Recent Biden administration and congressional policy reforms, including the Inflation Reduction Act and the student loan relief plan, will no doubt alleviate some of the financial pressures women are facing, and bolster their economic security in the long run.
Tag: Worker’s Rights
Abigail Disney Is Deconstructing and Rebuilding the American Dream
Some employees of the “happiest place on Earth” can barely afford housing and food, while the CEO makes an annual salary in the multi-millions.
“Without collective bargaining, in some form, whether it’s unions or some other para-union type organizations, we all live at the mercy of Jeff Bezos, we all live at the mercy of Bob Iger. Is that really the society you want to live in?” Abigail Disney told Ms., ahead of her new documentary, The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales, out in select theaters and on streaming Sept. 23, 2022.
Black Women and Their Labor Are Still Underpaid and Undervalued
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.
To Truly Honor Labor Day, Compensate Mothers
Mothers are the essential workers for our families and communities—so this Labor Day, we are compelled to think about the many ways our leaders and policies are currently failing this country’s mothers.
Unionized Starbucks Employees Fight for Abortion Care Benefits
As anti-abortion laws spread across the nation as a result of the Dobbs decision, the Starbucks corporation said it could not guarantee benefits to unionized employees that they previously said would cover travel to access abortions.
Starbucks workers and labor organizers say this is a deliberate anti-union strategy which weaponizes the fragile state of abortion care access to discourage unionization.
Guaranteed Income Is a Blueprint for a Better Social Safety Net: ‘Give People Money—Not Vouchers, Not Subsidies’
Many programs also have strict requirements that—by design—prevent low-income people from accessing the benefits they deserve. Traditional welfare policies are often paternalistic and controlling, requiring low-income women to use benefits in specific ways, or forcing them into situations that don’t work well for their family’s needs.
A federal guaranteed income program is an opportunity to design a social safety net that takes social and historical context into account, empowers low-income parents and ends cycles of poverty.
COVID Revealed the U.S.’s Long-Time Misogyny and Lack of Respect for Teachers
Early on in the pandemic, when little was known about the virus and no vaccine yet existed to thwart it, some “essential workers”—those in healthcare—received applause daily for their heroic efforts to staunch the bleeding. But one group, made up primarily of women, was on the receiving end of bitter acrimony and blame for allegedly aggravating the problems caused by the pandemic: teachers.
Those who work in education were blamed for failing to do what other essential workers were doing and stay on the job, no matter the personal cost.
It’s Women’s Equality Week—and Three More Total Abortion Bans Are About to Take Effect
On Thursday, existing laws in Texas, Tennessee and Idaho will take effect that either outlaw abortion entirely, or increase penalties for doctors who perform an abortion. The very next day, the U.S. will commemorate Women’s Equality Day. You’ll understand if we don’t feel much like celebrating.
Before this week, total bans were already in effect in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
Black and Brown Moms Urge Breastfeeding Support
We begin another National Breastfeeding Month without the basic workplace breastfeeding protections and support everyone deserves.
The U.S. does not guarantee all nursing moms working outside the home with time and private space to pump. Without these protections, moms will continue pumping in bathrooms, coatrooms, cafeterias, cars and closets—or stop breastfeeding altogether.
Coalition-Building Is Key to Moving Women’s Political Leadership Forward
We are at a pivotal moment where we need to move towards greater equality more rapidly, so the path to gender parity in civic and political leadership is not 200 years long.
Let’s move beyond partisan politics and individual missions to achieve our collective goal of increasing the number of women in elected and appointed positions across the country, and bringing our country closer to a representative democracy. We can only do this if we work together.