The National Partnership for Women & Families is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1971, the National Partnership works on public policies, education and outreach that focuses on women and families. [1]
The National Partnership for Women & Families was known as the Women's Legal Defense Fund (WLDF) until 1998. [1]
Judith L. Lichtman was hired as the National Partnership's first paid staff member in 1974. [2] Lichtman became president in 1988 and served in the role for 16 years. Lichtman is currently the organization's senior advisor. [3]
The current president, Joycelyn C. Frye, became the new president of NPFW&F in 2020. She was an attorney for fifteen years; were she highlighted/fought issues on discrimination and gender inequality. Later, Frye would head on to become the Deputy assistant, director of policy and special projects for Michelle Obama during her husbands presidency (2009-2013). [4] After five years as a Deputy assistant, Frye took over the place of former NPFW&F President, Debra L. Ness. [5] and director of policy and special projects for the first lady Michelle Obama.After five years as a Deputy assistant, Frye took over the place of former NPFW&F President, Debra L. Ness. [5]
The organization is best known for its mission to: build support, pass, protect and help expand the Family and Medical Leave Act – the first and only national law guaranteeing eligible workers job-protected, unpaid leave to care for a newborn or newly adopted child, seriously ill family member, or to recover from their own serious health conditions.
The National Partnership works on four main issues:
Current projects include a national paid sick days campaign, the Campaign for Better Care, and the Americans for Quality Health Care initiative. [1] The National Partnership provides technical support to Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q), a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
In 1977, the National Partnership litigated and achieved a significant victory in Barnes v. Costle, a U.S. Court of Appeals decision that held that any retaliation by a boss against an employee for rejecting sexual advances violates Title VII's prohibition against sex discrimination. [6]
Laws the National Partnership helped enact include: the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as well as national child support reforms in 1988. [1]
In 2009, the National Partnership helped lead efforts to create the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 and the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009. The foundation also worked on reversing the global gag rule, and adding clauses to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. [1]
The National Partnership provided technical assistance and expert testimony in support of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. [7]
The National Partnership also works on city and state level campaigns and has driven or supported efforts to enact paid sick days laws in San Francisco (2006), the District of Columbia (2008) and the state of Connecticut (2011), as well as paid family leave laws in the states of California (2002), Washington (2007) and New Jersey (2008). [1]
In 2011, the organization won the Convio Innovator Award for Best Online Campaign. [8]
On December 29, 2022 Joe Biden signed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) into law. The PWFA went into effect on June 27, 2023, giving businesses plenty of time to get ready to implement the new law.
First Lady Michelle Obama is a two-time speaker at National Partnership events. In 2011, she said that the National Partnership is "one of the most influential organizations for women and families in our country," and has had an "amazing imprint on nearly every single one of this nation's major policy achievements for women and families." [9]
Secretary of State and former First Lady Hillary Clinton has been twice honored by the National Partnership, in 1994 and 2012. In 2012 she said of the National Partnership, "For more than 40 years, you've been protecting the most vulnerable among us and holding us all to account when we are not living up to our own American values. And in the process, you improve the lives of countless women and help make that future a better place for them and their children." [10]
Previous speakers at National Partnership events include: former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, journalists Christiane Amanpour and Ellen Goodman, historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin, media artists Allison Janney, Anna Deavere Smith, Rob Reiner, and Rosie O'Donnell, activist Marian Wright Edelman, and UNICEF Director Carol Bellamy.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) – formerly known as the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) – is a program administered by the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides matching funds to states for health insurance to families with children. The program was designed to cover uninsured children in families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid. The program was passed into law as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, and the statutory authority for CHIP is under title XXI of the Social Security Act.
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is a United States labor law requiring covered employers to provide employees with job-protected, unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. The FMLA was a major part of President Bill Clinton's first-term domestic agenda, and he signed it into law on February 5, 1993. The FMLA is administered by the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor.
The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) is a nonprofit social equality organization founded in 2003 by transgender activist Mara Keisling in Washington, D.C. The organization works primarily in the areas of policy advocacy and media activism with the aim of advancing the equality of transgender people in the United States. Among other transgender-related issue areas, NCTE focuses on discrimination in employment, access to public accommodations, fair housing, identity documents, hate crimes and violence, criminal justice reform, federal research surveys and the Census, and health care access.
The United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is a United States governmental initiative to address the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and help save the lives of those suffering from the disease. Launched by U.S. President George W. Bush in 2003, as of May 2020, PEPFAR has provided about $90 billion in cumulative funding for HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and research since its inception, making it the largest global health program focused on a single disease in history until the COVID-19 pandemic. PEPFAR is implemented by a combination of U.S. government agencies in over 50 countries and overseen by the Global AIDS Coordinator at the United States Department of State. As of 2023, PEPFAR has saved over 25 million lives, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.
