Women’s Economic Justice Plan
Building lasting security and opportunity for women in Connecticut.
Why Women’s Economic Justice? (AKA What’s the Problem)
Connecticut’s economy doesn’t work for everyone. Women, especially women of color, immigrants, disabled women, and those with low incomes, are more likely to experience poverty, work in underpaid caregiving roles, lack access to affordable healthcare and child care, and face housing insecurity.
The Women’s Economic Justice Plan is our vision for a future where all women in Connecticut can thrive. It weaves together our advocacy, community organizing, and direct service work to advance policies we’ve won, fuel the fights we’re in, and build toward a future where economic security is a right, not a privilege.
The Urgency of Now
From every angle, household budgets are under strain:
- Child care costs are among the highest in the nation, often exceeding rent or mortgage payments.
- Housing is increasingly unaffordable, with a growing gap between wages and rental prices.
- Food prices have surged and federal benefits are being gutted, leaving families making impossible choices.
- The wage gap continues to shortchange women, especially women of color, reducing lifetime earnings and limiting intergenerational opportunity.
These are not isolated challenges. They are the result of systems that were never designed to support women’s long-term security.
Now, these cracks are widening: the rollback of pandemic-era support, inflation, and regressive federal shifts are hitting the same communities over and over again. The consequences of decades of underinvestment in women’s economic security are not just showing, they’re compounding. We don’t need slow fixes. We need bold, coordinated action.
Our Approach
The Women’s Economic Justice Plan is grounded in the lived experiences of the women and families we work alongside every day. It connects the dots across our direct service work, grassroots organizing, and policy advocacy to build lasting change from the ground up.
This plan centers women’s realities, especially those most impacted by inequality, and offers an actionable framework to:
Advance economic security and equity
Through policies that increase wages, expand access to care, and ensure women have the resources they need to live with dignity.
Protect and expand women’s rights
From reproductive freedom to workplace justice, we fight for policies that recognize and respect women’s full autonomy and contributions.
Address structural barriers to opportunity
By reforming systems like healthcare, housing, and taxation that have consistently failed to meet the needs of women, particularly those pushed to the margins.
Together, our three-pronged approach ensures that no matter how a woman engages with our work—whether she’s seeking legal support, sharing her lived experience, or raising her voice at the Capitol—she’s not just being served by the movement, she is the movement. Built with and for women most impacted by injustice, this plan channels our collective power to create a more just, more secure future for all.