Reports & Toolkits

As states cut funding for child care and early education programs, many advocates for children have taken their case directly to voters. This Reports & Toolkits from the National Women's Law Center finds that voters are often willing to fund services that their elected officials have not always made a priority. Analyzing most of the measures that appeared on the ballot through 2003 in which increased investment in early care and education or after-school programs was the central or a significant component, the Reports & Toolkits concludes that ballot measures can be a useful tool for securing and stabilizing increased funding for early education, child care and after-school programs.

The National Women's Law Center conducted an extensive review of John Roberts’s public record, concluding that it reflects an approach to the law that limits and narrows women’s core constitutional and statutory protections in three critical areas:  the constitutional right to privacy; constitutional and statutory protections against sex discrimination; and the power of Congress to protect

This publication, a 2004 Follow-Up to Be All that We Can Be: Lessons from the Military for Improving our Nation's Child Care, details the changes and improvements that have occurred in the nation's military child care system since the original Reports & Toolkits was published.

Key recent cases with an impact on women's rights were decided by narrow, often one-vote margins, over vigorous dissents.  Therefore, one new Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court who does not support women's rights could mean dramatic erosion in protections for these rights.  On the other hand, one new Justice who supports women's rights could restore, or prevent further erosion of rights that have been lost in the last few years.  The cases decided in the last few terms underscore how critically important the votes of one new Justice will be to the rights and well-being of American women and their families.