Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Gender Equity

Gender Equity

  • This International Women’s Day, Let's Commit to Building a New York Economy That Works for Women

    Ana Maria Archila, the author (photo: Claudio Papapietro)


    It is said that International Women’s Day, which we celebrate today, March 8, started in 1857 when a group of women garment and textile workers marched in New York City for better wages and working conditions. Though this origin story is probably a myth — in fact, Women’s Day originated with a suffragist march through Manhattan six decades later — its popularity

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  • Pregnant People Need a Green New Deal

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    A new mom (photo: Edwin J Torres/Mayor's Office)


    While the media has started to connect heat-related deaths to climate change over the past few years, one particularly vulnerable group is too rarely discussed in reporting and not reflected in policy: pregnant people and newborns. As the climate crisis gets worse, we need policies to prevent dangerous outcomes and to undo vast inequities in pregnancy. 

    After centuries of disenfranchisement, many pregnant people of color living in New York City sit at the intersection of systemic racism, health

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  • Coronavirus Crisis Worsens Challenges Faced by Women and Reaffirms Need to Elect More Women to Office

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    Most members of the New York City Council Women's Caucus (photo: @vanessalgibson)


    The coronavirus pandemic amplifies many of society's systemic gender inequalities, magnified by race, class, and immigration status. Women, who have continued to carry the burdens of “women’s work” into the 21st century, are disproportionately impacted by this crisis, and women of color in New York City will fare the worst. 

    As nearly 50 women candidates running in the 2021 city election cycle and other women leaders, we have joined together to call attention to these

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  • 16 Notable Cuomo Proposals Not in His State of the State Speech

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    (photo: Governor's office)


    Governor Andrew Cuomo detailed much of his legislative agenda for the year at his State of the State speech on Wednesday in Albany, outlining various measures that, if enacted, could have wide-ranging impacts on New Yorkers. He gave only a nod, however, to the state’s fiscal picture, including an expected $6.1 billion budget gap for next fiscal year, which he’ll have to address in more detail when he presents his budget plan later this month.

    The governor spoke of his top-line priorities – gun control, health care, workers

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  • City Council Speaker Candidates, All Men, Promise Gender Equity if Victorious

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    The City Council speaker candidates (photo: William Alatriste)


    At the last public forum in the race to become the next speaker of the City Council, seven of the eight men contending for the Council’s top leadership spot took turns making their argument for why they would be the right person to continue Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s legacy of protecting and promoting the cause of women, transgender, and gender non-conforming New Yorkers. Though few new ideas emerged, for nearly two hours, the seven Council members pitched their progressive

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  • Women's Caucus Secures Commitments from City Council Speaker Candidates

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    Helen Rosenthal among Speaker hopefuls Cornegy, Levine, Johnson (photo: William Alatriste)


    The Women’s Caucus of the City Council recently interviewed the eight candidates -- all men -- seeking to become the next Speaker of the Council, arguably the second most powerful position in city government. While the Women’s Caucus will not be endorsing a speaker candidate ahead of the January vote, according to caucus co-chair Helen Rosenthal, it did secure important commitments from each candidate and the process, which also

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  • Forecasting the Upcoming City Council Gender Imbalance

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    CMs Chin, left; Rose, center; & Rosenthal, center right (photo: Gotham Gazette)


    There are currently only 13 women in the 51-seat New York City Council, a troubling 25 percent. The number is down from 18 women in the Council a few years ago. With the city’s quadrennial elections upon us, a new Council class will be inaugurated in January, with the September 12 primaries largely determining who will fill the city’s legislative body for the next four years in this very Democratic city.

    Most would agree that gender balance in the City Council

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  • Nicole Malliotakis on Trying to Become New York’s First Female Mayor

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    Assemblymember Malliotakis with Fearless Girl (via @NMalliotakis)


    In 2013, one storyline of the raucous and unpredictable Democratic mayoral primary was Christine Quinn’s bid to become the first woman elected Mayor of New York City. Then the City Council Speaker and the early frontrunner in the race, Quinn largely avoided talking about that history-making potential. Running as the continuity-with-change

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  • Officials Discuss Gender Equity, Sexism at ‘Diversity’ Conference

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    The "On Diversity" panel; photo via William Alatriste for the City Council


    What are "women’s issues"? When should men recognize their privilege and stand down? Speak up? How do women in public life talk about everyday sexism and engage men in that dialogue?

    These were just a few of the questions asked on Tuesday during one panel discussion at City & State NY’s annual “On Diversity” conference. Elected officials, business professionals, journalists, members of academia, and others gathered to discuss issues of race and gender in

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