at WomensEnews.org, we caught wind of the comments she delivered at the Democratic National Convention on women and poverty, and we tracked her down this week as she was on her way to cast votes in the House.

“One of the things I was concerned about when looking at the stimulus package was making sure it does not leave women and children behind,” she said. “I agreed that we needed to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. Some of the oldest school buildings in the country are in my state. Obama needed to provide tax cuts, but I’m very concerned that many of the jobs — building roads and so forth — were not things women customarily did.”

Moore briefly invoked a comparison between the levels of responsibility shared by a nurse and a bank CEO — and highlighted the stark contrast between their respective levels of pay.

“They have people’s lives in their hands. It’s that nurse and the nurse’s aide who summon the resident from their sleep to let them know if things aren’t going well. If we start paying women comparable to the level of responsibility they have, you’re going to see greater income equality.”

She wants to increase money for food stamps and head start programs, as well as to emergency shelter grants that help women avoid eviction.

When it comes to the stimulus package, she supports the proposed federal aid to state Medicaid programs because she believes it will benefit women living in poverty and expects the savings from the proposed $20 billion for new health care information technology can be used to pay health care workers.

“Education and training dollars are vital and critical for women and children,” said Moore. “We were at risk of creating a permanent underclass because women (on welfare) couldn’t get educational opportunities. I think this is a big ticket item and the package has been calculated and calibrated to produce some results in the next 18 months that people can get their arms around. I think women are going to be huge beneficiaries of that.”

Training, coupled with equal pay for equal work, is what it’s going to take to care for a generation of aging Baby Boomers like her, says the Congresswoman.

“There’s going to be a whole lot of us that are elderly at the same time. It’s going to create a number of jobs. This man (Obama) is serious about it. It’s not just a talking point.”