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Can the SOTU be reduced to a Wordle? (Not exactly, but it was fun trying.)

| Mar 1, 2022

As the nation looks to President Biden’s first State of the Union address tonight, there’s no shortage of pressing topics to cover.

At the same time, we could all use a momentary reprieve from the deluge of overwhelming news. Enter: our take on Wordle for this very occasion.

Your hint for solving this Wordle is the answer is the top issue we at the National Partnership want the President to address in his SOTU remarks. While there are a great number of policy positions we would like the President to advance, from paid leave to guaranteed abortion access, the common denominator is the group most impacted by the on-going pandemic, economic instability, and public health policy.

Some sobering facts:

  • Since February 2020, women in the United States account for 55.0% of overall net job loss and have lost more than 5.4 million net jobs. 1
  • More than 2 in 5 of the 12.1 million women’s jobs lost between February and April 2020 have not yet returned. 2
  • Women account for at least 61% of all caregivers. Caregiving challenges including caring for family members with COVID and managing at-home schooling was magnified immensely by the pandemic. 3
  • The lack of a federal paid leave policy has contributed to a decline in women’s labor force participation over the past 20 years. If women in the United States participated in the workforce at the rate of similar countries, there would be more than 4.8 million more women in the workforce, and $650 billion in GDP more in the economy, annually. 4
  • The gender wage gap not only persists but was exacerbated by the pandemic. Women, on average, are paid 83 cents for every dollar paid to men, amounting to an annual gender wage gap of $10,435. Fair pay legislation, raising the minimum wage, broader safeguards against workplace harassment, and stronger protections for workers’ right to organize are all ways to address the gender wage gap. 5

As if all of that wasn’t enough, women face increasing threats to our health and bodily autonomy with Roe v. Wade hanging on by a thread and dangerous abortion restrictions such as Texas’ SB 8.

In addition to our continued work on economic justice, health policy, and reproductive rights, we’ve joined with more than 50 women’s groups to urge Congress to act on five key policies in order to build a country where women and families can thrive. Read the joint letter here.

And if you just need a quick break from it all, don’t forget to try out our Wordle.

For the Wordle fanatics among you, here are a couple more Wordle boards based on what else we hope to hear the President address at tonight’s SOTU: 1, 2, 3. Enjoy!


1. All of the Jobs Lost in December Were Women’s Jobs. Claire Ewing-Nelson, National Women’s Law Center, January 2021.

2. All of the Jobs Lost in December Were Women’s Jobs. Claire Ewing-Nelson, National Women’s Law Center, January 2021.

3. Paid Leave Could Keep More Than 6 Million Caregivers Connected to the Labor Force by 2030. Amanda Novello, National Partnership for Women & Families, November 2021.

4. The Cost of Inaction: How a Lack of Family Care Policies Burdens the U.S. Economy and Families. Amanda Novello, National Partnership for Women & Families, July 2021.

5. America’s Women and the Wage Gap. National Partnership for Women & Families, January 2022.