Dr. Jamila K. Taylor, president and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, on year one of President Trump’s second term as POTUS. This statement was issued on January 20, 2026. 

“President Trump came into office on a platform designed to relegate certain Americans—including women, people of color, especially Black women and Latinas, the LGBTQ+ community, and people with disabilities—to secondhand status. To the detriment of millions of women and families nationwide, with the help of his allies in Congress, he has delivered on that promise.

“Within hours after taking the oath of office for a second time, President Trump issued a series of executive orders to end federal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Over the ensuing months, he and his administration embarked on a mission to dismantle entire swaths of the federal government, while pushing sweeping legislation to protect white and wealthy Americans at everyone else’s expense.

“One year later, the damage is clear. Between the mass firing of federal workers and sluggish economic growth, women’s employment rate has decreased from 55.2% in January 2025 to 54.8% in December 2025. The unemployment rate for Black women is up nearly 35% compared to when President Trump took office; 113,000 fewer Black women are employed today than a year ago. The gender and racial wage gaps have both increased.

“These consequences are devastating. Many women are seeing lower paychecks, if they are seeing a paycheck at all. As daily life becomes increasingly unaffordable with food and shelter prices driving the elevated inflation rate of 2.7%, food assistance support is tenuous, health insurance costs are soaring, and child care costs are climbing. Women’s reproductive health freedoms face persistent attacks, despite those attacks costing the US economy more than $133 billion each year. The identities of trans individuals are under systematic threat of erasure. In short, it is becoming far more difficult for women across the country to support their livelihoods and health and take care of their families.

“In the face of this onslaught, IWPR will continue to stand up for women’s full inclusion in American society, because an economy and health care system that works for women is good for the entire country. As we center the experiences of women and families in our research and advocacy, we will never back down from fighting for policies that make America fairer, healthier, safer, and stronger.”