Entrepreneurship & Small Business Development

The Ms. Foundation for Women is dedicated to building women's collective power to ignite change. We seek opportunities to both proactively and reactively inform public policy, and obtain policy wins at the local, state, tribal and national level, with the ultimate goal of transforming the systems that govern women's lives.

We also aim to change the language, beliefs and behaviors that continue to hold women's oppression in place-particularly at the intersection of race, class and gender-and to shift public debate on key issues so that the perspectives of, and impact on, low income women and women of color are visible and addressed.

We support both cross-issue organizing and organizing within four broad areas of impact:

Women's Health

Reproductive Justice organizing and advocacy
Sexuality education organizing and advocacy
Women and HIV/AIDS policy advocacy and organizational capacity building
Access to health care coverage

Ending Violence

Community-based strategies to prevent child sexual abuse and violence against women and LGBTQ people
Strategies to engage men and boys in ending violence
Public education and media literacy
Youth-driven strategies

Economic Security

Organizing for better wages and working conditions, especially in female dominated sectors
Paid leave (including paid sick days and paid family leave)
Affordable, accessible quality child care
Access to health care coverage

Building Democracy

Building the infrastructure of organizations working for a progressive vision of democracy
Amplifying the voices of women of color, with a special emphasis on the Gulf South
Voter/civic engagement
Just immigration and refugee policies
Criminal Justice reform
Media Justice

Examples of funding initiatives across these broad and interconnected issue areas include:

Katrina Women's Response Fund: The Ms. Foundation responded immediately to the destruction and massive displacement caused by Hurricane Katrina by creating the Katrina Women's Response Fund. The Fund provides strategic support to meet the immediate needs of women of color and low-income women in the Gulf Coast region and ensure that their leadership and priorities are central in both short and long-term recovery and rebuilding efforts. By making grants to organizations throughout the region, the Katrina Women's Response Fund invests in the crucial infrastructure that promotes the health, safety, and economic well-being of women, their families and communities.

The Women and AIDS Fund: The Ms. Foundation for Women created the Women and AIDS Fund (WAF)to support organizations that advocate for policies and services that meet the needs of women with HIV/AIDS. WAF remains the only national fund that supports advocacy and self-determination by and for women living with this disease. By providing grants, technical assistance and networking opportunities to community-based organizations led by and for women who are HIV-positive, we contribute to the development of model approaches for women's HIV/AIDS advocacy that can be shared across the country. Our work has also helped create a national network of HIV-positive infected and affected women, called the National Women and AIDS Collective (NWAC), who strive to influence the ways in which policies are determined at the federal level.

The Reproductive Rights Coalition and Organizing Fund: The Ms. Foundation for Women's Reproductive Rights Coalition and Organizing Fund (RRCOF) has been a strong, responsive resource for state reproductive rights organizations across the United States since 1989. RRCOF provides grantmaking, technical assistance, and networking activities to strengthen state-level infrastructures and build critical, broad-based support for reproductive rights. RRCOF aims to increase the capacity of state and local reproductive rights organizations so that they can: 1) expand and mobilize their base of support; 2) reach a broader and more diverse audience; 3) frame reproductive rights and health in a broader health and social justice context; and 4) more effectively advocate for positive - and avert restrictive - reproductive health policies and programs.

Join our movement for social justice and help to bring the experience and solutions of women and girls to the challenging issues that impact women and their communities most. Learn more about how you can show your support. 

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Stir It UP: Lessons in Community Organizing and Advocacy. Written by activist and trainer Rinku Sen, this publication examines the work of economic justice organizations funded by the Ms. Foundation and applies the lessons they learned to other community organizations. Sen also provides models and tools that any organization can use to successfully create social change and influence public policy.

Raise the Floor: Wages and Policies that Work for All of Us . Most Americans believe a job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it. Raise The Floor shows us how we can translate that belief into reality by raising the minimum wage. In addition to telling workers' stories, presenting original data, and proposing comprehensive policies, Raise The Floor spotlights businesses large and small that demonstrate how good wages are good business-in good economic times and bad.

Kitchen Table Entrepreneurs: How Eleven Women Escaped Poverty and Became Their Own Bosses. This publication tells the inspirational stories of eleven low-income women who have marshaled the creative energy, confidence, and capital necessary to start their own small businesses. These women, who have used their entrepreneurial skills as a route out of poverty, give an American face to an economic empowerment tool that has enjoyed great success in developing countries.

Ms. Foundation. 2009. Creating Connections, Igniting Change: Annual Report 2007-2008.

Ms. Foundation. 2009. Building Momentum to Sustain Social Change: Evaluation of the Katrina Women's Response Fund.  

Grants

Activism and Organizing

Models for Action: Making Research Work for Women (Resource Book). The Insitute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) presents this resource as a way of helpig state-based advocates, researchers, and policymakers utilize The Status of Women in the States reports to further their policy agendas by drawing attention to issues critical to the status of women in their states.

Aging

How the Elderly Become Poor. The IWPR study, "How the Elderly Become Poor: The Economic Circumstances of Aged Women with Special Attention to Widows and Divorcees," analyzes why elderly widowed and divorced women have a high risk of poverty. The report additionally looks into how redesigning couple benefits may leave more to surviving spouses.

Dialogue with Women -- Work and Family

On Common Ground: Prominent Women Talk About Work and Family. This IWPR publication is based on interviews and dialogues with prominent women who are balancing work and family. The report includes perspectives on combining the two roles, personal decisions, perceptions of the larger problems plaguing working mothers, as well as personal and institutional recommendations for change.

Family

Work & Family covers:

Education and Job Training Build Strong Families (Fact Sheet) This Fact sheet demonstrates that improving the home life of children begins with expanding the opportunities and skills of the parents.

The Widening Gap: A New Book on the Struggle to Balance Work and Caregiving (RIB) This Research in Brief is based on selected findings from a new book by Jody Heymann, The Widening Gap: Why America's Working Families are in Jeopardy and What Can be done About It. The book reveals the failure of our nation's employer-based support system to help families meet their caregiving responsibilities.

Family Leave for Low-Income Working Women: Providing Paid Leave Though Temporary Disability Insurance - The New Jersey Case (RIB) summarizes a research project that examined the proposals in New Jersey for paid family and medical leave programs. It discusses the policy context in which these programs are being considered and details the technical considerations behind estimating the cost of providing family-leave insurance.

Paid Family and Medical Leave: Essential Support for Working Women and Men (Fact Sheet) Women's employment patterns are becoming more like men's, but public policies and employers have not filled in the gap between the time and care that families need and the time workers have available to meet those needs.

Paid Family and Medical Leave: Supporting Working Families in Illinois (Testimony) Testimony to the Subcommittee on Unemployment Insurance for the New Workforce on the issue of paid family and medical leave.

Equal Pay for Working Families (RIB) An investigation into the size of the wage gap in the United States, as well as is in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Economic & Social Status of Women

Why Privatizing Government Services Would Hurt Women Workers (Report) Analyzes the implications of privatization for women workers, especially those employed in low-end occupations. Data analyzes show that women disproportionately depend on the public sector for jobs that pay decent wages and offer benefits. The evidence suggests that privatizing government services will have a negative impact on the women workers, especially those workers who are most vulnerable.

The Gender Wage Ratio: Womens and Men's Earnings (Fact Sheet) Examines the gender wage ratio from 1955 through 2000. The Gender wage ratio, which had remained virtually constant from 1955 through the 1970's, began to increase in the 1980's. Over the 1990's, the wage ratio moved up and down slightly.

The Gender Gap in Pension Coverage: What Does the Future Hold? (Report) Part of an on-going research project conducted by the Institute for Women's Policy Research to analyze the economics of women across the generations. This report documents pension coverage among male and female employees and examines voluntary and involuntary reasons why women and men do not participate in pension plans.

The Gender Gap in Pension Coverage: Women Working Full-Time Are Catching Up, But Part-Time Workers Have Been Left Behind (RIB) IWPR finds that women are participating in pension plans in greater numbers than ever before. Based on data from the Pension Topical Module of the Survey of Income and Program Participation collected in 1995 by the Bureau of Census, IWPR found that 60 percent of full-time female workers participate in a pension plan, compared with 62 percent of full-time male workers. However, part-time workers, who are disproportionately women, remain much less likely to participate in an employer-sponsored pension plan.

