The July GovFem Reading List

To write GovFem articles, we scour the internet daily for the best articles and op-eds about women working in the public sector. While many of those articles end up in our GovFem posts, we unfortunately can’t cover them all in a weekly series. That’s why we created the GovFem Reading List, which highlights the top posts from around the web each month.

This July, we saw a number of articles about the wage gap and parental leave policies across organizations. Unsurprisingly, a number of news outlets are also talking about women’s role in government as Hillary Clinton prepares to accept the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Here are the top five articles worth reading from this past month:

1. Narrow the Gender Pay Gap? There Are Apps for That

Earlier this year, we reported that the Presidential Innovations Fellows and Commerce Department teamed up to Hack the Paygap. This month, seven apps were released as fruits of that two-month effort. According to the article, “The prototypes included a virtual reality salary-negotiation simulator, an app measuring users’ ‘personal pay gap’ and a game that puts users in the financial shoes of an expectant mother.”

2. These are Some of the Biggest Challenges Facing Millennial Moms

While I generally sway away from articles that suggest blanket preferences for a generation, this article does raise some good considerations for today’s working mother. Worth a read whether you’re thinking of having children or managing a new mother.

3. Parental Leave Survey from Deloitte

Speaking of parental leave, this survey shows that it’s not just new mothers who need more opportunities at work. Less than half of people at organizations feel that men are empowered to take advantages of paternal leave policies. That’s a problem not just for dads, but for their spouses who assume more child-rearing responsibility early on.

4. Hillary Clinton Broke One Glass Ceiling. When Were Others Broken?

Less an article and more of a super cool, interactive rundown of all the women who have blazed the trail for others, this post from The New York Times explains how the idea of a woman winning a major party’s presidential nomination is just one in a long list of exceptional female public servants. 

Bonus: If you want a deeper dive on a couple of awesome govie women, check out this article on NASA’s Susan Finley and this one on the military’s first female bomb technician, Linda Cox.

5. Women Play Catch-Up in Filling Government Offices Throughout U.S.

But despite the progress those women, as well as those taking the stage at the DNC this week, have made, women continue to be underrepresented in American politics. This article examines why that is and – more importantly – what we can do to fix it.

And in case you missed them, check out the rest of this month’s GovFem posts:

• 7 Inspiring Govie Gals
• Identifying Sexual Harassment at Work
• 3 Tips to Negotiate a Government Salary

Every month, GovFem compiles a list of the top articles about women in government from around the web. If you have an article you think should be included in next month’s reading list, email [email protected] with your suggestions.