SiX spoke to Rep. Salman and Rep. Herod about efforts to address the dignity that incarcerated women deserve.

Arizona State Representative Athena Salman is making global news with her efforts to secure access to an unlimited, free supply of feminine hygiene products for the state’s incarcerated women, who are currently limited to 12 sanitary pads per month. Rep. Salman’s work on this was inspired in part by similar efforts in Colorado in 2017, led by Colorado State Representative Leslie Herod. SiX spoke to Rep. Salman and Rep. Herod about these efforts to address the dignity that incarcerated women deserve.

SiX: Tell us about Arizona House Bill 2222 and how it inspired a recent policy change from the Department of Corrections.

AZ Rep. Athena Salman: Today, there are nearly 1.3 million women in the U.S Correctional System. Women are the fastest growing prison demographic in our country and in Arizona, we have roughly 4,000 women in state prison. My bill, HB2222, aimed to guarantee unlimited feminine hygiene products free of charge for incarcerated women.

At the time of the bill’s introduction, women in state prison were only receiving 12 pads a month and would have to buy additional menstrual products at the store once they were out. Women in prison make 15 cents an hour and a box of tampons at the store costs $3.99. Women were literally being faced with having to choose between buying more menstrual products or paying for phone calls to their children.

At the committee hearing, the Warden of the Perryville Prison (our only female facility) testified that the bill was “a solution looking for a problem.” Following her testimony, former female inmates told their powerful personal stories that brought to light the many abuses they had endured while being incarcerated. State, national and even international outrage and media coverage ensued, driven by the trending social media hashtag #LetItFlow.

The committee hearing for the bill sparked a movement and that momentum forced an immediate policy change from the Department of Corrections. Now, women will receive 36 pads a month. Last week, the Department announced that it will also be revising its policy to include tampons. While the policy changes are a huge short-term victory, the danger that we see is that correctional departments across the country could then use this as a foundation for fighting against codifying the policy into statute. We know that internal rule changes do not hold the same teeth as state statute and nothing prevents the department from changing the policy back a year later or under new leadership. So, the debate still continues in Arizona and beyond.

What inspired you to work on this issue?

Rep. Salman: At a conference last summer, Colorado State Rep. Leslie Herod informed me that she had just fought for free tampons for women in Colorado prisons. I was shocked that this was being denied to women in the first place, and when I began asking questions at home, I learned that the same problem existed in Arizona. I spoke with attorneys who monitored our prisons, prison reform advocates and formerly incarcerated women and felt absolutely certain that this was an issue worth tackling head on.

Why do you think this bill has resonated so deeply with people across Arizona and beyond?

Rep. Salman: This issue resonated far and wide because it speaks to the fundamental dignity of being a woman. To deny a woman of adequate feminine hygiene products for her menstrual cycle is cruel, and as women, we can empathize with how awful that must be to face that as your daily reality.

What else would you like readers from other states to know?

Rep. Salman: In fighting to make change, it was critical that I had a broad coalition of stakeholders and activists fighting for this issue publicly, and media attention as well. Anyone interested in prison reform, I encourage you to reach out to #cut50. It’s a national network that exclusively specializes on these issues.

Colorado State Representative Leslie Herod, what challenges did you face in pushing this policy in Colorado in 2017?

CO Rep. Leslie Herod: First and foremost, it was difficult to get the Colorado Department of Corrections to take the issue seriously. While I found it personally abhorrent that women had to “prove a medical need” before receiving additional pads, the DOC thought that was a perfectly rational policy. Additionally, the requirement that women pay $8 for a box of tampons while only making less than $1 or $2 a day was equally astonishing.

Men, who of course make up the majority of the legislature and upper leadership within in the Department of Corrections, simply feel unconformable discussing women's “issues” while at the same time, deciding on policies that impact women. That must change.

To be fair, I did get support from male colleagues and Governor Hickenlooper, but I know they wouldn't have raised the issue if I hadn’t. And I’m sure it wouldn’t have made it through the process without the support of the lone female Joint Budget Committee member, Rep. Millie Hamner, or our Latina Speaker of the House Crisanta Duran.

Why is it important for legislators to connect over state lines about issues that they care about?

Rep. Herod: We have a lot to learn from each other. There is no reason to recreate the wheel every time on every issue. We can support each other, offer lessons learned and help elevate each other’s messages on social media. The wealth of knowledge that we share is powerful and can certainly translate across state lines. Also, on many issues, states don't want to be the first out of the gate. It's helpful to know others are doing the same thing or contemplating it.

What has the outcome been in Colorado since funding this program?

Rep. Herod: The program has been a huge success! I have since visited women in Colorado’s Women’s Correctional Facility and they cite the change as one of the biggest examples of positive change during their time in Corrections. They felt like they had been listened to and were afforded a bit more dignity. The warden even thanked me because he says that it has led to more positive interactions with the inmates. Most importantly, there have been ZERO negative reported incidences as a result of this change.

What else would you like readers from other states to know?