Why Privatizing Government Services Would Hurt Women Workers (RIB) Using data from the 1998 Current Population Survey, this Research-in-Brief documents job growth in the public and private sectors and examines the quality of jobs in terms of wages and benefits. Overall this research finds that the public sector offers considerably better wages and benefits for women workers than does the private sector.

Strengthening Social Security for Women: A Report from the Working Conference on Women and Social Security (Report) This report documents three days of discussions among approximately 60 leaders of women's organizations and policy analysts. Aiming to develop proposals that would inspire women activists to engage in the public debate on Social Security reform. This report presents possible proposals for a women's agenda for Social Security reform based on the conference as well as earlier meetings of the NCWO Task Force on Women and Social Security.

Why Privatizing Social Security Would Hurt Women: A Response to the Cato Institute's Proposal for Individual Accounts (RIB) Both advocates for and against the privatization of Social Security claim their proposals benefit women. Among privatizers, The Cato Institute has been particularly vocal in courting women's support. The Cato institute claims that its proposals meet the National Council of Women's Organizations' (NCWO) "check list" for Social Security reform and hence deserve NCWO's support. This research in brief refutes this claim, drawing attention to four central problems with privatizing Social Security.

Part-Time Opportunities for Professionals and Managers: Where Are They, Who Uses Them (Report) Reports on a three year IWPR research project undertaken to assess reduced-time opportunities for professionals and managers throughout the economy. This study indicates that, compared with other U.S. employees, very few professionals and mangers are employed part-time and very few careers offer financial incentives to work part-time.

Part-Time Opportunities for Professionals and Managers (RIB) While it is often assumed that part-time work in professional or managerial jobs would provide parents with increased flexibility to juggle work and family responsibilities while also earning a good income, a recent study by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) show that few professional and managers are employed part-time.

Employment Issues

Equal Opportunity of the Skill Standard System. An upcoming IWPR report, Enhancing the Equal Opportunity Capacity of the Skill Standard System, analyzes how to address the current biases in skill evaluation systems that disadvantage women and minorities. The study looks at characteristics of occupations held by women and members of minority groups, earnings by industry cluster and education level compared to their white male counterparts. The research additionally analyzes how skill standards can be implemented to increase workplace diversity and also act as a barrier to hiring and promotion.

Equal Pay for Working Families: A National Overview. IWPR and the AFL-CIO have completed work on the size of the wage gap in the United States, demonstrating the costs of pay inequity to both individuals and working families. Findings indicate how much family income drops as a result of the wage gap and unequal pay for comparable work in the case of women and minority workers.

Glass Ceiling and Structural Changes. IWPR's report on The Impact of the Glass Ceiling and Structural Change on Minorities and Women, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor's Glass Ceiling Commission, provides a review and synthesis of how women workers fared in the 1980s during extensive industrial restructuring. Suggestions in the report include the improvement of enforcing equal opportunity laws and regulation; developing new ways to encourage corporations to adopt longer-term perspectives over short-term profits; and considering new "family-friendly" workplace policies.

Unemployment Insurance. IWPR has completed research on the likelihood that women and part-time workers receive unemployment compensation, with support from the National Commission for Employment Policy. Findings, published in An Analysis of Unemployment Insurance Benefits Recipiency Rates with Special Attention to the Barriers Faced by Women and Part-Time Workers, identifies those women and men disqualified from insurance due to seven screening factors and concludes that women are much less likely than unemployed men to receive UI benefits.

Family

Education and Job Training Build Strong Families (Fact Sheet) This Fact sheet demonstrates that improving the home life of children begins with expanding the opportunities and skills of the parents.

The Widening Gap: A New Book on the Struggle to Balance Work and Caregiving (RIB) This Research in Brief is based on selected findings from a new book by Jody Heymann, The Widening Gap: Why America's Working Families are in Jeopardy and What Can be done About It. The book reveals the failure of our nation's employer-based support system to help families meet their caregiving responsibilities.

Family Leave for Low-Income Working Women: Providing Paid Leave Though Temporary Disability Insurance - The New Jersey Case (RIB) summarizes a research project that examined the proposals in New Jersey for paid family and medical leave programs. It discusses the policy context in which these programs are being considered and details the technical considerations behind estimating the cost of providing family-leave insurance.

Paid Family and Medical Leave: Essential Support for Working Women and Men (Fact Sheet) Women's employment patterns are becoming more like men's, but public policies and employers have not filled in the gap between the time and care that families need and the time workers have available to meet those needs.

Paid Family and Medical Leave: Supporting Working Families in Illinois (Testimony) Testimony to the Subcommittee on Unemployment Insurance for the New Workforce on the issue of paid family and medical leave.

Equal Pay for Working Families (RIB) An investigation into the size of the wage gap in the United States, as well as is in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Global Issues

Why Gender Matters in Understanding September 11: Women, Militarism, and Violence This paper analyses women's roles as victims, supporters, and opponents of violence, terrorism, and militarism and proposes policy recommendations from its findings. It outlines important links between economic development, violence, women's activism and peace-building efforts.

Health and Health Care

Making Birth Control More Accessible to Women: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Over-the-Counter Oral Contraceptives (Briefing Paper) A cost-benefit analysis to determine whether switching oral contraceptives to OTC status is more beneficial to women and society than continuing to regulate them as prescription drugs.

Disability Insurance. The IWPR report, An Assurance of the Potential for Extending Temporary Disability Insurance," funded by the Ford Foundation, looks into the technical feasibility and the costs and benefits of extending Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) to additional states. TDI can be used to pay for family care in addition to illness and disability, pregnancy, and childbirth. Findings were presented at a hearing of the U.S. Commission on Family and Medical Leave.

Preventive Health. An IWPR study, Preventive Health Services for Women: Benefits and Cost Effectiveness, uses financial and other data to measure the costs and benefits of eight preventive treatments for women. A resource kit of information for policymakers and activists emphasizes the need and effectiveness of preventive treatment and recommends that such measures be included in health care reform efforts.

Silicone Breast Implants. IWPR research in the area of silicone breast implants demonstrates the need for systematic, long-term studies that expand research to investigate other side effects and symptoms of implants to ensure that this surgical procedure is indeed a safe and healthy option for women.

Microenterprise and Small Business -- Poverty

Microenterprise and Poverty. IWPR, with help from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, has completed a study on self-employment as a strategy for alleviating poverty. The report, Microenterprise and Women: The Viability of Self-Employment as a Strategy for Alleviating Poverty, analyzes the income earned through microenterprise and identifies the barriers to self-employment in past and current welfare regulations. A forthcoming new study, Microenterprise and Low-Income Families: Enhancing Income Packages as a Strategy for Alleviating Poverty, further explores the strategy of microenterprise for self-sufficiency for low-income women and men.

Politics

Women's Status and Social Capital Across the States (Briefing Paper) This Briefing Paper analyzes the relationship between social capital and indicators of women's status. Using data from Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone and data collected by IWPR for its Status of Women in the States project, the paper assesses trends across the states on both dimensions. Overall, findings suggest that there is a strong relationship between levels of social capital and women's status.

Does Women's Representation in Elected Office Lead to Women-Friendly Policy? (RIB) This Research-in-Brief analyzes whether having more women in elected office is, in fact, associated with more women-friendly policy in the United States. It does so by examining whether variations in women's levels of elected representation coincide with trends in women-friendly policy across the 50 states, based on an evaluation of data from IWPR's work on the The Status of Women in the States.

Come Together: Progressives After 9-11 (Speech Pamphlet) Remarks given to the Fourth Annual EARN (Economic Analysis Research Network) Conference in Lisle, IL on October 18, 2001 by Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation.

Women's Community Involvement: The Effects of Money, Safety, Parenthood, and Friends (RIB) This Research-in-Brief suggests that gender plays an important role in determining who participates in the United States. Women choose to participate, or not to, for different reasons than men. Efforts to increase civic participation by both sexes need to take these differences into account if levels of civic and political participation are to increase in the United States.

The Political Glass Ceiling: Gender, Strategy and Incumbency in U.S. House Elections, 1978-1998 Using data collected from primary and general House elections from 1978 to 1998, this paper analyzes trends in women's representation and explores factors related to the rate of integration of women into elected office.

