GIVING VOICE TO WOMEN AND GIRLS

APPLYING A GENDER LENS TO POLICY

To advocate simply means to give voice. The Women’s Fund advocates for women and girls through our priority areas of economic empowerment and leadership for women and girls. We raise awareness of priority issues in the central Ohio community and strengthen our advocacy efforts by hosting events that mobilize the collective power of women and men to focus on social change.

We aim to strategically affect public policy issues, including:

• Child Care & The Benefits Cliff
  • Research shows that child care costs are the single largest expense for women and families in central Ohio. Accessibility and affordability of child care is the best opportunity to influence the cliff effect – when a minimal increase in hourly wages results in the complete termination of a benefit and a dramatic net loss of resources.
• Paid Leave
  • Current policies do not adequately support women striving to meet the obligations of work and family. Extending access to paid family leave strengthens women and families, reduces gender and economic disparities, and has a positive impact on local economies.
• Pay Equity
  • We have increased community awareness around the wage gap and are committed to continue the conversation with a focus on pay equity or comparing work of equal value and looking at the impact of gender norms. Closing the wage gap between women and men and establishing pay equity is critical to ensuring women maximize their economic potential.
• Access to Contraception & Medically-Accurate Sex Education
  • Enabling women to control when to have children allows them to shape their financial, educational, and professional futures. Access to contraception and comprehensive, medically-accurate sex education have been significant factors in the reduction in teen pregnancy and unintended pregnancies over the last decade.
• Leadership for Women and Girls
  • We are committed to amplifying the voices of women and girls through the power of philanthropy, increasing the number of women running for elected office, equipping them with advocacy training, and supporting girls’ leadership. When more women are in positions of leadership, including elected office, we see an advancement in gender equality through policies that positively impact women.