Help Us Fight Back Against Efforts to Roll Back Gender Justice
Extremist judges will not stop endangering the lives of pregnant people or people who may become pregnant—overturning Roe v. Wade, attacking medication abortion, threatening the future of IVF, and this week at SCOTUS, emergency abortion care.
Our lawyers are waging strategic fights that make clear what is at stake for people who can become pregnant and seek to bolster our fundamental rights to control our lives, futures, and destinies.
Make a donation to the National Women’s Law Center to power the fight for accessible health care and a better future for all. Every donation is 100% tax-deductible.
Women, particularly women of color, women with disabilities, older women, LGBTQ individuals, andimmigrant women, disproportionately face economic insecurity. In general, women of color face bothgender and racial discrimination in hiring and wages. Women are overrepresented in the low-paidworkforce and in sectors that are consistently devalued, such as domestic and care work. Overall, womenmake up 64 percent of the workforce in the 40 lowest paying jobs. In addition to inadequate pay, thesejobs often have unpredictable schedules and few worker protections, limiting access to vital benefits suchas paid family and medical leave. These long-standing structural inequities inhibit economic mobility forwomen, making them more susceptible to food insecurity.The current COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the gender and racial inequities in economicsecurity for women and their families, and even more for women of color.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) is a criticalprogram in providing women, children, and families with the food assistance needed to better supporttheir wellbeing. However, even with its extensivereach, critical gaps still exist in the adequacy and administration of SNAP for a multitude of women,especially women facing multiple forms of discrimination. Additionally, the attacks on SNAP in recent yearshave demonstrated just how much work we have left to make sure it can serve all women, children, andfamilies whose circumstances make it hard to put food on their table.
This issue brief discusses the following:
SNAP participation rates for women, children, and families
SNAP’s impacts on the health and education of women, children, and families, as well as the economy
Barriers to SNAP eligibility and access generally, as well as specific barriers for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), undocumented and immigrant families, formerly incarcerated individuals, LGBTQ people, survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, people with disabilities, older adults, and young people and college students