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Issue Brief
Unfinished Policy Agenda for Women in the Economy Cost the U.S. $6.7 Trillion in GDP Gains Over a Decade

September 2024
Fair Pay

By Jocelyn Frye, Areeba Haider and Katherine Gallagher Robbins

Introduction

Ten years ago this summer, the White House Summit on Working FamiliesThe White House. (2014, June 23). Fact Sheet: The White House Summit on Working Families. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/23/fact-sheet-white-house-summit-working-families (2014 Summit) brought together leaders, policymakers, stakeholders, workers, employers, and experts from across the country to draw attention to the urgent economic challenges facing working families, and elevate strategies to create a strong, vibrant economy that works for all. At the heart of the conversation was the need to center women workers in discussions about strengthening and growing our economy, recognizing the increasingly pivotal role women are playing in the economic stability of families and economic growth overall. Two-thirds of mothers are now family breadwinners, with even higher percentages for specific populations such as Black mothers, and women’s added participation in the labor market has helped boost our nation’s GDP over decades.Glynn, S.J. (2019, May). Breadwinning Mothers Continue to be the U.S. Norm. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from Center for American Progress website: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/breadwinning-mothers-continue-u-s-norm/ Jacobs, E., & Bahn, K. (2019, March). Women’s History Month: U.S. Women’s Labor Force Participation. Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://equitablegrowth.org/womens-history-month-u-s-womens-labor-force-participation/ Yet, the gaps in policies and enforcement resources focused on creating workplaces more responsive to the challenges many women face – caregiving challenges, workplace inflexibility, occupational segregation, and pay disparities – had resulted in stagnating wages and labor force participation for women.Phadke, S., & Boesch, D. (2019, January). Treading Water: The Current Challenges of Women’s Work. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from Center for American Progress website: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/treading-water-current-challenges-womens-work/ The Summit, informed by the real-world experiences of workers and employers alike, sought to make the case for comprehensive investments in the short- and long-term to fill longstanding policy gaps, and respond to the pressing imperative to make our economy as healthy and durable as possible. Participants shared how policies that invested in women, such as efforts to increase wages, expand access to paid leave, and strengthen workplace protections, were necessary to creating an economy where everyone can thrive. A decade later, women and workplaces have made important progress, but unfinished business remains.

