Every month, IWF releases a policy focus on issues affecting women and their families across the country. As valued members of IWN, we want to give yo...
Author: Patrice Onwuka
Working for Women Report
We know women care about flexibility. While the left promotes the idea that women are a monolith who all want the same thing in life, we know women don’t always have the same opinions. And when it comes to working outside the home, flexibility is the top priority for millions of women. The problem is, rising costs on everything from housing to food means financial security and affordability trumps their own personal considerations—like wanting to have more time with family. In other words: this economy is making it hard for women to make the choices that are best for them!
The bottom line: Women are struggling to make ends meet and want to know that there are plenty of job opportunities out there to meet their goals and want policy proposals that will maximize flexibility and create diverse work opportunities.
If you want to learn more about this topic, check out the third edition of the “Working for Women” report which advances solutions that place women—not government—in the driver’s seat to build the lives that they want for themselves and their families.
Check out the report’s author—Patrice Onwuka—talking about the report HERE!
WATCH NOW! Working for Women Report Sneak Peek
Carol Swain & Claudine Gay: Harvard’s President’s Embarrassing History of Plagiarism
The president of Harvard University has had a terrible, awful, no good, very bad month! Claudine Gay’s polarizing congressional testimony kicked off what has become weeks of embarrassment for the most elite university in the world.
People are questioning the Harvard brand (and that of many other elite institutions) in the weeks since Hamas’ brutal attack against innocent Jews. The Claudine Gays of this world have been exposed for their hypocrisy about racial justice in the face of blatant antisemitism. Her inability or unwillingness to defend the safety of Jewish students against violent rhetoric was a colossal failure and demonstration of poor leadership.
I’d like to believe that there are more academics and thought leaders with a moral compass and the moral competence to meet the moment. One such individual is former Princeton and Vanderbilt professor Dr. Carol Swain. Ironically, Swain is one of Gay’s victims in another burgeoning scandal.
Plagiarising the work of others and passing it off as one’s own is a common error, but it’s neither excusable nor acceptable. When diving into Gay’s academic work, Manhattan Institute fellow Christopher Rufo and others unearthed evidence of plagiarism. We know now that her career is littered with examples of bad judgment at moments when it counts.
The university swatted down the allegations as just “a few instances of inadequate citation.” However, as of January 1st, the number of plagiarized passages in Claudine Gay’s academic work is approaching 50!
Even the bastions of liberal intellectualism—The Atlantic, Washington Post, New York Times—have abandoned her:
Damage from Gay’s past plagiarism is not just limited to Harvard’s brand but to the work of those she ripped off.
Dr. Carol Swain, now a senior fellow at the Institute for Faith and Culture and a co-author of “The Adversity of Diversity: How the Supreme Court’s Decision to Remove Race from College Admissions Criteria will Doom Diversity Programs,” but formerly a tenured professor at elite colleges, has a tremendous personal story. Her extensive and lauded work on race was a victim of Gay’s plagiarism as she lifted whole passages without attribution.
As Swain wrote in the Wall Street Journal recently,
Ms. Gay’s damage to me is aggravated because her early work was in the area where my research is considered seminal. Her scholarship on black congressional representation, electoral districting and descriptive representation builds on terrain where I plowed the ground.
… Ms. Gay ignored the substantive importance of my research, which she should have acknowledged and engaged. A single citation or two wouldn’t usually be considered intellectually honest.
When scholars aren’t cited adequately or their work is ignored, it harms them because academic stature is determined by how often other researchers cite your work. Ms. Gay had no problem riding on the coattails of people whose work she used without proper attribution…
Dr. Swain wasn’t the only one.
Gay’s behavior didn’t just stop at plagiarism. Harvard Law School alumnus and form law professor, W. F. Twyman, Jr., wrote in Newsweek,
Did you know that Claudine Gay during her Harvard career has repeatedly targeted and disrupted the careers of prominent Black male professors?
As he laid out two prominent cases of her destroying the careers of black academics at Harvard, it’s apparent that she does.
Gay is a product of some of what’s wrong with academia today: relaxed standards, lowered expectations, a lack of moral clarity, and no accountability for wrongdoing.
Tune in as we talk live with Dr. Carol Swain about the race-driven rot in higher ed on Tuesday, Feb 6, 2024. Register Here.
Best & Worst Policies Of 2023
Best & Worst Policies of 2023
As 2023 draws to a close, we take a moment to review the best and worst policies from Washington to state capitals that impact women’s freedom and choices in the labor force as well as the entrepreneurial spirit of America.
Best:
States Dropped College Requirements For Public Jobs
Over a dozen red and blue states have eliminated degree requirements and sent a powerful message that a degree should not hold qualified workers back from ample opportunities. Pennsylvania, Florida, and Georgia jumped on the bandwagon.
Portable Benefits
In contrast with universal benefits (like healthcare coverage) offered to full-time employees by an employer, portable benefits are decoupled from employers and follow individual workers regardless of work arrangement—W-2 or freelance. This is very important for so many women who prefer independent contracting over traditional work.