Rep. Herod: I really saw this as a humanity issue. I simply couldn't imagine how women were either going without proper hygiene products or having to make the case to a guard (often male) for those products. It seemed so obvious to me. And, ultimately, it costs the Department of Corrections $40,000 a year, which is a mere pittance of its close to $1 billion budget. It was time for change and I was happy to lead the charge.

Follow Reps. Salman and Herod on Facebook and twitter for more updates on their work.

Facebook: @LeslieforColorado @SalmanforAZ

Twitter: @leslieherod @AthenaSalman

A New Day for Reproductive Health in New Jersey

By New Jersey Sen. Loretta Weinberg

 The resistance is alive in the Garden State. Just a few weeks into 2018, we in New Jersey are already reversing eight years of setbacks to reproductive rights and health that former Gov. Chris Christie so outrageously spearheaded. New Jersey was one of two states, along with Washington, that saw a return to full Democratic governance last November, and we’re working hard to deliver results for voters.

Eight years ago, New Jersey’s reproductive health safety net was decimated as then-Governor Christie eliminated the $7.45 million family planning budget. That decision  forced six health care clinics to close their doors, and since then, the number of cases of bacterial sexually transmitted diseases increased 35 percent statewide. In half of New Jersey counties the STI rate increased by nearly 50 percent or higher. Breast and cervical cancer cases increased 5.2 percent, disproportionately impacting women of color.

None of this mattered to Chris Christie for eight years. But it mattered to me. And it mattered to the 455,000 women in need of publicly supported contraception in our state.

My colleagues and I fought every year to reinstate these necessary funds – a tiny portion (a fraction of a percent) of our state’s overall budget – only to see Governor Christie’s veto pen eliminate the money we added for critical health care services that so many New Jerseyans relied on. It is infuriating to know how much his actions harmed women and families across the state.

A lot has changed, especially in the past year. We now see millions of women marching in the streets, from D.C. to Des Moines, not just once and not just as a one-off. We have a record number of women running for office nationwide, scores of women contacting their members of Congress, and of course, a new administration in Trenton committed to women’s health and public health.

This energy and excitement will, and must, help put an end to the years-long avalanche of attacks on reproductive rights from conservative state legislators around the country. The slashing of reproductive health access in New Jersey did not happen in a vacuum. Nationwide, more than 400 restrictions on reproductive rights have been enacted in states since 2011, after a wave of conservative lawmakers took office.

State legislators in every region have passed new laws that try to take us backward by decimating family planning and sex education resources, denying and delaying critical health care, and making it ever more difficult for women to have healthy pregnancies and raise families safely and with dignity. Low-income people and people of color bear the brunt of these devastating policies. We have seen it firsthand in New Jersey, but we certainly aren’t alone.

It is equally outrageous that this happens in other states, like Mississippi, where only one abortion provider is left to serve the whole state, or Utah, where lawmakers force patients to wait at least 72 hours and make two trips to clinics before receiving care. States have served as anti-woman testing grounds for years, and now Congress is seizing the opportunity to enact their own versions of these draconian laws or use them as a political football.

Meanwhile, these efforts have trickled upward into the Trump administration. Trump has planted anti-women’s health extremists throughout its agencies. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is led by veterans of the anti-abortion, anti-birth control movement. And shockingly, even the Office of Refugee Resettlement has interfered with a sexual assault survivor’s ability to access the abortion care she needed, simply because she is undocumented.

Anyone who cares about women and women’s health has work to do, locally and nationally. The good news is: It’s a new day in New Jersey. Together, we can reverse the damage of the last eight years and move forward with a commitment to women’s health and rights. Each day I serve in the New Jersey legislature is a chance for me to help build a better future for our state. This year, instead of encountering roadblocks to our efforts support women’s rights, reproductive rights and women’s health, New Jersey will instead advance meaningful solutions to the health care needs, economic inequalities, and other challenges our constituents face, and see these initiatives signed into law. It’s what women in New Jersey – and everywhere – deserve.

Loretta Weinberg is the State Senate Majority Leader in New Jersey, where she represents Bergen County. Sen. Weinberg has served in the New Jersey legislature since 1992.

Connecting the Dots: How Contraception and Abortion Insurance Coverage Ensures Economic Security for Families

By Agata Pelka

The ability to plan, time, and space children is inextricably linked with economic opportunity, stability, and security for women and families. This is no surprise to the majority of women who report using contraception as a means to complete their education, keep or get a job, and to support themselves and their families financially. In addition, voters intuitively recognize the connection between control over one’s reproductive decision-making, financial stability, and equal access to opportunities.

Access to contraception is widely documented as an important factor in increasing female engagement in the work force and for narrowing the gender wage gap. Today, working mothers are the breadwinners in four out of 10 American families, and working women’s income is integral to the economic security of most families. The impact of one's ability to decide whether and when to have a child on women’s economic outcomes is even more stark when examining long-term outcomes for women who were denied a wanted abortion: they were almost three times more likely to be unemployed and almost four times more likely to be below the Federal Poverty Level than women who were able to successfully access the abortion care they wanted.

