Mayor Eric Adams has long surrounded himself with women “deputies” in his inner circle and administration. Now he’s aiming to cement the city as a national leader on gender equity, including for LGBTQ+ communities, with a $43 million investment in his Women Forward NYC action plan.
The plan seeks to address gender disparities in the city’s workforce, dismantle barriers to health care, reduce gender-based violence, and target housing services for formerly incarcerated women and survivors of domestic violence. The funding comes from a combination of city money, private funding, academic institutions, and federal grants, said the city.
“You can’t do it, you’re not going to deal with the pink elephant in the room that people want to ignore,” said Adams at a press conference. “We have not been a user-friendly city, country, or globe to women. No matter where I go across the globe, I see the same common denominator of treating women as second-class citizens.”
Adams’s plan is backed by his four women and women of color deputy mayors.
Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom said she is proud of their investment. “We are also showing that New York City stands with every woman through life’s challenges: while in shelter, experiencing postpartum depression, dealing with domestic or gender-based violence, or being formerly incarcerated,” said Williams-Isom in a statement.
Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer in a statement added that, “Women are undoubtedly the backbone of their households and their communities, but too many disparities in economic, health, safety, and housing outcomes still exist.”
The city and state struggle with a pay equity gap, where women, especially women of color, are paid less than their male counterparts. It is also known that Black women in the city are more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than white women.
The Women Forward plan aims to build a pipeline toward higher-wage jobs by providing funding to the Girl Scouts of Greater New York Troop 6000, which is made up of young girls in city shelters; providing career opportunity programs for public housing residents to start their own food or childcare business; and expanding mentoring initiatives. It also plans to address inequities in sexual, chronic, and maternal and reproductive health, said the city.
The plan also takes a meaningful look at combating gender-based violence. Homicides due to intimate partner violence (IPV) are up, according to recent city reports: IPV homicides increased by 225% in Brooklyn and 57.1% in the Bronx between 2021 and 2022. Black women accounted for 31.2% of those homicides and Hispanic women accounted for 27.3%, said the report. In response, the city is investing in initiatives that reduce violence toward women, LGBTQ+ women, nonbinary New Yorkers, and women of color.
“We cannot meaningfully achieve gender equity as long as women, transgender, and gender-expansive New Yorkers continue to experience disproportionate rates of violence in and outside of the home,” said Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV) Commissioner Cecile Noel in a statement. “Recognizing this fact, the Women Forward NYC agenda deepens the city’s investment in responses that meet the complex needs of survivors of domestic and gender-based violence, enhancing both interpersonal and public safety. We would like to thank all of our city agency collaborators for developing this initiative and we are grateful for the ongoing support of the Adams administration as we expand ENDGBV’s work to support survivors.”
New York City Commission on Gender Equity (CGE) Commissioner Taina Bien-Aimé echoed that the Women Forward plan is a critical first step to dealing with issues like sex trafficking, gender-based violence, and discrimination for all women and girls in the city.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.