Minimum Wage

Keeping Score: Kamala Harris Launches Presidential Campaign; JD Vance’s Extreme Abortion Views; Republicans Attack Voting Rights, Title IX and DEI

PUBLISHED 7/25/2024 by

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week: Vice President Kamala Harris launched her presidential campaign with Biden’s endorsement; Trump’s VP pick JD Vance’s anti-abortion extremism; women’s health is suffering in the Southeast; the Supreme Court blocked an EPA air pollution plan; House Republicans attack voting rights and Title IX; rest in power, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and Dr. Ruth Westheimer; and more.

Women’s Work Is the Backbone of the U.S. Economy

PUBLISHED 3/1/2023 by

We don’t say, “Behind every great man is a great woman” anymore, because women aren’t standing behind men anymore; we are care workers and caregivers leading the way to making the investments in our shared care infrastructure that we all need. Paid parental leave, higher wages for care workers, a domestic workers’ bill of rights, pay transparency and equal pay for equal work are just a few of the solutions that are long overdue.

(This essay is part of The Majority Rules project—an artful essay and op-ed series from Ms. and Supermajority Education Fund.)

Recognizing the Domestic and Childcare Workers That Help Women in Medicine Succeed

PUBLISHED 9/30/2022 by , and

September is Women in Medicine Month, when we celebrate formidable and inspiring female physicians. But each year, one group is largely neglected: the women who help us to succeed.

Raising the status of the domestic and childcare workers who help us is critical to the next generation of women pursuing careers in medicine.

Black Women and Their Labor Are Still Underpaid and Undervalued

PUBLISHED 9/20/2022 by

For every dollar a white man makes, a Black woman earns 63 cents.

Along with severe wage inequality, Black women continue to be disproportionately overrepresented in low-paying, service-oriented jobs. More than one-third of the essential workers—many of them the people who have powered our country throughout the pandemic—are Black women. COVID-19, inflation and stagnant wages have laid bare how necessary it is for our elected representatives to act by voting to increase the minimum wage and creating a robust paid family and medical leave package accessible to all.

Millions of Women Would Benefit From a Minimum Wage Hike—Far More than Men

PUBLISHED 3/22/2022 by

The parade of Equal Pay Days kicked off recently. The dates mark wage gaps for all women, Black women, Latina women—each one more disheartening than the last. According to the latest data, in most states, over 50 percent of women of color earn earn less than $15, and in some states, it soars to 70 percent. 

The solution to closing these gender and racial wage gaps is simple: Raise the federal minimum wage. So why is the Senate blocking the Raise the Wage Act, a piece of legislation that would have a transformative impact on wages and well-being of people in this country? 

Women Are Still Disproportionately Suffering from Pandemic Unemployment

PUBLISHED 3/18/2022 by

While the unemployment rates for men declined in February, the jobless rates for women showed little or no change over the month. And while the statistic for the entire female population lumped together basically stayed even with the month before, Black women lost ground.

Maybe the real headline should have been: The higher job growth goes, the more behind women get.