Make Work Work For Us

The #MakeWorkWorkForUs was a campaign launched Labor Day 2021

women standing wth arms around shoulders

Since the pandemic began, 80% of those who have left the workforce across the nation are women.

Even before the pandemic, women were four times more likely than men to reduce their hours or leave the workforce to care for children or aging family members. This is often because women still earn less than men for the same work.

This is not a women’s issue; when women work, Vermont’s economy thrives. It is an issue that spans across industry, region and demographics.

We have an opportunity now and an imperative to #MakeWorkWorkForUs.

Vermonters' #MakeWorkWorkForUs Stories

Be Part of the Solution

From advocating for policies like paid family leave and affordable, high-quality child care to closing the gender wage gap to elevating women-owned businesses and supporting more women to pursue leadership roles, we all need to work together to make work work for women and for all of us.

Here are some resources and ideas to get you started:

• Download the toolkit from our Change The Story Vt partner, Vermont Women's Fund. A free resource to empower small to mid-size employers (any organization with under 400 employees) with the tools to conduct in-house, DIY gender and racial pay equity reviews.

• Join the Let’s Grow Kids Business Leadership Circle: Join business leaders across Vermont who believe transforming our child care system will support children and families and ensure our businesses and economy thrive.

• Join the We Believe in Paid Leave campaign. Add your voice to the Vermont FaMLI (Family and Medical Leave Insurance) Coalition's campaign to lift Vermont's strong support for passage of an equitable and robust national Paid Family and Medical Leave solution.

• Employers, please sign on to the Vermont Equal Pay Compact, a voluntary online pledge enabling Vermont-based employers to learn more about and to indicate their commitment to closing the gender wage gap

• Share your story: Tell your own story related to workforce barriers that women face and post it on your social media profiles using the hashtag #makeworkworkforus. Please tag our organizations!
Household Impacts of COVID-19: survey findings highlight challenges and the supports Vermonters say they need most

Study: Household Impacts of COVID-19

Conducted between October 2020 and February 2021 by a team of researchers from University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst College, and Indiana University, this survey explored the impact of the pandemic in Vermont. Survey questions covered employment, business operations, household finances, labor productivity, child care and education, mental and physical health, and substance use. Survey respondents had clear recommendations for policies and resources that would improve their overall well-being: economic relief via stimulus payments, extended unemployment benefits, increased access to child care; increased access to mental health supports; and greater access to technology.

“The survey results reinforce what we know: the pandemic has exacerbated existing gender and economic inequality,” said Jessica Nordhaus, Director of Change The Story VT, an initiative of the Vermont Commission on Women, Vermont Women’s Fund and Vermont Works for Women, who helped distribute the survey in Vermont. “Responding to these needs improves the lives, livelihood, and well-being of women, their families and our economy. In our current joint campaign with Let’s Grow Kids -- #MakeWorkWorkForUs -- we are sharing Vermonters’ stories about the need for affordable, quality child care, paid family and medical leave, pay equity, and health care.”