In the Lead
Student Debt Is a Crisis for Women, and Black Women Bear the Greatest Burden
After treading water through two years of pandemic-related student loan forbearance, people with student debt are due to resume payments on May 1, 2022, a shift that will leave many to drown. Student debt is a crisis in the United States, and one that disproportionately impacts women and people of color. Achieving economic mobility—or even just stability—often requires a postsecondary credential. While some unique career paths, like construction trades, offer apprenticeship as a pathway to good jobs, the vast majority [...]
Pregnancy Accommodations Can Help Tackle Skill Shortages, Retain Talent in the Trades
Over four decades after the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, many pregnant workers still experience discrimination and struggle to get reasonable accommodations that would allow them to maintain employment during their pregnancies. New research from IWPR highlights how a lack of pregnancy accommodations harms employers, the economy, and workers’ economic security. IWPR’s survey of tradeswomen shows how a lack of pregnancy accommodations is a factor that pushes workers out of construction jobs with family-sustaining wages and benefits. [...]
The States Making Strides to Close the Gender Wage Gap
In 2020, women made 83 cents on the dollar compared to men, based on median annual earnings for full-time, year-round work. Compared to White non-Hispanic men, White women made 79 cents on the dollar, Black women 64 cents, and Hispanic or Latina women just 57 cents. Without major policy interventions, these gaps will take decades or even centuries to close. Unless we make a change, Black women aren’t projected to reach equal pay until 2133, and Latinas will have to [...]
Senate Failed Again to Ensure Fair Access to the Ballot Box, Crucial to Addressing Racial and Gender Inequities in Our Society
This week, the US Senate failed again to pass voting rights legislation that would have been crucial to the role of women in society, ensuring more equitable access to the ballot box, especially for black women and women of color. Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) CEO and President C. Nicole Mason lamented that trivial concerns about procedure factored into the bill’s undoing. “It is sad to see this crucial bill undone by arguments about the filibuster and Senate tradition. [...]
December #JobsDay Data Show Women’s Recovery, and Child Care and Elder Care, Continued to Fall Behind Recovery
The December 2021 jobs report provided a mixed picture, with only moderate jobs growth, a continued lag of women’s jobs recovery behind men’s, and another month with an absolute drop in child care and elder care jobs—while jobs in the overall economy grew. As last month, survey data from individual households (Current Population Survey) is much more positive than survey data collected from establishments about the number of workers on payroll (Current Employment Situation). Household data suggests that the rate [...]
Holiday “Magic” Is Also Unpaid Care Work
The gender inequities in care work are well-documented. According to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), in 2019, women spent 2.16 hours per day on household activities such as cooking and cleaning while men spent 1.39 hours.* Further, women report spending 16 percent more time purchasing goods and services. Experimental ATUS data from 2019 and 2020 showed that women spent an average of 1.7 hours per day and men spent an average of 46 minutes per day caring for and [...]
