Each Child. Every Community.

Today is Women’s Equality Day, when the nation marks the contributions that women have made to our democracy and progress toward realizing full equality of opportunity. The day recognizes the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which symbolically allowed women to vote, although many Black women had to wait much longer to realize that right.

While so much progress has been made, celebration doesn’t feel quite right this year. The pandemic has been disproportionately hard on women, especially working moms. COVID-19 unearthed long-standing inequities for women, turning back the clock on workforce participation and equity.

According to the National Women’s Law Center, women in the United States have lost 3.8 million jobs since February 2020. Millions of women were forced out of the workforce to care for children and support virtual school. Female workforce participation is at its lowest rate in more than 30 years. Unemployment rates for Black women, Latinas, and other people of color are even higher.

Women are also more likely to work in lower wage jobs, especially essential but dramatically underpaid care work. Women made up about two-thirds of workers making minimum wage in 2019.

To reach full equality for women, our state and our country need to invest in child care and child care professionals. Those working in the care economy need fair, living wages, and families, especially mothers, need access to support in their communities. Work schedules and leave policies need to catch up to the demands of modern life.

So, on this Women’s Equality Day, the North Carolina Partnership for Children recognizes the contributions of the many women across the state working on behalf of and supporting children and families. To the women of the Smart Start network, those leading our partner organizations, and those working in North Carolina’s communities, thank you for your leadership and commitment.

Let’s all keep working toward that celebration of full equality.