Tag: Economy

Around the world, women’s labor is undervalued and exploited. These are stories about national and global economies through the eyes of feminists.

Pandemic-Era Childcare Funding Has Officially Run Out. Childcare Providers and Children Will Pay the Price.

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Passed in January 2021 with the goal of providing COVID-era relief, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocated $39 billion towards childcare programming. The majority—$24 billion—went directly to childcare and daycare centers, to help the programs remain open and staffed. On Sept. 30, that funding expired, and Congress took no action to extend it. Last month, Senate Democrats introduced The Child Care Stabilization Act, a bill to extend childcare stabilization funding for five years. But until the measure gets support from Republicans, it cannot be considered for a vote.

More than 3 million children are projected to lose access to childcare nationwide, and 70,000 childcare programs are likely to close. This will have ripple effects for parents forced out of work or to cut their work hours, for businesses who will lose valuable employees or experience the impact of their employees’ childcare disruptions, and state economies that will lose tax revenue and jobs in the childcare sector as a result.

A Government Shutdown Would Be Deadly for Hungry and Food-Insecure Americans

Congress is once again at a complete gridlock, barreling toward a government shutdown. Pundits are placing bets about the length of a potential shutdown, which party will cave first, and which government programs will be brought to a standstill.

But what has been minimized by some as merely a political temper tantrum will also have a deep and scarring impact on the 40 million Americans facing hunger.

Programs like SNAP, WIC and the child tax credit work effectively when they are sufficiently funded. Oh, and every dollar invested in WIC generates about $2.50 in healthcare cost savings. Shouldn’t this be a no-brainer?

In Series ‘Front and Center,’ Moms Share How Guaranteed Income Changed Their Lives

Back for its third year, Front and Center is a groundbreaking Ms. series that offers first-person accounts of Black mothers living in Jackson, Miss., receiving a guaranteed income. First launched in 2018, the Magnolia Mother’s Trust is about to enter its fifth cohort, bringing the number of moms served to more than 400 and making it the longest-running guaranteed income program in the country. Across the country, guaranteed income pilots like MMT are finding that recipients are overwhelmingly using their payments for basic needs like groceries, housing and transportation.

Beginning tomorrow, then twice monthly, you’ll hear directly from MMT moms on how the year of guaranteed income has impacted their life. We’ll hear from MMT alumni, as well as women in the current cohort, who will share their goals for the year and hopes for their future.

In the Summer of ‘Barbie’ and ‘Renaissance,’ Will All Women Finally Get the Recognition They Deserve?

Currently, three women—Barbie, Beyoncé, and Taylor Swift—seem to be running the world, or at least the economy judging by record-shattering tour and box office revenues. But, as in the case of Beyoncé and other female artists of color, this success does not translate to deserved recognition from prestigious institutions.  

“The message young women absorb is that unless you are a one-in-a-generation talent like Lauryn Hill or Whitney Houston, female artists of color can kiss goodbye any hope of wide-scale recognition by the Recording Academy.”

Why Barbie, Greta and You Should Invest in a Better World

Even when she’s got money to invest, a woman’s lack of knowledge often means she still entrusts her money decisions to men. Should she sell her diamonds and put them into bonds or real estate?

In the aftermath of Barbie, we must not discount the huge economic changes that have arisen for women since she was created in 1959. In the U.S., there’s a growing movement for wiser, more sustainable investing that better reflects women’s values. I’m hoping Greta Gerwig—whose film surpassed the $1 billion mark—will join.

A New Vision for Ending Childhood Poverty

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As head of The Bridge Project, a program that supports babies living in poverty by giving their mothers unconditional cash, my goal is to end child poverty in New York and beyond. The Bridge Project believes this is not only a moral imperative, but an economic one.

TBP’s unique approach gives expecting mothers a one-time prenatal stipend followed by cash payments of up to $1,000 per month for three years to eradicate childhood poverty and improve child development outcomes. Many people asking us how we are ensuring people are doing the “right” thing with their money. To us, there is no right thing—other than a mother being able to decide what’s right for her baby and spend her money accordingly.

The Pay Gap for Moms Is Bad. It’s About to Get Worse.

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This year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1963 Equal Pay Act and Aug. 15 is Moms’ Equal Pay Day—the day that symbolizes how far into the year a mom must work to earn what men did in the previous calendar year.

An increasing number of mothers, including two-thirds of moms with young children, are breadwinners, and four out of five Black mothers are the sole or primary provider for their households. Yet America’s leaders and laws leave mothers to figure it out on their own—to simply ‘make it work.’ Despite the best efforts of the Biden administration and allies in Congress to invest in caregiving in the wake of the pandemic, every single cent of the care economy investments included in the “Build Back Better” package were left on the cutting room floor.

So what do we do about it?

Students’ Futures Are Better Off Debt-Free

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We have goals and dreams. But while we’re drowning under mountains of student loan debt, our pursuits seem impossible.

As first-generation college students, our families made sacrifices so we could pursue our dreams. we should be in a position to pay it all back to them, and then some. We will organize our way towards true progress because we simply do not have a choice. Many movements for making meaningful change started with young people just like us. And we won’t stop now. We know firsthand that our futures are better off debt-free. 

Who Was Dealt Out of the Debt Ceiling Deal?

On June 3, President Biden signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA) into law, allowing Americans to breathe a sigh of relief that we managed to avoid a catastrophic economic situation. But to agree to this compromise, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) insisted on several detrimental and dangerous changes to anti-poverty programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Plain and simple, these changes will increase hunger and hardship among the most vulnerable Americans. As usual, their impact will be felt most acutely by women, particularly women of color. The debt ceiling bill was far from perfect, and the fight for justice is far from over.