The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent—the highest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s. But taking a closer look at exactly which Americans lost their jobs, we see one huge difference from the massive crisis of the Great Depression: This one has a predominantly female face. A massive rebuilding program—with guarantees for hiring women—is in order.
Author: Martha Burk
Martha Burk is Money editor at Ms.
Employees, Pick Your Poison: Your Livelihood or Your Lives
“If you’re an employer and you offer to bring your employee back to work and they decide not to, that’s a voluntary quit. Therefore, they would not be eligible for the unemployment money.” Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and other Republicans are forcing employees to choose between their losing their livelihoods and possibly losing their lives.
Trump’s “Opening Our Country” Council: Where are the Women?
“What I want to know is: Where are the women?” asked Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) before walking out on an all-male opening panel in a 2012 congressional hearing on contraception coverage in Obamacare. Fast forward to 2020—and Maloney’s question still resonates. President Trump announced his “Opening Our Country Council” last week—with 220 men and a paltry 20 women.
Heidi Hartmann’s Pioneering Feminist Work Will Forever Pay Women Dividends
It was the sendoff of the season in Washington, D.C. The occasion? The retirement of Dr. Heidi Hartmann, founder and President of the Institute for Policy Research, which has been the leading think tank on issues of importance to women since 1987.
Truth in Advertising
Realistic depictions of women and girls make good business sense.
50 Years and Getting Worse: The State of (Un)Equal Pay
It’s been over 50 years since the Equal Pay Act was passed—but the wage gap is still stuck at around 80 cents on every man’s dollar. This is what we need to do in order to overcome the barriers that perpetuate the pay gap—and achieve economic equality at last.
LISTEN: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Sounds Off on Why Women’s Political Leadership Matters
“Women will make the difference in the quality of leadership it brings to the Congress.”
Looking at Trump’s Budget Through a Gender Lens
Trump’s budget once again throws loads of money at the Pentagon and Homeland Security, including the wall. The other side of the ledger contains massive cuts impacting almost all ordinary Americans, most prominently women and kids.
The Good-Guy Awards
Working Mother’s “100 Best Companies” is great for corporate PR. But for the mothers reading this list—those companies could do better.
Trump’s Starvation Budget
How would Trump’s grand scheme do harm? Let us count the ways.