Inclusive Growth

Women’s Initiative

The Women’s Initiative develops robust, progressive policies and solutions to ensure all women can participate in the economy and live healthy, productive lives.

A woman introduces her newborn baby to her grandmother, November 2020, in Los Angeles. (Getty/Brandon Bell)

What We're Doing

Advancing a proactive abortion agenda

Abortion rights are under attack. Our proactive agenda provides a road map for state and federal lawmakers to develop and enact policies that ensure equitable, safe access to abortion. In coalition, we will push back against restrictions that impede access to this critical health care service.

Addressing the maternal health crisis

People are more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes in the United States than in any other high-income country. Working closely with partners, we develop policy interventions to curb the maternal health crisis, eliminate racial disparities, and advance investments in maternal health care.

Closing the gender wage gap

To address pay disparities, especially for women of color, our comprehensive work advocates for measures such as the Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA). The PFA would strengthen equal pay protections, prohibit employer retaliation, and limit employers’ reliance on salary history to make hiring decisions.

Building a stronger economy by prioritizing women

Women are crucial to a thriving economy and families’ economic stability and must be at the heart of any economic recovery. We research solutions that maximize women’s economic participation and respond to competing demands of work and family, such as a national paid family and medical leave program.

The Women’s Initiative develops robust, progressive policies and solutions to ensure all women can participate in the economy and live healthy, productive lives.

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Photo shows four signs hanging on a fence in front of the Supreme Court building. The signs read

Sign Our Letter: Ensure Meaningful Abortion Access for All

As anti-abortion state legislators attack access to abortion, we must expand and strengthen reproductive health and family planning protections in states where abortion is legal.

About us

The Women’s Initiative works to secure women’s health and bodily autonomy, economic stability, equality, and access to equitable opportunities and uphold other reproductive, civil, and human rights. We firmly believe that the diverse experiences of women across race, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, faith backgrounds, and other factors—and the challenges they face—must be at the center of the national policy debate.

Latest

Compact View

Supreme Court Dismisses Idaho v. United States Without Making a Decision on Emergency Abortion Care
The U.S. Supreme Court is pictured on June 26, 2024, a day before issuing its ruling in Idaho v. United States.

Supreme Court Dismisses Idaho v. United States Without Making a Decision on Emergency Abortion Care

While the merits of Idaho v. United States will be decided by the lower courts, the U.S. Supreme Court admitted to procedural miscalculations that directly compromised the safety of pregnant patients in Idaho—underscoring how pregnant patients and medical providers will continue to be caught in the chaos and confusion sowed by the politicization of medication.

Sabrina Talukder

In U.S. v. Rahimi, Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Domestic Violence Survivor Safety but Upholds Problematic Bruen Framework Article
Photo shows a Supreme Court building partly lit inside, against a dark blue sky

In U.S. v. Rahimi, Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Domestic Violence Survivor Safety but Upholds Problematic Bruen Framework

On June 21, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that a sensible and effective gun violence prevention law protecting domestic violence survivors remains constitutional; however, the fact that survivor safety was compromised because of the politicization of the judiciary—and could be again in the future—should not be forgotten.

Abortion Access Mapped by Congressional District: 6-Week Abortion Ban Update Article

Abortion Access Mapped by Congressional District: 6-Week Abortion Ban Update

Florida’s extreme abortion ban for women who reach six weeks of pregnancy has essentially cut off abortion access for women in the South; new analysis by the Center for American Progress maps the latest driving times to an abortion clinic and the changes since the Dobbs decision by congressional district that, as a consequence of reduced abortion access, increase average district driving times by 300 percent nationally.

Sara Estep

The State of Safe Leave Report
Close-up through Capitol window

The State of Safe Leave

U.S. states are increasingly providing safe leave for workers who need time off to deal with the impacts of sexual and domestic violence.

Abortion Access Mapped by Congressional District Article

Abortion Access Mapped by Congressional District

Who is the typical woman of reproductive age in each congressional district? What is her income? What is her demographic profile? Does she live in poverty? How far must she travel to get an abortion? A new Center for American Progress analysis answers these questions and more for the districts of the 118th Congress (January 2023–January 2025).

Sara Estep

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