Today, the Progressive Policy Institute and PPI’s Mosaic Economic Project hosted a webinar with special guest Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) on policies to help women return to the workforce following the devastating effect of the pandemic on women’s labor force participation.
The panel included esteemed policy experts on labor, child care, and gender and racial equity, including Chandra Childers, Study Director at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Elliot Haspel, Author of Crawling Behind: America’s Child Care Crisis and How to Fix It, and Rhonda V. Sharpe, founder & president, Women’s Institute for Science, Equity, and Race.
“The pandemic recession threatens to erase decades of progress in women’s labor force participation, which hasn’t been this low since the 1980s. But we know that even before the pandemic, women and working mothers were not adequately supported and struggling to thrive. That’s especially true of Black and Hispanic female workers. As the White House and President Biden unveil the American Family Plan this week, we hope that policies to support women and working families are top of mind. We also thank Senator Gillibrand for being a tireless advocate for women and families throughout her time in Congress,” said Veronica Goodman, Director of Social Policy at PPI and moderator of the event.
The event covered a wide variety of roadblocks women face when returning to the workforce, including access to paid family leave, affordable child care, workforce development, and expanding apprenticeships and other educational and job training opportunities.
According to the Department of Labor, Black and Hispanic women workers were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, as they are overrepresented in low-paying service sector jobs, which were slower to hire workers back as communities reopen and recover from the pandemic. As of March 2021, almost 1.5 million fewer moms of school-aged children were actively working than in February 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Watch the event livestream here.
The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org.
The Mosaic Economic Project brings together a network of diverse women who are experts in economics and technology – fields where women’s perspectives are grossly underrepresented. Mosaic trains, connects, hosts and advocates for the network’s participation in meaningful policy influencing conversations, with a particular focus on Congress and the media.
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Media Contact: Aaron White, Director of Communications: awhite@ppionline.org
