The Political Issues Women Really Care About — In Their Own Words

What are the issues women voters really care about, and how are presidential candidates from both parties tackling them? Refinery29 and Fusion set out to discover just that, partnering up to ask eight women across the political spectrum about the issues that matter most, and the candidates they feel they can trust. Women voters are a hot topic in this year's unpredictable electoral cycle, with pundits asking whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the advantage over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in attracting female voters, as well as whether Donald Trump's rhetoric is driving women away. So we had to ask: What do women really want out of their next president? The women on our panel proved yet again that women voters are not homogenous and "women's issues" are far more than a handful of topics. The women we talked to cared deeply about education, immigration, fiscal policy, racism, and gun control. And like many voters out there, some of our panelists were concerned about changes in the political establishment. "My concern is that the entire notion of a presidential candidate is falling apart," said Alex, 28. "There's a real feeling right now that the two-party system we're used to is sort of disintegrating." More broadly, all of our panelists agreed that politicians need to stop narrowly thinking that "women’s issues" affect only women. Issues like reproductive rights, discrimination, and the pay gap affect all of America. "To separate a man’s issue and a woman’s issue, I don’t think we should be doing that moving forward," added Afshan, 23. "Everything is a woman’s issue.”