It is important to note that the economic benefits of contraceptive use have not been distributed equally: low-income women and women of color have not benefited as much as their higher-income and white counterparts. We still have a lot of work to do to ensure that all women have meaningful access to comprehensive reproductive health care. One of the major barriers to consistent contraceptive use is high out-of-pocket cost, and women in particular are likely to defer medical care because of cost. Even with insurance, cost-sharing in the form of co-pays can be prohibitive to accessing the most effective – and in turn often the most expensive – contraceptive methods. Cost-sharing for health services is specifically intended to discourage the use of non-essential services, which is inappropriate when applied to ongoing contraceptive use.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) acknowledged this fact and removed this obstacle by extending a no co-pay requirement to contraceptive coverage. As a result, women saved approximately $483 million on contraception in 2013. State legislators have also increasingly taken steps to protect and expand coverage for contraceptives and abortion care in their states.  Six states currently prohibit cost-sharing for contraception and three have provisions that will be effective in 2018 and 2019 – most of which cover even more methods than under the ACA. California and New York require certain plans to cover abortion care. Last session, Oregon passed ground-breaking legislation requiring health insurers to cover the full spectrum of reproductive health services – including contraception, abortion, prenatal and postpartum care – without co-pay. Since state legislative sessions kicked off in January, legislators have continued the momentum to improve coverage for reproductive health care by introducing bills in several states:

All of these measures would make contraception and abortion care more accessible to women. Ensuring that everyone has access to comprehensive reproductive health care coverage – which includes contraception, abortion, prenatal and postnatal care – allows a woman to make the best decisions for her circumstances and her family. As threats to these vital services continue to loom at the federal level, more and more state legislators have been turning their attention to this issue as part of their family economic security agendas. Reproductive health advocates and their constituents around the country eagerly await more bill introductions pushing these protections forward this session and beyond.

Agata Pelka is a State Legislative Counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, where she works to advance proactive policy strategies in the states.

Fighting for Families Means Improving Access to Long Term Care

As part of SiX’s 2018 #FightingForFamilies Week of Action, Michigan Rep. Jon Hoadley (D-Kalamazoo), wrote a guest blog on the importance of supporting our country’s aging population by improving access to long-term care for seniors and ensuring caregivers are paid fair wages.


 

By Michigan Rep. Jon Hoadley

By 2030, Michigan’s senior population will double, meaning that in just over ten years, one in five Michiganders will be over the age of 65. Those shifting demographics are not unique to Michigan, of course; in every state, the number of Baby Boomers reaching retirement age is in-creasing the percentage of older adults and increasing the potential long-term care needs of our country. If we want a state where families and communities truly thrive, the coming decade presents an opportunity organizers, advocates, and elected officials to build the kind of care infra-structure that works for seniors, people with disabilities, paid care workers and family caregivers, and Michigan is at the forefront of building the systems we need. During the State Innovation Exchange’s Fighting for Families Week of Action, it’s crucial to recognize that fighting for families means supporting our country’s aging population, and family member’s ability to secure paid leave to care for ailing parents and grandparents.

To make the strongest case for the policy changes that will ensure that all seniors have access to affordable long-term care, it was clear to me that we first needed to gather comprehensive data about the current state of care in Michigan, and that we needed to model the proposed benefits programs against that data to create something robust and economically sustainable. This legislative session, the study bill I introduced as a member of the Michigan House has won support from both sides of the aisle, and if it passes will present our legislature with long-over-due analysis of the state of aging in Michigan and offer possible paths forward.

Perhaps most important to me is creating a system in the coming years that allows seniors to remain in their homes as they age, rather than moving to care facilities or nursing homes. There is certainly a need for those facilities, of course, but far too often, seniors wind up in those set-tings as a result of a failure in the care system. Medicare, the program that helps older adults meet their health care needs, generally does not pay for home and community based long-term care —but it does pay for care in a facility. Too many families are forced to choose between remaining at home and paying out-of-pocket for home care, or moving to a care facility, where Medicare pays the bill but where seniors are often not nearly as comfortable as they were in their own homes. A key component of the new system we must create is ensuring that caregivers are paid a fair wage. The work of caregiving must be treated with dignity and respect, which means ensuring that paid caregivers earn enough to provide for their own families as they take care of others.

Other states are beginning to take on these care challenges, too. In Hawaii, the Kupuna Care-givers program took effect last year, which helps provide a care benefit so that family caregivers can remain in the workforce and ensure their parents receive the home care services they need. And the Washington legislature just held hearings on a proposal to create a long-term care in-surance program, to create a sustainable and universal guarantee of access to long-term care as Washingtonians age.

Instead of waiting for federal solutions, Michigan is helping imagine new ways to meet the needs of our changing population. As our work continues, I hope to be able to work with legislators across the country to apply what we’re learning in more and more statehouses over the coming decade.

Michigan Rep. Jon Hoadley (D-Kalamazoo) is currently in his second term representing Michi-gan’s 60th House District.

Unions are Fighting for Families by Supporting Women and Rejecting the Status Quo

As part of SiX’s 2018 #FightingForFamilies Week of Action, Liz Shuler, the Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO wrote a guest blog about the importance of women in the labor movement, and how labor unions are helping advance policies at the state level that support working families.