Learnings from the Past Decade: Important Progress, But Missed Opportunities

Despite the attention generated by the 2014 Summit and the ongoing work of advocates, policy experts, and key policymakers, the comprehensive progress needed to strengthen women’s participation in the economy and grow our economy overall has yet to be fully realized. New research from the National Partnership finds that the nation’s GDP would have been roughly 3 percent higher on average over the last decade had the labor force participation of prime-age women in the U.S. been on par with rates in Germany and Canada.This analysis extends earlier Department of Labor analyses on differences in women’s labor force participation. See, for example, Glynn, S.J. (2023, November). The Cost of Doing Nothing, 2023 Update: The Price We STILL Pay without Policies to Support Working Families. Retrieved 30 July 2024 from the Department of Labor website: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WB/paid-leave/CostofDoingNothing2023.pdf. Data on prime-age women’s labor force participation in the United States, Germany and Canada 2014-2023 from: OECD Data Explorer. (n.d.). Employment and unemployment by five-year age group and sex – indicators. Retrieved July 3, 2024 from https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=DisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_LFS%40DF_LFS_INDIC&df[ag]=OECD.ELS.SAE&pd=2010%2C2023&dq=USA%2BDEU%2BCAN…F.Y25T54.&to[TIME_PERIOD]=false. Data on the annual average civilian, noninstitutional prime-age women population in the U.S. and data on the civilian labor force from: the Bureau of Labor Statistics Retrieved July 3, 2024 from https://www.bls.gov/cps/data.htm. This would have increased the number of prime-age women in the labor force by a 4.6 million in 2023 alone,Overall, there would have been an average of 5 million new women added to the labor force each year. It’s important to note that this is not a cumulative figure, but rather that the number of women in the labor force in a given year would be 5 million higher. and would have amounted to a roughly $6.7 trillion increase in nominal GDP over the last decade.This calculation uses the same method as the Department of Labor (See note 5, p. 4, footnote 18 for details). This figure represents the change in cumulative nominal GDP, analogous to similar estimates from the Congressional Budget Office regarding the impact of immigration on GDP. See U.S. Congressional Budget Office. (2024, July). Effects of the Immigration Surge on the Federal Budget and the Economy. Retrieved 30 July 2024, from https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2024-07/60165-Immigration.pdf. Due to inflation over the last decade, in 2024 dollars this figure would be larger. Data on nominal GDP from: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, “Table 1.1.5. Gross Domestic Product” https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/?reqid=19&step=2&isuri=1&categories=survey&_gl=1*1g7isq9*_ga*NzY0MjE1ODMwLjE3MTY0OTg5NTg.*_ga_J4698JNNFT*MTcxNjQ5ODk2MS4xLjEuMTcxNjQ5OTAwMC4yMS4wLjA.#eyJhcHBpZCI6MTksInN0ZXBzIjpbMSwyLDMsM10sImRhdGEiOltbImNhdGVnb3JpZXMiLCJTdXJ2ZXkiXSxbIk5JUEFfVGFibGVfTGlzdCIsIjUiXSxbIkZpcnN0X1llYXIiLCIyMDEwIl0sWyJMYXN0X1llYXIiLCIyMDI0Il0sWyJTY2FsZSIsIi05Il0sWyJTZXJpZXMiLCJBIl1dfQ==. Though by some metrics women’s employment has improved over the last decade, there remain harmful gaps in employment, wages, and overall well-being. These gaps exist among a variety of workers — between men and women workers, between women workers of color and their white counterparts, between disabled women workers and non-disabled women workers, and other groupings, often due to generations of systemic racism, sexism, and other biases and barriers that have shaped individuals’ experiences in the labor market. For example, many of the factors that undermine women’s employment overall — such as over-concentration in low-paying jobs with too few benefits —disproportionately impact many Black women, Latinas, Native women, and AAPI women.Frye, J. (2023, July). Rejecting Business As Usual: Improving Employment Outcomes and Economic Security for Black Women. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from National Partnership for Women & Families website: https://nationalpartnership.org/report/improving-employment-outcomes-economic-security-for-black-women/Bleiweis, R. (2021, March). The Economic Status of Asian American and Pacific Islander Women. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from Center for American Progress website: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/economic-status-asian-american-pacific-islander-women/National Women’s Law Center. (2017, November 2). Latina Women are Working Too Hard for Too Little. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://nwlc.org/latina-women-are-working-too-hard-for-too-little/ Reddy, V. (2023, April 5). How Racism and Sexism Create the AANHPI Wage Gap. National Partnership for Women & Families Blog. Retrieved 20 August 2024, from https://nationalpartnership.org/how-racism-and-sexism-create-the-aanhpi-wage-gap/

Women’s labor force participation is not the only metric by which the United States falls behind peer countries that affects women’s employment and economic status – American women have the highest rate of maternal mortality amongst high-income countries and the U.S. is one of only six countries across the world without any type of national paid leave program, for example.Gunja, M., Guman, Evan., Masitha, R., & Zephyrin L. (2024, June). Insights into the U.S. Maternal Mortality Crisis: An International Comparison. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from The Commonwealth Fund website: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2024/jun/insights-us-maternal-mortality-crisis-international-comparison Miller, C. (2023, June 22). The World ‘Has Found a Way to Do This’: The U.S. Lags on Paid Leave. The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/upshot/paid-leave-democrats.html Prioritizing specific strategies to support women workers’ attachment to the workforce and participation in the economy is a crucial economic priority now and for the future.

The Current State of Play for Women in the Economy

Our current economy largely functions based on a set of assumptions about women workers, including that women should handle the care-related needs in their families on their own, and that such caregiving responsibilities are neither workplace concerns nor worthy of workplace supports. These assumptions are rooted in longstanding biases about women and work roles, and have led to women workers being seen as less valuable than their male counterparts, in part because women take more time away from work for family caregiving, and because the care work they perform is seen simply as “women’s work” without real value. These outdated views about care have meant that care investments to help not only women but all workers navigate work-family conflicts and care needs more broadly have not been prioritized. This disproportionately impacts Asian women, and Latinas, who spend more time on average on caregiving responsibilities for their families; women of color are also a disproportionate share of paid caregivers, contending with low wages and inadequate benefits.Gallagher Robbins, K., & Mason, J. (2024, June). Americans’ Unpaid Caregiving is Worth More than $1 Trillion Annually – and Women are Doing Tw-Thirds of the Work. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from the National Partnership for Women & Families website: https://nationalpartnership.org/americans-unpaid-caregiving-worth-1-trillion-annually-women-two-thirds-work/ Goubert, A., Cai, J., & Appelbaum, E. (2021, October). Home Health Care: Latinx and Black Women are Overrepresented, But All Women Face Heightened Risk of Poverty. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) website: https://cepr.net/home-health-care-latinx-and-black-women-are-overrepresented-but-all-women-face-heightened-risk-of-poverty/ More broadly, this economic status quo that lacks the supports that women are more likely to need – including flexibilities for caregiving, paid family and medical leave, and more – effectively undermines women’s employment and our economy overall.

