Economic Security, Mobility and Equity (ESME)
Whether paid or unpaid, women’s work is crucial for their families’ economic security and well-being. Greater gender equality in paid and unpaid work will reduce poverty and improve economic growth and prosperity; persistent inequity in employment and family work is costing all of us. Women are held back by the undervaluation of historically female work, workplaces designed as if workers had no family responsibilities, and a broken-down work-family infrastructure.
IWPR’s ESME program highlights the extent of pay inequalities, and the role played by stark occupational segregation in perpetuating unequal pay. We conduct research and analysis on women’s labor force participation and employment trends; workforce development, non-traditional employment, and apprenticeships; the impact of sex discrimination and harassment on women’s career advancement and mobility; the gender pay gap and pay inequity across race and ethnicity; work-family policies and employer practices; the and the impact of automation and technological advances on women workers.
We work with policymakers, employers, advocates, and practitioners to identify promising practices and policy solutions.
Black Women’s Equal Pay Day 2023: No Matter What State They Live In, Black Women Make Less Than White Men
Black Women’s Equal Pay Day is a symbolic commemoration of a stark reality: no matter which state they live in, whether they work part- or full-time, or part-year or year-round, Black women make substantially less than White men . This year, Black Women's Equal [...]
Black Women Earn Less than White Men in Every State, Will Not Reach Pay Equity with White Men Until 2144, According to a New IWPR Fact Sheet
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 25, 2023 Contact: William Lutz 202-785-5100 Washington, D.C. — Black women earned 64 cents for every dollar earned by White men in 2022, according to data released by IWPR ahead of Black women’s Equal Pay Day July 27, 2023. The same [...]
Black Women Earn Less Than White Men in Every State, Won’t Reach Pay Equity Until 2144
The COVID-19 pandemic and related recession both highlighted and exacerbated the persistent racial and gendered economic inequalities that Black women face in the labor market. Whether they worked full-time, part-time, year-round, or part-year, Black women were paid substantially less than White men. This brief [...]
Women and Infrastructure Jobs: Policy Options for Congress
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and CHIPS and Science Act authorized the investment of billions of dollars into strengthening the American economy. In the next decade, these investments are projected to create several million new jobs. Careers in [...]
Advancing Women in Manufacturing: Perspectives from Women on the Shop Floor
Careers in manufacturing can provide high earnings and good benefits. After years of decline,the manufacturing industry is growing again. Manufacturing employs one in ten workers in the United States but fewer than a third of workers are women,and women are particularly underrepresented in many [...]
Women Earn Less Than Men Whether They Work in the Same or in Different Occupations
In 2022, women earned less than men for full-time weekly work in almost all occupations, including in 19 of the largest 20 occupations for women, and in all of the largest 20 occupations for men. Teaching Assistants (median weekly earnings of $662) is the [...]
