“Most pay equity advocates are glad men’s earnings have increased, said Katherine Gallagher Robbins, senior research fellow for the National Partnership for Women & Families.
“‘Women are falling farther behind because they are not gaining at the same level that men are,’ Robbins said. ‘It’s good that men are gaining; we want to see those wages go up. We know families need it. But we also can’t be in the situation where we’re seeing women being left further and further behind.'”
“On the one hand, it’s a good sign that men’s wages increased last year, says Katherine Gallagher Robbins, a senior fellow at the National Partnership for Women and Families. And when considering part-time workers, women’s median earnings grew about 5% between 2023 and 2024.
“But overall, ‘the concerning part is that women’s wages are not keeping pace,’ Robbins tells CNBC Make It. ‘What we would like to see is everyone’s wages to be increasing and for that gap to be closing at the same time.'”
The pay gap between full-time working women and their male counterparts has widened for the second year in a row; NPWF analysis finds a leading factor is men’s earnings growing at a faster rate than women’s.
“Wages for workers without a high-school degree were up 5.5% last year — and that may be driving the gap, Katherine Gallagher Robbins, a senior fellow at the National Partnership for Women & Families, tells Axios.”
“The broader context, says Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families and co-leader of the 75 Million Campaign, is that today’s job losses are less about performance and more about politics.
“’When you lose a job not because of your work but because of a political agenda, it can feel demoralizing,’ Frye told me. ‘And for Black women, particularly Black mothers – more than 80% of whom are the primary breadwinners – it threatens the stability of entire families.’
“She points to the rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as both a cause and a consequence.
“’This administration has deployed a different narrative, but the purpose is the same as always: to erode the pathways that allowed Black women even a chance at the middle class,’ Frye told me.”
Her call to action: don’t internalize the systemic failures.
“This is not about individual deficiencies. It’s an ideological agenda. And we must push back—not only to protect jobs, but to protect the progress that got us here in the first place.”
The Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy and the National Partnership for Women & Families released reports detailing how Social Security impacts and improves the lives of veterans and their families in Pennsylvania and Virginia.
A first-of-its-kind analysis conducted by the National Partnership for Women & Families found positive trends in three state paid leave programs, showing that over time, access and use of these programs grew as they reached more workers and became more focused on equity and inclusion.
President Trump’s firing of Bureau and Labor Statistics (BLS) head Erika McEntarfer solely because the BLS monthly jobs report showed weaker job growth is another deeply troubling move in this administration’s ongoing effort to squelch and manipulate information – and the latest signs of a dismantling of our democracy.
While it is unsurprising that the majority-Republican Senate voted to confirm Andrea Lucas to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the news is yet another blow to the lives and livelihoods of workers, as the ripple effects of Donald Trump’s election and the actions of his administration continue to harm people throughout our country.
“Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, said that there needs to be more support for women at all stages of caregiving and all kinds of work statuses to make sure women are economically and socially secure. Childcare, eldercare, and other family support policies that only focus on people in traditional employment, and require immediate attachment to work, leave behind people who are self-employed, seasonally employed, and have nontraditional employment statuses—many of whom are women, she said. There are better alternatives; policies that include women who face intimate partner violence issues. A federal bill, for example, would ensure that people can take paid sick time as a result of intimate partner violence.”
“’More than 1 in 6 women veterans actually works for the federal government, which is way higher than the rates you see kind of across the population,’ said Katherine Gallagher Robbins, a senior fellow at the National Partnership for Women & Families.”
New data from the National Partnership for Women & Families and A Better Balance reveals how Black and Southern workers bear the brunt of abusive state overreach.
Today, President Trump signed the Republican budget bill that will undermine the health and economic security of millions of people who rely on essential programs like Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for health care coverage and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for food assistance.
“Only about half of small businesses offer their employees any amount of paid family or medical leave, according to a nationwide 2024 survey of 500 small business owners conducted by Lake Research Partners for the Small Business Majority and the National Partnership for Women & Families. And small businesses that do provide paid leave tend to offer much shorter durations than larger companies.” … “The NPWF Report highlights how smaller companies are innovating on paid leave by prioritizing flexibility. The Report also reveals how public policy gaps make it harder for small and mid-sized companies to keep up with larger companies on paid leave.”
A new analysis from the National Partnership for Women & Families (NPWF) finds that if Americans who provide care to loved ones received a check for that work, it would be in the amount of more than $1.1 trillion.
“‘The National Partnership for Women & Families released its 2025 Leading on Leave Report today. The report recognizes companies with comprehensive paid leave policies and highlights key trends in paid leave innovation.”
Today, the National Partnership for Women and Families unveiled the top companies setting new standards for paid leave policies in 2025. The 2025 “Leading on Leave” report highlights seven companies that exceeded benchmark qualifications for their policies and practices on paid leave.
Since being created by Congress more than 100 years ago, the Women’s Bureau at the Department of Labor has made significant contributions to improving women’s status and treatment in the workplace.
“Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, is featured in the documentary. Caregiving issues, she said, ‘are not niche concerns.’
“‘The vast majority of families navigate these problems every day and it is important for people to see that they are part of a large community of people struggling to figure things out,’ Frye said.”
“The disparities Pryor highlights are reflected in industry data. A study by the National Partnership for Women & Families found that Black women directors and producers make just 68 cents compared to their white, non-Hispanic male counterparts. Even though these gaps are within an occupation, they are nearly as large as the overall wage gaps for Black women. This data serves as a critical reminder that acclaimed actresses may be both famous and highly under-compensated—the two are not mutually exclusive.”