Labor force participation and unemployment rates are important measures of the economy’s health – and rates for women and especially women of color highlight the barriers they face in the economy. During the first half of 2024, women 20 and over have experienced an average labor force participation rate of 58.9 percent and average unemployment rate of 3.5 percent. Over this same period, men had an average labor force participation rate of 70.1 percent and an unemployment rate of 3.6 percent. By comparison, in the final quarter of 2014, the women’s unemployment rate was 5.2 percent and labor force participation was at 58.4 percent as the U.S. economy continued to recover from the Great Recession.Sherman, E. & Kang, J. (2015, April). Continued Improvement in the U.S. Labor Market in 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from Bureau of Labor Statistics website: https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/article/continued-improvement-in-u-s-labor-market-in-2014.htm Black women experienced an unemployment rate of 5.7 percent in June 2024 and were 1.8 times more likely to be unemployed than white women. Black women were also more likely than white women to participate in the labor force in June 2024, with a labor force participation rate 62.3 percent compared to 57.6 percent.

Women experience a wage gap for a multitude of reasons, including bias and discrimination, lack of flexible work schedules and caregiving policies, and occupational segregation. This gap has closed some in the last decade, due in part to women’s increased work hours, though it remains wide. In 2014, all women workers overall made just 70 cents for every dollar men earned. In 2023, the most recent data available, women workers were paid only 75 cents for every dollar paid to a man when looking across all workers.National Partnership for Women & Families. (2024, March). America’s Women and the Wage Gap. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://nationalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/americas-women-and-the-wage-gap.pdf The gap remains when looking at only full-time, year-round workers as well. In 2014, full-time, year-round women workers made 78 cents for each dollar paid to their male counterparts; in 2023, the gap had narrowed to 83 cents.Somander, T. (2014, October 31). Chart of the Week: In 2014, Women Continue to Earn Less Than Men. The White House Blog. Retrieved 20 August 2024, from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/10/31/chart-week-2014-women-continue-earn-less-men National Partnership for Women & Families. (2024, March). America’s Women and the Wage Gap. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://nationalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/americas-women-and-the-wage-gap.pdf The wage gaps are even wider for women of color – Black women, for example, are paid only 64 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic white men when looking at all workers.National Partnership for Women & Families. (2024, March). America’s Women and the Wage Gap. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://nationalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/americas-women-and-the-wage-gap.pdf Full-time, year-round women workers of color also face a wage gap – Black women who worked full-time, year-round in 2023 made only 66 cents for every dollar made by non-Hispanic white men and Latinas made only 58 cents.National Partnership for Women & Families. (2024, March). America’s Women and the Wage Gap. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://nationalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/americas-women-and-the-wage-gap.pdf The wage gap for mothers is also larger than for women overall at 62 cents for every dollar paid to fathers, a fact made especially detrimental to economic security because two-thirds of mothers are either breadwinners or co-breadwinners for their families. National Partnership for Women & Families. (2024, March). America’s Women and the Wage Gap. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://nationalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/americas-women-and-the-wage-gap.pdf Glynn, S.J. (2019, May). Breadwinning Mothers Continue to be the U.S. Norm. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from Center for American Progress website: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/breadwinning-mothers-continue-u-s-norm/

