In the Lead
Care Conference 2024: What We Need to Think About as the Population Is Aging and Care Needs Are Rising
This is the second blog in a series detailing the panels and discussions that took place at the recent 2024 Care Conference hosted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) and American University’s Program on Gender Analysis in Economics (PGAE). Why is women’s retirement income substantially lower than men’s? Why does Medicaid fail to meet the care needs of so many Americans? How can government interventions help reduce the pressing care needs of an aging population? And how can caregivers be [...]
Incubators for Improved Maternal Health: States’ Role in Ending the Black Maternal Health Crisis
The impacts of the Black maternal health crisis in the United States are hitting home, both in the lives of Black women and their families and in the states in which they reside. Black women are about three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women. This disparity is driven by structural racism, which is deep-seated in reproductive health care and economic policies at all levels of government. Restrictive state laws governing bodily autonomy and [...]
The Pervasive Legacy of Medical Racism and Its Role in the Black Maternal Health Crisis
“Listen to the whispers before they become screams.” That was the title of an article published in 2023 on Black maternal mortality in the United States. While the article is well done and chock-full of essential information, the title rings false. The whispers are screams. And they have been for centuries, growing louder with each passing decade of inaction. History and current trends prove this point and are part of a larger issue. This Black Maternal Health Week, it [...]
Congress Has a Responsibility to End the Black Maternal Health Crisis
Yesterday marked the start of Black Maternal Health Week, a crucial time to lift up the voices and perspectives of Black mothers and birthing people amid a national crisis in Black maternal health. Among wealthy and “developed” nations, the US has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the world. Data show that Black women are around three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related issue than White non-Hispanic women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and [...]
Care Conference 2024: Economic Policies for Gender & Racial Equity—Earnings, Care, and Public Revenue
This is the first blog in a series detailing the panels and discussions that took place at the recent 2024 Care Conference hosted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) and American University’s Program on Gender Analysis in Economics. Throughout human existence, every person has needed and experienced the care of another. Care work—whether paid or unpaid—provides the foundation on which other work is built, yet care is a neglected aspect of the economy. To put care at the [...]
Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Women and the Wage Gap
April 3 is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Equal Pay Day. New IWPR research finds that in 2022, for full-time year-round workers, AANHPI women were paid just 92.7 cents per dollar earned by White men. AANHPI women made less than White men in all states for which data are available for all workers with earnings. In Mississippi, AANHPI women were paid just 51.3 cents on the dollar paid to White men for all workers with earnings. [...]
