Join us for IWPR’s 2026 Power+ Summit, The Power Grid: Driving Gender Equity Forward, taking place September 28–29 in Detroit, MI.
Together, we will spark bold ideas, share breakthroughs, and shape the future of gender equity.
By PR Lockhart
For women of color, who are often concentrated at the bottom rungs of the workforce, the damage of those consequences can be intensified by their financial status, racial identity, and, in some cases, immigration status. According to a 2014 report from the National Women’s Law Center, women comprise some two-thirds of workers making $10.10 an hour or less, and of that group nearly half are women of color. Many of these women are working in jobs that have been historically viewed as “women’s work,” like housecleaning, cooking, and child care. A report from Oxfam and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that 43 percent of women in these “women-oriented” low-wage jobs — some 8.2 million people — are living “in or near poverty.”