Vice President Kamala Harris denounced critics of programs focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) on Monday, reminding voters about underpaid women athletes in the Women’s National Basketball Association.

‘There are people in our country right now that are suggesting to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion is a bad thing, because they may not want conversations like this to occur which include the issue of pay equity based on gender,’ she said.

Harris spoke about DEI efforts during a campaign roundtable in Wisconsin about the importance of nursing home workers.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign roundtable event

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (R) speaks to members of the Phoenix Mercury WNBA team in May 2022

The vice president raised the issue of women athletes getting paid less than men in the Women’s National Basketball Association as an example of what she was talking about.

 ‘Whether it be in the WNBA or recognizing the traditional work of women, nurses, teachers remains underpaid, especially when you when you measure it based on the value of the work,’ she said. ‘The value of the work is profound in terms of what that does to lift people up.’

 The issue of WNBA salaries was raised by activists after superstar College college basketball athlete Caitlin Clark signed a four year rookie contract for $338,056, even as top male basketball athletes typically sign multi-million dollar deals.

From left to right, LSU’s Angel Reese, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and Stanford’s Cameron Brink pose for a photo before the WNBA basketball draft,

Some of the top female athletes in the sport signed contracts for the WNBA last week

The Biden campaign issued a statement from the president on social media in response to the news, arguing that female athletes were ‘not paid their fair share.’

Harris pointedly told the audience she was going ‘off script’ before returning to her frequently mentioned talking point about the importance of leaders focusing on ‘who you lift up’ rather than ‘who you beat down.’

She said that nursing care workers should be more valued and be better paid.

‘That’s the work of these workers we are talking about now and we as a society should value that,’ she said.

Harris considers herself a fan of college basketball but mistakenly said in March that women’s college basketball were not allowed to have brackets until recently.

‘Do you know — OK, a bit of a history lesson — do you know that the women’s teams were not allowed to have brackets until 2022?’ she asked a reporter in South Carolina.

The NCAA Women’s basketball tournament began in 1982, as 32 teams were put into a bracket for the college championship.

A spokesperson for the Vice President’s office confirmed to DailyMail.com that Harris intended to refer to the March Madness trademark and not ‘brackets.’