The Women's Foundation of Colorado created This Is What STEM Looks Like! to introduce parents, caregivers, and educators to the many opportunities that STEM can provide for girls and women. In this guide, you’ll find resources to help girls explore those opportunities and tools to inspire, motivate, and prepare young women to thrive in STEM careers.
Research over the past decade has demonstrated consistently that companies that hire and retain a more inclusive workforce benefit in many ways, including improved operational and financial performance and increased innovation. Yet, while women make up 46 percent of the total Colorado workforce, they comprise less than a third of STEM workers. And, not only do women enter STEM less often than men, they leave STEM careers more often.
The report examines how increases to the minimum wage impact earnings, poverty, and gender and racial equality. This research also investigates the potential impact on child care affordability and families’ eligibility for public support programs and highlights policy considerations for Colorado lawmakers on how to best support Colorado women and families in achieving economic self-sufficiency.
Leading Colorado's Child Care and Education Workforce, executed by Qualistar Colorado with support from The Women’s Foundation of Colorado, identifies primary characteristics of professionals who lead early care and education centers and preschools. Included with research results are recommendations that aim to support leaders as they manage change and lead improvements to the quality, access, and affordability of their critical services for families, young children, and their communities.
Women in Colorado, as in the nation overall, have made substantial progress toward economic equality over the last several decades, but still lag behind men in important ways. Women earn less than their male counterparts, are more likely to live in poverty, and are less likely to own businesses. Even in areas where women’s status has advanced, there is room for improvement.
The Women’s Foundation of Colorado sponsored the the 2015 release of The Status of Women in the States research report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR).The report presents hundreds of data points for each state across seven areas that affect women’s lives: employment and earnings; political participation; poverty and opportunity; reproductive rights; health and well-being; work and family; and violence and safety. Read the full report.
The Women's Foundation of Colorado sponsored The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Colorado 2015 and Overlooked & Undercounted 2015: Struggling to Make Ends Meet prepared by the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, which defines the income needed to realistically support a family, without public or private assistance. For most workers throughout Colorado the Self-Sufficiency Standard shows that earnings well above the official Federal Poverty Level are still far below what is needed to meet families' basic needs.
The Women's Foundation of Colorado sponsored The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Colorado 2015 and Overlooked & Undercounted 2015: Struggling to Make Ends Meet prepared by the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, which defines the income needed to realistically support a family, without public or private assistance. For most workers throughout Colorado the Self-Sufficiency Standard shows that earnings well above the official Federal Poverty Level are still far below what is needed to meet families' basic needs.
In 2013, The Women’s Foundation of Colorado produced a comprehensive research report titled The Status of Women & Girls in Colorado. Throughout the research phase for that report, many questions and concerns about child care access and affordability were raised. In particular, single mothers were found to be struggling with the price of child care. As a direct result, The Women’s Foundation of Colorado provided a grant to Qualistar Colorado, in partnership with the Colorado Children's Campaign to investigate and address the barriers to affordable child care.
This research informs our work finding innovative and meaningful ways to advance women in all facets of life across our state. In preparation for this project, we conducted a listening tour and worked with research organizations throughout the state of Colorado to assess the extent to which current research initiatives were using a gender lens and covering key issue areas of concern to Colorado’s women and girls.