• Women’s labor force participation has stagnated and reversed since 2000.
  • The gap between wages of men and women has fallen over the past several decades, but a significant gender wage gap remains.
  • Almost 60% of women would earn more if they were paid the same as men with equivalent levels of education and work hours.
  • Disability and widowhood are major drivers of economic insecurity among older women.
  • A 10%  expansion of the EITC could benefit working mothers and families by lifting more than 600,000 people out of poverty.
  • Many women face a tax penalty when they get married, which reduces their labor force participation.
  • Women are more likely than men to stop working to care for elderly family members.
  • The U.S. is the only industrialized country without a national paid leave policy for mothers.
  • The cost of childcare makes center-based care—if not employment itself—unrealistic for many working mothers of young children.
  • Postsecondary degrees lead to better labor outcomes, but many student mothers face significant challenges.

Read the full article on women in the workforce by Alison Burke at Brookings.