Theresa DeLuca:
Welcome to Inside the ICE House. Intercontinental exchanges podcast with leaders, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. I'm your host, Theresa DeLuca joining you from the library of the New York Stock Exchange. We're still a few months from the 2018 midterm elections, but the field is shaping up to include an unprecedented number of women with nearly 600 female candidates running in congressional and gubernatorial races across the country. Will it be the year of the woman part two and what are issues that women continue to face in politics, the workspace and at the grocery store? Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney was elected to the House of Representatives in 1992, as part of a class of 24 women, the largest number of women ever to take office in any single election. She has authored and pass more than 70 bills and measures, including James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act and the CARD Act. She is fresh off the trading floor, where she rang the closing bell to mark Women's Equality Day, which commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, granting women the right to vote. Congressman Carol Maloney, welcome to the ICE House.
Carol Maloney:
Well, it's wonderful to be in the library of the ICE House. And really the New York Stock Exchange has changed has been around for over 200 years. It's been the center of commerce in our country and in the world. I hope to keep it that way in Congress and keep our strong economy.
Theresa DeLuca:
Well, we are very, very happy to have you here. And Congress Maloney, you've been on the bell podium several times, including twice in 2016. Does it ever get old being up there?
Carol Maloney:
It's always exciting to come here. When you come here, you realize the history that was made here, the importance that it plays and our overall economy, everyone is always looking to see what is happening at the New York Stock Exchange. And it never gets old. It's very exciting. And when you stand up there and you look down and you see all the men and women working and the energy, and it's just American commerce, the capitalist system really right in front of you, it's always very exciting.
Theresa DeLuca:
Well, we are always happy to have you and you're right. It is exciting for sure. The next time you visit us though, you'll be greeted outside by the Fearless Girl, which she will be moving across the street from our facade. She's currently right in front of the Raging Bull, of course, but you have been a vocal and persuasive supporter of having her permanently placed in the financial district right here. Why is that?
Carol Maloney:
When the little girl was placed in front of the Raging Bull, she instantly became a source of inspiration to young girls and like-minded men and women around the world. Every time you go, where she is now, it's like an event, it's so crowded. Because now it's a tourist attraction. They wanted to move her because it was becoming almost dangerous to have that number of people there. And actually I wrote the letter and organized every elected official to ask that she be able to stay. The law permitted her to for roughly six months, we extended it for a year and then I appealed to the mayor to keep her permanently. And he said he would keep her permanently, but she could not stay where she was with the Raging Bull. There was too much of a problem. The police were concerned about the crowds because it became an overnight sensation.
Carol Maloney:
You find that women and candidates and people that are pushing causes that benefit girls and women, they often go to the Fearless Girl to make their statements. She's become sort of a symbol of standing up to obstacles. She was placed there to make a statement that more women should be on boards. I had just done a report that year that women were 16% of the boards in America were now 20% this year we've made progress. But I put a bill in right after she was put there. That would require really the SCC to disclose the gender of boards. The number of women and boards, just disclosure. It did not require people to put another type of person on a board because people were coming to my office. I also serve on the Financial Services Committee and ranking on the Capital Markets Committee and particularly pension fund managers and fund managers.
Carol Maloney:
They wanted to know how many women boards, of course you can go to each report from each company, but it's a lot of work. So why not have it as part of the information where they have age, education and other requirements that they have for board members show the gender. I was able to pass roughly 24 bills out of the Financial Services Committee this year, but I couldn't move the little girl. I couldn't move disclosure of how many women are well on boards and chairman Henselin said it was too radical. I don't see how it's radical to disclose information. And my bill was basically disclosing information so that investors and pension managers and others who were asking for this information, incidentally, there have been a number of studies by financial institutions that have shown that when you have a gender balanced board, it actually performs better.
Carol Maloney:
So many people are interested in that economic aspect of it, but I don't give up. That's why I'm bringing the bell every year for women's empowerment. And part of that empowerment is being able to move more women on boards. And I think if you disclose that information and people see that with women on the boards, they are actually even performing better then that would open up more opportunities for women.