Right-to-Work for Public Unions
Utah passed a bill to ban public employers from deducting union dues from a public employee’s wages (with a few special exceptions) and banning the use of taxpayer dollars or public property to aid or discourage union-drive efforts.
Uber Drivers Remaining Independent in California
California appeals court on March 13, 2023, affirmed that Proposition 22 is mostly constitutional, upholding the ballot initiative that allows Uber, Lyft, and other app-based platforms in California to classify their drivers as independent contractors rather than employees.
SCOTUS Hearing CFPB Challenge Is A Win For Freedom, Taxpayers
SCOTUS’ agreeing to hear the case is important because the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s unconstitutional funding structure improperly insulates it from congressional oversight and allows for it to pursue ideological
Remote Work Creates Opportunities For People With Disabilities Year Round
People with disabilities benefitted from remote work policies enacted in response to COVID-19 lockdowns according to 2022 research showing that the employment rate for people with disabilities was the highest in over a decade.
Big Tech Platforms Expand Parental Controls In The Face Of Increased Government Pressure
Tech companies and social media platforms are rolling out policies and services to address minors’ online safety. Giving parents more control over what and how much content their children consume seems to be the leading response.
Worst:
There is no shortage of bad ideas. Here are some we engaged with this year:
IRS’ Venmo Crackdown Delayed But Not Dead This Holiday Season
Looking to fund the costly $1.8 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), Democrats lowered the previous threshold of at least 200 transactions totaling $20,000 or more to just $600. There is no transaction minimum, so a person could be one used treadmill away from new red tape and tax headaches.
FTC Prohibition On Noncompete Agreements
Another example of unconstitutional administrative overreach by a Biden federal agency that would threaten the competitiveness and intellectual property of employers nationwide.
Lawmakers Reintroduce the PRO Act in Honor of Union Boss
The PRO Act is neither pro-worker nor pro-woman, it’s just pro-union. Like AB5, it will hurt the freedoms and flexibility that today’s workers enjoy.
European Competition Rules Could Trip Up U.S. Businesses
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a worrisome antitrust bill that straddles Big Tech companies such as Apple, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google with many new limits on their ability to execute core functions. By targeting U.S. companies, new foreign regulations have implications for domestic markets. Those impacts may work against your wallet and your business.
State-level Crackdowns on Worker Freedom
- RI Independent Contractors Mandated To Pay Fee To Retain Status
A worker won’t be considered an independent contractor unless they file with the state and pay the mandatory fee. - MI Right-To-Work Repeal Bad News For Businesses, Independent Contractors Michigan became the first state in decades to repeal its right-to-work law. Compared to unionized states, right-to-work states see greater economic growth and overall worker happiness regardless of worker status.
- MI Legislature is Mulling an ABC test
Michigan could be the next state to make independent contracting out of reach for its residents. New legislation would copy California’s devastating Assembly Bill 5 by instituting an ABC test under the guise of fighting misclassification. - MN Misguided Crackdown Of Independent Contractors
The state established a Task Force on Worker Misclassification as a step toward greater restrictions on independent contractors.
Biden’s New Overtime Rules Come With A Price
While this move is positioned as a pay increase for workers, it will massively increase costs for businesses and may not deliver the widespread paycheck bump advocates believe that it will.
FTC Sues Amazon
The problem for the FTC will be proving the anti-competitive behavior using the framework that guides antitrust law today, the consumer welfare standard. Evidence points to the opposite of what the FTC claims. If Lina Khan’s FTC wins this case, consumers and sellers will lose big.
Biden Sneaking Childcare Subsidy Through The Back Door
The Department of Health and Human Services proposed new rules including a requirement that states ensure parents pay no more than 7% of their family income for child care. The potential negative, unintended consequences of the proposed regulations are many.
Biden Admin Wants To Punish Lenders For Asking About Immigration Status—Raising Prices For Everyone
The CFPB is teaming up with the Justice Department to punish lenders/financial institutions for denying applications based on immigration status. Immigration status can have a massive impact on whether a person can repay a loan.
Rate Caps in Lending
Federal lawmakers just introduced the Predatory Lending Elimination Act, limiting the interest rates that certain lenders can charge veterans and all consumers to a 36% annual percentage rate. This will make it more difficult for Americans, particularly subprime borrowers who depend on short-term, small-dollar loans to gain access to credit. States tell the tale:
- Illinois: How Illinois Is Harming The Unbanked
- New Mexico: ‘No Loan For You!’ Report Exposes Banking Hurdles For Even The Best Customers
Bottom Line
The government’s role is to knock down barriers to opportunity, respect the rights of individuals, and ensure that the free enterprise system can operate freely. Many policies are advancing those goals, but unfortunately many more work against them.
Here’s to another year of advocating for good policies and against the bad ones out of Washington and state capitols across the country.