 

By Liz Shuler

Women in the workplace have made major strides. Women currently make up 48% of the workforce and are the sole or primary breadwinner for 40% of families in the United States. Yet most family responsibilities still rest on women’s shoulders and, too often, women put in a full day’s work only to come home and clock in for a second shift.

As Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, I am constantly in awe of the powerful work the 6.8 million women of the labor movement do to advance issues that matter. Consider this: In the past decade, there has been tremendous momentum at the state and local level, with millions of working people winning the freedom to take time off to care for family, and labor unions have been at the center of these wins. Which might explain why states with higher union density are more likely to have paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave laws. And, when unions are strong, women are strong. Unions make a difference for women in dollars and cents—$222, to be exact. That’s how much more the typical woman in a union job makes in a week compared with a woman in a non-union job.

Beyond supporting working women, the labor movement has always advocated for policies that promote a full-employment economy at wages high enough to allow working people to support their families. We work to combat policies that erode the rights of working people, and make sure they're rewarded for the wealth they help create. To achieve this, we support a broad range of policies, including restoring the minimum wage to a living wage, restoring overtime protections, prevailing wage standards, and putting an end to wage theft and the rampant misclassification of employees as independent contractors. The AFL-CIO adopted this working people’s Bill of Rights at our recent convention to demand that all working people have the right to:

Building on recent victories, state legislators have demonstrated that they are #FightingForFamilies in 2018 by introducing legislation to advance some of these policies in states across the country, and union members have been advocating alongside them. Sixteen states have bills pending for paid family and medical leave in 2018. Thirteen states are considering bills for equal pay, and 13 states are considering paid sick days. Sixteen states are considering measures to prevent employment discrimination against LGBT workers. Ten states have bills to ensure pregnant workers' rights. And that's just the beginning.

Young workers, immigrants, women, LGBT people and communities of color are coming together to advance changes that will improve our lives. When we join in union, we are a formidable force, a political force. Together, we can make equal pay, paid leave, and fair scheduling the law of the land. Together, we can lead a movement to change the world and build an economy that works for us all. Together, we can reject quiet acceptance and build an America where all working women can sustain their families and realize their dreams.

Women fight and win battles every day. By standing and negotiating together, we will continue to make the world a better place for all of us. Unions are rejecting the status quo and are working to build an America where all working people can sustain their families and realize their dreams.

Liz Shuler is the Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO.

Sexual Harassment Won’t Stop If We Aren’t #FightingForFamilies

As part of SiX’s 2018 #FightingForFamilies Week of Action, Andrea Johnson, the Senior Counsel for State Policy at the National Women’s Law Center, wrote a guest blog about how legislators can fight for systemic, structural changes in our workplaces to alleviate the gender power imbalances that have allowed sexual harassment to persist. 


 

By Andrea Johnson 

From the moment it was announced that the National Women’s Law Center would be housing and administering the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, we saw a dramatic spike in the number of women calling our intake line about sexual harassment. But we also saw a spike in equal pay intakes. We weren’t surprised; when a woman complains of sexual harassment at work, it is not uncommon to find out that she is also being discriminated against in her pay. 

That is because sexual harassment isn’t about sex and pay discrimination isn’t about pay. They are both about power. They are about sexist and racist power structures in our workplaces that value women—and especially women of color—less.  

Sexist stereotypes and outdated workplace structures—like the lack of paid leave, predictable work schedules, affordable child care, and union support—make it hard for women to get and keep good jobs and advance in the workplace. This leaves women with less power in the workplace, increasing their vulnerability to exploitation. Sexual harassment and pay discrimination are stark manifestations of that power imbalance.  

Actors, like Debra Messing and Eva Longoria, who have been supporting Time’s Up on the red carpet, have been quick to make sure that the response to the #MeToo moment doesn’t just focus on sexual harassment, but also addresses other workplace inequalities, like gender pay disparities. They understand that sexual harassment and the gender wage gap exist in a vicious cycle that further entrenches these power imbalances.  

Women’s lower on average wages leave them more vulnerable to harassment, as they struggle to get the raise they deserve or put food on the table. A striking example: tipped workers – two-thirds of whom are women – are paid not much over $2.13/hour in many states and are expected to make up the rest of their income with tips. Women who rely on tips to survive often feel forced to tolerate inappropriate behavior from customers so as not to jeopardize their income—and employers can be slow or unwilling to protect their employees for fear of upsetting a paying customer. Women’s lack of economic power in these workplaces perpetuates the already pervasive culture of sexual harassment in the restaurant industry and others that employ large numbers of tipped workers. 

Sexual harassment, in turn, widens the wage gap by negatively impacting women’s wages and lifetime earnings. Sexual harassment can hurt employee health, productivity, and morale, and push women out of their jobs or lead them to leave an industry or profession altogether. Reporting harassment can damage career prospects and advancement. And for male-dominated jobs, like construction or STEM, the pervasiveness of sexual harassment keeps women from entering and staying in these jobs and earning the higher wages they offer, pushing them instead into lower-paying female-dominated jobs. All of this decreases women’s earnings relative to men’s.  

