Our Advocacy Priorities

Supporting Policies & Efforts to Advance Gender Equity

Since 1987, Vermont Works for Women (VWW) has worked directly with women, girls, and gender-expansive individuals to help them overcome individual and societal barriers to economic security.

Through programming, partnerships, and policy, our goal is to ensure education and work are equitable and accessible for all. For decades, VWW has partnered with employers, state agencies, schools, career and technical education centers, and policymakers to advance gender equity in these spaces and systems.

Explore our advocacy priorities below. Please contact us for testimony, data, and recommendations.

Equity in Infrastructure

Women are underrepresented in high-growth fields. To meet the labor needs across our state and access historic federal infrastructure funding, Vermont needs to prioritize the recruitment and retention of underrepresented workers – particularly women – in the trades.

We have created an Equity in Infrastructure framework to outline our state’s opportunities to increase funding, build our workforce, and provide equitable pathways.

View the framework

Vermont Works for Women's Equity in Infrastructure framework front cover. VWW is advocating for equity in the skilled trades workforce.

Legislative Priorities

Justice-involved women, due to their gender and other intersecting factors, face tremendous barriers to economic independence after being released from Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility. Providing career training programs and wraparound supports to women in-facility and while in transition, helps their successful reintegration into the community.

Vermont Career and Technical Education programs have the ability and regional access to train our next-generation workforce, but lack the diversified enrollment to meet labor demands. By increasing gender equity within career and technical education centers throughout the state, we can increase the enrollment of underrepresented students and support current students to be more successful post-graduation.

In 1965, a Presidential Executive Order called for equal opportunities for women and minorities to be hired for state contract work. These minimum targets, set at 6.9% female and from 0.8% to 17.3% minority participation, have yet to be met by any state in the U.S.

- U.S. Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance

Female enrollment in non-traditional programs at Vermont’s technical education centers still sits at less than 12%.

- Vermont Agency of Education

Across the U.S., women are more likely to enter prison with a history of abuse, trauma, and mental health problems, and most women in prison (62%) are mothers of minor children.

- Prison Policy Initiative

More than 21,000 children under the age of 5 in Vermont are likely to need some form of childcare due to all available parents working; however, childcare programs in Vermont only have about 12,380 spaces available for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

- Let's Grow Kids

65% of Vermont workers don’t have access to Paid Family and Medical Leave.

- Vermont FaMLI Coalition

Resources

Filter By

Category	Title	Type
Community Resources	Emergency Housing for Unsheltered Meeting Criteria Beginning Dec 1 – Call Now!	PDF	download
Community Resources	Free Expungement Clinic, St. Albans – 12/12	PDF	download
Community Resources	Mental Health Urgent Care Walk In Services, Burlington	PDF	download
Training Opportunities	Mercy Connections Fall Program Guide	Website	GO
Training Opportunities	1-year Internship for Young Adults with Disabilities, UVMMC, Burlington – Sign Up Now	Website	GO
Training Opportunities	ReSOURCE Construction 101 Burlington Dates	PDF	download
Policy Recommendations	VWW 2024 Advocacy Priorities	PDF	download
Policy Recommendations	Data for an Inclusive Economic Recovery	Website	GO

Contact Us

Alison LamagnaDirector of Impact

802-655-8900 x104 alamagna@vtworksforwomen.org