Ensuring Equal Pay for Black Women is Not Just About Work—It’s Also About Family
Policy solutions that address Black women’s work, family, and caregiving needs are essential to creating equitable workplaces that pay fair wages.
Women
The Women’s Initiative at the Center for American Progress focuses on developing and promoting robust, progressive policies and affirmative solutions to ensure that all women can participate fully in our economy and live healthy and productive lives.
We firmly believe that the diverse experiences of women across race, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, and other factors —and the challenges they face—must be at the center of the national policy debate. We work to secure women’s health and bodily autonomy, economic stability, equality, and access to equitable opportunities and uphold other reproductive, civil, and human rights.
Building on the ACA: Administrative Actions to Improve Maternal Health
The United States’ maternal health crisis demands federal and state action to improve coverage, the delivery of care, and pregnancy outcomes. The cost of inaction will almost certainly be dire.
Ensuring Domestic Violence Survivors’ Safety
Community-Based Doulas and Midwives
Breadwinning Mothers Are Critical to Families’ Economic Security
Take Action: Ensure Meaningful Access to Abortion for All
These Interconnected Policies Would Sustain Families, Support Women, and Grow the Economy
Together, the policies included in the Biden administration’s Build Back Better agenda would propel families’ and the country’s economic security by prioritizing child care, the child tax credit, paid family and medical leave, and good jobs that get Americans back to work.
Navigating the Road Ahead in the Fight for Women’s Progress
The Biden-Harris administration took key strides toward gender equity in its first 100 days, but achieving future progress will require an intentional focus on combating systemic barriers, entrenched biases, and a status quo that continues to preserve and perpetuate long-standing disparities.
All Workers Deserve Access to Paid Family and Medical Leave
A paid family and medical leave program must be national, comprehensive, and inclusive to meet the needs of all workers, their families, and the economy.
Millions of Families Are Struggling to Address Child Care Disruptions
While families of all types are experiencing child care disruptions, the tools available to address them vary significantly across demographics.
States’ Essential Health Benefits Coverage Could Advance Maternal Health Equity
State benchmark plans vary in their coverage of necessary maternal health services.
5 Ways To Improve Maternal Health by Addressing the Climate Crisis
Policy solutions to improve maternal health are urgently needed so that pregnant and postpartum people are prepared for a new climate future.
10 Essential Actions To Promote Equal Pay
The Biden administration should restart the collection of employer pay data, convene a new interagency equal pay task force, undertake an initiative to promote greater pay transparency, and designate more funding for enforcement of equal pay protections in order to regain lost ground and make progress for working women.
Why Salary History Bans Matter To Securing Equal Pay
A comprehensive effort to secure equal pay must include limiting employers’ reliance on salary history in hiring and compensation decisions, as this practice can result in wage disparities and pay discrimination for women and workers of color.
A Proactive Abortion Agenda
Policymakers must go beyond baseline legal protections to treat abortion as the essential health care service it is, ensuring meaningful access to abortion for all and removing barriers put in place to circumvent Roe v. Wade.
A Profile of Immigrant Women in the Workforce
Immigrant women are integral members of U.S. society, working across industries that serve all communities and spur economic growth. As the pandemic continues to disproportionately affect women in the workforce, future policy must consider the contributions and needs of immigrant women.
Equal Pay for All AAPI Women Is Essential to Economic Justice
Without equal pay, AAPI women will continue to endure some of the harshest economic effects of every crisis.
The Economic Status of Asian American and Pacific Islander Women
Policymakers must closely examine economic data on the experiences of AAPI women, before and during the coronavirus pandemic, in order to surface key barriers and shed light on effective policy solutions.
Raising the Minimum Wage Would Be Transformative for Women
Women make up the majority of workers who would benefit from raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, as they are overrepresented in tipped and low-wage jobs.