As harassers and the employers that failed to hold them accountable are being called out, we also need to be calling out the workplace policies and structures that have allowed sexual harassment to persist for far too long.  

This week, state legislators across the country are speaking out against the Trump Administration’s erosion of protections for working families. They are advancing a different vision—a #FightingForFamilies agenda that “promotes opportunity and fairness and creates economic security for American families by raising incomes and creating good jobs.” This agenda focuses on raising the minimum wage, the freedom to stand together in unions, paid leave, protections against pay discrimination and pregnancy discrimination, and affordable child care and health care, to name a few. Strengthening protections against sexual harassment is also, appropriately, a part of this agenda because sexual harassment threatens women’s equality in the workplace, it threatens women’s ability to get and keep a good job, to succeed at work, and to care and provide for their families. And strengthening our sexual harassment protections is long overdue. 

State legislators have responded to this #MeToo moment with great energy and urgency, introducing dozens of bills to address and prevent sexual harassment within our workplaces, including their own legislatures. We applaud the policymakers seeking to harness the energy of the #MeToo movement into real solutions, but we must not forget how important workplace protections beyond our sexual harassment laws are to preventing sexual harassment. Legislators’ #MeToo efforts will be little more than window dressing if we aren’t fighting for systemic, structural changes in our workplaces to alleviate the gender power imbalances that have allowed sexual harassment to persist. 

In the name of #MeToo, we need to be fighting for equal pay and to raise the minimum wage and eliminate the lower tipped minimum wage. We need to be fighting for supports for caregivers (the majority of whom are still women) like paid leave, pregnancy accommodations, and affordable child care. We need to be fighting not just to strengthen our protections against sexual harassment, but all forms of harassment and discrimination, as they are connected and together reinforce gender, racial, and other forms of inequality in our society that leave women vulnerable to harassment.  

In short, #MeToo will be in vain, if we aren’t #FightingForFamilies. 

Andrea Johnson is the Senior Counsel for State Policy at the National Women’s Law Center 

Real Info. Smart Policy. Shared Prosperity: Fighting for Families Through Fiscal Policy Analysis

As part of SiX’s 2018 #FightingForFamilies Week of Action, Erica Williams, the Director of State Policy Initiatives with the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, wrote a guest blog emphasizing how state governments can move away from tax cuts for the wealthy, and raise and spend tax revenue in ways that profoundly affect families and communities. 


 

By Erica Williams

Choices states make about investing in schools, health care, child care, and other services can either help create opportunity and prosperity for people or hold them back. State policymakers can build broad prosperity and thriving communities by #FightingForFamilies with essential public investments that help us tap every individual’s potential.

Unfortunately, the new federal tax overhaul is a reminder of how much work we have to do to realize our vision of a just and equitable economy. Our states’ tax systems tilt too heavily to the wealthy and powerful, hurt working people and those struggling to get by, and reflect and reinforce barriers to economic opportunity that result from this country’s long history of racial oppression. All too often, we ask the most from those with the least, fail to make the types of public investments that dismantle barriers to opportunity, and make important fiscal policy decisions without transparency or input from those most affected — namely low-income communities and communities of color.

It’s time to ensure that lawmakers have access to real information and real solutions for America’s working families. Our four-point fiscal policy blueprint maps out how state lawmakers can build thriving state economies: Invest in good schools in every community, family economic supports, health coverage, and high-quality infrastructure, and help ensure long-term tax fairness by cleaning up the tax code.

To build thriving communities and economies, state lawmakers can:

This agenda is ambitious. That’s why the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) is excited to work with stakeholders across the country who put families first as they advance policies that promote economic opportunity and stability. The 2018 #FightingForFamilies Week of Action is a demonstration of our shared values and belief that the most important thing states can do is to drive broadly shared prosperity.

In 2018, CBPP, along with more than 40 state-based budget and tax policy organizations we support, is dedicated to providing unassailable research and insightful analysis that can change the discussion in state legislatures on key issues ranging from tax cuts for the wealthy to how we invest in the building blocks that help working families thrive.

Everyone in America — regardless of where they were born, the state where they live, the color of their skin, or the size of their bank account — should have the opportunity to achieve their goals. But ensuring broad opportunity and prosperity won’t happen by chance, which is why we are committed to fight for families and communities with smart state fiscal policies that build a better future for all state residents.

Erica Williams is Director of State Policy Initiatives with the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities State Fiscal Policy division. Erica oversees several of the division’s policy initiatives including on state earned income tax credits, poverty reduction, juvenile justice, immigration, and racial, gender, and economic equity.  

States Won't Wait for Equal Pay

As part of SiX’s 2018 #FightingForFamilies Week of Action, Kim Churchesthe Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of University Women wrote a guest blog about the importance of fighting for equal pay for all women coast-to-coast.


