Press Advisory

ADVISORY: The Economics of Misogyny

Washington, D.C. — For every push toward women’s equality, there is often a push backward in resistance. Almost one year after a divisive 2016 presidential election, this narrative continues to take center stage.

The Trump administration and Republican leadership are quick to tout their support for women, but the reality and the impact of their policies on the ground tell a different story. Policy choices are made every day that are shaped and influenced by attitudes, stereotypes, and expectations about women and women’s roles.

Yet the work of feminism to expand opportunities for all women and create an environment in which women can make the choices that make sense for them is often mischaracterized—in an effort to marginalize ideas, stifle progress, and maintain the status quo. In this environment, the Center for American Progress seeks to look closer at how the economy actually operates for women and how decisions get made, as well as what attitudes shape these decisions and underlie different policies and approaches.

This event will examine the current and historical economic climate and its impact on women across diverse backgrounds. Feminist economics provides a starting point to developing a broader understanding of how women’s varied lives and complex needs interact with the economy. Pre-eminent women economists from across the country will use a critical feminist lens to discuss the importance of labor market structures, such as work-life policy, in economic opportunities and the crucial role that bodily autonomy plays in all women’s—and, indeed, all people’s—ability to fully engage in the economy.

Please join us for this innovative convening on the role misogyny plays in the U.S. economy and how feminist economics provides a counternarrative to narrow representations of women who work.

Click here to watch the livestream.

WHEN:
Friday, September 29, 2017
10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET

Opening remarks:
Neera Tanden, President and CEO, Center for American Progress

Keynote:
Joyce Jacobsen, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Andrews Professor of Economics, Wesleyan University

Panel: The Intersection of the Family and the Labor Market
Michelle Holder, Assistant Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Nina Banks, Associate Professor of Economics, Bucknell University
Randy Albelda, Graduate Program Director and Professor of Economics and College of Liberal Arts Senior Research Fellow, Center for Social Policy, University of Massachusetts Boston

Moderated by:
Jocelyn Frye, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

Panel: The Economics of Bodily Autonomy
Rhonda Sharpe, Founder and President of the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity, and Race
Adriana Kugler, Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University
Lee Badgett, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Moderated by:
Kate Bahn, Economist, Center for American Progress

Closing remarks:
Heather Boushey, Executive Director and Chief Economist, Washington Center for Equitable Growth

WHERE:

Center for American Progress
1333 H Street NW, 10th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005

Click here to RSVP.

For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Devon Kearns at 202.741.6290 or [email protected].

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