Some curveball questions for the GOP debate contenders

Like baseball hitters who know in advance that a fastball is coming right down the middle of the plate, the 10 Republican presidential candidates who participate in the first debate of the 2016 campaign on Aug. 6 will be well prepared for anticipated questions on the Iraq nuclear deal, immigration and, given the recent spate of mass shootings, gun control.

Personally, I think voters will benefit if those doing the questioning at the debate throw the candidates a few curve balls, just to test their breadth of knowledge and depth of conviction on issues that go a little deeper than today’s headlines. And, since 53 percent of the American electorate is female, wouldn’t it be nice if at least a few of the questions focused on matters that have a disproportionate impact on women?

I will toss out a few suggestions for the debate moderators:

• In his book, Women Warriors: Stories From the Thin Blue Line, John M. Wills writes, “In 1970, only 2 [percent] of all law enforcement officers were women, but by 1991 that number had risen to 9 [percent]. Numbers from the years 2007 and 2008 suggest the number of women involved in policing is almost 100,000, or just over 15 [percent]. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010).” As we take a sharper look at policing practices throughout the country, does gender equality need to be part of that discussion?

• Even in this day and age, facts show that it’s difficult to be a woman and an entrepreneur. Although the average annual revenue for female-owned businesses increased over 30 percent from 2013 to 2014, there was a 29 percent gap in credit application approvals favoring male-owned enterprises. In 2014, the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship found that only 4 percent of the dollar value of all small business loans went to female entrepreneurs, and the U.S. government was failing to meet its meager goal of awarding 5 percent of federal contracts to woman-owned businesses. Do you believe our economy is better off if we have more successful female entrepreneurs? And will you take action to make the federal government a trendsetter in this regard, providing more available capital to women through entities like the U.S. Small Business Administration?

• Are you familiar with the Ellen Pao gender discrimination case against the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers? You have all led organizations in government or the private sector. How have you handled gender discrimination complaints in your organization and how — specifics, please, no platitudes and generalities — would you create a positive working environment in the White House for all employees?

• Since questions about gender pay equity are often met with cute, but not particularly enlightening, quips about the salary differentials, let’s go at the disparity issue a different way. According to a study by Bloomberg Businessweek, women graduating from business schools are less likely to get job offers than their male counterparts. Among government positions, this gender gap is even worse than it is in the private sector. If elected president, will you make a commitment to address this disparity in federal hiring, and will you use your bully pulpit to press for similar changes among private employers? Oh, and just because we can’t leave this issue without asking, what exactly are you going to do about full-time working women making 78 cents for every dollar a man makes?

• Women are predominantly the caregivers for the more than 5 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, a total that is projected to nearly triple by the year 2040. Many middle-class households caring for family members with this disease are caught in an economic no-woman’s land. They can’t afford long-term care insurance, but they don’t qualify for Medicaid. How do we make long-term care more affordable? What is your position on an expansion of community-based services? Should Medicare services be expanded to pay family caregivers for the services they provide, which would help keep patients in their own homes and not confined to institutions?

• Lou Gehrig, the “Iron Horse,” is an American icon — on many levels. The son of immigrants, the only one of their four children to survive, Gehrig attended college on a football scholarship. His accomplishments on the baseball field are legendary. So too, his devastating diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a horrible degenerative disease which has since been come to be known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. As was his way, on July 4, 1939, Gehrig stood before a packed crowd at Yankee Stadium and humbly and stoically declared that he was “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.” If elected president, what would you do to insure adequate funding for medical research to eradicate devastating diseases, both prevalent and rare? What policies will you put in place to advance employment of individuals living with chronic conditions and disabilities?

• In my final play of the day, I would ask each candidate to please name two women you particularly admire — and you can’t include your mother or any other living or dead relative, or any females involved in your super-PAC.

Strongin is the founder and creator of Disruptive Women in Health Care.