The COVID-19 pandemic hit women hard, with disproportionate job losses for women in general and Black and Hispanic women in particular, and with working mothers facing impossible choices as schools and childcare centers closed.   

But the pandemic only underlined an ongoing lack of support for women in the American workplace—with gaps in pay, promotions, and respect on the job; with unequal caregiving obligations at home; and without universal paid leave and affordable child care to help them fulfill their dueling responsibilities. Even with a recovery well underway, a recent McKinsey survey found that one in three women in corporate America said that they’d considered downshifting their careers or leaving the workplace entirely in 2021.   

Wellesley College, together with Spelman College and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, will convene a two-day virtual summit, The Economy She Deserves: Building an Agenda for a Women-Centered Recovery, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The summit will bring together researchers, policymakers, business leaders, and advocates from around the world to understand what drives gender-based economic inequality and to articulate a powerful agenda for building a future with women’s needs and aspirations at the center.

April 1, 9 AM - 12 PM EST

April 2, 9 AM - 12 PM EST

Speakers will include Claudia Goldin, Harvard University; Jennifer Klein, White House Gender Policy Council; Heather Long, Washington Post; C. Nicole Mason, Institute for Women’s Policy Research; Gloria Perez, Women’s Foundation of Minnesota; and Betsey Stevenson, University of Michigan—with more to come.

Please visit the summit website to learn more and to register.