Tuesday’s election results sparked a wide range of responses across the nation and the world. Here at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, our commitment to using information to advance women is stronger than ever. This election season, with its turmoil, contentiousness, and disappointments, surfaced and amplified issues that require a hard look at how policies affect people who differ by gender, race, age, and experiences.

The election season powerfully raised the issues of sexual assault and sexual harassment, implicit and explicit bias, women’s leadership, and inequality in ways that our research can and will continue to build upon.

Over its nearly 30 years, IWPR has brought timely, unassailable research to bear on the great policy challenges that face our country, including access to paid family leave, child care, equal pay, and freedom from violence, across administrations and policy cycles and in states and localities throughout the nation. After Tuesday’s election, for example, residents of two more states, Washington and Arizona, will have access to paid sick days, and IWPR is proud of how its data has played a role in these advances.

IWPR takes heart that over the coming months and years, we will have the honor and opportunity to work alongside policymakers and activists to ensure that well-informed policy solutions are put forward, championed, and implemented.

Facts and reliable data seemed hard to come by during this election cycle, and false statements were difficult to quickly correct. IWPR’s founding mission is to ensure that policies are not based on misleading information or outdated assumptions. Today, we roll up our sleeves, still believing that knowledge is power, a renewable energy that cannot be exhausted or extinguished. We will look for ways to harness that power, together, as we bring our research to bear on the challenges that continue to face us.

We would love to hear from you about research needs and partnership opportunities going forward.

In community,

Heidi Hartmann, Ph.D., President

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that conducts and communicates research to inspire public dialogue, shape policy, and improve the lives and opportunities of women of diverse backgrounds, circumstances, and experiences. Find out more about IWPR at iwpr.org.

Follow IWPR on Twitter @IWPResearch and Facebook.