Theresa DeLuca:
Well, I certainly agree with that. And I think with such a diverse and very educated consumer base out there more and more consumers are looking at companies and looking at who are on their boards and what they stand for and all ways that they're helping, not only obviously in business purposes, but in social good and social governance as well. So I think that's very important.
Carol Maloney:
What's interesting to me, some fund managers, I know BlackRock and others allowing their investors to make a decision, investors were demanding to know they wanted to invest in companies that had more women on boards. It's interesting. So the private sector is coming in and to a stand. What's interesting about the bill is that the Chamber of Commerce endorsed it. They were for the bill and actually lobbied for it and tried to pass it. But it's always an effort and we'll keep trying.
Theresa DeLuca:
And to go off that point, Congresswoman, I mean, we sit here inside the New York Stock Exchange, what would you say to our over 2,400 or listed companies who are here on doing their part to bring change to issues, whether it is, you were talking about this morning, motherhood penalty or equal pay, things like that.
Carol Maloney:
Companies have a great deal of power to initiate the leadership in their own companies with paid leave for of the birth of a child or giving more opportunity for women. I am thrilled to see that Stacey Cunningham has broken that glass ceiling right here at the New York Stock Exchange. She's the first woman to be the president of this important organization. It's a tremendous accomplishment on her part and speaks a great deal to the management of the New York Stock Exchange. So every step forward is important, but we do know that women are very underrepresented on boards. And we do know that we're 80 cents to the dollar. That's a 20% discrimination against women in pay. And one report that I did when I chaired the joint economic committee showed that compounds over a woman's lifetime and contributes that women over 75 are the largest segment of poverty in the United States because the unfair pay then becomes unfair social security, unfair pensions, unfair savings, and really leads to less money compounded when you become older.
Carol Maloney:
So it's very unfair. So one way to justify that is to finally pass the Equal Rights Amendment of which would mean that then equality of rights could be enforced. But the report that we issued today was called earn less pay more. And it was on the pink tax. We know that the discrepancy in pay has been well documented by the census bureau and many others, but what has not been documented that women pay more for other things, for financial products like mortgages and loans and for houses and repairing their cars. And it showed that they pay more for personal products, such as deodorant or creams or perfume than men do. We've been doing this report since 2015, they've been corrections because people correct it. When we point out the discrepancy because it's just too outrageous. In 2015, the Department of Consumer Affairs issued this report and it shows the difference in toys.
Carol Maloney:
And one that struck me were these two scooters that were exactly the same. One was red, and that was half the price of the pink one. So the pink scooter for the girl was more than the boy scooter. This is totally unfair and school products. And going back to school, if it was a pink item, oftentimes it was more. We found in this report this time that they'd made progress, the toy companies have really paid attention and for like toys that are completely the same, then you have the same amount for it. But it's really unfair to earn less and then pay more for services, personal care items and financial product. And I am calling this the pink tax. So just saying that this is unfair and it should stop.
Theresa DeLuca:
Congresswoman, I want to listen to a report from CNBC's Lauren Picker from earlier this year on equal payday.
Lairen Picker:
Lean In and SurveyMonkey found that one in three Americans did not know the pay gap exists. The purpose of equal payday is to raise awareness of the gap's negative effect on women. Now, based on median incomes women earn about 20% less than men that equates to about $400,000 in lost earnings over the course of their careers, 74 weeks worth of groceries.
Theresa DeLuca:
Congresswoman the big question here is, why is it so hard to close the gender gap?
Carol Maloney:
Because it's not enforceable as Scalia so famously said, women are not in the constitution. And if a discrimination case came to me, I would say, of course, women are not protected against discrimination. If you had an Equal Rights Amendment and it was part of the constitution, then a discrimination would be against the law and you would have a higher level of scrutiny for religion and race. The constitution has what they call strict scrutiny to protect religion and race, but gender discrimination is not protected and it has lesser scrutiny. So it's really this simple, if it's in the constitution and it's a bed rock item in the constitution, then you can't discriminate and it'd be enforceable by law. It's that simple. It enforceable. But right now in Congress, I spend a great deal of my time along with many women and like-minded men fighting to hold on to what we already accomplished.