Occupational segregation – the fact that people of different races and genders are unevenly represented in different kinds of jobs, which have very different wages, benefits, and working conditions – is one of the main drivers of the persistent gender wage gap.Blau, F. & Kahn, M. (2017, September). The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations. Journal of Economic Literature, 55(3), 789-865. The 2014 Summit elevated closing the pay gap by increasing access to non-traditional occupations, such as those in STEM or construction.The White House. (2014, June 23). Fact Sheet: The White House Summit on Working Families. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/23/fact-sheet-white-house-summit-working-families Analysis by the National Partnership finds that if the 12 million women in their 10 most-common occupations had been paid at men’s average rate for men’s most-common occupations, they would have taken home an additional $96 billion in 2021.Mason, J. & Gallagher Robbins, K. (2023, March). Women’s Work is Undervalued, and It’s Costing Us Billions. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from National Partnership for Women & Families website: https://nationalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/womens-work-is-undervalued.pdf

Discrimination in the workplace is another factor that depresses women’s wages and earning potential. Despite a range of protections at the federal, state, and local level – including the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and the recently passed Pregnant Workers Fairness Act – many women continue to face workplace discrimination and harassment.Salas-Betch, I. (2024, March 14). Ending Discrimination and Harassment at Work. Center for American Progress. Retrieved 20 August 2024, from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/playbook-for-the-advancement-of-women-in-the-economy/ending-discrimination-and-harassment-at-work/ A 2017 study found that 42 percent of working women say they’ve faced discrimination at the workplace due to their gender, and more than one-third of all discrimination charges received by the EEOC between 2016 and 2023 included an allegation of harassment.Parker, K. & Funk, C. (2017, December 14). Gender Discrimination Comes in Many Forms for Today’s Working Women. Pew Research Center. Retrieved 20 August 2024, from https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/12/14/gender-discrimination-comes-in-many-forms-for-todays-working-women/ National Partnership for Women & Families. (2024). National Partnership Commends Rule Finalizing Harassment Protections for Workers [Press Release]. Retrieved 20 August 2024, from https://nationalpartnership.org/news_post/national-partnership-commends-rule-finalizing-harassment-protections-for-workers/

Though the overall economy has recently seen record highs in women’s prime-age labor force participation and nearly record lows in unemployment for women, disparities in people’s experiences continue, as do inequities within and outside of the labor market.Peck, E. (2024, June 7). Women’s Employment Hits New Record High. Axios. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://www.axios.com/2024/06/07/womens-prime-age-employment-may-2024 Notably, these inequities cannot be simply attributed to differences in work patterns – for example, Black women have among the highest rates of labor force participation and are more likely to be working or seeking work than other demographics, but those current and historical differences in attachment to the labor force do not translate to higher wages or other better economic outcomes.Wilson, V. & Darity Jr., W. (2022, March). Understanding Black-White Disparities in Labor Market Outcomes Requires Models that Account for Persistent Discrimination and Unequal Bargaining Power. Retrieved 20 August 2024 from Economic Policy Institute website: https://www.epi.org/unequalpower/publications/understanding-black-white-disparities-in-labor-market-outcomes/ Goldman Sachs. (2023, October 25). New Survey Data: Black Women in America Continue to Disproportionately Face Economic Hardship. Retrieved 20 August 2024, from https://www.goldmansachs.com/pressroom/press-releases/2023/black-women-continue-to-face-economic-hardship Differences between women and men are even evident in their feelings about the economy – women report feeling less positively about the economy than men do, according to the University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment. The gap between men’s and women’s consumer sentiment has persisted for nearly half a century and continues today.Majumder, A. & Gallagher Robbins, K. (2023, March 13). We analyzed 46 years of consumer sentiment data – and found that today’s ‘vibecession’ is just men starting to feel as bad about the economy as women historically have. Fortune. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://fortune.com/2024/03/13/we-analyzed-46-years-consumer-sentiment-vibecession-men-feel-as-bad-about-the-economy-as-women-historically-have/

