Category: Money & Jobs

Corporate Profiteering Is Driving Inflation

The Federal Reserve has responded to inflation with rapid interest rate increases, meant to tamper down prices, at each of its past seven meetings. They are expected to do the same at their Jan. 31 Open Market Committee gathering. However, these hikes can also increase the risk of recession and unemployment.

Too many companies have opted to use inflation as an excuse to boost profit. Caregiving is a key area of potential government investment that could help women. Their needs are often put last, after childcare and elder care. The economy is already fragile after a global pandemic; now is the time to prioritize people.

Employers, Take Note—Young Women Are Planning Their Lives Around State Abortion Laws

Among employees ages 18 to 34, 47 percent of women and 44 percent of men believe they won’t have the career they’d planned, hoped for and dreamed of because politicians are now in control of their personal reproductive decisions.

“We’re looking to future generations of business leaders and managers and employees and we have nearly half of them saying, ‘I don’t think I will have the career I planned because of the decision by the Supreme Court,’” said Heather Foust-Cummings, Catalyst’s senior vice president for research

Ms. Global: Protests Against Taliban Bans on Women’s Education; Iran Ousted From U.N. Panel; Increased Calls for Press Freedom in India

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The U.S. ranks as the 19th most dangerous country for women, 11th in maternal mortality, 30th in closing the gender pay gap, 75th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to healthcare. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’s most intractable problems. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.

This month: Activists, students and professors protest the Taliban’s ban on female university students; Mexico’s Supreme Court and the country of Peru both get their first female president; a revised curriculum in South Korea removes reference to LGBTQ communities and “gender equality”; Brazilian women fight to end fatphobia; and more.

As the U.S. Looks to Revamp the Farm Bill, Women Must Be at the Table

While the U.S. has created an omnibus Farm Bill for nearly a century, our mothers—especially when Native or women of color—have never had a say in where our government’s farm support money goes. Not until recently.

Now the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry is under the leadership of U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). Her hearings will mark arguments on the horizon we’d all be wise to notice. A whole new generation of younger, female, Indigenous, Black, Latinx and queer farmers are contending with land prices out of reach, and old attitudes that minimize the healthier, more sustainable production they seek.

Front and Center: With a Guaranteed Income, ‘I Don’t Have to Worry or Stress Anymore,’ Says Mississippi Mom

Front and Center highlights the success of Springboard to Opportunities’ Magnolia Mother’s Trust, which this year will give $1,000 per month for 12 months to 100 families headed by Black women living in federally subsidized housing.

“Before the Magnolia Mother’s Trust, I was living check to check. I was working part time because we had no babysitter, and my work check was usually only $300 to $400 a month. I’m a single parent so I had to manage $400 a month for me and my two kids. It’s very hard being a single mother with no help. … I had times where I’d miss days of work because of no babysitter. But now I can go to work every day. I’ve got a full schedule of work now. It’s helped a lot.”

The PUMP Act Is Here. Now, We Normalize

Last week, President Biden signed off on a $1.7 trillion spending package that has everybody buzzing about the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Less discussion has surrounded another piece of legislation included in the omnibus, the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act—a long-awaited victory for all breastfeeding, chest-feeding and exclusively pumping parents working outside of the home.

Why is there so much resistance to women pumping in the workplace?

‘It Helped Ease My Burden’: Seven Moms on What a Year of Guaranteed Income Meant to Them

It’s time to celebrate another year of the Front and Center series—a Ms. and Springboard to Opportunities’ Magnolia Mother’s Trust (MMT) collaboration that provides a national platform for low-income Black women in Jackson, Miss., to share their experiences receiving a guaranteed income.

As guaranteed income continues to enter mainstream political conversations and media coverage, it’s important to center the voices of those most affected—like the MMT recipients highlighted here.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Will Become Law: ‘A Historic Victory 10 Years in the Making’

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In a historic victory, the Senate added the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to the end-of-year omnibus package.

“Today’s Senate vote is a historic victory that has been more than 10 years in the making,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center. “When this end-of year package passes the House and is signed into law, it will no longer be the case that pregnant workers can be ousted from their jobs for simply requesting basic accommodations like permission to sit on a stool, carry a bottle of water, or take additional bathroom breaks.