Heidi Hartmann, Ph.D.

About Heidi Hartmann

Heidi Hartmann is the President Emerita and Senior Research Economist at the Washington-based Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), a scientific research organization that she founded in 1987 to meet the need for women-centered, policy-oriented research. Dr. Hartmann is also a Distinguished Economist In-Residence for Gender and Economic Analysis at American University and serves as the Editor of the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy. Dr. Hartmann lectures internationally on women, economics, and public policy; frequently testifies before the U.S. Congress; and is often cited as an authority in various media outlets, such as CNN, ABC News, The New York Times, and PBS NewsHour. She has published numerous articles in journals and books and her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She is a co-author of several IWPR reports, including Women’s and Men’s Employment and Unemployment in the Great Recession; Still A Man’s Labor Market: The Long-Term Earnings Gap; Unnecessary Losses: Costs to Americans of the Lack of Family and Medical Leave; Equal Pay for Working Families, and Strengthening Social Security for Women. She served as Chair of the Board of the American Academy of Political Science, and Treasurer of the National Council of Women’s Organizations. Prior to founding IWPR, Dr. Hartmann was on the faculties of Rutgers University and the New School for Social Research and worked at the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. In 1994, Dr. Hartmann was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship Award for her work in the field of women and economics. She is an economist with a B.A. from Swarthmore College and M. Phil and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University, all in economics. She is the recipient of two honorary degrees. She was named a Charlotte Perkins Gilman Fellow by the American Academy of Political and Social Science in 2014, and in 2017 she received the Distinguished Career Award from the American Sociological Association.

The Shifting Supply and Demand of Care Work: The Growing Role of People of Color and Immigrants

As the Baby Boom generation matures and current unmet child care needs remain constant, the United States faces a burgeoning crisis in the demand for care workers. The market has slowly but surely begun to adapt, seeing an overall growth of 19 percent in the number of care workers between 2005 and 2015, with most of that growth in adult care. The U.S. Department of Labor suggests that this will only grow further, projecting that the economy will add more than 1.6 million jobs in occupations related to adult care by 2024 (Rolen 2017).

By Heidi Hartmann, Jeff Hayes, Rebecca Huber, Kelly Rolfes-Haase and Jooyeoun Suh, Ph.D.|2020-08-10T03:28:32-05:00June 27, 2018|Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Economy, Report|Comments Off on The Shifting Supply and Demand of Care Work: The Growing Role of People of Color and Immigrants

Estimating the Cost of Paid Family and Medical Leave in Connecticut

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) analyzed Connecticut SB-1, An Act Concerning Earned Family and Medical Leave, to estimate its likely annual use and cost.

Wage Gap Will Cost Millennial Women $1 Million Over their Careers

Millennial women are the most educated generation of women in the United States and are now more likely than men to have a college degree. At the same time, progress on closing the gender wage gap has stalled for nearly two decades, indicating that unequal pay continues to be a challenge to new generations of women workers.

By Jeff Hayes and Heidi Hartmann|2020-10-28T19:11:08-05:00April 10, 2018|IWPR|Comments Off on Wage Gap Will Cost Millennial Women $1 Million Over their Careers

The Economic Status of Women in the U.S. What Has Changed in the Last 20 – 40 Years

Heidi Hartmann, Ph.D. presents to the GAO.

By Heidi Hartmann|2020-08-27T02:00:57-05:00March 29, 2018|Presentation, Status of Women|Comments Off on The Economic Status of Women in the U.S. What Has Changed in the Last 20 – 40 Years

Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance: Modest Costs are a Good investment in America’s Economy

DOWNLOAD REPORT February 5, 2018, marks the 25th anniversary [...]

Decline in Retail Jobs Felt Entirely by Women

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) analysis of the December employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) establishment survey finds that, over the last year (November 2016 - November 2017), women gained fewer jobs than men: women gained 985,000, while men gained 1,086,000 jobs.

By Jennifer Clark, Emma Williams-Baron and Heidi Hartmann|2020-10-30T16:50:19-05:00December 18, 2017|IWPR|Comments Off on Decline in Retail Jobs Felt Entirely by Women

A Selection of US Government Actions to Advance Women

Between 1960 and 1981 there was always a government body tasked with monitoring progress for women across all spheres and making recommendations. The recommendations were frequently implemented.

By Heidi Hartmann and Ashley English|2020-10-30T16:25:43-05:00March 27, 2017|IWPR|Comments Off on A Selection of US Government Actions to Advance Women

Five Ways to Win an Argument about the Gender Wage Gap (Updated 2019)

In this post, we argue that the figure is an accurate measure of the inequality in earnings between women and men who work full-time, year-round in the labor market and reflects a number of different factors: discrimination in pay, recruitment, job assignment, and promotion; lower earnings in occupations mainly done by women; and women’s disproportionate share of time spent on family care, including that they—rather than fathers—still tend to be the ones to take more time off work when families have children.

By Heidi Hartmann, M. Phil., Barbara Gault, Gina Chirillo and Jennifer Clark|2021-02-16T02:11:13-05:00September 16, 2016|IWPR|Comments Off on Five Ways to Win an Argument about the Gender Wage Gap (Updated 2019)

Executive Summary–Pathways to Equity: Narrowing the Wage Gap by Improving Women’s Access to Good Middle-Skill Jobs

This report addresses women’s access to well-paid, growing, middle-skill jobs (jobs that do not require a bachelor’s degree). It documents sex segregation in middle-skill jobs, and discusses how gender integration of good jobs could both reduce skill-shortages and improve women’s economic security.

By Ariane Hegewisch, Barbara Gault, Heidi Hartmann and M. Phil.|2020-11-23T22:54:19-05:00March 24, 2016|IWPR|Comments Off on Executive Summary–Pathways to Equity: Narrowing the Wage Gap by Improving Women’s Access to Good Middle-Skill Jobs