Reproductive Rights
The equal participation of women in politics and government is integral to building strong communities and a vibrant democracy in which women and men can thrive. By voting, running for office, and engaging in civil society as leaders and activists, women shape laws, policies, and decision-making in ways that reflect their interests and needs, as well as those of their families and communities.
Today, women constitute a powerful force in the electorate and inform policymaking at all levels of government. Yet, women continue to be underrepresented in governments across the nation and face barriers that often make it difficult for them to exercise political power and assume leadership positions in the public sphere. This chapter presents data on several aspects of women’s involvement in the political process in the United States: voter registration and turnout, female state and federal elected and appointed representation, and state-based institutional resources for women. It examines how women fare on these indicators of women’s status, the progress women have made and where it has stalled, and how racial and ethnic disparities compound gender disparities in specific forms of political participation.
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Political Participation Rank and Score by State
When Hospitals Vanish, Mothers Die: Why Giving Birth Is Riskier in These US States
The rapid erosion of the maternity care infrastructure in the United States threatens to worsen the ongoing Black maternal health crisis and will increase the demand and need for birth workers, including midwives and doulas. Read more from our latest Quick Figure. READ MORE [...]
Birth Work Under Pressure: Supporting Black Midwives and Doulas Amid a Changing Landscape
Since the earliest days of the United States, Black birth workers have played a critical role in maternal health, delivering a level of care and joy Black women rarely find in the “institutional” medical system. However, because of numerous barriers, women of color represent [...]
If Parenting Came with a Paycheck, Mothers of Young Children Would Earn $450 Billion a Year
Caregiving takes time, particularly for mothers. On an average day in 2023, mothers of younger children spent 2.5 hours exclusively on child care (primary care) and another 6.5 hours supervising children in combination with other activities. While fathers also spent time caring for kids—averaging [...]
The Parenthood Pay Divide: Why Mothers Earn Less Than Fathers in the US
Mothers’ earnings are crucial for their own and their families’ economic security. At the same time, mothers are much more likely than fathers to take on greater responsibility for child and family care, which can reduce the time they have available for paid work. [...]
Collision of Crises: The Triple Threat to Reproductive and Maternal Health Care
The United States’ Black maternal health crisis is the result of complex and overlapping factors, from barriers to accessing comprehensive reproductive health care to exposure to harmful social and economic determinants of health and historical, multigenerational gendered racism. This brief illustrates the dangerous collision [...]
Built for Our Survival: Reclaiming Black Birth from a History of Harm
This brief is the first in the Birthing While Black: The Urgent Fight for Maternal Health Reform Series by IWPR. Throughout this series, we will tell the story of how we got here: What are the roots of our health and economic systems? Why [...]
