Publications
The Status of Women in North Carolina: Poverty & Opportunity
In North Carolina and across the United States, women have made significant progress. Despite this, many women remain in poverty with limited access to a quality education, affordable health care services, and other supports that would give them economic security. This report looks at four indicators necessary for women’s economic success: (1) access to health insurance coverage, (2) educational attainment, (3) business ownership, and (4) poverty rates. These indicators are combined to create an index that ranks North Carolina against all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
A Future Worth Building: What Tradeswomen Say about the Change They Need in the Construction Industry
Careers in the construction trades can provide high earnings and good benefits, often through a learn-while-you-earn apprenticeship. In 2020, more than 300,000 women worked in the trades—the largest number ever. Yet while their numbers are growing, women still make up fewer than one in twenty of workers in construction occupations.
Build Back Better Plan will Accelerate Gender Equality, Reduce Poverty for Women and Families, and Strengthen the U.S. Care Infrastructure
The Build Back Better (BBB) Framework proposed by the Biden Administration will accelerate gender equality and significantly reduce poverty for women and families. The plan invests in women’s economic security and equity by bolstering our care infrastructure, targeted tax credits, food and nutrition assistance, and higher education and training.
Construction Workers Need Paid Leave to Rebuild the Nation
Evidence from California suggests that construction workers face the highest COVID-19 infection rates of any other sector. IWPR’s 2021 survey of tradeswomen across states shows that most construction workers who needed to take leave during COVID-19 had to do so without pay.
An Impossible Juggling Act: Young Parents during the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic upended life for countless families and brought heightened attention to the plight of working parents. Mothers with young and school-aged children have borne the brunt of the care crisis in the United States, as schools and daycare centers across the country closed. Compared to fathers, mothers have been more likely to exit the labor force prematurely, become unemployed, and reduce their work hours during the pandemic (Heggeness 2020; Landivar et al. 2020).
Climbing the Leadership Ladder: Women’s Progress Stalls
What prevents women from reaching the highest rungs of the leadership ladder? This report seeks to answer this by taking a closer look at the representation of women in management and leadership positions across the United States—and the barriers that hold organizations back from achieving full gender and racial equity in leadership.