By Kim Churches  

Women and families are hurt by the gender pay gap. Taking home 13 percent, 20 percent, 37 percent, 41 percent, 43 percent, or 46 percent less than a colleague because of the compounded effect of race on the gender pay gap is unacceptable. The pay gap also presents an especially difficult challenge to mothers: At a time when more women than ever are breadwinners or co-breadwinners in their households, the motherhood penalty presents a significant challenge to mothers’ ability to provide for their families. And with women holding nearly two-thirds of the country’s $1.3 trillion of student debt they can’t afford to be hindered by the pay gap when paying off their often crushing debt.   

But there’s hope on the horizon. During the Fighting for Families Week of Action, it’s as clear as ever that fighting for equal pay stands to benefit all working families, and state legislators are taking on that fight in response to the women and families who are raising their voices about the need for equal pay. In 2015 and 2016 dozens of legislatures proposed and enacted bills and laws addressing pay inequality, and in 2017 a whopping 42 states, as well as Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., offered legislative solutions to the gender pay gap. Though not all of these bills passed, this growing activity indicates that red, blue, and purple states realize that the pay gap is real and that they need to take action to close it now.  

Now, in the early days of 2018 state legislative sessions, 32 states have already introduced bills to combat the gender pay gap. These bills are sponsored by a diverse set of members on both sides of the aisle. While it’s disappointing that Congress continually fails to take action at the federal level, states are taking up the mantle and forging new paths toward equity.   

Women everywhere are refusing to accept unequal pay. That’s why the American Association of University Women (AAUW)  is working to close the pay gap using multi-pronged solutions that include in-depth research, salary negotiation workshops, and advocacy for strong equal pay laws at the federal, state, and local levels. Such seminal research as AAUW’s The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap and Graduating to a Pay Gap give advocates the facts they need to explain this pervasive problem and its impact. AAUW Work Smart salary negotiation workshops, which have trained more than 30,000 women, help individuals secure the salary and benefits they deserve. With partnerships in five cities across the nation to date (as well as the recent addition of Massachusetts!) and rapid scaling of the program under way, AAUW aims to train millions more women nationwide by 2020.  Additionally,  AAUW’s devoted advocates are proud to partner with elected representatives who are committed to making unequal pay a thing of the past through the passage and implementation of strong legislative solutions.

AAUW advocates and legislative trailblazers in states including California, Massachusetts, and Oregon should be extremely proud of what they’ve accomplished over the last few years as they work to close the gender pay gap. But I want to laud the hard work that is taking place across the country to close the gender pay gap not just on the coasts but also in America’s heartland. The drive toward equal pay is a nationwide phenomenon occurring at both state and city levels.

In recent years such states as Illinois, Nevada, Nebraska, and Utah and cities like Pittsburgh and New Orleans all enacted provisions designed to bring greater equity to our workplaces. Recognizing equal pay is not a partisan issue but a practical one, activists and legislators alike also laid the groundwork to bring change to such red, blue and purple states as Arkansas, Florida, Oklahoma, and Virginia in 2018 and beyond.   

Women and advocates for equity are ready not only to continue the success we had around equal pay in years prior but also to expand that success from coast to coast, and north to south. Get ready for equal pay in every state through the right policies and programs for systemic change.  

Kim Churches is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of University Women.   

Fighting for Families Means Fighting for Infrastructure Investment to Create Jobs and Boost Quality of Life

As part of SiX’s 2018 #FightingForFamilies Week of Action, Tate Hausman, the Executive Director of the Millions of Jobs Coalition, wrote a guest blog on the importance of public infrastructure investment that doesn’t rely on private investment or place an undue burden on state and local governments.  


 

By Tate Hausman 

It’s no secret – America’s infrastructure is failing. The crumbling state of our infrastructure earned it a grade of D+ from the American Society of Civil Engineers in their 2017 report.  

In an era of unprecedented political partisanship, investing in infrastructure is seemingly one of few things that all Americans still agree on. Ask any of the ninety percent of Americans who drive to work every day. Ask any child who takes the bus to school in the mornings. Ask the residents of Flint, Michigan. 

They will all tell you the same thing – that America’s infrastructure is in dire need of an upgrade. For decades, roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure have sat in disrepair in cities towns across the entire country. During the State Innovation Exchange’s Fighting for Families Week of Action and beyond, progressive legislators in states like Colorado and Michigan are acting on that need by emphasizing the importance of investing in infrastructure updates to create good jobs and improve American’s quality of life.  

But in last week’s State of the Union address, as President Trump embarks on his second year in office, we learned more about the White House’s master plan to upgrade America’s infrastructure. As is so often the case with President Trump, there was much to fact check.   

Throughout his campaign, President Trump campaigned on a “$1 trillion infrastructure plan,” but leaked details show the proposal only contains $200 billion in dedicated federal funding. The rest of the invented money is supposed to come from private investment (so-called P3s). State and local governments are already responsible for over 80% of all infrastructure investment, but instead of bridging the state and local funding gap, Trump’s infrastructure plan relies heavily on private investment (i.e., leveraging private equity capital). That means more tolls in our cities and little or no improvements at all for rural America. After all, there is simply no incentive for Wall Street investors to fix a broken bridge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

The kicker? That $200 billion wouldn’t actually include any new federal spending. Instead, that pot of money would come from massive cuts to Amtrak, TIGER and other existing infrastructure programs, resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs.  