Carol Maloney:
Title seven of equality of treatment and employment, title nine equality of treatment and education and sports. These are areas that they constantly try to chip away with, whether it protections that you would not be able to chip away with it. And I, for one, I'm tired of spending time trying to hold on to what we already have. I'd like to spend my time in working to make the kind tree better and fair. And the way to accomplish that is by passing and enacting an Equal Rights Amendment. It's really outrageous when you think about it, many countries around the world already have it. If we ever help a country with their constitution, as we did with Japan, as we did with Afghanistan and with other countries, then we make sure that it's in the constitution yet. It's not in the constitution of the United States of America. And I feel that it's long past due.
Carol Maloney:
If you talk to people, everyone would say, of course, I believe in equality. That's part of the values. It's part of the DNA of our country, but it still has not been ratified. It still has not passed. It passed in 1972, it went out, was ratified by 35 states. But then when the time limit that was placed on the bill happened, then it expired. So we are approaching it in two ways, going back and introducing the Equal Rights Amendment and starting all over and also trying to gain three more states to ratify. Earlier, Nevada and Illinois ratified it. And we believe Virginia will be the next state. So hopefully in this coming election, more like-minded people will be elected that will stand up and say that women and men deserve equal pay for equal work. And it's really hard for our country to compete and win in a world economy. If we're not using the abilities of all of our citizens at and helping them to develop to the best level that they possibly can be. And that's a quality of opportunity.
Theresa DeLuca:
After the break Congresswoman Maloney and I discuss if 2018 will really be the year of the woman.
Speaker 4:
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Theresa DeLuca:
Welcome back. Today I am joined by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, the US Representative from new York's 12 congressional district. Before the break we were talking about Women's Equality Day and some of the women's issues that she has been working on since taking office in 1992. Women's Equality Day falls on the anniversary of the signing of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Congresswoman, last year, you introduced HR 19, specifically chosen for the connection to the 19th Amendment. It is the eighth attempt you have made in 20 years to create a Smithsonian Women's History Museum. Why do you think memorializing the past and raising the profile of women's history will help bring future equality?
Carol Maloney:
I would say that it's very hard to empower women if you don't even recognize them. I was walking around the mall one day and just started thinking, where are the women? You have museums for textiles, for law and order, for space, for African-Americans, Latino-Americans are planned so many museums, but not for half the population. And from our founding days, women have played an incredible role in working with men for our liberty and for our rights and for our great economy and our opportunities, our educational system, they played a huge role. Yet there's no museum on the mall for women dedicated to the contributions that women have made since Jamestown, since the revolutionary war, there's a woman named Sarah Ludington who rode father then Paul Revere to warn her father that the British were coming through enemy territory. Yet no one knows who she is.
Carol Maloney:
All we know is Paul Revere. And if you look at it, all of the museums are really to the accomplishments of men. So I feel that the best way to promote and inspire and to tell the full story is to have a museum that's dedicated really to the many accomplishments of women. We're doing a lot now in Congress trying to promote what they call STEM for girls and that science, mathematics, and engineering, but what greater way to promote it than by showing them the women who went before them, the Nobel laureates, the professors, the writers, the women that have been part of the science community and amount that has been contributed by women is tremendous. Yet this bill has been so hard to pass. I thought it would be something that would be non-controversial, that we could work together on, but I'm still pushing it.
Carol Maloney:
I have over 268 co-sponsors, many Republicans are on it, but I have not been able to secure a hearing for the bill with so many co-sponsors of it. We will have to probably have a shadow hearing to try to move it forward. We did pass a commission bill that came back that was evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. And they came back with a report calling for it, saying, it should be on the mall. It should be federally funded. The bill we have before Congress doesn't even ask for any money, but we just want a museum. And I think we're entitled to a museum on the mall. That's dedicated to women. And what's really, I think shocking. And I'd say almost scandalous that it's not just the mall. When you look around America, there's no museum dedicated to the accomplishes myths of women. You'll see what I call sliver museums. There's one dedicated to the first ladies. One for women artists in Washington.
