Thanks to the state courts and legislature, as of May 1, abortion access in Florida is now more restricted than ever under the state’s near-total ban. The impact will resonate throughout the state, harming women and hurting the state economy.
Thanks to the state courts and legislature, as of May 1, abortion access in Florida is now more restricted than ever under the state’s near-total ban. The impact will resonate throughout the state, harming women and hurting the state economy.
Hope may be hard to come by this post-election season, but if you’re looking for bright spots, look no further than the remarkable “firsts” sworn into the 119th Congress, as well as statehouses across the country, this week. In addition to the monumental election of two Black women—Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and Lisa Blunt-Rochester (D-DE)—to the US Senate, US Representative Sarah McBride (D-DE) made history in November as the first openly transgender person elected to Congress. McBride was already the [...]
For the first time in electoral history, the US Senate will have two Black women—Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD)—in its ranks simultaneously. Prior to these wins, only three Black women—Carol Mosely Braun (1993–1998), Kamala Harris (2017–2021), and Laphonza Butler (2023–2024)—had ever served in the Senate. Despite Black women making up 8 percent of the country’s population, they were only 5.4 percent of all voting members of Congress in the last congressional session. Blunt Rochester and Alsobrooks’s historic [...]
November 21 was Native Women’s Equal Pay Day, marking the end of this year’s series of events highlighting the gender wage gap faced by women in various groups. Looking back at IWPR’s research on this critical issue, the data show that, almost across the board, wage gaps worsened for women, marking the first time the gender wage gap has widened significantly in 20 years. Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) women marked their Equal Pay Day on April [...]
Limited access to affordable and quality child care has been a longstanding issue across the United States. The situation is especially precarious in the Aloha State, where child care availability falls short of families’ needs, and child care costs rank the highest in the country. Last month, the Nurturing Wāhine Fund* invited me to Hawaiʻi to discuss how the high cost and undersupply of child care hinder parents—especially mothers—from fully participating in the workforce. During my visit, I spoke with [...]
State ballot questions are often overshadowed by presidential elections and campaign ads that dominate the airwaves. Not this year. Abortion has been a driving issue for voters, regardless of political affiliation. Last week, in 7 of the 10 states where abortion was on the ballot, voters elected to protect and expand reproductive freedom, building on remarkable momentum that has been surging since six states voted to protect or thwart restrictions to abortion access in 2022, followed by Ohio’s protective [...]
Originally published on How We Rise, a Brookings Institution blog. Women’s sexual health 101. The average menstruating individual will experience 13 cycles per year and will menstruate around 500 times during their reproductive life span between the ages of 12 and 51. While teenagers prefer to use sanitary napkins or pads during the onset of their menstruating years, this preference typically shifts to tampons by the time they reach age 20. As such, the average menstruator will prefer tampons for [...]