President Trump’s “toll bill” would effectively rob public funding from Peter to pay investment banker Paul. 

President Trump’s infrastructure proposal would also severely roll back public input and critical environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This and other bedrock environmental laws like the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts protect public health and are essential tools ensuring government accountability. Without these protections, pipelines through National Parks and toxic waste incinerators in local neighborhoods – exempted from complying with basic environmental laws – are all very real possibilities. Fortunately, Americans don’t buy the claim that safe roads have to come at the cost of clean water.  

We know better: with the right leadership and the proper foresight, our nation’s infrastructure problems are very solvable. The basis of that plan must be major, direct federal investment. Large parts of rural America simply don’t have the money or the traffic to attract private-sector investment. 

What Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower knew to be true in the 1950s is still true today. It’s no accident that federal highway system – one of the most successful programs in the history of our country – was a product of direct public investment in infrastructure.  

By embracing a just, equitable, and sustainable vision for the American economy that prioritizes public investment instead of corporate giveaways, an infrastructure package that creates new jobs is achievable. That requires the following: 

1. Invest in creating millions of new jobs. 

2. Prioritize public investment over corporate giveaways and selling off public goods. 

3. Ensure that direct public investment provides the overwhelming majority of the funds for infrastructure improvement. 

4. Prioritize racial and gender equity, environmental justice, and worker protections. 

5. Embrace 21st-century clean energy jobs. 

6. Protect wages, expand Buy American provisions, encourage project labor agreements, and prioritize the needs of disadvantaged communities — both urban and rural. 

7. Ensure the wealthiest Americans and giant corporations who reap the greatest economic benefit from public goods pay their fair share for key investments. 

8. Ensure infrastructure investment does not come at the expense of Social Security and other vital programs. 

9. Protect and strengthen existing rules and laws protecting our environment, worker safety, wages, or equitable hiring practices. 

10. Prioritize resilient infrastructure that can withstand natural disasters and cyber or physical attacks. 

Everybody wants strong infrastructure – Democrats and Republicans alike – but Trump’s infrastructure plan comes at far too high a cost. It would line the pockets of Trump supporters on Wall Street, while leaving the rest of us to pay Trump Tolls on our ever-worsening highways, bridges and transit systems. After $1.5 trillion in corporate tax cuts, simply can't afford another giveaway to the ultra-rich. 

Tate Hausman is the Executive Director of the Millions of Jobs coalition, a diverse coalition of labor unions, advocacy groups, elected officials, and grassroots activists working for a real, long-term, 21st-century jobs and infrastructure package that benefits all Americans. 

Fighting for Families Through an Allegiance to Public Schools in Tennessee and Nationwide

As part of SiX's 2018 #FightingForFamilies Week of Action, Lyn HoytState Alliance Coordinator for the Tennessee Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, wrote a guest blog on the importance of investing and supporting K-12 public schools and advancing local efforts supporting community schools in Tennessee and nationwide.  


 

By Lyn Hoyt 

Public schools are the vehicle through which we guarantee all children a free education from kindergarten through 12th grade.  In our collective interest, we promise that poor children and rich children, students with disabilities, students of color, immigrant and non-immigrant, will have access to an equitable, quality public education, paid for by taxpayers and controlled by local communities.  Public schools ensure that our students have the skills they will need for good jobs and productive futures. They also teach young people how to participate in our democracy. 

Yet across the country, we continue to invest more in schools serving white children than in schools serving African American and Latino children. And as the number of students living in poverty has risen in the U.S., state and local funding for public education has decreased in the past decade.  Public schools are one more American institution caught up in the rising inequality that faces our nation. 

The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS), a national labor and community collaboration, believes that public schools play a critical role, not just in strengthening our economy, but also in supporting the success of local communities. As we participate in the State Innovation Exchange’s “Fighting for Families” week of action, we know this:  We have to get education right. 

As the State Alliance Coordinator for AROS in Tennessee, we are building a statewide AROS coalition that includes organized parents, educators, students and community members. Tennessee AROS includes the Tennessee Parent Teacher Association, the Tennessee Education Association (TEA) and other local community-based groups.  We came together a year ago to advocate for a new approach to the complex challenge of improving our public schools. Our mission is to support the creation of public schools where families, communities, students and educators take ownership of their schools to insure the success of every child. 

This year, we are working with a unique bipartisan group of state legislators to promote “transformational” community schools across Tennessee to create a locally led, district level approach to school improvement. The most effective community schools combine six components: a rich, culturally relevant curriculum; an emphasis on high-quality teaching, not high stakes testing; wrap-around supports for students and their families; positive discipline practices such as restorative justice; authentic parent and community engagement and inclusive school leadership.  Studies by the Center for Popular Democracy, and the Learning Policy Institute, along with the National Education Policy Center suggest that these components, working together, can have dramatic effects, not just on student academic outcomes, but on school culture and climate, teacher retention, chronic absenteeism and more.  

