Who among us doesn’t like a crossover? Bad Bunny x Lady Gaga x Ricky Martin was epic. And I would personally argue for pineapples on pizza, but there is no accounting for taste.
Well, in true nerdy fashion, we’re bringing you a Women’s History Month x Pi Day mash up featuring four pie charts that show how historical policy choices shape women’s reality today:
- Due to a long history of discrimination, devaluing women’s labor and a lack of work-family policies, women – especially many women of color – face a wage gap that undermines their economic security.
- Historically, seeing caregiving as women’s work, and especially the work of women of color, meant policymakers didn’t invest in it. And this failure to support caregivers particularly harms women, who do almost two-thirds of unpaid caregiving in the U.S.
- But some policy choices are shaping our lives for the better. The Family and Medical Leave Act was a historic step forward in helping workers take care of themselves and their loved ones while ensuring their job would still be safe – and it’s been used 566 million times over the last 30-plus years. But today we need to take the next step of ensuring all people have access to paid family and medical leave.
- Thankfully states are showing us how to make history in a good way. For example, in my home state of Connecticut, workers today are able to take paid leave to support all of their loved ones – parents, partners, chosen family and more – without having to sacrifice their economic security.
This Pi Day – and every day – we’re tracking women’s progress – and fighting to make sure they are getting their piece of the pie.