Despite Challenges, Activists and Organizers have Achieved Significant Wins

The last decade has seen several important advances that showcase the value of creating an economy that works for women. Nationally, these significant policy wins have included providing 12 weeks of paid parental leave to civilian federal employees through the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA);Donovan, S. & Shimabukuro, J. (2024, March). The Federal Employee Paid Parental Leave Benefit. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from Congressional Research Service: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12420 winning common-sense protections for pregnant workers through the Pregnant Worker Fairness Act, which helps protect nearly 3 million pregnant workers annually;Implementation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, 29 Fed. Reg. 29096 (June 18, 2024); Mason, J. & Gallagher Robbins, K. (2022, October). Discrimination While Pregnant. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from National Partnership for Women & Families website: https://nationalpartnership.org/report/discrimination-while-pregnant/ the passage of the PUMP Act, which supports nursing parents at work;U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. (n.d.). FLSA Protections to Pump at Work. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pump-at-work and providing $39 billion in child care relief funding though the American Rescue Plan, which supported more 225,000 child care providers and as many as 10 million children.Administration for Children & Families, Office of Child Care (2024, June 24). American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act Child Care Stabilization Funds Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ/news/american-rescue-plan-arp-act-child-care-stabilization-funds-frequently-asked-questions Despite barriers to passage, comprehensive paid leave programs have been included as a priority in the federal budget and in proposed legislation such as the Build Back Better agenda.Boyens, C., Smalligan, J., & Shabo, V. (2022, November). Evolution of Federal Paid Family and Medical Leave Policy. Retrieved 20 August 2024 from Urban Institute website: https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2022-11/Evolution%20of%20Federal%20Paid%20Family%20and%20Medical%20Leave%20Policy.pdf Progress has also been made in advancing equal pay, including efforts to collect pay data through the EEOC to support enforcement of civil rights laws and address pay disparities and banning the use of non-federal salary history when setting pay for federal employees.Gallagher Robbins, K. & Matton, J. (2023, June). How Data Collection Can Help Close the Wage Gap. Retrieved 20 August 2024 from National Partnership for Women & Families website: https://nationalpartnership.org/report/how-data-collection-can-help-close-the-wage-gap/ U.S. Office of Personnel Management. (2024). OPM Finalizes Regulation to Prohibit Use of Non-Federal Salary History [Press Release]. Retrieved 20 August 2024, from https://www.opm.gov/news/releases/2024/01/release-opm-finalizes-regulation-to-prohibit-use-of-non-federal-salary-history/ Women workers have also benefitted from the Biden administration’s new overtime rule, which created additional protections for 2.4 million women, particularly those working long hours in low-paid jobs,National Partnership for Women & Families. (2024). Overtime Rule Would Put More Money in the Pockets of Working Women [Press Release]. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://nationalpartnership.org/news_post/overtime-rule-would-put-more-money-in-the-pockets-of-working-women/ as well as from the administration’s focus on ensuring women are supported in entering the non-traditional, male-dominated jobs created through the landmark Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.Gruberg, S. & Gallagher Robbins, K. (2023, June 7). The Equal Pay Act was a first step in closing the wage gap – and helping women get infrastructure jobs is the new secret weapon. National Partnership for Women & Families Medium Blog. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://medium.com/@NationalPartnership/the-equal-pay-act-was-a-first-step-in-closing-the-wage-gap-and-helping-women-get-infrastructure-c292132789a

States have also made strides in supporting women workers. Since the 2014 Summit, 11 new states have enacted paid family and medical leave laws, more than quadrupling the number of states who offer paid leave for a total of 14.National Partnership for Women & Families. (2024, July). State Paid Family & Medical Leave Insurance Laws. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://nationalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/state-paid-family-leave-laws.pdf Sixteen states and Puerto Rico have enacted salary history bans, helping move the needle on the gender wage gap by reducing persistent discrimination.National Women’s Law Center. (2023, October). Progress in the States for Equal Pay. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/equal-pay-progress-states-10.6.23-v2.pdf And nearly 30 states have changed their minimum wage laws since the start of 2014,The Economic Policy Institute. (n.d.) Minimum Wage Tracker. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://www.epi.org/minimum-wage-tracker/; National Women’s Law Center (2021, January 12). Women and the Minimum Wage, State by State. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://nwlc.org/resource/women-and-minimum-wage-state-state/ particularly benefitting women and especially women of color, who are overrepresented in low-paying jobs.

Lessons Learned from the Pandemic: COVID-19’s Impact on Women’s Economic Progress

