COVID-19 and Recovery Response
As the pandemic enters its third year and the nation turns to recovery, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research is committed to amplifying and addressing the challenges women face. IWPR’s new research provides insights and recommendations for policymakers to help meet the urgent and long-term needs of women, their families, and their communities.
Unequal Present, Unfair Future: Young Black, Latina, and LGBTQ Women Face Greater Economic Challenges during the Pandemic
New IWPR survey data show young women’s experience of economic hardship during the COVID-19 crisis varied across racial/ethnic groups and gender and sexual identities—with some struggling more than others. To achieve an equitable recovery, policies should level the playing field by supporting young women who have been hit hardest.
Pope Francis Agrees: Equal Pay for Women is Long (Long) Overdue
By John W. Miller Editor's Note: The Moral Economy is a new series that tackles key economic topics through the prism of Catholic social teaching and its care for the dignity of every person. This is the seventh article in the series. The gender pay gap, persistent and global, is an evident structural economic injustice—and despite widespread agreement that it deserves immediate remedy, it is proving annoyingly difficult to solve. For almost 60 years, since President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal [...]
How Much Does Workplace Sexual Harassment Cost Over a Lifetime? Up to $1.3 Million, a New Study Estimates
By Meera Jagannathan Workplace sexual harassment can have many intangible psychological and physical consequences, but survivors also face concrete financial costs in the near and long term, according to a new report published nearly four years after the resurgence of the #MeToo movement. On-the-job sexual harassment helps drive the gender wage gap and can result in lifetime costs for survivors ranging from $600 to $1.3 million, according to the analysis of case studies by the Time’s Up Foundation and Institute [...]
New Research Uncovers the True Financial Costs of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace for Women
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 21, 2021 Contact: Erin Weber, IWPR | weber@iwpr.org | (646) 719-7021 Chelsea Fuller, TIME'S UP Foundation | press@timesupnow.org Washington, DC – Today the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and the TIME’S UP Foundation released a report showing that workplace sexual harassment has large financial costs and economic consequences. The report, Paying Today and Tomorrow: Charting the Financial Costs of Workplace Sexual Harassment, is the first-ever attempt to monetize the lifetime financial costs of sexual [...]
Women’s Jobs Fell First, Fastest. What Else Did Pandemic Show?
by Jessica Mendoza and Samantha Laine Perfas Millions of women, especially women of color, left the U.S. workforce during the pandemic. The reasons ranged from layoffs to burnout to the pressures of caring for children or other family members. Among the losses, by some accounts, is a generation’s worth of progress in women’s participation in the workforce. But it’s more than sheer numbers. “What the pandemic has really shone a spotlight on is all the weak points in our system [...]
Student Parents are Key to Our Post-Pandemic Recovery
By Larissa M. Mercado-Lopez As students quickly shifted to remote learning with the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Ashley de Jesus shifted to another reality — parenthood. In addition to adjusting to a new learning landscape, Ashley, a single mother, found herself navigating a social welfare system whose offices were being shuttered. She recalls feeling unmotivated to study as she continued to work (virtually) and adjust to a newborn. She even considered taking a semester off. But the promise she [...]
