Senate Holds Key Hearing on the Economic Impact of Abortion Restrictions
IWPR's research shows that abortion restrictions harm women’s health and education leading to disproportionate impacts on the national and state economy. A key Senate committee took up this important issue at a hearing on February 28 and IWPR was there.
FAFSA Delays-Navigating the Thorny Landscape of College Unaffordability
For many low-income college students, the prevailing Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) delays are causing added panic to our ever-growing educational crisis of soaring college costs. IWPR's Policy Team weighs in.
The evidence is clear: Building a strong child care infrastructure is necessary for a prosperous economy. Subsidized child care allows mothers to work more and spend less, resulting in greater savings for retirement and improved economic security later in life. It supports working parents while creating new jobs.
In the United States, a whopping 43 percent of children have a parent who works “nontraditional hours,” or during the early mornings, nights, or weekends. And yet just 8 percent of child care centers offer care before 7am or after 6pm. While families of all types require care during nontraditional hours, Black and Latinx workers and low-income workers are disproportionately more likely to work during nontraditional hours.
In March, academics, researchers, and advocates came together to discuss the future of the U.S. care infrastructure at a conference presented by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, American University's Program on Gender Analysis in Economics, and the Carework Network. Taking stock of the caregiving landscape in the age of COVID-19, panelists focused on the impact of the pandemic, the current policy environment, shifting narratives around care, and the urgent changes needed to create a care system that works for women and families.
Last week, disability rights advocates were joined by caregiving professionals and policymakers at a rally in Washington, DC, to call for much-needed investment in the care infrastructure. Rally participants delivered the call to invest in care—with a focus on home and community-based services and living wages for direct care workers—at an important moment, as Congress continues to debate legislature that would provide critical funding like the Build Back Better Act and its reincarnations.
“College campuses were not designed with student parents in mind.” This is now a common refrain echoed among student parent success advocates. It must be acknowledged, too, that the U.S. system of higher education was not designed for women, Black people, anyone parenting while in college, or those who experience life at the intersections of all three of these identities.
Expanding the Child Tax Credit was a historic policy moment and a hopeful national experiment on how recurring payments to families with children can impact economic security. How might we build on this to secure a brighter future for women and families?