2000 Status of Women in the States (Report) This report is part of an ongoing research project conducted by the Institute for Women's Policy Research to establish baseline measures of the status of women in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This report presents data for each state on 30 component indicators as well as five composite indices that capture the states' rankings in each of the five domains: Political Participation, Employment and Earnings, Economic Autonomy, Reproductive Rights, and Health and Well-Being.

Overview of Status of Women in the States (RIB) This fact sheet describes how selected measures of women's rights and equality vary among the states. It summarizes data from the IWPR report, The Status of Women in the States, 3rd edition, which presents data for each state on 30 component indicators as well as five composite indices that capture the states' rankings in each of the five domains: Political Participation, Employment and Earnings, Economic Autonomy, Reproductive Rights, and Health and Well-Being.

Transforming the Political Agenda: Gender Differences in Bill Sponsorship on Women's Issues (RIB) This Research-in-Brief summarizes an article by Michele Swers, Ph.D., Mary Washington College, presented at Women Transforming Congress: Gender Analyses of Institutional Life, a conference sponsored by the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at the University of Oklahoma, April 2000. Dr. Swers analyses bill sponsorship patterns during the 103rd and 104th Congresses in order to examine gender differences in attention to legislation concerning women's issues. Dr. Swers finds that willingness to support and advocate for women's issues bills is constrained by characteristics of the political and institutional context.

Women's Political Participation. Forthcoming research by IWPR will center around women's political participation and representation. Potential topics include: factors that determine whether women will vote; factors influencing gender differences in political attitudes and choices, otherwise known as the "gender gap," and how these differences influence voting behavior or governing decisions; the effects of women's voting behavior on electoral outcomes; the impact of female elected officials on electoral politics; and factors shaping the effectiveness of commissions on women and other women's policy groups and coalitions.

Social Security

Social Security Reform and Women. IWPR research notes that women are heavily reliant on social security benefits due to different patterns of labor force participation and thus especially vulnerable to reform. IWPR reports highlight the importance of safeguards for women and the effects that even moderate reforms will have on women's ability to collect benefits. New IWPR research is also investigating social security benefits and spousal benefits in other industrialized countries, including Sweden, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

Socioeconomic Status of Women

The Status of Women in the States. The Status of Women in the States is part of an ongoing research project to assess baseline measures of the status of women in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The effort is part of a larger IWPR Economic Policy Education Program, funded by the Ford Foundation, which aims to enhance the ability of advocates and policymakers at the state level to address women's socioeconomic status.
Women's Economic Policy Agenda. IWPR's major educational campaign, the Women's Economic Policy Agenda, addresses women's economic issues and targets the administration, Congress, women's leaders, and the media. Funded by the Ford Foundation, IWPR activities include, but are not limited to: IWPR Director Heidi Hartmann co-chairs the Commission on Women's Voices for the Economy, which brings together women leaders working on economic issues affecting women at the state level; Hartmann participates in the Economists' Policy Group on Women's Issues, which unveiled a welfare reform plan, Help for Working Parents; and IWPR participates on the affirmative action, labor law, and welfare task forces of the Council of Presidents of national women's organizations.

Socioeconomic Status of Women
Health and Health Care

Socioeconomic Status and Health. Currently, IWPR is analyzing the Commonwealth Survey of Women's Health data to study the impact of poverty, income, education, and work status on the health of low-income women and the extent to which income level, educational attainment, and employment status predict women's health.

Violence Against Women

Domestic Violence. IWPR research on domestic violence, conducted in collaboration with Victim Services and the Domestic Violence Training Project, aims to assess the social cost of domestic violence. The analysis will assess direct and indirect costs to society and the cost-effectiveness of intervention. The project will also consider that the range of problems and services contributing to the existence and costs of domestic violence.

Welfare Reform

Marriage Promotion & Low-Income Communities: An Examination of Real Needs & Real Solutions (Briefing Paper) This analyses points out various obstacles that may arise when using marriage promotion as a means of poverty elevation and suggests alternatives to moving women and their families out of poverty, such as income and work supports and education and job training.

Disabilities Among Children and Mothers in Low-Income Families (RIB) This Research-in-Brief presents selected findings from an IWPR analysis examining disabilities among children and low-income families. The findings indicate that single mothers receiving TANF are more likely than other low-income mothers to have a child with a disability. Furthermore, they themselves are more likely to have a disability.

Life After Welfare Reform: Low-Income Single Parent Families, Pre- and Post-TANF (RIB) This Research-in-Brief is based on selected findings from a forthcoming Institute for Women's Policy Research study, Life After Welfare Reform: The Characteristics, Work, and Well Being of Low-Income Single Parent Families, Pre- and Post-PRWORA. The findings in this study underscore the need to make improvements to the welfare system to address gender and racial inequities and focus on poverty reduction.

Marriage and Poverty: An Annotated Bibliography (Bibliography) This annotated bibliography is designed to provide researchers, policymakers, advocates, and the general public with an overview of the debate and research surrounding the promotion of marriage as a solution to reducing poverty. In addition to newspaper articles familiarizing the reader with the current debate, topics covered in this bibliography include: economic insecurity and single motherhood, child welfare and single motherhood, factors that influence marital decisions, race and family formation, the conservative and feminist perspectives, and current policy proposals.

Job Training and Education Fight Poverty - Fact Sheet The current federal welfare law limits the availability of education and training programs. The reauthorization of the federal Temporary Assistance to Need Families Block Grant offers an opportunity to make job training and education a central focus of welfare. This Fact Sheet is a synthesis of the data about benefits of these programs and makes recommendations on incorporating them into the current law.

Utilizing Workforce Investment Act Programs & TANF to Provide Education and Training Opportunities to Reduce Poverty Among Low-Income Women (Testimony) This transcript of Testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness discusses the importance of coordination of the Workforce Investment Act and TANF programs.

Feminist Perspectives on TANF Reauthorization: An Introduction to Key Issues for the Future of Welfare Reform (Briefing Paper) The purpose of this paper is to identify some of the key issues and goals that are emerging in TANF reauthorization discussions and to consider what a feminist agenda for TANF reauthorization might look like. The paper begins with an overview of the key elements and impacts of TANF, followed by a discussion of some critical TANF reauthorization issues and advocacy goals, and closes with some thoughts on how these issues and goals relate to feminist understandings of women's poverty and welfare reform.

Working First But Working Poor: The Need for Education and Training Following Welfare Reform (Report & Executive Summary) This report by IWPR, funded by the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, reveals a pattern of gender segregation in referrals to job training programs that could increase women's hourly wages by as much as a third.

Today's Women Workers: Shut Out of Yesterday's Unemployment Insurance System (Fact Sheet) This Fact Sheet discusses two aspects of the UI system that prevent many women from receiving the UI benefits they have earned. It also reviews policy changes that would extend support of this fundamental employment-based program to more working women.

The Georgia Unemployment Insurance System: Overcoming Barriers for Low-Wage, Part-Time & Women Workers (Report by NELP & IWPR) This report examines both the "benefits" side and the "financing" side of Georgia's UI program. In addition, the report surveys the specific feature of the Georgia laws that contribute to the problems of access to the UI program.

Unemployment Insurance and Welfare Reform: Fair Access to Economic Supports for Low-Income Working Women (RIB). Unemployment Insurance is not fully accessible to women and low-wage workers, and this unequal access particularly disadvantages welfare recipients. Because former welfare recipients tend to get unstable jobs, equitable access to UI will be critical to preventing excessive hardship between spells of employment.

Women and Unemployment Insurance (Fact Sheet). This fact sheet describes the UI system and discusses specific features of the system that tend to deny benefits to low-income women. It also proposes a set of recommendations for changing UI to provide better income security for unemployed women.

Unemployment Insurance Reform for the New Workforce (Report). This report is intended to capture the exchange of ideas and strategies discussed at a forum of over 50 unemployment insurance advocates, researchers and policymakers brought together to discuss improving unemployment insurance policies for women, low-wage and contingent workers.

The Effects of Welfare Reform on Housing Stability and Homelessness: Current Research Findings, Legislation, and Programs (RIB). Early findings on the effects of welfare reform suggest that benefit loss makes it more difficult for families to pay rent and can worsen hardship. Improved access to affordable, safe, and stable housing would decrease hardship and improve families' chances of moving successfully from welfare to work.

