Author: Saadia Van Winkle

Saadia Van Winkle (McConville) is a writer and former television journalist. She currently runs communications for several economic justice and policy organizations.

Four Things You Should Know About the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

At a time when civil and reproductive rights are under constant attack, there remains at least one bright light: the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), a relatively new law that grants landmark protections to pregnant and postpartum individuals in the workplace. The PWFA offers protections of which everyone should be aware, especially those who are or ever plan to become pregnant.  

Here are four need-to-know elements of the law.

(This essay is a part of Ms. and A Better Balance’s Women & Democracy installment, all about the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act—a groundbreaking civil rights law ensuring pregnant and postpartum workers have the right to reasonable workplace accommodations. Bipartisan, pro-family and boldly feminist, the PWFA is both a lesson in democracy and a battleground for its defense against antidemocratic attacks.)

Texas AG Blocks Harris County Guaranteed Income Program—A Setback for Racial and Economic Justice

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Imagine being guided by cruelty so deep you are compelled to take the food out of the mouths of your hungry neighbors. You don’t need this food yourself—in fact, you’re going to turn around and throw it in the trash. For nearly 2,000 intended recipients of a guaranteed income pilot program for low-income residents that was set to distribute $500 monthly for 18 months in Harris County, Texas, this is their reality.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has blocked implementation of the program—a move upheld, at least temporarily, by the state’s Supreme Court just a day before initial payments were set to begin last week. 

Giving Parents More Cash Is a Start—But It Can’t Be the End

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The big news out this week: The expanded child tax credit could be reinstated for three years as part of a bipartisan tax package. This would be a huge deal for families across the country who have been struggling with dwindling supports from the government as pandemic-era boosts expire. 

While this latest deal lacks heft—in that it maxes out at a little more than half of the 2021 expanded CTC that was our nation’s greatest tool ever in fighting poverty—it is still significant for putting us back on the path toward radical transformation.

U.S. Tax Code Disadvantages Single Women, Married Black Couples and Gay Couples the Most. Here’s How

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The current U.S. tax code is an outdated system that does not benefit or reflect the needs of our modern society’s social structures or increasingly diverse demographics. Among those it costs the most: single women, married Black couples and gay couples.

Research finds women who are single and without children are America’s happiest and healthiest group. But thanks to our antiquated and heteronormative tax code, they’re also financially penalized. It’s time for our tax code to reflect our reality.

Women Need a Win. Pass the Child Tax Credit Expansion.

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When we talk about freedom of choice and bodily autonomy, we too often leave out the role economic status plays in attaining this freedom. This is particularly important for Latinx women who face the largest income gap and for Black women, who suffer the highest maternal mortality rate and historically bear the brunt of restrictive reproductive policies.

Passing the expanded child tax credit is certainly not a silver bullet solution to the seemingly endless problems women face in this country. But, it is an important step in our long and painful journey to create a country that offers equity, freedom and autonomy to all.

Death of Build Back Better Will Hurt Women and Kids the Most

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It’s been just over a year since the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was passed, through which the federal government invested in people by giving them stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment benefits and an expanded child tax credit that benefited nearly every parent in the country. While there was no shortage of energy from House Democrats and many of their Senate colleagues to pass Build Back Better—ARPA’s successor—the bill stalled in the Senate.

Policies that help women aren’t just the right thing to do—they’re the smart thing to do. Now is not the time to shrink behind austerity politics that prevent our government from meeting the needs of its people, especially those who have always been marginalized.

Let Me Tell You About My Feminist Economic Agenda

Let Me Tell You About My Feminist Economic Agenda

It’s 2022, and we’re finally talking about how to solve the problems that have been plaguing U.S. workers for ages—women of color in particular.

Three policies from 2021 stand out in particular for their outsized positive impact in solving for gender and racial inequities: the child tax credit; Biden’s forgiving of $12 billion in student loan debt; and guaranteed income pilots.