This piece co-authored by Jessica Palek, Employment and Training Associate, Shriver Center

The fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are widely regarded as critical to the state and national economy, but women remain significantly underrepresented within these disciplines. Despite decades of progress in higher education and the workplace,...

What a difference a year makes. Last January the House Republicans and a handful of Democrats were pushing to redefine rape in order to further restrict access to abortions. The Hyde Amendment, the federal law that restricts the use of government funds to pay for abortions, exempts pregnancies...

Sexual violence is occurring in our nation's high schools in staggeringly high numbers. Even though it remains an extremely under-reported crime, the available data points to its prevalence in secondary schools.

Almost 4,000 incidents of sexual battery and over 800 rapes and attempted rapes were reported in public...

Workforce development programs are an important part of the nation's economic recovery and job creation efforts -- working with employers to train workers for existing and emerging high-demand jobs. Yet the US House of Representatives recently passed the House Fiscal Year 2011 Continuing Appropriations bill , HR 1,...

Co-authored by Shana Heller-Ogden.

Teen pregnancy and parenting and domestic and sexual violence are significant contributing factors to the dropout and push-out crisis in schools in Illinois and across the country. Elementary and secondary students who are parents, expectant parents, or survivors of domestic or sexual violence face serious and...