Katherine Gallagher Robbins, Senior Policy Analyst

Katherine Gallagher Robbins is a Senior Policy Analyst for Family Economic Security at the National Women’s Law Center where she examines how tax and budget policies influence the financial stability and security of low-income women and families. Before joining the Center in 2010, Ms. Gallagher Robbins worked as an organizer for the California Public Interest Research Group at the University of California, San Diego. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a graduate of the College of William and Mary.

Expert in: Data on Poverty & Income, Poverty & Income Support

My Take

Reducing Poverty Requires Increased Child Care Assistance: NWLC Child Care Data sets a Benchmark

Posted by

Karen Schulman, Senior Policy Analyst

Katherine Gallagher Robbins, Senior Policy Analyst

| Posted on: October 27, 2011 at 01:47 pm

Yesterday the Half in Ten campaign released its report Restoring Shared Prosperity. The report, using data from 2010, sets policy benchmarks by which the campaign will track the progress, in every state, of reaching Half in Ten’s goal of cutting poverty in half over the next ten years.

Cutting poverty in half is an important goal for women and their families. If the level of poverty in 2010 were cut in half today:

More than 23 million fewer people would be in poverty – 8.6 million of whom would be women.
One in nine, rather than more than one in five children, would be poor.
Poverty rates for black and Hispanic single mother families would drop to one in four from one in two.

Senators Vote to Kill Jobs Bill – Even With Extra-High Unemployment in their States

Posted by

Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security

Katherine Gallagher Robbins, Senior Policy Analyst

| Posted on: October 12, 2011 at 03:50 pm

In poll after poll, the American people rank jobs as their biggest concern.

It’s easy to understand why. More than two years after the recession officially ended, unemployment is above 9 percent, record numbers of women live in poverty, and millions of families are struggling to make ends meet.

What does the wage gap measure mean?

Posted by

Abby Lane, Fellow

Katherine Gallagher Robbins, Senior Policy Analyst

| Posted on: September 26, 2011 at 02:06 pm

The wage gap the National Women’s Law Center reports at the national and state levels are the same ones reported by the Census Bureau – the median earnings of women full-time, year-round workers as a percentage of the median earnings of men full-time, year-round workers. Median earnings are the earnings made by an individual at the 50^th percentile – the worker right in the middle. Earnings include wages, salary, net self-employment income but not property income, government cash transfers or other cash income – so basically what people get paid for working. Working full time means working at least 35 hours a week and working year round means working at least 50 weeks during the last twelve months (This includes sick leave and paid vacation. School personnel are also included if they are returning to work in the fall).

Tags: Employment, Equal Pay, Wage Gap, Equal Pay and the Wage Gap, Employment | 1 comment

State Poverty Numbers Reveal Bleak Situation for Women and their Families

Posted by Katherine Gallagher Robbins, Senior Policy Analyst | Posted on: September 22, 2011 at 01:43 pm

For more about state poverty and wage numbers, please go to our overview page on the state-by-state 2010 Census data.

NWLC’s calculations of just released state-by-state Census poverty data reveal more grim news about the hard times facing America’s women and families.

In 2010 roughly half of female-headed families with children were poor in Mississippi (51.2 percent), Alabama (49.3 percent), West Virginia (48.7 percent) and Kentucky (48.5 percent), and in five more states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Ohio, and South Carolina), their poverty rates topped 45 percent.

New Threats to Women’s Economic Security from the Super-Committee

Posted by Katherine Gallagher Robbins, Senior Policy Analyst | Posted on: August 24, 2011 at 02:50 pm

When Congress and the Administration reached a deal earlier this summer to raise the debt ceiling they cut nearly $1 trillion in discretionary spending over ten years – cuts that will cost women more jobs and access to important public services. They also created a bipartisan “super-committee” which is charged with developing a plan to cut an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction over ten years.

Tags: Child Care, Social Security, Medicaid & Other Public Funding, Tax & Budget | Add new comment

Katherine Gallagher Robbins, Senior Policy Analyst

My Take

Reducing Poverty Requires Increased Child Care Assistance: NWLC Child Care Data sets a Benchmark

Senators Vote to Kill Jobs Bill – Even With Extra-High Unemployment in their States

What does the wage gap measure mean?

State Poverty Numbers Reveal Bleak Situation for Women and their Families

New Threats to Women’s Economic Security from the Super-Committee

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Katherine Gallagher Robbins, Senior Policy Analyst

My Take

Reducing Poverty Requires Increased Child Care Assistance: NWLC Child Care Data sets a Benchmark

Senators Vote to Kill Jobs Bill – Even With Extra-High Unemployment in their States

What does the wage gap measure mean?

State Poverty Numbers Reveal Bleak Situation for Women and their Families

New Threats to Women’s Economic Security from the Super-Committee

How You Can Help

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