Achieving Equity for Women:

Policy Alternatives for the New Administration

Agenda and Speakers

8:30 a.m.   Welcome and Opening Remarks
Susan McGee Bailey, Ph.D., Executive Director, Wellesley Centers for Women
Martha Darling, Board Chair, Institute for Women's Policy Research
Rosa DeLauro, U.S. Representative, Connecticut 3rd District

8:45 a.m.   Women in the Economic Recovery
What role can women play in economic recovery and how will current and proposed recovery efforts affect women and their families? How can efforts to strengthen the economy by rebuilding the nation’s physical and human infrastructure incorporate women and men on an equal footing?

Moderator:  Linda Wertheimer, Senior National Correspondent, National Public Radio

Panelists:

• Jared Bernstein, Ph.D., Chief Economist, Office of the Vice President of the United States
• Rebecca Blank, Ph.D., Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

10:30 a.m.   Retirement, Social Security, and Aging
The baby boomers are the best educated cohort of women with the longest life expectancy of any to arrive at retirement age. Entering retirement with less marriage and more solo employment than their mothers, will boomer women’s own earnings make up for the loss of access to men’s incomes through marriage? How will baby boomers allocate time between work and leisure and who will care for the growing number of women who will be on their own in their later years? How can our pension and social security systems be improved to meet women’s needs in the coming decades?

Moderator:  Barbara Kennelly, President & CEO, National Committee to Preserve Medicare and Social Security and former U.S. Representative, Connecticut, 3^rd District

Panelists:

• Heidi Hartmann, Ph.D., President, Institute for Women’s Policy Research
• Teresa Ghilarducci, Ph.D., Irene and Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of Economic Policy Analysis, New School University
• Maya Rockeymoore, Ph.D., President and CEO, Global Policy Solutions
• Kathryn Olson, Staff Director, Subcommittee on Social Security, House Ways and Means Committee

12:00 p.m.   Keynote Address: 
Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor, U.S. Department of Labor
Introduction by: Rufina Hernandez, Associate Director of the External Partnerships and Advocacy Department, National Education Association
Moderated by: Holly Fechner, Counsel, Covington & Burling LLP, Board Member, Institute for Women's Policy Research

1:30 pm   Expanding Quality Early Care and Education
 The United States lags far behind in the development of its early care and education (ECE) infrastructure.  New monies for early learning as a part of the economic recovery package provide opportunities for states to expand effective programs.  How do recovery funds fit into a long-term vision of comprehensive, quality, affordable early education, and how can new funds be used to strengthen the ECE sector to contribute to economic recovery and long term economic growth?  What benefits will expansions have for children, parents, families and the economy?

Moderator:  Charles Kolb, President, Committee for Economic Development

Panelists:

• Nancy Marshall, Ed.D., Senior Research Scientist and Associate Director, Wellesley Centers for Women
• Mildred Warner, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University
• Danielle Ewen, Director, Child Care and Early Education Policy, the Center for Law and Social Policy

3:15 p.m.   Women and Health Care Reform: Quality, Affordability, and Access
How will health care reform align with the current economic recovery efforts, and what policy options will best ensure quality, affordable coverage that meets the needs of women and families?

Moderator:  Vivian Pinn, M.D., Director, Office of Research on Women’s Health, National Institutes of Health

Panelists:

• Alina Salganicoff, Ph.D., Vice President and Director of Women’s Health Policy, Kaiser Family Foundation
• Cathy Schoen, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Research and Evaluation, Commonwealth Fund
• Dora L. Hughes, M.D., M.P.H., FAACP, Counselor for Public Health and Science, Office of the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services

4:45 p.m.   Closing Remarks
Tina Tchen, Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States
Executive Director, White House Council on Women and Girls

5:00 - 6:00 p.m.  Closing Reception

• Carolyn Maloney, U.S. Representative, New York 14th District
• Kim Gandy, President, NOW
• Joan Entmacher, Vice President and Director of Family Economic Security at the National Women's Law Center
• Susan Scanlan, Chair, National Council of Women's Organizations and President of Women's Research & Education Institute

 

Acknowledgements

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research and the Wellesley Centers for Women would like to thank the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation for hosting this event.

The organizers would also like to thank the funders of these research and dissemination efforts, including: The Annie E. Casey Foundation; The Ford Foundation The Kellogg Foundation; The Russell Sage Foundation; AFSCME; The American Federation of Teachers; National Education Association; The United Mine Workers; and The Cowles/Sulzberger Fund at the Wellesley Centers for Women.

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