ARLINGTON, Virginia (7News) — 7News tracks where the parties stand on issues that matter to women.

Sarah Flourance is co-chair of the Arlington Democrats Women’s Caucus. Republican Darcie Johnston is president of the Arlington County Women’s Club.

Women in both parties want economic stability.

“Our economy is very strong, but that doesn’t mean it’s affordable,” Flourance said. “We need things like labor protections and living wages so people can actually earn and participate in the economy that we have.”

We need to find ways to make housing more affordable here, we need to make sure people can live on one income instead of two, if necessary,” Flourance said.

“They want to see food prices go back to where they were before, most of all they want to see gas under $3 a gallon,” Johnston said. “Car insurance, right, it’s a huge increase – the whole household budget has gone up. Health care, but a lot of times they’re paying for health insurance, but they may not have- not be able to afford to use it, and if they can afford to use it, there may be a shortage of primary care doctors or pediatricians, and then the real cost of a health service has increased significantly, so this is a big problem.

Women in both parties also want safe schools for their children.

I went to an event with First Lady Youngkin and she explained that 50% of 3rd graders in the Commonwealth cannot read. I think it’s an important issue,” Johnston said. “School choice is an important issue, safety in schools, girls in sports – it’s very important to protect that.

“They shouldn’t be afraid of getting hurt because someone who is not a girl is allowed on a playground,” Johnston said.

“Education is an important issue, gun safety is an important issue,” Flourance said. “For education, it’s about ensuring that we have access to a good public school. Ensuring that our public schools are equally resourced, so that families, regardless of their economic situation, have access to what they need. To succeed, they need us to be able to close an education gap and a resource gap that many families are experiencing.

Women also want to reduce high child care costs in the DMV.

“Families spend about 16% of their income, and that’s only if they have a child,” Flourance said. “That’s about $30,000 a year.”

“The economy has driven up these costs, and all the costs associated with them, so the ultimate goal is to get back to an economy that is functioning properly, the cost of living is going down and wages are going up,” Johnston said. “I mean, we know that under President Trump, wages have increased for every demographic, and we need to get back to that, because it will help.”

Abortion is another issue dominating the national discourse.

“There are women who have been devastated because they had an abortion and it was a moral and psychological problem for them,” Johnston said. “It could last a long part of their lives. But the other thing is we need babies, we need the birth rate to increase in this country, so adoption is a great alternative. I don’t think so that we’re talking about it enough. “I don’t think we’re showing the kind of support that someone can get to go down that adoption route and how wonderful that alternative can be. “

“It’s not about the right to abortion, it’s about the right to control our future, that’s right, it’s about being able to grow our families, how we want to grow our families and provide for our families,” Flourance said. . “It’s about ensuring that we have access to health care and that we don’t end up dealing with more permanent health problems for life if a pregnancy doesn’t go the way we want… There are discussions about limitations on birth control, national abortion.

We also asked both women about the impact of the immigration issue on female voters and how the parties diverge in their positions.

“Certainly for security, certainly if there are jobs that are given to illegal immigrants, because they will work for lower pay,” Johnston said. “Housing increases housing costs, therefore increases housing costs for families. These are all ways it’s hard on women.”

“Democrats largely view immigrants as people, as contributors to the economy, as taxpayers, as people who just want to live and grow their families here in the United States,” Flourance said. “It’s often become a very polarizing issue because there’s so much misinformation about it.”

Within her party, Flourance also hears women’s concerns about gun safety and domestic violence.

“Many women know that Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz, both gun owners, are out to pass common-sense gun restrictions, background checks, closing the gaps, to ensure guns stay out of the hands of dangerous individuals so we can all be safer both in our homes and outside of them,” Flourance said.

Johnston hears the fears of older adults facing AI and the rapid development of technology in their daily lives, as well as the availability of healthcare as the population ages.

“Access to health care is very important to them,” Johnston said. “They want to be assured that Medicare and Social Security will be there for them, and I think under President Trump, that is absolutely protected,” Johnston said.

There is a great, wonderful community of women here of all ages, of all generations, who want to see change in this country, to make sure that we have coordination, that we have stability as a country and that we let’s move away from chaos. “Florance said.