Low-Wage Work and Welfare Reform. IWPR, with help from the Ford and Russel Sage foundations, continually investigates the survival strategies of single mothers through various stages of welfare reform. A 1995 report, Welfare that Works: The Working Lives of AFDC Recipients, illustrates that nearly half of women who receive welfare during a two-year period also work, and that welfare functions as a supplement to income.

Welfare Reform Research Coordination Project. In response to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, IWPR is coordinating a research project to investigate potential barriers to employment and self-sufficiency and the impact of reform on women's access to higher education and job training. A team of researchers, service providers, advocates, and policymakers will develop a research agenda and comparable projects to study the effects of welfare reform on women. IWPR also produces a monthly newsletter, IWPR Welfare Reform Network News, that reviews topical issues and summarizes current research and policy.

Click here for more information on recent projects. 

Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action in Employment: An Overview - A Briefing Paper, Jodi Burns (1996). An analysis of the employment and wages of white women, black men, and black women during the time period in which affirmative action policies were implemented.

"The Effectiveness of Equal Employment Opportunity Policies," Heidi Hartmann and M.V. Lee Badgett (1995). A chapter published in Economic Perspectives on Affirmative Action, edited by Margaret C. Simms, it reviews the major quantitative research literature assessing the effectiveness of federal equal employment opportunity policies; reviews federal policy and legal requirements for firms; discusses papers that examine how policies affect firms' performance and profits; and suggests questions for further research.

Child Care

The Economic Realities of Child Care, Heidi Hartmann (1988). Testimony before the Subcommittee on Human Resources suggesting an analysis of public subsidies for child care and public regulation of child care providers.

Tax Benefits for Low-Income Families with Children: Two Competing Proposals, Parts I and II - A Briefing Paper, Heidi Hartmann and Celia Star Gody (1990). Reports that low-income families with child care expenses are likely to receive greater benefits from the Senate bill, the Act for Better Child Care, than the House bill, the Early Childhood Education and Development Act.

Wages and Salaries of Child Care Workers: The Economic and Social Implications of Raising Child Care Workers' Salaries, Diana M. Pearce (1988). Testimony before the Subcommittee on Children, Drugs, and Alcoholism, describing who are the child care workers, their salaries, reasons the salaries are so low, and the effects of low salaries.

Economic Literacy

The Impact of Social Security Reform on Women (1998).

Arlington Hill Working Paper, Arlington Hill Working Group (1993). Working paper on a meeting of 50 women leaders who crafted an economic agenda for President Clinton, including demands for a flexible work schedule, equal pay for equal work, expansion of women's entrepreneurship, and a restructuring of the nation's income support system.

A Feminist Perspective on the Federal Budget: A Summary - A Briefing Paper, Heidi Hartmann (1996). Argues for an adjustment in public policy to match the new realities of a narrowing economic gap between men and women and includes a feminist analysis of federal expenditures.

Research-In-Brief:
Transition Documents and Economic Agendas (1993).

Employment Issues

IWPR. 2010. Gender Wage Gap Narrows only Slightly Even though Women’s Earnings are More Important than Ever to American Families.

http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C350.pdf

IWPR. 2010. Women and Men's Employment and Unemployment in the Great Recession.

http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C373womeninrecession.pdf

IWPR. 2010. The Workforce Investment Act and Women's Progress: Does WIA Funded Training Reinforce Sex Segregation in the Labor Market and the Gender Wage Gap?

http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C372WIA.pdf

Improving Employment Opportunities for Women, Heidi Hartmann and Roberta Spalter-Roth (1991). Testimony describing the importance of women's earnings for family survival; wage and job discrimination; and the effectiveness of civil rights and anti-discrimination policies.

Pay Equity as a Remedy for Wage Discrimination: Success in State Governments, Heidi Hartmann and Stephanie Aaronson (1994). Testimony concerning the Fair Pay Act of 1994 before the Subcommittee on Select Education and Civil Rights that argues that the Fair Pay Act would be an effective way to raise women's wages to a level comparable to men's and would provide a better standard of living for women workers.

Looking Toward the Workplace of the 21st Century: Closing the Policy Gap for Working Women, Heidi Hartmann (1996). A lecture given at George Washington University, Washington, DC, March 28, 1996, as part of the Annual Nancy Yulee Lecture Series on women's labor force participation, women's educational attainment, the wage gap, and family roles, as well as public policy changes that could help to alleviate gender inequities.

Pay Equity and Women's Wage Increases: Success in the States, A Model for the Nation, Heidi Hartmann and Stephanie Aaronson. A paper summarizing the results from The Economic Effects of Pay Equity in the States, a multi-year project that examined pay equity programs in 20 states' civil services.

What Do Unions Do For Women?, Roberta Spalter-Roth, Heidi Hartmann, and Nancy Collins (1994). Presented at the conference Labor Law Reform: The Forecast for Working Women, this report explores the impact of union membership on wages and job stability.

Why Privatizing Government Services Would Hurt Women Workers (Report) This report analyzes the implications of privitization for women workers, especially those employed in low-end occupations. Data analyzed show that women disproportionately depend on the public sector for jobs that pay decent wages and offer benefits.

The Benefits of Unionization for Workers in the Retail Food Industry (Report and RIB)This report is an analysis of the benefits of unionization in the retail food industry. This project compared the wages and benefits of unionized and nonunionized workers in the retail food industry, particularly for women, single mothers, cashiers, part-time workers, and part-time women workers.

The Impact of the Glass Ceiling and Structural Change on Minorities and Women, Lori B. Shaw, Dell P. Champlin, Heidi Hartmann, and Roberta Spalter-Roth (1993). Discusses the problems and opportunities for minorities and women as a result of corporate restructuring.

Increasing Working Mothers' Earnings, Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann (1991). Viewing working mothers as primary earners, this study finds that the best indicators of women's wages are human capital and job characteristics.

Increasing Working Mothers' Earnings, Executive Summary, Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann (1991).

Women in Telecommunications: Exception to the Rule of Low Pay for Women's Work, Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann, with Linda Andrews and Taleria Fuller (1992). Analysis of women in telecommunications, including racial and gender comparisons of wages and union membership.

Raises and Recognition: Secretaries, Clerical Workers, and the Union Wage Premium, Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann (1990). Describes strategies to increase wages, secure work and family leave, provide flexible scheduling, and encourage career development.

Low Wages for Secretaries and Clerical Workers in Indiana: A State Without a Collective Bargaining Agreement, Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann (1990). Examines the wages and family incomes of secretarial clerical workers, women's largest occupational category.

Unemployment Insurance: Barriers to Access for Women and Part-Time Workers, Young-Hee Yoon, Roberta Spalter-Roth, and Marc Baldwin (1995). Discusses the findings that only 30 percent of unemployed women received unemployment insurance and that women and part-time workers were most likely to be excluded from eligibility as a result of high quarter earnings requirements.

Mothers, Children, and Low-Wage Work: The Ability to Earn a Family Wage, Roberta Spalter-Roth, Heidi Hartmann, and Linda Andrews (1990). Describes women's wage levels by race, ethnicity, and family responsibilities, and receipt of government income support by family type.

Research-In-Brief:

How Women Can Earn a Living Wage: The Effects of Pay Equity Remedies and a Higher Minimum Wage (1997.
The Wage Gap, Updated Tables (1995).

Pay Equity and the Wage Gap: Success in the States (1995).

Restructuring Work: How Have Women and Minorities Fared? (1995).

What Do Unions Do For Women? (1994).

Increasing Working Mothers' Earnings: The Importance of Race, Family, and Job (1992).

Part-Time Opportunities for Professionals and Managers, Shannon Garrett (1998).

Raises and Recognition: Secretaries, Clerical Workers, and the Union Wage Premium (1990).

Unemployment Insurance: Barriers to Access for Women and Part-Time Workers (1995).

Women and the Minimum Wage (1995).

Mothers, Children, and Low-Wage Work: The Ability to Earn a Family Wage (1991).

Low-Wage Work, Health Benefits, and Family Well-Being (1990).

Temporary Work (1990).

Entrepreneurship/Microenterprise

Contingent Work: Its Consequences for Economic Well-Being, the Gendered Division of Labor, and the Welfare State, Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann (1995). Paper discussing findings that single mothers are the group most likely to be contingent workers and the most likely to receive AFDC.

