Despite pay discrimination being illegal for over half a century, the gender pay gap remains a glaring inequity, undermining both workers’ livelihoods and the strength of our economy. In 2023, women working full-time year-round earned just 83% of the median annual salary paid to men — $55,240 compared to $66,7901 — leaving women and their families at a persistent financial disadvantage. The earnings ratio shrinks to 75% when all working women, including women who work less than 35 hours a week or in seasonal jobs, are included in the calculation (Figure 1). These gaps cannot simply be attributed to differences in education, occupation, or time out of the workforce.
Twelve iterations of RepresentWomen’s Gender Parity Index have demonstrated that progress toward gender parity across all levels of government has been slow and uneven. Increases in women running for office and winning have not been sustained over the last few years, and progress toward parity has slowed, but not quite stalled, as a result. Systemic change is needed to create better and more sustainable opportunities for women to get elected and build political power.
The 2025 Gender Parity Index (GPI) is the twelfth edition of our annual report on women’s political representation in the United States. In August 2013, RepresentWomen launched the GPI to help researchers and advocates track progress toward gender-balanced governance and identify opportunities for increasing women’s political representation. Each year, a Gender Parity Score is calculated for all 50 states to measure women’s representation in national, state, and local government on a scale of 0 (if there are no women in elected office) to 100 (if there are women in every single elected office). Letter grades and state rankings are then assigned to each state according to its proximity to parity (50/100).
A collection of essays accompanied by beautiful black-and-white photography from a diverse group of women on the moment they realized they were ready to fight for themselves—including Gloria Steinem, Lena Waithe, Joanna Gaines, Brandi Carlile, Beanie Feldstein, Cynthia Erivo, and Billie Jean King, among others. This powerful essay collection is a natural extension of the #MeToo movement, revealing the interior experience of women after they’ve inevitably been underestimated or hurt—the epiphany that the world is different than they thought it to be—and how they’ve used this knowledge to make change.
In My Moment, Gloria Steinem tells the story of how a meeting with writer Terry Southern drew blood. Carol Burnett shares how CBS discouraged her from pursuing The Carol Burnett Show because comedy variety shows were “a man’s game.” Joanna Gaines reveals how coming to New York City as a young woman helped her embrace her Korean heritage after enduring racist bullying as a child. Author Maggie Smith details a career crossroads when her boss declined her request to work from home after the birth of her daughter, leading her to quit and never look back.
Over and over again, when told “no” these women said “yes” to themselves. This hugely inspiring, beautiful book will move people of all ages and make them feel less alone. More than the sum of its parts, My Moment is also a handbook for young women (or any woman) making their way through the world.
In 2017, The Status of Women in Lubbock County, Texas was commissioned by the YWCA of Lubbock to explore factors related to women’s access to opportunity, employment and earnings, economic security, health, and political participation. The report builds on the Institute for Women’s Policy Research’s long-standing report series, The Status of Women in the States, which has provided data on the status of women nationally and for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia since 1996. The Status of Women in the States publications use data from U.S. government and other sources to analyze women’s status across multiple issue areas. These reports have been used to highlight women’s progress and the obstacles they continue to face and to encourage policy and programmatic changes that can improve women’s opportunities.
