While equal pay advocates have introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act many times over the past few decades, Congress has failed to pass the Act. But with new hope on the horizon due to the Biden administration’s White House Gender Policy Council’s commitment to supporting pay equity, the Paycheck Fairness Act may have a chance.
Tag: Congress
Lil Nas X, Gender Nonconformity and the Fight Against Transphobic Legislation
The fact that Lil Nas X’s recent queer, campy music video and song became an instant hit at the same time that anti-trans legislation swept the country demonstrates a serious contradiction—if the American public is increasingly supportive of trans rights and increasingly celebratory of gender nonconformity, why are Republican legislators hooking their talons into revoking trans rights?
A Mother’s Lament: The Care Gap and Motherlode Is Heavy
Over the last year, our country has lost almost 550,000 people to COVID-19. America lost countless citizens to racism and experienced one of the largest spikes in hate crimes.
We changed the way we loved, shopped, worked and lived. But the expectations for mothers did not change.
“Care is Infrastructure, Silly”: Feminists Defend Caregiving Funding in Biden’s Jobs Plan
The American Jobs Plan devotes billions of dollars towards transportation, clean energy and innovation. But—as is too often the case—the “controversial” funding is the provision that will help women recover from the disproportionate harm they faced during the pandemic.
Women’s Representation: The Case for Expanding the U.S. House
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: the role of gender equality in the promotion of democracy; the benefits of Latin America’s use of gender quotas and proportional voting; the state of women’s representation in the U.S.; debunking common misconceptions about quotas; expanding the size of the House of Representatives; Tishaura Jones becomes the first Black woman mayor of St. Louis; the challenges and opportunities for LGBTQ women running for office; and more!
Sexual Assault Victims Need to Believe They’ll Be Heard
April may be Sexual Assault Awareness Month, but every month—indeed every day—should be a time of awareness of the scourge of sexual assault and the pain inflicted on its victims.
It’s time to improve the systems already in place and to enact legislation that gives survivors the support, protection and justice they deserve.
It’s Time to End the “Troubled Teen” Industry that Tried to Crush Me
We need our elected officials to reduce public funding for private residential care contractors and invest in foster care services that are accountable to their communities, as well as preventive measures to address abuse and keep kids out of the system in the first place.
Afghan Women Negotiators Warn of “State Collapse” Should the U.S. Leave Too Soon
Habiba Sarabi, Fatima Gailani, Sharifa Zurmati Wardak and Fawzia Koofi are the only women negotiators representing the Afghan state in negotiating peace with the Taliban. They urged a premature U.S. exit would “result in state collapse and collapse of institutions.”
Clean Slate Seeks to Empower Communities by Expunging Records: “Not Just to Survive But To Live”
Millions of Americans have lost jobs due to COVID-19. For those with criminal records, it is even harder to get a job. The Clean Slate initiative hopes to pass legislation that will automatically clear criminal records for those who have been crime-free and are seeking new opportunities.
“An Inclusive Constitution”: Professor Julie Suk on the Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment is now one floor vote in the Senate away from finally becoming the 28th Amendment to the US Constitution.
Julie Suk’s recent book, “We the Women: The Unstoppable Mothers of the Equal Rights Amendment,” charts the legal, historical and political significance of the ERA’s current resurgence, enabled by generations of women who have fought for the ERA.