Micro-Enterprise and Women: The Viability of Self-Employment as a Strategy for Alleviating Poverty, Roberta Spalter-Roth, Enrique Soto, and Lily Zandniapour, with Jill Braunstein (1994). Discusses the use of micro-enterprise as a strategy to enhance the income packages of AFDC recipients and other low-income women.

Exploring the Characteristics of Self-Employment and Part-Time Work Among Women, Roberta Spalter-Roth, Heidi Hartmann, and Lois Shaw (1993). Compares male and female workers' job schedules and economic well-being, and examines how well alternative forms of employment meet women's increased needs to support themselves and their families.

Exploring the Characteristics of Self-Employment and Part-Time Work Among Women: Executive Summary, Roberta Spalter-Roth, Heidi Hartmann, and Lois Shaw (1993).

Research in Brief:

The Economic Impact of Contingent Work on Women and Their Families (1995).

Micro-Enterprise and Women - The Viability of Self-Employment as a Strategy for Alleviating Poverty, Quantitative Findings (1994).

Self-Employment Versus Wage and Salary Jobs: How Do Women Fare? (1993).

IWPR Study Examines the Economic Benefits of Alternative Employment Patterns for Male and Female Workers (1993).

Feminist Thought and Scholarship

Third Annual Women's Policy Research Conference Proceedings (1994). A collection of papers from the conference on topics such as the social construction of race, gender, and nativity; globalization and immigration; the policy challenges of gender, diversity, and international exchange; strategies for meeting women's basic needs; and employment opportunity and economic restructuring.

Second Annual Women's Policy Research Conference Proceedings (1992). A collection of papers from the conference, including topics such as health care issues from a feminist perspective; marriage, reproduction, and the family; health care and public policy; employment issues; and the public policy process.

First Annual Women's Policy Research Conference Proceedings (1990). A collection of papers from the conference addressing issues such as feminist theory for feminist advocacy; changes in the status of women; welfare reform, family budgets, and child support; international human rights and women's rights; employment equity; family care; the changing structure of poverty; economic development and women's employment; and work and family interconnections.

Health and Health Care

Costs to Women and Their Families of Childbirth and the Lack of Parental Leave, Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann (1987). Testimony before the Subcommittee on Children, Families, Drugs, and Alcoholism, U.S. Senate, using research from IWPR's study, Unnecessary Losses: Costs to Americans of the Lack of Family and Medical Leave.

Women's Access to Health Insurance, Heidi Hartmann with Young-Hee Yoon, Stephanie Aaronson, Lois Shaw, and Roberta Spalter-Roth (1994). Testimony before the Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate, on the research showing that women use and pay for health care services more and are more responsible for ensuring their families' health, but women also fall through the cracks of the current health care system.

Safety of Silicone Breast Implants, Diana Zuckerman (1998).

Women's Access to Health Insurance, Young-Hee Yoon, Stephanie Aaronson, Heidi Hartmann, Lois Shaw, and Roberta Spalter-Roth (1994). Discusses the paradox that, compared to men, women use and pay for health care services more and are more responsible for ensuring their family's health, but many women have no health insurance.

Women's Access to Health Insurance, Executive Summary, Young-Hee Yoon, Stephanie Aaronson, Heidi Hartmann, Lois Shaw, and Roberta Spalter-Roth (1994).

Women of Color and Access to Health Care - A Briefing Paper, Young-Hee Yoon (1994). Examines the disparities in access to health insurance and the barriers women of color face in the current health care system.

Preventive Health Services for Women: Benefits and Cost-Effectiveness, Stephanie Aaronson and Nicoletta Karam, with Ellen Cutler (1994). An analysis of existing medical literature and an overview of the benefits and cost-effectiveness of eight preventive health services for women.

Women's Health in the United States, Heidi Hartmann (1991). Presented at a Congressional staff briefing by the Campaign for Women's Health, "Women and Health Care in the United States - A Women's Health Agenda for Health Policy of the ‘90s," and includes tables on causes of mortality by gender, race, and age.

Research-In-Briefs:
Measuring the Costs of Domestic Violence Against Women (1996).

Summary Charts of Documented Cost Savings of Selected Women's Health Services (1994).

Health Services Fact Sheets:

Sexually Transmitted Disease Screening (1994).

Prenatal Care (1994).

Osteoporosis Screening and Treatment (1994).

Mental Health Screening and Treatment (1994).

Family Planning Services (1994).

Domestic Violence Screening (1994).

Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment (1994).

Breast Cancer Screening (1994).

Microenterprise and Small Business

Micro-Enterprise Catalysts and Barriers: Voices of Low-Income and Poor Women (1994).

Micro-Enterprise and Women - The Viability of Self-Employment as a Strategy for Alleviating Poverty, Quantitative Findings (1994).

Micro-Enterprise and Women: The Viability of Self-Employment as a Strategy for Alleviating Poverty, Roberta Spalter-Roth, Enrique Soto, and Lily Zandniapour with Jill Braunstein (1994). Discusses the impact of micro-enterprise as a strategy to enhance the income packages of AFDC recipients and other low-income women.

Statistics on Women -- Socioeconomic Status of Women

The Status of Women in the States (1996). This IWPR report, funded by the Ford Foundation and part of a larger IWPR Economic Policy Education Program, establishes baseline measures for the status of women in each state to improve the ability of advocates and policymakers at the state level to address women's economic issues.

The Status of Women in California (1996). An IWPR individual state report resulting from the above project.

The Status of Women in the District of Columbia (1996).

The Status of Women in Georgia (1996).

The Status of Women in Illinois (1996).

The Status of Women in Maine (1996).

The Status of Women in Maryland (1996).

The Status of Women in Michigan (1996).

The Status of Women in New Jersey (1996).

The Status of Women in New Mexico (1996).

The Status of Women in New York (1996).

The Status of Women in North Carolina (1996).

The Status of Women in Texas (1996).

The Status of Women in Virginia (1996).

The Status of Women in Washington (1996).

Status of Women in the States: Fact Sheet (1996).

The Status of Women in California: Highlights (1996).

The Status of Women in the District of Columbia: Highlights (1996).

The Status of Women in Georgia: Highlights (1996).

The Status of Women in Illinois: Highlights (1996).

The Status of Women in Maine: Highlights (1996).

The Status of Women in Maryland: Highlights (1996).

The Status of Women in Michigan: Highlights (1996).

The Status of Women in New Jersey: Highlights (1996).

The Status of Women in New Mexico: Highlights (1996).

The Status of Women in New York: Highlights (1996).

The Status of Women in North Carolina: Highlights (1996).

The Status of Women in Texas: Highlights (1996).

The Status of Women in Virginia: Highlights (1996).

The Status of Women in Washington: Highlights (1996).

Reproductive Rights

Resources for Reproductive Rights Research, edited by Stephanie Aaronson (1993). A directory of researchers in the areas of abortion rights, access to family planning, involuntary sterilization, and prenatal care.

Violence Against Women Measuring the Costs of Domestic Violence Against Women and the Cost-Effectiveness of Interventions: An Initial Assessment and Proposals for Further Research, Louise Laurence and Roberta Spalter-Roth (1996). Designs a research strategy and develops an economic model for measuring the direct and indirect costs of domestic violence to society, and assesses the cost-effectiveness of intervention.
Welfare Reform

The Labor Market, the Working Poor, and Welfare Reform: Policy Suggestions for the Clinton Administration, Heidi Hartmann and Roberta Spalter-Roth (1992). Suggests strategies for alleviating poverty by focusing on the low-wage labor market and government transfers.

Supporting Work: The Relation Between Employment Opportunities and Financial and Other Support Programs, Roberta Spalter-Roth with Beverly Burr (1993). Testimony before the Working Group on Welfare Reform, Family Support, and Independence on the employment patterns of single mothers with a history of AFDC receipt.

Welfare that Works: Increasing AFDC Mothers' Employment and Income, Roberta Spalter-Roth (1995). Testimony before the Subcommittee on Human Resources, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, on research on the economic survival strategies of single mothers who receive AFDC.

How Much Can Child Support Provide? Welfare, Family Income and Child Support, Kristine Witkowski (1999).

