In the Lead
IWPR’s New Working Moms and the Economy Survey Finds U.S. Moms Want Policy Solutions for Care, Leave, and Jobs
Mothers bear the brunt of paid and unpaid childcare labor: Moms are the majority of childcare workers—frontline jobs which are among the lowest paid occupations for women— and take on the majority of childrearing responsibilities in their own homes. Even before the Pandemic, the motherhood penalty meant mothers earned much less than fathers even working full-time year-round. In 2019, Latina mothers made 46 cents, Indigenous mothers 50 cents, Black mothers 52 cents, White Non-Hispanic mothers 71 cents, and Asian American [...]
Working Families Need Bold Child Care Solutions – This Reintroduced Bill Could Be the First Step
For the first time in half a century, the US is close to addressing its child care crisis. In the 1970s, Congress was prompted by the shift of more women in the workforce. They nearly passed a bill that would have funded locally run childcare centers around the country, but was vetoed by then-president Nixon for being in favor of “communal approaches to child-rearing" rather than a “family-centered approach”. In both 2017 and 2019, Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Representative [...]
Young Women in the “She-cession”: Centering the Experience of Young Women of Color
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated deep-seated inequalities in the society, with communities of color and low-wage workers who are disproportionately women, racial minorities, and young workers bearing the brunt of the pandemic’s health and economic impact. Since the beginning of the pandemic, scholars and activists have called attention to the “intersectional vulnerabilities” laid bare by the pandemic. An intersectional perspective highlights how various structural inequalities interconnect and shape the unique experiences of groups situated differently on the “matrix of domination.” [...]
Equal Pay Day 2021: The Results of a COVID-Impacted Economy
For many women, this Equal Pay Day feels uniquely urgent. While it looks like the wage gap is shrinking – that’s only because women in low wage jobs have been pushed out of the work force during the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic downturn in its wake. A new analysis from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), along with highlights from a new national IWPR survey, shows that women want and need the government to do more to close [...]
Progress on Closing the Gender and Race Wage Gap is Too Slow: Inequality Between and Within Occupations
Equal Pay Day, March 24th of this year, marks how many extra months women have to work to catch up with men’s earnings in the last calendar year. Full-time women workers made just 82 cents on the dollar compared to men at the median. The gap in annual earnings is even larger for Latinas who made just 55 cents, and Black women who made just 63 cents per dollar earned at the median for White non-Hispanic men. At the current [...]
Asian American and Pacific Islander Equal Pay Day Reveals Racial Challenges Despite Model Minority Stereotype
Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit AAPI women particularly hard as businesses continue to close and caregiving responsibilities increase. While AAPI women consistently earn more than any other group of women in the United States, both prior to the pandemic and now, the gender wage gap persists, with AAPI women earning 84.6 percent of White men’s earnings, and only 73.3 percent of AAPI men’s earnings. For many AAPI women, the wage gap perpetuates existing inequalities, and combined [...]