Our community schools bill HB2472 and SB2393, filed by sponsors Senator Steve Dickerson (R) and Representative Harold Love (D), creates a fund where the state may allocate resources from various sources to support staffing community schools site coordinators through a Local Education Agency and district-led application process. Any school in the state whose performance has placed them on the priority or focus list would have the opportunity to apply. The commitment to a needs assessment and site coordinator are the major part of the fund application plan. AROS will advocate for a deeper engagement with educators and families to be a part of school-level implementation. It is an exciting time to be organizing parents and teachers to become a critical part of creating the schools our children deserve as we fight for families. 

Our approach has been one of bi-partisanship. The community partnership piece is something that appeals to conservatives. And the community voice in the process is one that appeals to progressives. All agree that we must do more to make sure children can be successful in school. Everyone also agrees we must approach this sustainably with multiple funding sources, not just state or federal grants. So, long term commitment from the community and school districts are critical. 

The long-range strategy is to develop a culture of shared decision-making that includes educators and families, ultimately strengthening participation in democracy, supporting great teaching and stabilizing communities as well as improving student academic outcomes. In public education, that’s how we make sure that our democracy is working for all of us. AROS is proud that Tennessee is working collaboratively to strengthen community schools across the state. We are modeling the democratic process and organizing the community around those agreed-upon goals and identifying the community resources to achieve those goals to help make our schools great.

Lyn Hoyt is a Nashville resident, public school parent and the State Alliance Coordinator for TennAROS.org 

Fighting for Families Means Fighting for National Paid Family and Medical Leave

As part of SiX's 2018 #FightingForFamilies Week of Action, Vicki Shabo, the vice president for workplace policies and strategies at the National Partnership for Women & Families, wrote a guest blog commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and explaining the importance of fighting for a real national paid family and medical leave plan that doesn’t leave anyone behind. 


 

By Vicki Shabo 

The signing of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) 25 years ago this week was a landmark moment for women, families and America’s workplace culture. Since 1993, people have taken unpaid leave under the FMLA more than 200 million times to welcome a new child, care for a sick loved one or recover from a serious medical issue without having to risk their jobs. Today, we are in the midst of another watershed moment for the country as national attention to the need for fairer, more equitable workplaces reaches historic levels. But if this national reckoning is going to bring about real and lasting change, it needs to result in policies that value women and care – and few things would bring more meaningful change than a national paid family and medical leave program.  

State and local lawmakers, like private sector employers, have a critical role to play in the fight for paid leave. After all, they see firsthand the challenges working families, businesses and the economy face when people have to choose between their jobs and their health or the health of their families. New state-based data released by the National Partnership for the FMLA’s anniversary demonstrate the scope of these conflicts between work and family by state – and just how much worse it could get.  

Take, for example, New Hampshire. In less than 15 years, the share of the state’s population age 65 and older will grow by nearly 45 percent. In Colorado, more than one in five workers are age 55 and older. In more than 70 percent of all Virginia households with children – more than 1.2 million homes – all parents have paying jobs. When people, and especially women, cannot take the time they need to provide and receive care, they end up leaving the workforce, forfeiting income and their retirement security. In fact, in Nevada, there is a 15-percentage point gap in labor force participation between men and women. 

Considering that women, particularly women of color, are often key breadwinners for their families, in addition to being primary caregivers, paid leave means more than taking time to bond with a new child or care for aging parent – it means economic stability and a greater ability to survive life’s inevitable changes and unforeseen challenges. It is also inextricably linked to women’s health, especially in their reproductive years, at this time when access to comprehensive reproductive health care is being pushed further and further out of reach. Paid leave means women have the time and resources to choose when, and if, they want to start a family.  

Already, legislators in five states – California, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Washington – and the District of Columbia have enacted paid family and medical leave programs. New York’s program took effect on Jan. 1 and the programs in Washington state and D.C. will take effect in coming years. But the three longest-standing programs are having widespread benefits for working people and families, businesses and the states’ economies. These states are leading the way on paid leave and demonstrating what works.  

Lawmakers in other states, across political and ideological spectrums, are considering paid leave proposals too. State-level proposals were introduced in 31 states in 2017 and are under active consideration in a number of states already in 2018, including in deep red states like Georgia and Mississippi, as well as in places like New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Colorado and Maine. This is a clear sign of growing consensus around the need for a paid leave policy that helps people better meet the dual demands of work and family while strengthening businesses and boosting the economy.  

State lawmakers and the organizations that serve them, like the State Innovation Exchange, are playing a pivotal role in securing the progress that will ultimately lead to the national paid family and medical leave plan we need: the Family And Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act. The FAMILY Act would create a national paid leave insurance program similar to those working so well in several states. The bill currently has the support of more than 170 members of Congress. 

At this critical time for the country, 25 years after the FMLA, the paid leave momentum must continue. So, during this #FightingForFamilies Week of Action, share what #PaidLeaveMeans to you as part of the #FMLA25 celebration and call to action. Because fighting for families means fighting for a real national paid family and medical leave plan that doesn’t leave anyone behind. It is long past time to fulfill the FMLA’s promise of truly family friendly workplaces with paid family and medical leave for all working people.  

Vicki Shabo is vice president for workplace policies and strategies at the National Partnership for Women & Families.