This is true even though the gender wage gap has an outsized impact on our nation’s economy. According to data from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, closing the gender gap would “cut poverty among working women and their families by more than half and add $513 billion to the national economy.” But sidestepping this systemic problem is no longer possible: four major presidential candidates have placed issues impacting the gender wage gap front and center, from paid family leave and universal daycare to boosting teacher pay and raising the minimum wage to $15/hour . “Hear me when I say this,” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand tweeted in late March. ”Paid leave, equal pay, and affordable daycare are not just ‘women’s issues.’ These are economic issues — ones that will determine whether or not our country succeeds.”