
Our lack of childcare options in the United States is hampering the workforce, and keeping a quarter of parents from having the freedom to seek out a job that is a better fit for them and their families.
Feminists have fought for equal pay for decades. Many factors have prevented women—and especially women of color—from achieving it, including unequal education and training, systematic hiring and promotion discrimination, workplace sexual harassment in the workplace, and occupational segregation.
In the fall, the Department of Education will mark 45 years since its inception, but that anniversary could be its last if Donald Trump gets his way. The federal agency is one of several he’s vowed to slash if reelected president.
Project 2025, a set of policy recommendations for a second Trump term released by conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, not only supports eliminating the agency and removing LGBTQ+ protections and diversity curricula from schools but also privatizing education.
A wave of lawsuits—including against major companies—is coming after the PUMP Act gave employees the right to sue over a lack of workplace accommodations.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for the first year of a child’s life, a standard that is difficult to meet in the United States because postpartum workplace protections are very limited.
Serving over 7 million children in the U.S., home-based providers are often the unsung heroes of the early childhood workforce. But their heroism is not financially rewarded.
In response to the worsening caregiver crisis that emerged during the pandemic, the Thriving Providers Project (TPP) was launched in 2022 to stabilize the economic well-being of these essential workers—nearly all of whom are women—through direct cash transfers. One hundred home-based providers received $500 monthly for 18 months, alongside support services like access to mental health resources.
Black women have long been on the frontlines of social movements—driving change, innovation and progress in our communities and beyond. From the streets to the voting booth, from community centers to the halls of Congress, Black women have made invaluable contributions to advancing justice for our families and communities at large.
Despite our invaluable contributions, organizations led by Black women and geared towards women of color often grapple with underfunding, skepticism and being considered an afterthought.
When speaking about the critical need to center Black women’s joy and liberation in our quest to build a truly inclusive economy, I often get the inevitable question from a non-Black person of color: “But what about my people? Aren’t you being exclusionary?”
It reminds me time and time again how white supremacy has hardwired us to believe that Black people are different from the rest of us, further driving the false narrative that our struggles are not connected. We must learn to see ourselves in Black women and connect our liberation to theirs.
We currently have zero Black women governors and only one Black woman in the Senate. But that could soon change.
This week, exciting news came out of Maryland’s Democratic primary race: U.S. Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks won big despite being outspent 10 to 1 by her opponent, Rep. David Trone, a wealthy businessman who threw more than $60 million of his own money into his campaign. Alsobrooks is the county executive for Maryland’s second-largest county, and this win means she, along with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, could become the United States’ fourth and fifth Black women to ever serve in the U.S. Senate.
This essay is part of a Women & Democracy package focused on who’s funding the women and LGBTQ people on the frontlines of democracy. We’re manifesting a new era for philanthropy—one that centers feminism. The need is real: Funding for women and girls amounts to less than 2 percent of all philanthropic giving; for women of color, it’s less than 1 percent. Explore the “Feminist Philanthropy Is Essential to Democracy” collection.
In the last two months, the Supreme Court heard two case to limit nationwide access to abortion care. The chaotic state of play for abortion rights in the United States illustrates the consequences of failing to integrate efforts to strengthen democracy into strategies for advancing gender equity and vice versa.
For philanthropic leaders, the twin goals of strengthening democracy and advancing gender equity presents a compelling case for simultaneous investment. Divorcing gender justice from democracy is inconsistent ideologically, and it’s also irrational and unnecessarily expensive. To separate them is to delay success and pay for it many times over.