A key part of our approach is cross-sector engagement and corporate social impact. We cultivate relationships across the country to create a powerful, inclusive table of changemakers. This work strengthens communication, builds trust across sectors, and lays the foundation for more robust policy engagement.
Employers have a unique set of tools to advance public policies that support the well-being of their employees and communities. They can also drive impact through internal workplace policies that affect employees nationwide.
Our public policy positions are grounded in research, data, and lived experience. This helps us highlight the positive impact of effective policy change, call attention to the intersectional challenges women and families face, and equip companies with the insights they need to keep investing in forward-thinking, inclusive solutions.
We’re inviting partners and funders who want to be part of something bigger—who see the value in collaboration and are ready to lead with purpose.
Let’s build what’s next, together.
Business Working Group for Gender Equity
The Business Working Group for Gender Equity (BWG) is an invitation-only network of pioneering companies that want to lead in this space. Since 2018, the BWG has brought together top employers to facilitate a dialogue around strengthening gender equity in the workplace, catalyze collective action, and learn from experts. Housed within the Partnership’s Congressional Relations and Social Impact Team, BWG helps connect businesses with policymakers and legislative experts on gender equity to promote shared learning and new partnerships.
We work with companies with a track record of leading on one or more gender equity workplace policies and that are ready to engage in meaningful internal change so that they can be a public voice for company culture change and promote public policies that support gender equity nationally.
We ground ourselves in the lived experience of women and families, particularly those who face the greatest barriers to equity and opportunity. We prioritize issues that improve increased equity, health, and economic justice and how they impact women’s ability to thrive and fully participate in our society.
We specifically focus on:
- Advancing gender and racial equity in the workplace through paid family and medical leave, equal pay, prevention of sexual harassment, fairness for pregnant workers, paid sick days, and fair scheduling.
- Improving access to affordable, quality health care that authentically meets the needs of all women and families and reduces inequities in health, especially the disparities and declining outcomes in maternal health.
- Promoting reproductive freedom and justice, access to contraception and abortion care, and elimination of the stigma associated with abortion.
We are looking for companies with a track record of leading on one or more gender equity workplace policies, and that are ready to engage in meaningful internal change, be a public voice for company culture change and promote public policies that support gender equity nationally.
“The past year has underscored policy gaps that set working women back by three decades, weakening our businesses, our economy and our country. We look forward to working with peers and policy makers to pass paid medical and family leave to build back a more resilient economy and society.”
– Anna Walker, Vice President, Public Affairs, Levi Strauss & Co.
Membership Benefits
BWG membership offers access to:
- Quarterly meetings with National Partnership leadership and VIP guest speakers driving impactful change on public policy
- Speaking and partnership opportunities for events and programming
- Access to subject matter experts on issues you care about
- Issue expertise and timely resources supporting the business case for our issues and actionable public-policy solutions
- Real-time information and analysis of evolving policy issues
- A trusted, confidential space for business leaders to explore gender equity issues and share solutions
- Opportunities for companies to provide input on public policies
- Connections to a national Network of nonprofits, businesses, and policymakers
- Potential visibility opportunities through media and event exposure.
Companies are some of the most influential actors in our economy and our culture. They shape narratives. They drive policy through their purchasing, their platforms, and their power. But most importantly, they employ people – real people with families, with histories, with rights that cannot and should not be up for debate.
We urge business leaders to see themselves not as bystanders to our democracy, but as stewards of it.
How to Join
Investment in the Business Working Group for Gender Equity is an investment in lasting impact. By joining the BWG, your company is not only gaining access to a network of experts and values-aligned leaders, you’re directly supporting the mission of the National Partnership for Women & Families to advance equity, health, and economic justice for women and families across the country.
Membership is renewed on an annual basis, with an annual contribution of $15,000 or more. For more information on how your company can join the BWG, please contact:
- Jesse Matton, Director, Corporate Social Impact Policies, at jmatton@nationalpartnership.org
- Danielle Johnson, Director of Institutional Relations, at djohnson@nationalpartnership.org
Don’t Miss These Resources
- Commercial Data Practices for Reproductive Privacy: Protecting Your Business, Consumers & Employees from Legal Risk
- National Partnership Announces Top Companies Leading on Paid Leave
- Women Are Facing A Crisis In This Country. That’s Bad News for Business.
- Partnership in Action: An Employer Guide to Building Gender Equity in the Workplace
- If Americans Were Paid For Their Caregiving, They Would Make More Than $1.1 Trillion
- Threats on All Fronts: More Divided Than Ever
- Priceless: The Over $5.6 Billion Impact of Equal Opportunity at Work
Economic Justice
Paid Leave and Paid Sick Days
Dan Fishbein, M.D., President of Sun Life U.S.: “It is time for all Americans to have paid family and medical leave. We’re pleased to join with the National Partnership for Women & Families to advance this and other important public policies that could help so many. We have enjoyed collaborating with the National Partnership in recent years and are excited to become even more involved in this critical work.”
- Open Letter in Support of the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act From Leading Private-Sector Employers
- Leading on Leave
- Paid Leave Means a Stronger Nation
- Paid Family and Medical Leave Is Good for Business
- The Next Chapter of Paid Leave Leadership: Transparency
- Nearly 73 Million Workers Live in States That Block Local Communities from Making Progress on Paid Sick Days
Legislative action:
Fair Pay
Pregnancy Discrimination
Health Justice
Maternal Health
- Listening to Mothers
- Saving the Lives of Moms & Babies: Addressing Racism and Socioeconomic Influencers of Health
- Fact Sheet: Black Women’s Maternal Health – A Multifaceted Approach to Addressing Persistent and Dire Health Inequities
- Infographic: Black Maternal Mental Health
- Improving Our Maternity Care Now – Executive Summary
- Raising the Bar for Maternal Health Equity and Excellence
- Realizing the Transformational Potential of Maternity Care Payment Reform – Executive Summary
Legislative action:
Reproductive Rights
- Commercial Data Practices for Reproductive Privacy: Protecting Your Business, Consumers & Employees from Legal Risk
- Threats On All Fronts: The Links Between the Lack of Abortion Access, Health Care and Workplace Equity
- The Cumulative Costs of Barriers to Abortion Care
- Using Paid Sick Days for Medication Abortion
- Data Privacy & Reproductive Freedom
- Seventeen States Attack HIPAA and Reproductive Health Privacy
Legislative action:
Healthcare Systems Transformation
- Making the Promise of Value-Based Care Meaningful to Consumers
- Patient Advocate Perspectives on Advancing Value-Based, Person-Centered Care
- Transforming Health Care to Achieve Equity
- Primary Care Is in Crisis and the RUC Is a Big Reason Why
- Full Report: Ensuring Primary Care for All: The Urgent Case for RUC Reform
- When You Prioritize Accountable Care, You Improve Women’s Health
- Patient & Family Engagement: Improving Health and Advancing Equity
Legislative action:
American Care Act & Medicaid
- Republican Budget Bill Could Close Over 140 Rural Labor and Delivery Units
- From Maternal Health to Long-Term Care: Medicaid is Vital for Women’s Lifelong Health
- Medicaid Matters for You
- At Risk: Critical Medicaid Benefits for Moms
- Trump’s plan to slash Medicaid will harm older women – and the economy
