Issue Brief

Disabled Women and the Wage Gap

Disabled women workers overall are only paid 50 cents for every dollar a nondisabled man makes, due to a long legacy of ableism and discrimination.

Data Privacy & Reproductive Freedom

In order to ensure pregnant people can exercise full autonomy over their bodies and lives on their own terms and without fear of criminalization, data privacy protections are urgently needed.

With Abortion on the Ballot in November, 16.5 Million Women Could be Impacted

In the November 2024 election, abortion access will be on the ballot in 10 states. Our analysis shows that more than 16.5 million women of reproductive age – 21.9 percent of all women of reproductive age in the U.S. – could be impacted by changes to reproductive rights laws in their state.

Advancing Reproductive Health Privacy, Mitigating Criminalization

The new HIPAA rule prohibits regulated entities from using or disclosing protected health information (PHI) for the purposes of conducting a criminal, civil, or administrative investigation into or imposing liability on anyone for the mere act of seeking, obtaining, providing, or facilitating lawful reproductive health care.

Democracy & Abortion Access: Restrictive Voting Laws Across States Threaten Freedoms

Our research finds that the states with the most restrictive abortion access policies are also the states with the greatest barriers to voting. This brief explores the intersection of state abortion policy and restrictive voting policies, showing how structured inequities are cemented into how our democracy functions to disadvantage women and people of color.

State Abortion Bans Harm More Than Three Million Disabled Women

The Dobbs decision has only compounded the longstanding barriers to abortion care that disabled people face, including provider discrimination and lack of training or experience with disabled patients, guardians dictating decisions about their reproductive care, denials of care and assistance among religiously-affiliated service providers and intermediate care facilities, transportation difficulties, inaccessibility in health care facilities, and layers of economic obstacles to affording the costs of care.

Democracy & Abortion Access

In a political landscape that moves the question of abortion access to the states, NPWF demonstrates the connection between the representation of women and women of color in state legislatures and better policy outcomes for those seeking abortions.

Black Women’s Maternal Health

The reproductive health of Black women has long been compromised by interpersonal, institutional, and structural racism. In addition to contending with social and economic drivers of poor health that undermine Black Americans, they have experienced discriminatory health care practices and abuse from slavery to the present.

What Real Paid Leave is – and What It Isn’t

For a truly just, equitable program that works for the people who need it the most and is feasible and affordable for small businesses, any paid leave program must be the following five things.

Rejecting Business as Usual

Black women workers are a critical backbone of the economy. As demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, women were the majority of essential workers who continued to work during the pandemic, providing vital services and sustaining the nation’s economy throughout the public health emergency. Black women disproportionately work in many of these essential roles

Discrimination While Pregnant

Any pregnant person may experience pregnancy discrimination. But because of the ways that racism, sexism and ableism have structured the United States economy, pregnant workers’ need for accommodations — and the harms they may face if unable to access accommodations — can differ significantly. Women and people of color are especially likely to be in jobs that are higher risk and lack adequate health and safety protections.

Historic Investments in Good Infrastructure Jobs Can’t Leave Women Behind

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) provides one of the most significant investments in the creation of good jobs in recent years. However, without intentional efforts to address occupational segregation in the key industries funded by the law, women could miss out on more than a million jobs in the next decade.