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Women’s Initiative

The Women’s Initiative develops robust, progressive policies and solutions to ensure all women can participate in the economy and live healthy, productive lives.

A woman introduces her newborn baby to her grandmother, November 2020, in Los Angeles. (Getty/Brandon Bell)

What We're Doing

Advancing a proactive abortion agenda

Abortion rights are under attack. Our proactive agenda provides a road map for state and federal lawmakers to develop and enact policies that ensure equitable, safe access to abortion. In coalition, we will push back against restrictions that impede access to this critical health care service.

Addressing the maternal health crisis

People are more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes in the United States than in any other high-income country. Working closely with partners, we develop policy interventions to curb the maternal health crisis, eliminate racial disparities, and advance investments in maternal health care.

Closing the gender wage gap

To address pay disparities, especially for women of color, our comprehensive work advocates for measures such as the Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA). The PFA would strengthen equal pay protections, prohibit employer retaliation, and limit employers’ reliance on salary history to make hiring decisions.

Building a stronger economy by prioritizing women

Women are crucial to a thriving economy and families’ economic stability and must be at the heart of any economic recovery. We research solutions that maximize women’s economic participation and respond to competing demands of work and family, such as a national paid family and medical leave program.

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About us

The Women’s Initiative works to secure women’s health and bodily autonomy, economic stability, equality, and access to equitable opportunities and uphold other reproductive, civil, and human rights. We firmly believe that the diverse experiences of women across race, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, faith backgrounds, and other factors—and the challenges they face—must be at the center of the national policy debate.

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State Fact Sheets: How the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans Are Increasing Costs for American Families Fact Sheet
The Capitol dome reflected in water on pavement

State Fact Sheets: How the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans Are Increasing Costs for American Families

This series of fact sheets provides insights into how the OBBBA and the administration’s policies will increase the costs of health care, food, energy, and borrowing in each state in the near future.

Amina Khalique, Kennedy Andara, Natalie Baker, 2 More Sara Partridge, Kyle Ross

Sisters in Survival: Stories of the Trump Administration’s Assault on Women’s Rights, Lives, and Liberties Past Event

Sisters in Survival: Stories of the Trump Administration’s Assault on Women’s Rights, Lives, and Liberties

Please join the Center for American Progress for the next in a series of virtual events highlighting the impact that DOGE’s cuts are having on the lives of everyday Americans; this event will feature the stories of American women from across industries, states, and experiences as they navigate the fallout of the Trump administration’s actions, choices, appointments, and policies that are harming women.

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Why Trump’s Pronatalist Agenda Is Actually Anti-Motherhood In the News

Why Trump’s Pronatalist Agenda Is Actually Anti-Motherhood

In an op-ed for Ms. Magazine, Sara Estep discusses how President Trump and Vice President Vance’s pronatalist agenda is actually at odds with what mothers and their families need to thrive.

Ms. Magazine

Sara Estep

Breadwinning Women Are a Lifeline for Their Families and the Economy Report
A woman walks with her children, February 24, 2025.

Breadwinning Women Are a Lifeline for Their Families and the Economy

A new Center for American Progress analysis shows that large shares of working women—both mothers and married women without cohabitating children—continue to be breadwinners for their families. Policy must support working women to uplift families and the economy overall.

Kennedy Andara, Sara Estep, Isabela Salas-Betsch

5 Facts About the Labor Market Experiences of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Women Article
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5 Facts About the Labor Market Experiences of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Women

Analysis from the Center for American Progress and the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum finds that AANHPI women, who are often immigrants, have a broad range of intersecting identities that make their labor market experiences unique. Breaking down these aggregates helps break down racial stereotypes too.

Mimla Wardak, Sydelle Barreto, Natalie Baker, 1 More Sara Estep

The ERA Solidifies Women’s Rights in the Constitution as the 28th Amendment Article
A large crowd of women cheers a speaker at the Lincoln Memorial, during a rally for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.

The ERA Solidifies Women’s Rights in the Constitution as the 28th Amendment

The federal government has finally recognized the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ushering in a whole new era for gender parity in this country.

Kate Kelly

President Biden Should Finalize the Equal Rights Amendment In the News

President Biden Should Finalize the Equal Rights Amendment

In The Progressive Magazine, Kate Kelly writes about why President Joe Biden should finalize the Equal Rights Amendment.

The Progressive Magazine

Kate Kelly

How Attorneys Can Support The ERA’s Implementation In the News

How Attorneys Can Support The ERA’s Implementation

In an op-ed published by Law360, Kate Kelly writes about the Equal Rights Amendment and how attorneys can help support it.

Law360

Kate Kelly

What You Should Know About the 2023 Gender Wage Gap Report
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What You Should Know About the 2023 Gender Wage Gap

For the first time in two decades, the gender wage gap widened significantly in 2023—and between 2022 and 2023, the wage gap increased by 1 cent for women working full time, year round, to an average of 83 cents for every dollar men made.

Amina Khalique

Rising Extreme Heat Compounds the U.S. Maternal Health Crisis Report
A midwife picks greens for a pregnant mother and her daughter.

Rising Extreme Heat Compounds the U.S. Maternal Health Crisis

Policymakers must act to protect the health and safety of pregnant people—including by passing the Protecting Moms and Babies Against Climate Change Act, increasing access to indoor home cooling, and quickly adopting a federal occupational heat standard.

Amina Khalique

What Comes Next for the Equal Rights Amendment? Report
Photo shows a closeup of a green sign with the phrase

What Comes Next for the Equal Rights Amendment?

Three-fourths of U.S. states have ratified the amendment, and many argue it is the 28th Amendment to the Constitution; Women’s Equality Day serves as a reminder of the amendment’s importance.

Isabela Salas-Betsch, Kate Kelly

The Economic Status of Single Mothers Report
A mother carrying her baby in a baby carrier and holding an umbrella is seen crossing the street.

The Economic Status of Single Mothers

Original Center for American Progress analysis shows that single mothers in the United States face economic insecurity, including high poverty rates and low incomes, that could be alleviated by strengthening the social safety net and advancing policies to support women in the workforce.

Isabela Salas-Betsch

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