Theresa DeLuca:
Washington D.C.
Carol Maloney:
One in Oklahoma for Annie Oakley, one in Texas for Women of the West, one in upstate New York at Seneca Falls for the First Women's Rights Convention, but not one that's dedicated to the contributions in a comprehensive way. Like the Smithsonian does where the documents and the important material is held in one place. It could go around the nation on visits to other museums. But I think that it's important to tell the full story of our country. And certainly women have been part of that story. Half that story.
Theresa DeLuca:
Well, Congresswoman going off at that point, in terms of women this fall who are running and who are on the ballot, what advice would give to those women who are just, who are starting out, or maybe those who might be considering a run for office in the future?
Carol Maloney:
Well, I would say, first of all, if you don't run, you're not going to win. And what's so unusual about this year. In many other years, we've had many women running for office, but many did not win this year. They're winning. As you know, most parties have a primary and in record numbers, women are running for office and winning those primaries. So we have more women really running for office than ever before in the positions of representing their party, the advice like any profession, you have to work hard to be innovative. Keep up, put your record out there, connect with your voters and give them the vision of what you can do to help them and help this country. It's not easy to get elected to the United States Congress, it's not easy to get elected to anything it's very, very hard. And the barriers are coming down.
Carol Maloney:
Voters are voting for women in record numbers and electing them. So we could see a huge sea change of attitudes going into Congress. I'd say women are more collaborative. They like to work and get things done and pragmatic work across the aisle. And I think it would be. And certainly they make a focus on children and education and families and healthcare being the prime decision makers in most families in those areas. So they have been major policy leaders in the laws that we have written over these years. But one of the challenges that we have is that laws can be written and they can be erased by a president. They can be erased by a speaker. They can be erased by the Supreme Court and something as fundamental and as important as women's rights and equality of opportunity should not be the whim of whoever's in the White House or in the speaker seat or what the majority of votes are in Congress, but should be a bedrock protection that is there in the constitution.
Theresa DeLuca:
Do you think there's something to the comparisons that are being made between the 2018 elections and the 1992 elections?
Carol Maloney:
I think the comparisons are real in that in '92, there was, of course the Anita Hill hearings. I've never seen women so agitated and excited about it. I remember I was campaigning and women would literally run up to me and say, "Finally, someone's talking about it." The discrimination, the sexual harassment that was driving them out of the workforce in many cases. And this year it's stronger, I would say because of the social media of the ability of women to connect with other women across the country and to support each other so that when they tell stories about what they're confronting, that you can give support. The Me Too movement, the Times Up movement, the Women's march was the largest March in history. And it sprang up all across our own country and across the world. I came back to March in New York, the district I represent, we were expecting roughly 20,000 people.
Carol Maloney:
The police reported 700,000 people turned out for the Women's March. You couldn't even move. There were so many people that had come out. So I'd say the depth and the professionalism of people running. We have more women running for governor, for Senate, for a House of Representatives in the history of our country. And I said, what is so remarkable this time, not only are they running, they are winning their party's designation. So you're going to have more women on the ballot than ever before. I think it will bring change a deep change. I believe in how this country reacts to the problems that confront us and hopefully the power to enact more policies that are friendly to women, children, and families, and to preserving the rights that we've worked so hard to put in place in the, for place and make sure that they're not eradicated and dusted under the rug.
Theresa DeLuca:
Well, Congresswoman before you rang the bell, you were outside this afternoon. And my phone tells me it was 93 degrees, but it actually felt like 103. And you were joined by some pretty impressive women from The National Women's Political Caucus, the Equal Rights Amendment and Coalition, The National Organization for Women, She Will Rise and many others. And it was a really powerful group. For all those women that came to join you today and to speak out and to take questions and hear from either local constituents or passers by in the heart of the financial district. What is the biggest message you want to share with them and on behalf of those women?
