Issues

Increasing Opportunities for Low-Income Women and Student Parents in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math at Community Colleges

Drawing on a literature and program review, analysis of publicly available data, and consultations with experts in the field, this report examines opportunities for women and student parents to pursue and succeed in STEM fields at community colleges.

Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption Leave in the United States

The United States is among a very small number of countries in the world without a statutory right to paid maternity leave for employees. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research’s (IWPR) analysis of Working Mother magazine’s “100 Best Companies” finds that almost all of the top companies provide some paid maternity leave and, between 2006 and 2010, these employers dramatically expanded coverage for paternity and adoptive parent leave.

Separate and Not Equal? Gender Segregation in the Labor Market and the Gender Wage Gap

Occupational gender segregation is a strong feature of the US labor market. While some occupations have become increasingly integrated over time, others remain highly dominated by either men or women. Our analysis of trends in overall gender segregation shows that, after a considerable move towards more integrated occupations in the 1970s and 1980s, progress has completely stalled since the mid 1990s.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research and Labor Resource Center Paid Family and Medical Leave Simulation Model

In developing a simulation model to estimate the cost of paid family and medical leave programs in a given state, we rely on data documenting known leave-taking behavior. Where this is not possible, we provide a set of reasonable assumptions about unknown aspects of behavior in the presence of a paid leave program.