Welfare Reform Research: A Resource Guide for Researchers and Advocates (1998). A guide for researchers who are interested in how women and their families are affected by welfare reform policies, and for advocates who want to use research to improve policies affecting low-income women.

Combining Work and Welfare: An Alternative Anti-Poverty Strategy (1990). Discusses the concept of "income packaging," combining paid employment, welfare receipt, and income from other family members.

Food Stamps and AFDC: A Double Life-Line for Low-Income Working Single Mothers, Roberta Spalter-Roth and Enrique Soto (1996). Examines the importance of food stamps in the income packages of single mothers.

Welfare That Works: The Working Lives of AFDC Recipients, Roberta Spalter-Roth, Beverly Burr, Heidi Hartmann, and Lois Shaw (1995). Analyzes the factors that increase the likelihood that single mothers receiving AFDC also engage in paid employment, the kinds of jobs they obtain, and their ability to escape poverty through a combination of work and welfare.

"The Clinton Round: An Analysis of the Impact of Current Proposals to ‘Free' Single Mothers from Welfare Dependence," Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann with Beverly Burr and Jill Braunstein (1994). An IWPR paper presented at the meeting of the American Sociological Association, Los Angeles, CA. Contains estimates and analysis of AFDC recipients.

"Income Insecurity: The Failure of Unemployment Insurance to Reach Working AFDC Mothers," Roberta Spalter-Roth, Heidi Hartmann, and Beverly Burr (1994). An IWPR paper presented at the Conference on Employment Law and Unemployment Compensation, Washington, DC. Discusses the idea that Unemployment Insurance as currently structured is not an effective substitute for AFDC in providing income security for single mothers.

"Making Work Pay: The Real Employment Opportunities of Single Mothers Participating in the AFDC Program," Roberta Spalter-Roth (1994). An IWPR paper and Congressional briefing using IWPR's research on income packaging of work and welfare to evaluate time-limited welfare reform proposals and their effect on women.

"AFDC Recipients as Caregivers and Workers: A Feminist Approach to Income Security Policy for Women," Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann (1994). An IWPR paper published in Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State, and Society; using IWPR's research on the economic survival strategies of single mothers who receive AFDC, it examines whether current employment-based welfare reform proposals will aid AFDC recipients in bringing their families out of poverty. "Dependence on Men, the Market, or the State: The Rhetoric and Reality of Welfare Reform," Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann (1993). A paper published in the Journal of Applied Social Science, it examines the dichotomy of welfare reform rhetoric - the negative moral implications of receiving AFDC vs. the positive implications of income dependence on the labor market or child support, and critiques the underlying assumptions of current welfare reform proposals that AFDC and paid employment are mutually exclusive and that the proper goal of policy should be to enforce transition of welfare to work.

"The Real Employment Opportunities of Women Participating in AFDC: What the Market Can Provide," Heidi Hartmann and Roberta Spalter-Roth (1993). An IWPR paper presented at Women and Welfare Reform: Women's Poverty, Women's Opportunities, and Women's Welfare, A Policy Conference to Break Myths and Create Solutions, it presents findings and policy strategies based on the ongoing IWPR research of "income packaging" by single mothers in the AFDC program and of the effect of time-limited welfare reform proposals.

Combining Work and Welfare, An Alternative Anti-Poverty Strategy, Roberta Spalter-Roth, Heidi Hartmann, and Linda Andrews (1992). Discusses myths about welfare recipients and the consensus that welfare perpetuates dependence.

"Mothers, Children, and Low-Wage Work: The Ability to Earn a Family Wage," Roberta Spalter-Roth, Heidi Hartmann, and Linda Andrews (1990). A paper presented at the 85th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Session on Women and Public Policy, August 1990, and published in Sociology and the Public Agenda, it describes women's Resources, U.S. Senate, arguing that public policy assumes a predominantly white male wage levels by race, ethnicity, and family responsibilities and receipt of government income support by family type.

Women and Welfare Reform: Women's Poverty, Women's Opportunities, and Women's Welfare Conference Proceedings, edited by Gwendolyn Mink (1994). Sixteen papers focusing on welfare myths and women's lives, welfare reform proposals, women's employment opportunities, and alternatives to welfare.

Research-In-Brief:

What the United States Can Learn From France: A Summary of an Important New Book on Child Poverty (1997).

Child Care Usage Among Low-Income and AFDC Families (1996).

Food Stamp Participation and the Economic Well-Being of Single Mothers (1995).

Welfare to Work: The Job Opportunities of AFDC Recipients (1995).

Few Welfare Moms Fit the Stereotypes (1994; updated January 1995).

Combining Work and Welfare, an Alternative Anti-Poverty Strategy (1992).

How Much Will a Public Service Employment Program Reduce Welfare Costs? (1991).

Mothers, Children, and Low-Wage Work: The Ability to Earn a Family Wage (1991).

Work and Family

Women's Work, Family Diversity, and Employment Instability: Public Policy Responses to New Realities, Heidi Hartmann (1991). Testimony before the Committee on Labor and Human workforce, traditional families, and stable employment patterns, and suggests policy to reflect the increasing diversity in the workforce, family structure, and instability in employment.

The Dual Disadvantage of Displaced Homemakers: Findings from the Study, Low-Wage Jobs and Workers: Trends and Options for Change, Roberta Spalter-Roth (1989). Testimony before the Subcommittee on Employment and Productivity examining trends in the low-wage workforce including characteristics of low-wage workers, their relation to family poverty, and factors of upward mobility to provide a basis for policy development.

Improving Women's Status in the Workforce: The Family Issue of the Future, Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann (1991). Testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Productivity, Committee on Labor and Human Resources, on research showing that women's wages are becoming more, not less, important for families' economic well-being.

Providing Paid Family Leave, Stephanie Aaronson (1995). Testimony before the U.S. Commission on Family and Medical Leave estimating the cost of expanding California's Temporary Disability Insurance Program and the feasibility of using the model as a means for paid family leave to workers.

Equal Pay for Working Families: A joint research project by the AFL-CIO and the Institute for Women's Policy Research (1999).

On Common Ground: Prominent Women Talk About Work and Family, with introduction and interviews conducted by Diana Zuckerman (1999).

"A Feminist Approach to Policy Making for Women and Families," Heidi Hartmann and Roberta Spalter-Roth (1994). Presented at the Seminar on Future Directions for American Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University, this paper argues that public policy has not responded to an increasingly "androgynous worker/nurturer" in which women gain in education, work, and financial responsibility, and men take on more family roles.

Women, Work, and Households in Ciudad Juarez, Gay Young and Beatriz E. Vera (1993). A study of women's empowerment focusing on why women choose to work in the maquilla industry, why they decide to leave, and how the decisions are made within the context of their households.

Raising Women's Earnings: The Family Issue of the 1990s, Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann (1992). Explores the impact on women's lives of the increase in women's economic responsibility for their families and the increase of women with children living poverty.

"Working Parents: Differences, Similarities, and Implications for a Policy Agenda," Heidi Hartmann and Roberta Spalter-Roth (1990, revised 1991). Presented at Women, Work, and the Family: Advancing the Policy and Research Agenda at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, Columbia University, this paper describes working parents and their children in the U.S.; compares the economic situation, race, and ethnicity of the families; and explores their needs to consider how they may best be addressed by private and public policies.

Demographic and Economic Trends: Implications for Family Life and Public Policy, Heidi Hartmann (1990). Explores the history and implications of growing labor force participation by women and argues that this demographic trend is a result of women actively seeking greater economic autonomy and responsibility.

Children and Families in the District of Columbia: Child Care Needs, Roberta Spalter-Roth, Enrique Soto, and Teeshla Morgan (1995). Information on general trends in child care use and costs, an overview of the need for child care facilities, an examination of the number of children served, the cost and types of services, funding sources, and characteristics of child care workers.

Temporary Disability Insurance: A Modal to Provide Income Security Over the Life Cycle, Heidi Hartmann, Young-Hee Yoon, Roberta Spalter-Roth, and Lois Shaw (1995). Argues for the need to change the traditional social welfare system to allow for demographic changes and family diversity, and to take into account women's needs for income replacement across the life cycle.

Science and Politics and the "Dual Vision" of Feminist Policy Research: The Example of Family and Medical Leave, Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann (1988, revised 1991). A discussion of using standards of mainstream social science for validity, reliability, objectivity, and replicatibility while guided by the principles of a feminist methodology with the example of a cost-benefit study on parental leave and childcare by IWPR.

