A Nation Transformed by Women

October 30, 2009

The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything

On October 16, the Center for American Progress (CAP), in partnership with California First Lady Maria Shriver, released The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything, a groundbreaking examination of how "women's changing roles are affecting our major societal institutions, from government and businesses to our faith communities."

For the first time in American history, women make up half of all U.S. workers and mothers are the primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners in nearly two-thirds of American families. Considering that in 1967 women made up only one-third of all workers, this is a dramatic transformation that fundamentally changes how all Americans work and live, "not just women but also their families, their co-workers, their bosses, their faith institutions, and their communities."

Unfortunately, America as a nation has not yet come to terms with what this means.

"This report tries to chapter those things out and say all of these institutions have failed to adapt to this change that has happened, and that in order for them to survive and become smart about the American worker they must adapt and must change," Shriver said on NBC's Meet The Press.

"Our policy landscape remains stuck in an idealized past," writes CAP President and CEO John Podesta in his preface to the report. "This report contemplates what a new America should look like after we finally embrace this important new dynamic in our lives and the changes it has caused in our homes and businesses."

Read the full report at americanprogress.org.