ABSTRACT
Since the 1970s, women have made great and, by historical standards, rapid gains in the workplace. The bad news is that despite women's best and sustained efforts, progress toward gender equality is uneven and appears to be stalling. The gendered nature of care, coupled with the absence of public supports in the United States for caregiving, redound to women's detriment and remain a lingering basis of labor market inequality. While work-family policies and supports are more widespread and well-established there, somewhat surprisingly these countries exhibit less gender equality than the United States. The recently passed stimulus package, insofar as it contains numerous tax and spending policies related to employment and earnings, can also be used to advance gender equity and parity—a true win-win—and must be evaluated and implemented with this goal in mind.