Improving Employment Opportunities for Women Workers: An Assessment of the Ten-Year Economic and Legal Impact of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, Roberta Spalter-Roth, Claudia Withers, and Sheila R. Gibbs, with Linda Andrews and Celia Gody (1990). A report using a multi-method, cross-disciplinary research effort to study the economic, legal, and political effects of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

Unnecessary Losses: Costs to Americans of the Lack of Family and Medical Leave, Roberta Spalter-Roth and Heidi Hartmann (1990). Estimates of the costs to workers and to taxpayers of the lack of a national family and medical leave policy, and of the differential effects on workers by gender and race.

Unnecessary Losses: Costs to Americans in the States of the Lack of Family and Medical Leave. Summaries for each state.

Research-In-Brief:

Do Mothers Stay on the Job? What Employers Can Do to Increase Retention after Childbirth (1996).

Are Mommies Dropping Out of the Labor Force? NO! (1992).

Using Temporary Disability Insurance to Provide Paid Family Leave: A Comparison with the Family and Medical Leave Act (1995).

What is Temporary Disability Insurance? (1993).

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978: A Ten-Year Progress Report (1992).

Unnecessary Losses to African American Workers (1991).

Unnecessary Losses: Costs to Americans of the Lack of Family and Medical Leave (1990).

Briefing Papers on Social Security:

Women and Social Security: Benefit Types and Eligibility (2010)

Social Security: Vital to Retirement Security for 35 Million Women and Men (2010)

Fact Sheet on Social Security:

“Who Are Social Security Beneficiaries?” (2010)

Health and Healthcare

Linking Agriculture and Nutrition: Institutional Lessons Learned. ICRW recently completed studies on ways to improve nutrition through the strengthening of women's roles and contributions to household food security in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Findings indicate that collaboration among institutions is critical in maintaining proper nutrition and national food security, and that although these collaborations may already exist, they need to be operationalized in a more efficient manner. Thus, ICRW is launching an initiative to support the USAID's Greater Horn of Africa Initiative Linking Food Security and Nutrition. ICRW aims to demonstrate how agriculture and nutrition linkages can reinforce institutional capacities to incorporate gender and strengthen women's roles in achieving food security.

HIV and AIDS. ICRW was one of the first organizations to focus on the rapid spread of HIV and AIDS among women in developing countries. Our first research program on women and AIDS in the early 1990s examined the social, economic and gender factors fueling the spread of HIV and AIDS among women. Today we continue to push the AIDS agenda forward.

International Development

Promoting Women in Development. ICRW and the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) are working in partnership on a grants program, Promoting Women in Development (PROWID). Funded by the Office of Women in Development at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), PROWID is a four-year program currently in its third year. The program supports innovative interventions, research, and advocacy activities that help reach women and enhance their full participation in the development process. PROWID aims to improve the lives of women in developing countries and economies in transition by promoting development that is based on practical insights gained from field-tested interventions.

Women in Development Technical Assistance Project (WIDTECH). WIDTECH is funded by the USAID and consists of a consortium of five development organizations. The program provided technical assistance and training services complementary to those being provided by USAID's Office of Women in Development (G/WID); the WIDTECH team works to support those efforts made by G/WID to identify and develop innovative approaches to enhance the effectiveness of the USAID development efforts by addressing women's roles and contributions to the development process.

Reproductive Rights

Adolescent Reproductive Health in Nepal. In a recent project, ICRW is implementing and testing the effectiveness of a community-based, client-centered participatory approach to improving adolescent health in Nepal. The study is being conducted in a project and control site on the outskirts of urban Katmandu and the rural district of Newalparasi and will include quantitative and qualitative data. This project is funded by the Mellon Foundation and in joint collaboration with AVSC International and Nepali partner organizations, New ERA and BP Memorial Health Foundation.

Factors Affecting the Safe Provision of IUDs in Resource-Poor Settings. In 1995, with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, ICRW and AVSC International, the Population Council and the Pacific Institute for Women's Health initiated a set of closely linked projects to research what is needed to provide IUD devices in a safer manner. Targeted areas for research are Asia, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. In June of 1999, ICRW held an event to disseminate the information gathered from these studies and to highlight the need for increased information and availability of IUDs in these parts of the world.

Population and Reproductive Health Policy Communications. In preparation for the 1999 UN Conference, ICRW received funding to accomplish the following: promote International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) dialogue and consensus among the public through educational forums that address population and reproductive care issues; produce an ICPD position paper aimed at policymakers that provides issue background, reviews progress on ICPD objectives thus far, and provides guidelines for what still needs to be accomplished.                                                       

 Violence Against Women

Violence against women is a global epidemic with serious health and development impacts on women and girls, their families and their societies. It takes many forms including domestic violence, femicide, harmful traditional practices, rape and sexual coercion, and trafficking. ICRW works to end violence against women by addressing its root cause: gender inequalities.

Adolescence

ICRW has studied how best to improve the life options of adolescents for more than two decades, beginning with research on factors that affect young girls' school attendance. Our research today focuses on areas such as child marriage, son preference and adolescent reproductive health.

Click here to learn more about ICRW's research areas.

International Development
Adolescents and Girls

Vulnerability and Opportunity: Adolescents and HIV/AIDS in the Developing World: Findings from the Women and AIDS Research Program, Ellen Weiss, Daniel Whelan, and Geeta Rao Gupta. Argues that the factors that influence sexual risk among youth, such as the lack of information and services, are social, cultural, and economic forces that result in gender differences in sexual experiences, expectations, and the ability to adopt HIV/STD preventive behaviors.

The Costs of Adolescent Childbearing in Latin America and the Caribbean, Mayra Buvinic. A working paper exploring the social and economic impacts of adolescent childbearing on mothers and children and the degree to which adolescent childbearing contributes to the perpetuation of poverty in the Latin America and Caribbean region.

The Nutrition and Lives of Adolescents in Developing Countries: Findings from the Nutrition of Adolescent Girls Research Program, Kathleen M. Kurz and Charlott Johnson-Welch. A synthesis report summarizing findings from ICRW's Nutrition of Adolescent Girls Research Program, which supported 11 research projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Behavior: A Review of the Evidence from India, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy. Documents the existing research on sexual and reproductive behavior, and explores sexual knowledge and attitudes among adolescents in India.

Employment Issues

Research Reveals Gender Divides of Globalization: Impact on Women's Employment. Examines globalization and the transition to market economies that has triggered dramatic changes in patterns of women's employment and earnings that are occurring worldwide.

Women Workers in a Globalizing Economy. Six papers presented at a series of ICRW policy forums held in Washington, New York, and The Hague that demonstrate the positive and negative effects of globalization and underscore the importance of gender-based research in order to understand the differential impact of global economic policies on women and men.

Environment

New Directions for the Study of Women and Environmental Degradation, Michael Paolisso. Reviews the available literature on the costs to women of environmental degradation and recommends more multi-disciplinary, gender-desegregated research that integrates concerns about the effects of environmental degradation on women into a wider range of environment and development initiatives.

Women's Responses to Environmental Degradation: Poverty and Demographic Constraints, Case Studies from Latin America, Michael Paolisso and Sarah Gammage. Case study research with partners in Chile, Ecuador, and Honduras on the environmental contributions of women to managing the negative effects of natural resource decline and environmental pollution on family welfare.

Family

Women's Roles in Household Decision Making: A Case Study in Nigeria, Sarah Gammage. Report presenting findings from a study carried out with a sampling of households in three states in Nigeria to examine women's role in household decision making and the factors associated with their level of participation and influence in this process. The study also explored the hypothesis that where women are able to influence the decision making process, they are able to achieve welfare improvements for themselves and their children.

Health and Health Care

Working Paper. Modelling the Impact of Stigma on HIV/AIDS Programmes: Preliminary Projections for Mother-to-Child Transmission. Charlotte Watts, Cathy Zimmerman, Traci Eckhaus and Laura Nyblade. 2010.   

Knowledge of HIV status, sexual risk behaviors and contraceptive need among people living with HIV in Kenya and Malawi.  Aberle-Grasse, John M; Diaz, Theresa; Anand, Abhijeet; Shiraishi, Ray W; Bunnell, Rebecca E; Jacobs, Krista; Solehdin, Nadia; Abdul-Quader, Abu S; Marum, Lawrence H; Muttunga, James N; Kamoto, Kelita. 2009.  

