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.
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.
Supreme Court must see through Mississippi’s fictitious claims
Elyssa Spitzer and Osub Ahmed debunk some of the dubious claims in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mississippi’s unconstitutional 15-week abortion ban.
Women of color continue to suffer the most severe gender wage gap in the United States, a reality that reflects the effects of intersecting racial, ethnic, and gender biases that threaten the economic security of them and their families.
How the Government Can End Poverty for Native American Women
American Indian and Alaska Native women in the United States make just 60 cents for every dollar earned by their white male counterparts, and this wage gap forces too many of them and their families into poverty.
Investing in Home Care and Early Childhood Educators Has Outsize Impacts on Employment
Proposed investments in the Build Back Better agenda would benefit a significant number of workers, particularly women and women of color; transform the home care and early childhood sectors; and lift living standards and employment prospects for millions of Americans.
In 2021, the United States has seen the highest number of abortion restrictions made law in a single year, and the legal context in which this newly enacted legislation will operate is particularly tenuous.
Congress Must Invest in Maternal Health by Passing the Momnibus
The Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 would help address the maternal health crisis in the United States, which disproportionately affects Black and Indigenous people.
Fast Facts: Economic Security for Women and Families in Texas
In order to advance economic security for women and families in Texas, policymakers should prioritize policies that ensure economic equality and health care access for all.
