Policy

The following is the list of bills recommended by various commissioners, legislative offices, and the CCSWG staff for 2021.  This year, the Commission is focused on aiding women’s overall recovery from the COVID-19 impacts, which affected women and girls at all ages and particularly negatively impacted women and girls of color. 

Commission Policy Pillars

The COVID-19 pandemic brings into sharp focus how the impacts of crises disproportionately affect women and particularly women of color. Working with advocates, the state Legislature , state agencies and businesses, the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls is championing a policy agenda that increases women’s and girls economic security, improves their the health and wellness and ensures their well-being  is seen through an equitable and intersectional lens.

01

Women & Girls' Economic Security

This pillar helps women return to the workforce with protections and flexibilities that lifts women and girls out of poverty and provide opportunities and a robust care infrastructure for success. This includes:

  • Improve access high-quality, affordable childcare and education
  • Support flexible family-friendly workplaces
  • Ensure fair pay and job opportunities
  • Strengthen and enforce protections against discrimination, harassment, and retaliation
Economic Security Bills

Family-Friendly Workplaces & Protection

Gender Based Discrimination

Childcare/Education

Basic Needs

02

Women & Girls' Wellness

The pandemic has further entrenched the health and safety inequalities faced by women, especially women of color. The Commission is working towards ensuring women and girls can live happier, healthier lives by addressing the growing disparities in health equity and safety.

  • Accessibility, Availability, Affordability to Care and Preventative Care
  • Reproductive Health and Justice
  • Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Prevention and Support
Wellness Bills

Health Access

Mental Health

Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Prevention & Support

Reproductive Justice

Safety

03

Equity & Justice

As we advance our mission of improving the lives of women and girls, we adopt and support intersectional, equitable measures that value all lives and experiences, especially women and girls of color. We strive to eliminate disparities regardless of your age, race, creed, abilities, socio-economic status, sexual orientation.

  • Gender and racial wealth gap
  • Gender and racial parity in leadership roles
  • Strengthen and enforce protections against discrimination, harassment, and retaliation
Equity Bills with SB 645 Graphic

Download SB #645 Graphics

Disparity 

Help Us End Discriminatory Taxes

 

AB 1287 prohibits businesses from assigning different prices for identical goods simply because of the gender the goods are marketed to. In order to price products differently, a business would have to prove there was substantial difference in the time or cost of production. Eliminating the Pink Tax eliminates one more barrier to gender equality. Compounded by the gender pay gap, arbitrary price differences are unjust and harmful. Women should be able to exercise their buying power without the fear of gender-based discrimination.

AB 1287 – Eliminate The “Pink Tax”

 

Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity. However, women still pay more on average for identical products that are marketed specifically to women, and often are simply a different color – a phenomena known as the “Pink Tax.” Women make up as much as 85% of consumer purchases in the United States. Unequal prices for women translate to impacts for their own financial wellbeing as well as that of their families. AB 1287 prohibits businesses from assigning different prices for identical goods simply because of the gender the goods are marketed to.

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Social Media Toolkit

Sample Letter of Support

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Report

Policy In a Pandemic

The Covid-19 health and economic crisis affected all Californians, but women and women of color have been hit especially hard.  According to a recent study by the California Budget and Policy Center:

  • Many women of color in California are struggling to get by during Covid-19 with nearly 50% of Black and Latinx households surveyed reported difficulty paying for usual expenses such as food, utilities, clothing and rent.
  • More than 6 in 10 Latinx and Black women in California live in households that lost earnings during the pandemic.

A year ago, U.S. women outnumbered men in the workforce, but just this December, they accounted for 100% of jobs lost in the workforce according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

  • When broken down by race, Latina and Black women experienced unemployment levels that were higher than women’s overall unemployment rate of 6.3%.

Contact Your Legislators

 

State Senate & State Assembly

United States Congress

United States Senate

Legislative District Maps

Advocacy Archives

 

Click here to find previous policy and legislation efforts supported and/or sponsored by the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. Learn more here

Contact Our Advocacy Team

 

1925 L Street #345 Sacramento, CA 95814 | info@women.ca.gov | https://women.ca.gov/