Gender Differences Among Children 0-5 Years: An Opportunity for Child Survival Interventions, Kathleen Kurz and Charlotte Johnson-Welch. In an examination of mortality, health, and nutritional status, and psycho-social development, this report describes how bias against girls was shown consistently for health care utilization, feeding patterns, and attention from health care providers.

Health Consequences of Adolescent Childbearing in Developing Countries, Kathleen Kurz. A working paper focusing on indicators that include maternal morality and morbidity, physical growth during pregnancy, and birthweight and prematurity in infants. A discussion of programmatic efforts to reduce poor health consequences of childbearing by adolescents is also included.

Human Rights

Innovation for Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality. Anju Malhotra, Jennifer Schulte, Payal Patel, Patti Petesch. 2009.

Recasting WID: A Human Rights Approach, Daniel Whelan (1998). A working paper discussing the premise that economic and social development is the realization of all human rights.

Leadership and Leadership Development

From Beneficiaries to Change Agents: The Rise of Women's Leadernship in International Development. Gill, Kirrin; Warner, Ann; Weiss, Ellen; Rao Gupta, Geeta. 2009.  

Global Women's Leadership: Lessons From Advancing Women, Jill Merrick with Virginia Clarke-Laskin (1998). Summarizes the discussion at a four-day session organized by the ICRW and the Salzburg Seminar to study progress made worldwide in advancing women's leadership, and highlights the observations made by the participants.

Increasing Women's Involvement in Community Decision Making: A Means to Improve Iron Status. This report summarizes the findings from the intervention research project implemented by the Center for the Study and Promotion of Nutrition (CEPREN) in Peru, which explored the use of participatory methodologies to engage women members of community kitchens in peri-urban Lima in the design, implementation, and evaluation of a trial intervention to reduce iron deficiency among women of reproductive age.

Poverty

Household Response to Soil Degradation: Gender, Poverty, and Demographic Dynamics in Honduras, Linda Casey and Michael Paolisso. Discusses how rural families in Honduras, most of whom are poor with few resources, are affected by and respond daily to increased resource degradation and changing economic conditions.

Socioeconomic Status of Women
Statistics on Women

ICRW's Global Fact Sheet Series includes fact sheets on women and credit and on women's health.

Women . . . A World Survey (2nd ed.), Ruth L. Sivard. Discusses indicators of women's progress in the last 10 years in the areas of education, the economy, health services, political participation, and legal rights, as well as data on historical trends in the global gender gap.

Quality of Life
Socioeconomic Status of Women

Communiqué to the Second Summit of the Americas. The Women's Leadership Conference of the Americas' recommendations for action to enhance opportunities for women in the Americas.

Improving the Quality of Life of Girls, Kathleen M. Kurz and Cynthia Prather. Explores the constraints limiting the quality of life of girl children, especially related to their health, education, and social well-being.

Investing in Women: Progress and Prospects for the World Bank, Mayra Buvinic, Catherine Gwin, and Lisa M. Bates. A review of World Bank projects that included measures to address the needs of women.

Taking Women Into Account: Lessons Learned from NGO Project Experiences, edited by Rekha Mehra, with Mayra Buvinic, Charlotte Johnson-Welch, Michael Paolisso, Ellen Weiss, and Daniel Whelan. A series of four case studies of the field-based projects of U.S. NGOs that offer replicable lessons learned on working with women, the Regional Oils Project of Appropriate Technology International (ATI) in Tanzania and Zimbabwe; the Warmi and Women-Child Impact (WCI) Projects of Save the Children (SC/B) in Bolivia; WID Initiatives in Agroforestry of CARE in Guatemala; and the Northwest Thailand AIDS Awareness Project and Women's Empowerment Project of the Chiangmai Provincial Centre for Non-Formal Education (CNE) and Laubach Literacy International in Thailand.

Women, Land and Sustainable Development, Rekha Mehra. Examines the linkages between women's land rights, development, and sustainability; demonstrates how restrictions to land rights undermine women's productivity and earnings, and their incentives and ability to sustain land and other natural resources; and suggests ways to strengthen women's land rights.

Reproductive Rights

Determinants of Contraceptive Acceptance Among Cambodian Abortion Patients. McDougall J, Fetters T, Clark KA, and Rathavy T. 2009.

Unmet Need for Family Planning: Reflecting Women's Perspective, Nancy V. Yinger (1998). Discusses the results from a three-year research program in three countries, Guatemala, India, and Zambia, that used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to examine unmet family planning needs.                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Violence Against Women

Jobs and Fellowships at ICRW

Vacancies in Washington D.C.:

• ICRW President
• Program Associate, Population and Development
• Administrative Assistant to the CFO

Vacancies in India/ Asia Regional Office:

• Research Associate
• Senior Technical Specialist

Consultant Positions:

• Short Term Business Development Consultant

Fellowships:

• Gender and Population Post-Doctoral Fellowship

* Employment

"Navigating a Consumer Marketing Career" panel discussion: A panel featuring consumer marketing careers, which attracted over 180 male and female students to hear four alumnae panelists discuss strategies and tactics on how to break into the consumer marketing field.

"Decisions in My Corporate Career": An event featuring four highly-successful corporate women and the choices they made throughout their careers.

"Career Strategies: A Woman's Perspective": A half-day student event focused on a variety of career-related panel presentations including; The Interviewer's Point of View, Executive Presence: The "It" in "She's Got It". Creative Strategies for Success in a Tough Market, Job Transition Success Stories and " How Do You Do It?" Work-Life Balance.

* Entrepreneurship

"Women in Family-Owned Businesses" (August 2003) : This ground-breaking first look at what makes woman-owned family businesses different was led by CWL and sponsored by MassMutual Life Insurance Company. The study compares and contrasts the businesses owned by women versus men. Highlights of the study show that woman-owned family businesses: h ave increased by 37% in the last five years, to 15.6% across the U.S; tend toward higher rates of productivity as well as philanthropy ; a nticipate a positive future for their companies (by a two-to-one ratio among respondents), despite a continued poor economy.

Gatekeepers of Venture Growth: The Role and Participation of Women in the Venture Capital Industry: Office Depot Women represent less than 10 percent of high-level venture capitalists, and they have been leaving the industry at twice the rate of men, according to a first-ever study released by the Kauffman Foundation at the Small Business Administration's entrepreneurship conference in Washington , DC . The study, Gatekeepers of Venture Growth , is the latest report of the Diana Project, a multi-year, multi-university study of women business owners and business growth opportunities. The research, coauthored by Undergraduate Dean Patricia Greene, ultimately seeks to determine whether having more women in decision-making roles in the venture capital industry would provide greater access to women entrepreneurs who seek funding.

The Top Woman-Led Businesses in Massachusetts : 2002 Results (November 2003): Research on over 225 woman-led businesses shows these firms leading the economic recovery:

* Revenues among the Top 100 woman-led businesses in the state exceeded $6.5 billion in 2002, with permanent employment of over 32,300 people.
* Woman-led businesses continue to thrive in professional services, high technology, and construction, industries that drive economic development.

* Growth at woman-led businesses has outpaced the general economy

"Women Building Businesses": a co-sponsored event with the Babson Entrepreneurial Exchange that brought dynamic female entrepreneurs to campus who discussed their journey and growing ventures.

* * Institutional Change

"Women Leading Change" Conference: A full-day conference focused on providing attendees with the tools they need to drive change, shape change, and lead change in their personal and business worlds.

* Work and Family

"Both Sides of Work and Family": A panel discussion with dual career couples on how they have achieved work/life balance.

New Research
 

Married Professional Women’s Career Exit: Integrating Identity and Social Networks

CWL Newsletter: This monthly newsletter is available for online subscription at http://www.babson.edu/cwl/newsletter. It includes information about upcoming events, research, and Center news.

CWL and The Commonwealth Institute. The Top Woman-Led Businesses in Massachusetts: 2008 Critical Issue Survey.

Allen, I. Elaine, PhD, Nan Langowitz DBA, and Maria Minniti, PhD. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2006 Report on Women and Entrepreneurship. 

Grants and Scholarships