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was a massive disruption to the American economy, creating a dual public health and economic crisis that only exacerbated the precarity of women’s economic positions without necessary investments and protections. The nature of the spread of the coronavirus and the public health measures necessary to prevent infection coupled with the lack of a strong economic safety net to protect families, meant that women were disproportionately impacted by the resulting recession. In just the first two months of the pandemic, women’s employment decreased by 13.4 million jobs. From February 2020 to December 2020, women lost a net 5.4 million jobs and made up more than half of overall job losses during that same time period.Almeida, B., & Buchanan, M. (2022, March). Ensuring Women’s Economic Security Requires More Than a Return to the Pre-Pandemic Status Quo. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from Center for American Progress website: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/ensuring-womens-economic-security-requires-more-than-a-return-to-the-pre-pandemic-status-quo/ Ewing-Nelson, C. (2021, January). All of the Jobs Lost in December Were Women’s Jobs. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from National Women’s Law Center website: https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/December-Jobs-Day.pdf Job losses were concentrated in service industries where women are more likely to work, including in leisure and hospitality.Ansell, R. & Mullins, J. (2021, June). COVID-19 Ends Longest Employment Recovery and Expansion in CES History. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from Bureau of Labor Statistics website: https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2021/article/covid-19-ends-longest-employment-expansion-in-ces-history.htm#:~:text Additionally, the closing of schools, daycares, and nursing homes meant that women, who have historically shouldered the responsibilities of caregiving, were left to balance new caregiving challenges and paid positions in the labor force, an impossible position for many.U.S. Department of Labor. (2022, March). Bearing the Cost: How Overrepresentation In Undervalued Jobs Disadvantaged Women During the Pandemic. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WB/media/BearingTheCostReport.pdf

Women of color were more likely to experience both extremes of the pandemic economy, contending with job losses or remaining in the workforce as “essential workers”. For example, women of color, particularly Black women and Latinas, were more likely than white women to leave the labor force during the pandemic in part because they were concentrated in occupations and industries with higher losses in employment and fewer opportunities to work remotely.Lim, K. & Zabek, M. (2022, February 28). Women of Color and Women with Children Disproportionately Left the Labor Force During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2022/women-of-color-and-women-with-children-disproportionately-left-the-labor-force-during-the-covid-19-pandemic Women of color living with children were more likely to exit the labor force during the pandemic, due to their increased likelihood to be primary or only caregivers for their children.Lim, K. & Zabek, M. (2022, February 28). Women of Color and Women with Children Disproportionately Left the Labor Force During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2022/women-of-color-and-women-with-children-disproportionately-left-the-labor-force-during-the-covid-19-pandemic Unemployment rates overall for women and women of color rose dramatically during the pandemic, with Latinas reaching a peak at 20.2 percent in April 2020.Frye, J. (2023, July). Rejecting Business As Usual: Improving Employment Outcomes and Economic Security for Black Women. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from National Partnership for Women & Families website: https://nationalpartnership.org/report/improving-employment-outcomes-economic-security-for-black-women/ Black women followed, experiencing a peak unemployment rate of 16.6 percent in May 2020.Frye, J. (2023, July). Rejecting Business As Usual: Improving Employment Outcomes and Economic Security for Black Women. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from National Partnership for Women & Families website: https://nationalpartnership.org/report/improving-employment-outcomes-economic-security-for-black-women/

The dominant narrative about women’s employment and the pandemic often centers those women who left the labor market – whether they were laid off during COVID-19 related employment disruptions or forced to exit due to caregiving and/or health-related concerns – and those who found themselves juggling caring for children, aging family members, or other care-related tasks while working remotely to prevent the spread of disease. However, there is an important contingent of women who worked in roles deemed “essential,” providing vital services and sustaining the nation’s economy throughout the public health emergency. Black women, for example, disproportionately worked in many of these essential roles, such as cashiers, grocery store workers, and health aides, which are often low paid and insecure.Frye, J. (2020, April). On the Frontlines at Work and at Home: The Disproportionate Economic Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Women of Color. Retrieved 5 August 2024 from Center for American Progress website: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/frontlines-work-home/