Carol Maloney:
We had women representing roughly 10 organizations and they were the national presidents. So these were women that have made a decision to dedicate their lives, to empowering and helping other women. And they were here to celebrate and say, thank you to the founding mothers who led to the right to vote. They thought would then be the gateway and opened the doors to every other right. Shortly after the passage of the 19th Amendment Alice Paul introduced the Equal Rights Amendment in 1923 in Seneca Falls, New York, but we still have not passed and ratified it. So there's a lot of energy and direction in this election, but it's important to have a goal. And we were speaking out saying that equality of rights and having them concretely in the constitution is a goal that should be part of this election, should be part of the National Debate that we have at every election and should be part of our country.
Carol Maloney:
It's the last major enfranchisement for this country. We have been so generous in helping so many people, but it has been very difficult to advance the rights of women and the gender pay gap and the pink tax are a one, two punch to the gut of women. And it's going to require a cultural and policy change to eliminate them. So that's a hard thing to accomplish, to change the culture and policies of this country, to accept the equal treatment and equal pay of women and to really fight against being paid less and then have to pay more with the pink tax. That's unfair, that's discriminatory. I hope that we will end it after this election with the passage and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Theresa DeLuca:
Well, congressmen, I know that the elections are coming up this fall, and you've been fighting for 20 some years and much longer than that. And we've got so many women who are eager to stand up and take action and make sure their voices are heard and not just women, but really voters across the country. So election day is on November 6th and in New York registration to vote closes on October 12th. So as we wrap up, what would you like to tell our listeners on the importance of getting out to vote this fall?
Carol Maloney:
We are so fortunate in our country to have a demand and we should all participate in it. Men and women gave their lives for us to have the right to vote. And it's a sacred right and I would never miss the opportunity to vote. Many people think their vote doesn't matter, but so many elections are decided by one or two votes or very, very few vote. And I would urge everyone to be part of our government. I represent the east side that includes the United Nations. So I know a number of the ambassadors and make a point of trying to be a good neighbor and a good friend and a welcoming voice to them while they're in our country. One night, one of the ambassadors was telling me of what he really respected about our country.
Carol Maloney:
And I was guessing our education, our freedoms, our opportunities, our economy, but he said it was a right that we take for granted in our country. He said, what he really respected the most in America was the peaceful transfer of power, which is our peaceful transfer that we have at the voting booth as my eighth grade government teacher used to say, she said, "We don't have revolutions. We shoot at the ballot box." And we have this wonderful form of government that allows us to run for office ourselves if we want, or support candidates, we believe in, or work against candidates who are not doing the right thing for our country. And so many areas in the world, they don't have that opportunity. It's a cherished right. And we should all do everything to be part of it. And to spend some time in civic engagement and in civic activities for our communities and our cities. There's so many places to volunteer, to help, to be heard. And the very first, and probably the most important is to vote and be part of that process.
Carol Maloney:
When people say they don't like this, and I don't like that. And I said, well, then get out there and vote against it, change it, run for office yourself. In our great country, we have that opportunity. Let's take advantage of, be part of the change. We want to be. The change we want to see. We can make that happen in our own country.
Theresa DeLuca:
Well, Congressman Maloney, thank you so much for standing up for women for all of these years and best of luck in November.
Carol Maloney:
Thank you so much. And best of luck here at the stock exchange, let's keep this strong economy moving forward. And it's a great excitement and honor to be here and to meet the people that are part of the stock exchange and that make it so important. The New York Stock Exchange has been around for over 200 years, right? How many years?
Theresa DeLuca:
226.
Carol Maloney:
226 years. That's quite a tradition. I'm thrilled to be here and be part of it today.
Theresa DeLuca:
Well, it's a pleasure to have you. Thanks so much Congressman Maloney for joining us inside the ICE House. That's our conversation for this week. Our guest was Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, the US Representative from New York's 12th Conventional District here at the stock exchange for Women's Equality Day. If you like what you heard, please rate us on iTunes. So others know where to find us. Got a comment or question. You'd like one of our experts to tackle on a future show, email us at icehousevice.com or tweet at us at NYSE. Our show is produced by Pete Ash and Ian Wolf with production assistant from Ken Abel and Steven Portner. I'm Theresa DeLuca, your host signing off from the library of the New York Stock Exchange. Thanks for listening and see you next time.
Speaker 4:
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