Business and Professional Women's Foundation (BPW) is an organization established for workforce development programs and workplace policies to acknowledge the needs of working women, communities, and businesses. It supports the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs.
The National Women's Law Center (NWLC) is a United States non-profit organization founded by Marcia Greenberger in 1972 and based in Washington, D.C. The Center advocates for women's rights and LGBTQ rights through litigation, policy, and culture change initiatives. It began when female administrative staff and law students at the Center for Law and Social Policy demanded that their pay be improved, that the center hire female lawyers, that they no longer be expected to serve coffee, and that the center create a women's program.
Sick leave is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because sick leave is intended for health-related purposes. Sick leave can include a mental health day and taking time away from work to go to a scheduled doctor's appointment. Some policies also allow paid sick time to be used to care for sick family members, or to address health and safety needs related to domestic violence or sexual assault. Menstrual leave is another type of time off work for a health-related reason, but it is not always paid.
Mara Keisling is an American transgender rights activist and founding executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. She is a trans woman who began transitioning in her early 40s. In 2003, Keisling founded the National Center for Transgender Equality to advocate for the rights of transgender people in the United States.
Anton J. Gunn, a healthcare consultant and former American politician, is the former head of the Office of External Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. In January 2014, he stepped down to return to the private sector as a consultant, health care entrepreneur and professional speaker. Gunn played a role in the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare”. In January 2015, Gunn assumed the position of Executive Director of Community Health Innovation and Hospital Chief Diversity Officer at the Medical University of South Carolina. Since 2018, he also serves as co-chair of the Health Care Voter campaign.
Judith A. Winston is a lawyer, education and civil rights policy consultant and former law professor, Undersecretary and General Counsel of the US Department of Education, and was one of the lead members of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's Agency Review teams for the Departments of Education and Labor. She served as executive director to President Clinton's One America Initiative.
The White House Council on Women and Girls was an advisory council within the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. It was established by Executive Order 13506 on March 11, 2009, with a broad mandate to advise the president on issues relating to the welfare of women and girls in order to ensure gender equality. It also ensured that other White House agencies acted in a manner to allow all things to be possible for all people. The Council was chaired by Valerie Jarrett and included the heads of every federal agency and major White House office.
LGBT history in the United States spans the contributions and struggles of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, as well as the LGBT social movements they have built.
A contraceptive mandate is a government regulation or law that requires health insurers, or employers that provide their employees with health insurance, to cover some contraceptive costs in their health insurance plans.
Debra L. Ness is the former president of the National Partnership for Women & Families. She has previously worked for the Service Employees International Union and National Abortion Rights Action League.
Judith L. Lichtman is an American attorney specializing in women's rights and an advocate for human and civil rights. Lichtman currently serves as the senior advisor of the National Partnership for Women & Families. She is largely credited with the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.
Parental leave is regulated in the United States by US labor law and state law. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) requires 12 weeks of unpaid leave annually for parents of newborn or newly adopted children if they work for a company with 50 or more employees. As of October 1, 2020, the same policy has been extended to caregivers of sick family members, or a partner in direct relation to the birth of the child therefore responsible for the care of the mother. Although 12 weeks are allowed to them, on average American fathers only take 10 days off, due to financial need. Beginning in 2020, California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island required paid parental leave to employees, including those a part of 50 or less employees. There is no paid paternity leave in the United States currently.
Transgender inequality is the unequal protection received by transgender people in work, school, and society in general. Transgender people regularly face transphobic harassment. Ultimately, one of the largest reasons that transgender people face inequality is due to a lack of public understanding of transgender people.
Ann M. O'Leary is an American political advisor, attorney, and nonprofit leader, who served as Chief of Staff to California Governor Gavin Newsom and as co-chair of the Governor's Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery. She is now a partner at the international law firm Jenner & Block.
The platform of the Democratic Party of the United States is generally based on American liberalism, contrasting with the conservatism of the Republican Party. The party has large centrist and progressive wings, as well as smaller fiscal conservative and democratic socialist elements.
Sexual harassment in the workplace in US labor law has been considered a form of discrimination on the basis of sex in the United States since the mid-1970s. There are two forms of sexual harassment recognized by United States law: quid pro quo sexual harassment and behavior that creates a hostile work environment. It has been noted that a number of the early sexual harassment cases were brought by African American women and girls.