In response to the clear economic devastation of the public health emergency, policymakers acted to implement temporary measures to ease the burden on women and families. For example, Congress passed emergency paid sick and family leave to allow eligible workers to take up to ten days of paid sick leave for their own pandemic-related illness or quarantine or to care for an ill or quarantined individual, among other reasons.Mason, J. (2023, June). Learning Our Lesson: COVID-19 Emergency Paid Sick Leave Showed the Value of a Robust, Permanent Paid Leave Policy. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://nationalpartnership.org/report/learning-our-lesson-covid-19-emergency-paid-sick-leave/ Due to an absence of a national sick time guarantee or paid leave policy, the emergency program was designed to be implemented quickly rather than to address employees’ and workers’ long-term needs, but research shows that it was effective in limiting the spread of coronavirus and supported families in times of instability.Mason, J. (2023, June). Learning Our Lesson: COVID-19 Emergency Paid Sick Leave Showed the Value of a Robust, Permanent Paid Leave Policy. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://nationalpartnership.org/report/learning-our-lesson-covid-19-emergency-paid-sick-leave/ The expanded Child Tax Credit newly reached millions of children who had been previously excluded from the benefit, providing much needed financial relief to families and cutting child poverty by almost half in just a year.Turner, C. (2022, January 27). The Expanded child tax credit briefly sashed child poverty. Here’s what else it did. NPR. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://www.npr.org/2022/01/27/1075299510/the-expanded-child-tax-credit-briefly-slashed-child-poverty-heres-what-else-it-d Joint Economic Committee Democrats. (n.d.). The Expanded Child Tax Credit Dramatically Reduced Child Poverty in 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/dd209a98-c23b-4b2e-8478-61a55ec2b647/the-expanded-child-tax-credit-dramatically-reduced-child-poverty-in-2021-final-1-.pdf Record funding through the American Rescue Plan’s Child Care Stabilization Assistance program helped struggling centers stay open, supporting the child care workforce, and helping parents rejoin the labor market.The White House. (2023, March 15). The American Rescue Plan (ARP)’s Impact on Women: 15 highlights by the Numbers. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/gpc/briefing-room/2023/03/15/the-american-rescue-plan-arps-impact-on-women-15-highlights-by-the-numbers/ These policies made America’s economic recovery from the pandemic-induced recession possible, but policymakers allowed them to expire despite their promise and potential.

Though the pandemic itself may have been unprecedented, the drivers of the resulting instability for people across the country – particularly women and women of color – were not. Occupational segregation, the gender wage gap, lack of national paid family and medical leave and childcare, absence of a national sick day guarantee, lack of adequate family supports such as an equitable Child Tax Credit, and more were the subject of the 2014 White House Summit for Working Families long before the pandemic emphasized the dire consequences of building an economic system without centering the needs of women and women of color. It’s critical to learn from the pandemic’s lessons rather than returning to a status quo that failed millions of women and their families.

To Create an Economy That Works For Women – especially Women of Color – More Must Be Done

Despite important examples of progress over the last decade, much remains to be done. Persistent inequities in women’s labor force participation and wages, which are especially stark for many groups of women of color and disabled women, make it clear that further policy intervention is necessary. Women’s unpaid care work – work they do above and beyond their formal labor market participation that is worth an estimated $643 billion annually – remains undervalued and unsupported.Gallagher Robbins, K. & Mason, J. (2024, June 27). Americans’ Unpaid Caregiving is Worth More than $1 Trillion Annually – and Women are Doing Two-Thirds of the Work. Retrieved 5 August 2024, from https://nationalpartnership.org/americans-unpaid-caregiving-worth-1-trillion-annually-women-two-thirds-work And retrenchments in women’s rights over the last decade – most notably attacks on their bodily autonomy and reproductive rights – harm not only their health but also their economic wellbeing.National Partnership for Women and Families. (2022, August). Threats on All Fronts: The Links Between the Lack of Abortion Access, Health Care and Workplace Equity. Retrieved 5 August, 2024, from https://nationalpartnership.org/report/threats-on-all-fronts/

To truly create an economy that works for women, policymakers must invest in policies that support both paid and unpaid caregiving, fair wages and labor practices, and more. Federal policy solutions include:

  • Fair pay protections and practices: The Paycheck Fairness Act would prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who discuss their wages and make it easier to demonstrate that discrimination has occurred. It would also prohibit screening of job applicants based on their salary histories. The Fair Pay Act would diminish wage disparities that result from gender-based occupational segregation.
  • A higher minimum wage and elimination of the tipped minimum wage. The Raise the Wage Act would increase the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour by 2030 and gradually eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers and workers with disabilities. Greater access to overtime pay through updated U.S. Department of Labor regulations would also help make wages more fair for millions of working people. While the Be Heard Act addresses harassment in the workplace, it would also gradually raise the tipped minimum wage to equal the federal minimum wage.
  • Full funding for federal agencies that investigate and enforce fair pay. Enforcement of the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, including tools like the EEOC Component 2 pay data collection, are critically important to uncovering and eliminating discriminatory workplace practices that harm women.
  • Stronger protections against and remedies for workplace harassment. The Ending the Monopoly of Power Over Workplace Harassment through Education and Reporting (EMPOWER) Act would address certain issues related to workplace harassment, including by prohibiting nondisclosure and non-disparagement clauses as a condition of employment, promotion and in other circumstances and requiring companies to disclose the number of harassment claims they settle each year and the amount paid out. Additionally, the Be Heard Act addresses all forms of harassment and discrimination in the workplace by expanding protections to workers who have historically been excluded. Congress should advance additional workplace harassment policy solutions, such as protection of workers not currently protected by federal civil rights laws.
  • Expanded opportunities for women in high-paying roles and non-traditional jobs. Implementing and enforcing policies that support women in high-paying sectors they are currently under-represented, such as STEM jobs, and directing funds from the Biden Administration’s infrastructure investments in legislation including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, will ensure that women are able to make inroads in higher-paying professions and roles that are traditionally male-dominated.
  • Stronger data collection and protections against discrimination. Collecting and analyzing data broken down by race, gender, ethnicity, disability, and other factors will allow policymakers to gain a deeper understanding of where issues happen and ensure enforcement of anti-discrimination provisions. It is especially vital that policymakers are intentional about examining the unique experiences of women of color and understanding forms of intersectional discrimination.
  • Family friendly workplace standards. The Healthy Families Act would allow workers to earn job-protected paid or unpaid sick days. The FAMILY Act would create a national paid family and medical leave program, ensuring that all workers, regardless of gender, could address serious health and caregiving needs. Both proposals would help keep women attached to the workforce and support more gender-equal involvement in caregiving, resulting in higher wages over time. Pregnancy discrimination protections, as provided in the newly-enacted Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and access to quality, affordable child care and home and community-based services, and predictable schedules are also essential for retention and advancement of women in the workforce.
  • Stronger protections for workers’ right to organize. Unions have been proven to provide women with higher wages and better benefits and to close gender and racial wage gaps.Gould, E., & McNicholas, C. (2017, April). Unions help narrow the gender wage gap. Economic Policy Institute Publication. Retrieved 14 September 2023, from https://www.epi.org/blog/unions-help-narrow-the-gender-wage-gap/ The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act would strengthen workers’ ability to unionize and bargain collectively, impose stronger remedies when employers interfere with those rights, and address employers’ misclassification of workers as contractors which denies them the opportunity to organize.
  • Comprehensive reproductive health care. Access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion care and contraceptives, allows women to plan out and control their lives, enabling them to pursue education and career opportunities, and can increase workforce attachment and wages over time.Bailey, M. J., Hershbein, B., & Miller, A.R. (2012, July). The Opt-In Revolution? Contraception and the Gender Gap in Wages. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 4(3), 225-254. doi: 10.1257/app.4.3.225; Reproductive Health Technologies Project. (2015, August). Two Sides of the Same Coin: Integrating Economic and Reproductive Justice. Retrieved 1 September 2023, from https://vawnet.org/material/two-sides-same-coin-integrating-economic-and-reproductive-justice Defending policies like the Affordable Care Act’s guarantee of a full range of contraceptives without co-pay, increasing funding for our nation’s Title X family planning program and reversing state abortion bans that force people to travel long distance at great cost to access essential health care are critical to ensuring women get the reproductive health care they need. Passage of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) would protect the right of health care providers to provide abortion care, and a right for their patients to receive that care, free from medically unnecessary restrictions that single out abortion and impede access, and the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance (EACH) Act would help reduce barriers to abortion care, improving women’s health and economic security.

Conclusion

America’s policies around work, family, and well-being were never designed to center the needs of women and women of color. Ten years ago, the White House Summit on Working Families helped to elevate a set of issues that make it more difficult for women to succeed in the workplace. Now, we can see progress – and the problems associated with policymakers not doing enough. Though women workers are essential to the economy and to their families, their needs are often positioned as an afterthought rather than a key part of a thriving, functional economy.

The landscape for women’s rights in America looks very different in some ways than it has in the last decade – from the passage to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and record highs in labor force participation for prime-age women to the reversal of federal abortion protections in the Dobbs Supreme Court decision. Our research finds that policies that support women in the workforce could have helped generate approximately $7 trillion in additional economic activity over the last decade, with countless benefits for the economic security and well-being of women and families as a whole. With intentional efforts and a focus on women in the workforce from policymakers, we can achieve those gains in the decade to come.

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