Publications

Paying Today and Tomorrow: Charting the Financial Costs of Workplace Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment remains deeply pervasive in the workplace, wreaking havoc on the lives of survivors. This report fills a gap in our knowledge of the economic costs of sexual harassment for the individual women and men who experience it. Drawing on in-depth interviews with survivors of workplace sexual harassment and stakeholder experts, and a review of the literature, the report provides a detailed pathway for capturing the financial consequences of workplace sexual harassment for individual workers in both the short term and over their lifetimes. The research is based on a collaboration between the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and the TIME’S UP Foundation and presents the first step towards identifying the data needed for a comprehensive national assessment of the financial and economic costs of sexual harassment. 

By Ariane Hegewisch, Jessica Forden and Eve Mefferd|2021-07-20T08:29:53-05:00July 21, 2021|Publications, Report|0 Comments

Tackling the Gender and Racial Patenting Gap to Drive Innovation: Lessons from Women’s Experiences

Tackling the Gender and Racial Patenting Gap to Drive Innovation: Lessons from Women’s Experiences shows the challenges women face in patenting process and provides recommendations to diversify innovation. The report highlights experiences of inventors and barriers to entry across fields and the unique difficulties women inventors—and particularly women inventors of color—face throughout the innovation and patenting process. The authors make recommendations on how to get more women and women of color in the pipeline. These include tackling systemic racial and gender bias and discrimination, investing in child care and work-life balance supports, and increasing support and funding for accelerator programs for women.

By Elyse Shaw and Halie Mariano|2021-07-19T19:32:30-05:00July 19, 2021|Briefing Paper, Publications|0 Comments

Even as Payroll Jobs Recover, Young Workers Face Unemployment and a Hostile Labor Market

New June jobs data show the strongest monthly job growth for women since August 2020. Despite this, it will still take women another 9.3 months to get back to pre-COVID-10 levels, compared with 6.7 months for men. Further, the unemployment rate increased slightly, with rates of unemployment remaining twice as high for younger workers.

Re-Engaging Student Parents to Achieve Attainment and Equity Goals

In recent years, the goal of 60 percent of adults holding a postsecondary degree has been set as a key benchmark for the United States to build a skilled workforce and remain economically competitive. Engaging adults with some college credit but no degree is critical to reaching this goal.

Before the “She-Cession”: A Pre-Pandemic Snapshot Shows More Women in the Workforce than Ever

The “she-cession” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has created economic instability for women across the United States. Yet, before the COVID-19 pandemic, women’s employment and earnings were improving nationwide. It is important to track trends in women’s employment and earnings prior to the pandemic [...]

A Slow Climb Back from the “She-Cession”: High Jobs Deficit in Child Care and School Sectors Continues

New May jobs data show that despite greater jobs gains, women’s recovery continues to lag behind that of men. Women’s jobs on payroll are still 4.2 million below pre-COVID-19 levels, compared with 3.5 million fewer jobs on payroll for men. Further, high jobs deficits in schools and child care centers point to difficulties for employed mothers and mothers wanting to return to work.

Head Start-College Partnership to Promote Student Parent Family Success: A Roadmap to Guide Collaboration

Collaboration between colleges and Head Start programs holds promise for promoting the educational and economic well-being of college students with young children. Roughly one million undergraduate student parents with children under age six are income-eligible for Head Start, and their ability to complete their educational programs is linked to their access to affordable sources of early care and learning for their children. [...]

Narrow the Gender Pay Gap, Reduce Poverty for Families: The Economic Impact of Equal Pay by State

Equal pay would significantly reduce poverty for working women and their families across the United States.  If working women received equal pay with comparable men—men who are of the same age, have the same level of education, work the same number of hours, and have the same urban/rural status—poverty for working women would be reduced by more than 40 percent.