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.
Permanently expanding the earned income tax credit and child tax credit would make the economy more resilient, improve the social safety net, and dramatically decrease poverty in the United States.
Tipped industries in one fair wage states have higher growth, less inequality, and lower poverty for all workers.
Even before the pandemic, breadwinning mothers were keeping families afloat.
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.
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.
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.
Without equal pay, AAPI women will continue to endure some of the harshest economic effects of every crisis.
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.
15 million children live in households with a worker making less than $15 an hour. Raising the minimum wage will help support them and their families.
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.
Because the majority of minimum wage-earning mothers are breadwinners, raising the federal minimum wage would strengthen economic security for millions of families.
The United States urgently needs a comprehensive paid family and medical leave program that will boost the health and economic well-being of American workers and families.
Women, particularly women of color, have borne the brunt of job losses and caregiving challenges during the coronavirus pandemic and need structural policy change to ensure their full recovery and economic security.
Women—particularly women of color—continue to make noteworthy gains at all levels of government, but bold policies and structural changes are still needed to reach gender parity in U.S. politics.
